[Old Teufel Hunden]

Desperate countries (like Russia) can do things that are not always in their own long term interests. This could get scary. In the end, Russia would lose this escalation, but at what cost to us and our allies?

[Viennacon]

Russia can bankroll the new prime minister of Greece to bring down the European Union. He holds the vital Jenna block now.

[baltimorepoet]

Desperate countries (like Russia) can do things that are not always in their own long term interests. This could get scary. In the end, Russia would lose this escalation, but at what cost to us and our allies?

How do you define losing this escalation? If things devolved into a full-scale war, unintended consequences such as China invading Taiwan opportunistically could occur. A China-Russia-Iran military alliance would be a problem to contend with, one I'm not sure the Europeans would want to touch. {look how timid they are at confronting aggressive Islam, let alone a nuclear power(s) }

[ansel12]

Russia isn’t so desperate, Putin is.

Russia has the option of merely calling off the invasions and concentrating on itself as a peaceful nation.