Originally Posted by
Spunky Monkey
Looks like the US blinked first - if so, the war has got a lot further to go.
Biden is incapable and Trump will pull support.
The indecisiveness surely hurts but what's really damaging is the prospect of the US potentially totally withdrawing (again hinted at by the entourage of the other candidate), if a certain orange person were to enter the throne again. That's what's keeping Vlad's hopes up.
With the red lines it is a delicate thing. Chances that the said would happen are low but consequences if the unlikely were to happen extremely high impact. One of the critical (and somewhat less unlikely) scenarios being a 'Grey zone' Nuke by Russia. (I consider a direct Nuke on a NATO Country close to impossible -at least with the current US Admin). If NATO as a consequence wipes out the Russian Army conventionally, what will Russia do as a reaction? Sit on their hands and wait to get wiped out? Unlikely. Escalation circle almost impossible to prevent.
And that is why I do understand to some extent a certain reluctance to crossing red lines. On the other hand it strengthens Putin for sure. Which is absolutely undesirable and sends disastrous messages. In any case I don't envy those who have to make those decisions.