First, war is always a tragedy. Always. It is to be avoided until the reasonably plausible alternative is worse for human suffering. People who ignore this are asses (not saying you are one of them).
Second, as long as it stays conventional and China stays on the sidelines, then yes of course NATO destroys the Russian military, or at least keeps it hemmed into existing Russian territory. That's been true for 30 years.
nobody wins or loses. it's decades of civilian deaths and economic devastation, until someone decides to quit. people think everything is ww2 it's just not like that.
Edit: Not that I care about internet points.
But the thought that opposing russia would lead to nuclear war is exactly what Putin wants people in the west to think to keep bullying and suppressing everyone around him.
He is bluffing though and he knows it.
He said delivering supplies to Ukraine was the red line.
He didn't react when we did.
He said delivering arms to Ukraine was the red line.
He didn't react when we did.
He said delivering tanks to Ukraine was the red line.
He didn't react when we did.
He said delivering planes to Ukraine was the red line.
He didn't react when we did.
Because he can't. He knows he would lose everything.
russia has a massive population and a wartime economy. in some ways it's bigger than all the european nato countries combined. the idea that they would just fall over is absolutely western propaganda.
China would win. China is supplying Russia but China is not an ally of Russia. China would stop Russia the moment it's no longer beneficial, which would be when NATO and Russia start fighting. China doesn't care who wins, they win either way. If Russia loses China can take eastern Russia. If NATO loses, China can take Taiwan. If both wipe each other out China becomes the sole superpower.
Firstly, Pretty sure Russia's nuclear weapons work just as well against China as they do against the West. Barring a complete collapse of Russia, China isn't going to be taking vast swaths of Siberia, even if they wanted. They can take some already disputed territory (in fact the already have) because of Russia's current weakness. But that's about it.
Secondly, it's no exaggeration that a conventional war between NATO and Russia would be over quickly. Ukraine with just a small percentage of NATO's air power could defeat Russia. With Russia in the weakened state it's in right now, it's likely just Poland alone could defeat Russia. The Full force of NATO? They'd be done in less than a week. But that's only if Russia doesn't use nukes. In which case see the previous, but then ask why would China want to invade a nuclear wasteland? Probably just be hunkering down and dealing with the fallout.
Thirdly China doesn't currently have the capability to take and hold Taiwan. Likely fail even to invade. If they tried that now it would go about as well as Russia's attempt to invade Ukraine. Who knows, maybe Xi is as dumb as Putin, but I don't think so.
Maybe in 10 years China might have the capability to make a move on Taiwan, but it's likely the whole Putin situation will be resolved long before then.
It would also be the end of NATO and probably the rest of the world. That's why it's called mutually assured destruction. But it seems like recently policy makers are forgetting that
The Lithuanian foreign minister sums up the response thus far very well here.
"We declare red lines for ourselves, but not for Russia. We publicly tie our own hands while leaving Putin free to pillage, rape and destroy. We create strategic transparency, not strategic ambiguity. It's time to change course."
I know the Baltics have more skin in the game but I have to say politically they are playing an absolute blinder at the moment. Just hard spoken, no nonsense, absolute facts coming out of each of them along with such great support.
From the same people that claimed the Ukraine issue would be resolved in a few weeks, and Russia days from defeat dozens of times since it started. Putin has cancer and wont survive much longer, Russia was using WWII shovels to fight. NATO and the US doesnt want to win war, they want to prolong it. The MIC doesnt want to win war, they want to prolong it.
I'm not entirely sure on that, because whatever intel he's getting fed on there war, has to be the best horseshit ever. I don't think that even Putin can ignore ~15.000 lost vehicles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't really want a conflict with NATO because in that scenario Russia would quickly lose, the head of the UK's armed forces said on Tuesday.
Speaking at an event in London, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said that "the inescapable fact is that any Russian assault or incursion against NATO would prompt an overwhelming response."
Radakin, speaking at a defense conference in London's Chatham House, said the UK is "not on the cusp of war with Russia.
He said that the thousands of allied troops stationed in Poland and the Baltic states could draw on the "three-and-a-half million uniformed personnel across the alliance for reinforcement."
Referring to Sweden and Finland joining, he said NATO is growing from 30 to 32 nations, "with a collective GDP twenty times greater than Russia.
He added: "Russia's Army has lost nearly 3,000 tanks, nearly 1500 artillery pieces, and over 5,000 armored fighting vehicles."
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Pretty sure NATO is going to be tested. After Ukraine. He'll build up his forces on a board and see what happens. If there isn't a NATO build up response, I worry he'll push over that boarder. Then what? We going to nuke him? No, we won't. Partly because Putin has got friends in high places in the West. If we didn't ready a traditional response, we could be salami sliced while we debate when to nuclearly respond.
When you have a madman threatening nuclear confrontation, when does the probability of a first strike that might prevent significant retaliation have fewer megadeaths than being the victim of a first strike? This is the problem with sustained nuclear sabre rattling. What if its taken seriously?