and another commenters who gets it :
"Go to war with Russia and what happens? The Russians get an advantage at the start as they are there, but eventually, they can't hold up in a conventional war against the bulk (not all) of NATO. Response? Well an all out Nuclear attack against Europe and the US sounds about right. Unless of course Vlad is as fatalistic as I am, in which case that all out nuclear attack would happen within sixty seconds of hostilities commencing.
Go to war with China? Once again the Chinese are there and have local superiority, but at least if a nuclear response comes, they have only about a tenth of the firepower that the Russians have. That is today. In a few years time, they too will have over 1,000 ready warheads. So if the deep state decides it's China, they need to act yesterday. Still, some US cities, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea... are going to be wastelands.
Iran? Problem with that one is that it's just Iraq/Afghanistan multiplied, it's not the kind of war they want, it would just hold them over for a while but still leave them hungry.
That said, judging by how well they manage things, they may just be stupid enough to take on two or even all three of these countries at once."
RE: Nuke Bruxelles (following joining Taiwan side in Chinese Civil War) , what is this first island chain concept?