Russia preparing possible 'provocation' in Baltic states or Poland, sources say

[DFW]

7. They won't, not soon, anyway.

Putin just wants to know what he can get away with. After his catastrophic miscalculation with the Ukraine, he wants to stir unrest to the extent he can, but not a shooting war. Russian troops could overrun Estonia in a day. Putin wants desperately to know what we would do about it. Under Biden or Obama, he would have started World War III. With Trump, he isn’t totally convinced he’d suffer severe consequences, especially when Trump is advised by the likes of Rubio, Hegseth and Kushner. Putin surely sees that the odds are low that we’d shrug our shoulders and say, “oh, well,” but he also knows that with the current Republicans in power, his chances are better than with a President Mark Kelly or a President Buttigieg.