> why would it start by attacking random EU countries instead of Ukraine itself?

Because it would force NATO to divert resources away from Ukraine.

How would a direct war with NATO on several fronts help Russia win in Ukraine? Russia isn't ready for it in the slightest. As I said, if they wanted to go all in (full mobilization instead of partial, martial law, converting all industry to military production, etc.), it would be more logical to focus first on that 1 country they want to defeat, rather than immediately triggering Article 5 and fighting 32 countries at once. It just doesn't make any sense, and judging by the Kremlin's decisions over the last 4 years, I don't think they're that stupid.

	▲	yakshaving_jgt 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		If you're interested in the logic behind this war, you might be interested in learning from Anders Puck Nielsen, author of The Logic of War. - https://youtu.be/z61ZuZ08jRA?si=_GChfuUptluluave&t=602 - https://youtu.be/NCEKsF9w8uQ?si=WkguFDu0vSdm1dbR&t=405 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opa3s2VuD0s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQmxNTloGmw

▲

athrowaway3z 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

this goes both ways; they'd be gambling that NATO doesn't launch things into Russia. From the accounts I've seen they did strip down the rest of the border forts to supply Ukraine.

Also, most of NATO's existing resources are currently not doing much but standing around. You can question how useful NATO's 'pre-drone' material is, and how much hasn't already been sent to Ukraine, but it's not nothing.

	▲	kgeist 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>they'd be gambling that NATO doesn't launch things into Russia The official discourse in Russia is that NATO is already helping Ukraine launch things into Russia. So there's no gamble; for them, it's already a fact. Except, currently, it's just a proxy war where Ukraine has to jump through hoops to get military aid and targets approved, and it can only fire from Ukraine's territory. With a direct confrontation, there's no doubt that far more would be launched into Russia.