[dyauspitr]

I seriously doubt it. You have to be absolutely bonkers to start nuclear war over one person. Russia is insane but not suicidal.

[rngfnby]

They don't have to nuke anybody, just rain missiles on the Baltics and create a land bridge to Kaliningrad.

Now the escalation ball's on our court. Are you willing to die for Latvia?

(And Medvedev does appear to be that bonkers)

[Mikhail_Edoshin]

Russian are soldiers and the West are investors. (War investors in this case). From an investor standpoint a soldier is insane.

[hyperman1]

Franz Ferdinand proves we are this bonkers.

[fhdkweig]

I could believe that one man's death could start a conventional war. A conventional war is winnable. But 100 years later, a nuclear war is suicide at best.

Trump would almost certainly not intervene with nukes to protect non-US soil if Russia launched first, but there are plenty of European countries with nukes. Anyone in charge of Russia would have to accept the possibility that a first strike would leave them with a bad time.