1. Starting a war with Russia is not the goal here. Deterring Russia is the goal. 2. A war with Russia wouldn't be a proxy war and it wouldn't be anything like

1. Starting a war with Russia is not the goal here. Deterring Russia is the goal. 2. A war with Russia wouldn't be a proxy war and it wouldn't be anything like Afghanistan or Iraq. It could quickly become nuclear. It's not the same as America's wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. 3. You're implying that Russia is not a threat to Europe even if America stopped using its military to deter Russia from conquering Europe. I don't think that's correct. If Russia believed it could conquer parts of Europe tomorrow, they would probably try. They don't care about public opinion in western countries.