Problem is that everybody know that nuclear war is a no win option. So they try to avoid it. You can game that. Simply give your enemy a way out. Don't press t

Problem is that everybody know that nuclear war is a no win option. So they try to avoid it. You can game that. Simply give your enemy a way out. Don't press them too hard, just take something, not so much that they would feel threatened. Instead of invading them directly, take over their trading partners. Set up rebellions, insurrections. It's still your bullets in their bodies and their country taking damage. But you have plausible deniability, and nobody is going to break out nukes about it. Soviet union did that very well. Despite taking over bulk of central and eastern Europe, kicking western interest out of China, and thus most of eastern Asia, ending colonial rule in most of Africa, they never "crossed the line". Iran is doing the same thing now. Russia too. And others will follow. It's a good strategy.