You're probably right, but it still feels precarious. Somebody could break the standoff by doing something extreme, and the other side could respond with more e

You're probably right, but it still feels precarious. Somebody could break the standoff by doing something extreme, and the other side could respond with more extremity. To be blunt, if Putin feels like he might lose face (not a loss, just an embarrassment), he might decide to take the whole world out in the process. There's probably no more than, say, a 10% chance of this. But those are not numbers I like.