The problem is that Russia's Putin is not going to sit idly by and watch his country eaten alive from the inside out. His kleptocracy depends upon high oil prices to float the Russian government and keep currency flowing to organized crime and other buddies.

It would be nice to watch Putin squirm but for some reason I feel like at the end of this we'll be wishing we didn't roll the die.

Our foreign policy since WW2 has generally hinged on keeping the "bad guys" from being "the big guys". The US liked its hegemony, wasted it, but liked it nonetheless. So all of these other possible rivals are like balls we're juggling. We can't let any hit the ground, so we just throw the one that's closest to the ground back up in the air.

This foreign policy cannot work forever. Your arms get tired and some balls drop eventually. And then it's all over.