It will avoid, as far as possible, direct confrontation.

Second one deals with direct confrontation with the enemy.

There was also fear of a confrontation with the Soviet Union.

First, Russia is keen to avoid a military clash with Israel.

But they are not expected to engage in direct combat.

There were too many of them for a straight ahead fight.

A full-fledged war with Pakistan is out of question.

An attack on Iran would be fraught with unforeseen consequences.

This leads to a direct confrontation between the two.

Because of course they cannot win in a straight up fight ...

A direct confrontation between English and Italian is narrowly avoided.

They know they don’t have much chance in this confrontation.

Bad relations between the major powers are bad for everybody.

A direct confrontation between major powers is harmful to all.

This puts us on a path of direct confrontation with Russia.