…what hostile nations might attempt to achieve from a position of strategic inferiority.

Why don’t these assumptions and the analyses, then, apply equally to Iran and its position of strategic inferiority? It seems to me that Russia is being held to one set of standards of behavior, while the Mad Mullahs and Ahmadinnerjacket have the freedom to flop about irrationally with everyone tip-toing around them trying not to hurt their little Muslim feelings.

Or are we assuming that Iran is hiding behind Russia’s skirts? So that in order to deal with Iran, we first have to convince its big bully of a parent to allow the discipline.