"Russians will prove useful later- when it is time to deal with the Chinese..."
I wouldn't be so sure about that one. Commies are commies. Muslim nations are bolstered by the tacit support of the sleeping dragon but in the grand scheme, they are just useful idiots to the Chinese. A chance to observe us running our plays a week before the big game. Don't leave Chavez out either. A million man army in the making and development of an airforce and a navy can't mean anything good for the US. Probably a way to ensure that the Panama Canal remains impassible in the event of a skirmish with China.
Great article though...very well written.
You are almost certainly right about that, from the Chinese point of view. I wrote only from the point of view of the Iranians. It will likely be much like the early 1930's, where the Soviet Union provided secret facilities to the Germans to subvert the League of Nation's restrictions on weapons development, at Lipetsk, Russia.
In that case both Hitler and Stalin thought they were each getting the better end of the deal... and would put paid to the other a mere few years in the future.
Such reasoning is why thousands of young tank crewman died at Kursk and a hundred other places. They each think they are more clever than their temporary allies.
Only history will tell now... and the chapters will be written at a high cost, I fear.