The Importance of Modern Military Operations

On paper, pre Ukraine war, Russia was looking pretty strong. Iran and North Korea have both expressed support for Russia. And I don't think the PLA, when they talk it to themselves, feel ready to do something like that. It seems clear that the Iranians and North Koreans have sort of seen this conflict plus some of the existing trends before the conflict and said, you know what, the US has nothing really to offer us at this point. Striking a deal with them would be a mistake. We're going to throw our lot in with the Russians, right? Because if the US is intent on democracies versus autocracies and we're the autocracies, well, you know