Once again, the contentious state of Iran seems to enjoy poking the West in the eye by doing business with whomever they please. The advantage that Iran has, like many other countries, is that there are sellers for technology and weapons. Even if states feel that an arms or technology sale may have repercussions, they may feel it is their economic or political right to do so. Sometimes, if states are aligned against a particular state or a group?s arming, then selling arms may be a strategy to thwart those states policies, by messing with regional power balances. States did this during the Cold War either directly or by proxy, and even though that period has passed, some old habits die hard. Strategic games continue. Russia , despite acknowledging some of the more disturbing aspects of Iran?s increasingly aggressive stance, may feel that they are a good counter to US influence in the region and wish to have an ally.

Even though the US had initially thought that the post-Communist Russia would be a strategic partner in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), it was a mistake to assume that would include support for all foreign policy choices. It should not be a surprise that Russia would pursue policies contrary to US or Western interests. Russia was against US intervention in Iraq, but so were many other countries, including those who were friendly to the US. Russia managed to take the GWOT as carte blanche to deal with their own terrorism issues as they saw fit. Increasingly, some analysts fear that Russia is pushing back against many democratic freedoms that emerged with the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Now, Russia seems to be seeking to regain some of the strategic influence it lost when the US became the lone superpower.

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