PUTIN'S RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Putin can, hardly, hope for no greater return on his investment in getting Trump elected President than having him abrogate the agreement with Iran to stop work on a nuclear bomb.  By doing so, Putin will have placed the first wedge in a system of alliances that the U.S. has successfully crafted over more than 70 years of hard work.

Not only will Trump have probably ruined, forever, the use of sanctions as a weapon to enforce agreements, in the long term, but will ensure that Iran joins the nuclear club, in the short term.  Who will be willing to cooperate in imposing sanctions with an inconstant partner, in the future?

The thought of engaging in a conventional war with Iran, a country with 2.5 times the population of North Korea and 10 times the size, is ludicrous, considering that such a war with the latter is inconceivable given its costs.