(1/n)
I kinda like your wording, "cosplaying". ;)
True, howerver Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles would most definitely mean WWIII and an Apocalypse-Now scenario. Tactical Nuclear Weapons can be used way below eradicating a city and are therefore not part of that doomsday scenario.
Yes, the Assad Dynasty is finished in Syria. However, an autocracy collapsing cannot be wholly, IMO, not even significantly attributed to a super power having failed.
Russia's...