What is the superior strategy to this nation state other than sending adversaries on a similar resource waisting wild goose chase?
The game of power is completely different because communism practiced today has nothing in common with the communism of the USSR. Thus we cannot assume we are going to be lucky again our adversaries paradigm breaks and momentum is lost before they deplete their military capabilities.
Suggesting and half confirming an unknown unknown to an adversary is very efficient to expand this relative peaceful periode we live in. Every additional amount of resource adversaries waist on unachievable capabilities is an additional resource not invested capabilities that can be useful to tip the power balance.
Nobody wants a military arm race between global powers but I think it is naive to assume what we wish for is a reasonable reflection of how our reality is actually constructed.