For them, parity is less an ultimate goal than a transitory and permissive springboard for testing Western resolve and pursuing whatever additional accretions of strategic power the strictures of SALT and American tolerance will allow.
You can use strictures to refer to severe criticism or disapproval of something. Mencken's strictures on the 1920s, with its self-righteous prohibition on alcohol and unconventional ideas
an abnormal narrowing of an anastamosis AKA stenosis Caused by excessive scarring, inflammation cased by ulcer, or technical complication Treated by endoscopic balloon dilation or rarely, reoperation Symptoms include progressive inability to take diet forcing regression from solid to liquid foods