One answer is that they are unthreatening to big countries.

一种解释是他们对大国并无威胁。

But here fluffy means behaviour that is soft and unthreatening so it’s the opposite of aggressive.

但是在这里它表示行为柔和、不具威胁性。所以与攻击性相对。

I don't know about that. I think our broken mothers, though they dominate their daughters, have a way of transforming into folksy movie grandmas for their grandchildren – woefully misguided but unthreatening, like a drunk uncle.

我对此也无法理解。我想，我们那些残缺的母亲，虽然控制着自己的女儿，但却常常在孙子孙女面前变成电影中的和气祖母——悲惨地误入歧途，却不具威胁性，好比一个醉醺醺的叔叔。