country | year      | supporting_nation | eco_sup  | mil_sup
------------------------------------------------------------------
  Fake       1984        US                 1          1
  Fake       1984        SU                 0          1

country |   year      | US_SUP | US_eco_sup  | US_mil_sup | SU_SUP | SU_eco_sup  | SU_mil_sup |
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Fake       1984        1             1          1         1          1             1
 Fake       1985        1             1          1         1          1             1
 florp      1984        0             0          0         1          1             1
 florp      1985        0             0          0         1          1             1

def get_values(x):
    cols = ['eco_sup', 'mil_sup']
    nation = ''
    if x['Soviet Union'] == 1:
        nation = 'SU_'
    if x['United States'] == 1:
        nation = 'US_'

    support_vars = x[['eco_sup', 'mil_sup']]
    # Since each line contains only one measure of support I can
    # automatically assume that the support_vars are from
    # the correct nation
    support_cols = [nation + x for x in cols]
    x[support_cols] = support_vars