Just as Iran has used Ukraine's brutal war to test the effectiveness of its drone and missile technology, so China's emerging industrial-military complex is reportedly looking for opportunities to conduct a rigorous evaluation of its new weapons systems; Chinese arms manufacturers are reportedly keen to test the effectiveness of their new weapons systems in Ukraine.

Chinese drones, which reports say are due to be delivered to the Russian Defence Ministry next month, would enable the Russians to deliver warheads weighing between 35 and 50 kilograms.

China's People's Liberation Army is in the midst of a massive military build-up, outspokenly aimed at making China the world's dominant military power by the middle of the century. Global defence spending fell by 1.7 percent in 2021, and the US defence budget for 2024, with a supposed increase of 3.2 percent, after factoring in an inflation of 6 percent, is actually a net cut. Meanwhile, Chinese defence spending grew by 5.1 percent to $293 billion.

As part of its military build-up, which began in 2013, Beijing is aiming to integrate artificial intelligence in its command and control structures by 2035. In addition it is investing heavily in new fleets of warships and warplanes.

The Chinese military is said to be actively preparing to launch a military offensive to capture Taiwan, most likely before or during the US presidential election in November 2024, while the US is still under the administration of President Joe Biden, regarded worldwide as stunningly weak, and while the country is likely to be distracted.

Biden's repeated statements that he seeks "competition not conflict" with China, and that "We don't want a conflict" with Russia, can only be viewed as pleas not to escalate, rather than as a thundering deterrence.

"[T]he entire military must... concentrate all energy on fighting a war, direct all work toward warfare and speed up to build the ability to win." — Chinese President Xi Jinping, to China's armed forces' operational command center, Fox News, February 15, 2023.

Perhaps a more interesting sign has come with the purges carried among security forces with some of the more hardline officers moved aside or sent into early retirement.

If there is indeed a change of course, the most important part of the scheme is the prospect of normalization with Saudi Arabia.

Soon, however, it became clear that, flush with massive oil revenues due to high prices and rising exports, the Tehran leadership was reverting to its dream of hegemony in "West Asia."

Are we heading for a Deja-vu of the Deja-vu?