No hysteria or panic in it, just confusion... I can't see the point of assuming that there has to be a war and developing hypothetical scenarios for it, especially since the conclusion of the hypotheses always seems to be that the Red Horde will surely overrun the world if we don't confront, contain, man the ramparts and (most important) spend a few more trillions of dollars gearing up for war.

Personally, I think the most likely medium/long term scenario for China at war involves Russia, simply because the two countries' spheres of influence and activity overlap in an area bordering both that also has real (not hypothetical) resource wealth.

My comments above on spheres of influence were a response to a post above regarding spheres of influence. It's not something I brought up.