As I noted recently in i , you don’t have to be an apologist for Xi Jinping or Putin to see how the West’s vast military spending might fuel paranoia in the minds of dictators who view the world through the prism of a nation’s ability to expand or dominate others. “China has become, as the Soviet Union before it, the go-to threat to justify every conceivable nuclear and conventional weapon system and programme, as just about any Congressional speech in favour of the current whopping $850bn defence authorisation bill demonstrates. Just weeks before Biden’s trip to the Middle East last month, during which he discussed Iran’s nuclear programme, oil and human rights, Riyadh invited South Korea, Russia and China to bid on the construction of two large nuclear reactors.