"I was thinking this was a test of the air defences "Or, it...

"I was thinking this was a test of the air defences "

Or, it could be Putin and Xi are going with Plan-A, which is to achieve a peaceful transition of Biden out and Trump in. Then do the same with Ukraine and Taiwan. A real war now could end up making Biden look like a winner or a capable commander. A safer bet is to make a mess of the US economy and to steer world trade away from the US dollar and toward some sort of gold backed digital exchange system. The main game now is to win the popularity war - so no one is going to do anything to make themself look bad. Xi and Putin want everyone to believe "we are the good guys who are all for world peace and fair trade".