As Chinese leaders deal with a generational transition, expanding international involvement, and with an increasingly difficult economic balance, the military is coming into its own and making its interests heard more clearly.
The argument that the Islamist threat has been dealt with is challenged by the attack, and with it the argument that the security state has become archaic.
Addressing a security issue that last had meaning more than 20 years ago, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is as archaic as the Treaty of Versailles.