I think most of the developed countries like Russia and America have learned from WWI and WWII big wars are far too dangerous and could end up loosing far more then they can ever gain.
China will not start a war with anyone, its govt is doing fine as they are earning bucketfuls of money. The military brass owns loads of factories, property and investments and making a lot of money. The last thing they want is to have to go to war with the like of America or India and threaten their cushy lifestyle.
The middle east is just an annoyance, an arena for the big powers to strut their stuff as we are now seeing with Libya. America, China and Russia dosen't even bother getting that involved because its a side show.