China has shattered the assumption of US dominance in the Middle East | CNN

Saudi Arabia and Iran have renewed diplomatic ties, but it shouldn’t have been unexpected.

It is the logical accumulation of U.S. diplomatic limitations and China’s quest to shape the world in its orbit.

Beijing buys more oil from Saudi Arabia than any other country in the world.

Xi needs energy to grow China's economy, ensure stability at home and fuel its rise as a global power.

China's Foreign Ministry trumpeted Xi’s visit, paying particular attention to one particular infrastructure project.

Jizan lies close to the border with Yemen, the scene of a bloody civil war and proxy battle between Riyadh and Tehran since 2014.

Xi will have an interest seeing both Saudi Arabia and the UAE prosper, but Saudi is by far the bigger partner.

The working assumption of American diplomatic regional primacy is broken.

It’s not a knockout, but a gut blow, to Washington. How Xi calculates the situation isn’t clear either.

The US is not finished, far from it, but it is diminished, and both powers are coexisting in a different way now.