Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, explains how China's impartial approach to diplomacy gives it an edge against America's more Manichean tendencies. He also discusses what US troops are doing in the unauthorized war in Syria, Beijing's diplomatic mediation of negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Iran -- and potentially between Ukraine and Russia, and what accounts for the slow pace of change in America's posture in the Middle East, among other topics.  Show NotesTrita Parsi bioTrita Parsi and Kalid Aljabri, “How China Became a Peacemaker in the Middle East,” Foreign Affairs, March 15, 2023.Trita Parsi, “The U.S. Is Not an Indispensable Peacemaker,” New York Times, March 22, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.