Xi & Vlad – crowing for top dog status

Xi Jinping’s state visit to Moscow brings together two autocrats keen to establish a post-American world order where the east rises and the west declines – while trade continues to flow. Xi in typically inscrutable fashion is presenting himself as a peace broker over Ukraine, though his plan says nothing about Russian withdrawal, in an attempt to maintain some credibility in Europe. He is basking in the success of his recent efforts to restore relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran