The United States has to be one of the dumbest nations in the global history of the world as again and again it gets "played" into taking over or becoming intimately involved into complicated political issues of long standing intransigence at the behest of European powers that have smartly walked away and cut their losses. However, as China grows in both influence and power, there may indeed be a light at the end of the tunnel for American foreign interventions and unseemly dilemmas. In regards to the Middle East, on the good side you have their abundance of oil as well as archeological sites of historical importance; however, on the bad side in the Middle East you have virtually everything else, to which the United States has repeatedly seen their worldwide image suffer greatly as well as monies and resources repeatedly wasted, unnecessarily. Fortunately, American ingenuity, has come to our rescue, as America, has become, once again, as reported by politico.com the largest oil producer in the world, and it: "…is effectively producing 14 million barrels a day." This clearly indicates that the necessity for the United States to have a strong military presence and intervention policy in the Middle East needs to be seriously re-evaluated. Fortuitously, China, as reported by eia.gov is: "… the largest net importer of crude oil and other liquids in the world."
As you might imagine, there was a time when America had little or nothing to do with the Middle East, to which, it was primarily the European nations of Great Britain and France that had the greatest influence and logistical footprint within this region, but, by the conclusion of World War II, that mantle had been passed onto the United States, for better or for worse. Given the fact that China has a great need for oil and further that China has already made significant inroads into the Middle East, which as reported by dw.de that: "… Chinese trade with the Middle East has risen from around 20 billion USD a decade ago to an estimated 230 billion USD last year." It therefore makes all the sense in the world that China, not America, and not Europe, should be the one to make all the arrangements, treaties, trade agreements and anything else that is most appropriate to conduct successful business transactions in the Middle East.
Rather than having the United States becoming involved and entangled in more and more foreign countries with their incumbent warring political factions and other long-standing intractable problems, we should be instead actively pursuing exit strategies so that America can spend more of its resources and wealth on resolving its own domestic issues and getting its own house in order. It is a grave mistake of the highest order for America to continually play the role of the world's policeman, to which our men and materials are constantly put into harm's way, often for a purpose that does not benefit America directly. In the Middle East it seems that America puts up all the money, takes all the risk, and suffers all the blowback, all for a purpose that no longer exists. There isn't any good reason to let China have a free ride on our backs, especially considering that China ultimately reaps the benefits of our military presence in the Middle East without risking much of their own reputation, their men, and their resources to do so.
It's high time to change that.