Xi returns to transformed Middle East for first Egypt visit in 10 years

When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Cairo this week, he’ll find plenty has changed in Egypt and the region around it since his last trip to the Middle East’s most populous nation a decade ago. Back in 2016, Xi’s five-day swing through Riyadh, Cairo and Tehran made him the first major world leader to visit since the U.S. and European Union lifted sanctions against Iran just days earlier. Now, he’s coming back to a region convulsed by war and with U.S. economic weapons once again deployed against Tehran. In Egypt, where he touches down Wednesday at the invitation of…