What image do you have when someone says Saudi Arabia?
Are you sure it's accurate?
Spend a little time with us as we talk with David Rundell, the American with the most experience as a diplomat in the Kingdom.
This country is key to American policy in the Middle East. You should know more about it.
"In February 1979, the last Shah of Iran was overthrown by a violent Islamic revolution. Two years later when I arrived in the Middle East, many commentators expected Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd would soon be the next monarch to fall. The Washington consensus held that we had paid inadequate attention to events outside of Iran’s capital, Tehran. We did not want to repeat that mistake. So, as the American Embassy’s most junior political officer, I was assigned to spend ten days a month for nearly two years traveling the byroads of rural Saudi Arabia to see what I could learn. I learned a great deal, and when I was done I argued against considerable skepticism that there would be no Saudi Revolution. Why was that my assessment then—and, more importantly, is it still correct today?" -- David Rundell
That is how David Rundell began his affair with Saudi Arabia and how he opened his book on the Kingdom he came to know during a large part of his thirty years as a United States Foreign Service Officer. He was posted to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran. He served at various times chief of mission, deputy chief of mission, political counselor, economic counselor, and commercial counselor.
Join us for this Special Edition of Global Dialogue with David Rundell, author of "Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at a Crossroad.
