Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe?

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW we speak with David Ottaway, who provides an update on U.S.-Saudi relations five months after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.  Has the relationship further deteriorated and how are Mohammed bin Salman’s internal political and economic reforms proceeding within the kingdom?

Guest

David B. Ottaway received a BA from Harvard, magna cum laude, in 1962 and a PhD from Columbia University in 1972. He worked 35 years for The Washington Post as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Africa and Southern Europe and later as a national security and investigative reporter in Washington before retiring in 2006. He has won numerous awards for his reporting at home and abroad and was twice nominated a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Ottaway was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in 1979-80 and again in 2005-06 and is currently a Middle East Fellow. His most recent book, published in November 2008, was The King’s Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America’s Tangled Relationship with Saudi Arabia.  He is currently working on a book regarding the changes underway in the Arab world.

Moderator

John Milewski is the executive producer and managing editor of Wilson Center NOW and also serves as director of Wilson Center ON DEMAND digital programming.