Bruce Riedel on Kings and Presidents
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2017
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, America’s longtime ally in the Middle East, faces a tumultuous future. Plummeting oil prices, an ongoing royal purge, and Yemen’s civil war across the border have thrust the kingdom into a domestic and international maelstrom. But what role does the United States play in Saudi Arabia’s changing position? To address that question, Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, recently discussed his new book “Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and America Since FDR” at a Brookings event. Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, moderated the conversation in which they discussed the state of U.S.-Saudi relations, the historical events that have precipitated Saudi Arabia’s current situation, and the future of the kingdom.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
| 0:04.0 | To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast, |
| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:30.0 | We're basically seeing a shakedown in the kingdom. |
| 0:36.0 | All of which raises the question, what happens after the king? |
| 0:41.0 | King Salman is in his early 80s based on his brothers. |
| 0:45.0 | He could go on living for another 10 years or so. |
| 0:49.0 | He suffers from pre-dimension, but it doesn't prohibit him |
| 0:53.0 | or prevent him from carrying out his tasks. |
| 0:56.0 | If he wishes to, he can stay in office for some time. |
| 0:59.0 | But he may not. There are all kinds of rumors about abdication possibilities. |
| 1:03.0 | And I think when you put all of this together, you also have to say there is a possibility, |
| 1:09.0 | not a probability, but a possibility of the perfect storm in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia coming soon. |
| 1:15.0 | The combination of serious economic problems of a foreign policy in defeat, |
| 1:22.0 | and of a succession process, which is trying to do something |
| 1:27.0 | they've avoided doing for 75 years. |
| 1:32.0 | I'm Vanessa Sauder. In this is the LawFair podcast, December 5, 2017. |
| 1:38.0 | The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, America's longtime ally in the Middle East, |
| 1:43.0 | faces a tumultuous future, plummeting oil prices, an ongoing royal purge, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.