The clock is ticking in Saudi Arabia for American Paul Johnson kidnapped last weekend and threatened with execution today. It is also ticking for the ruling family, the House of Saud.
One terrorist outrage may be regarded as misfortune, two begins to look like carelessness, but four in a month begins to look like a crisis. In the case of the house of Saud, it is a crisis that has been long predicted. Senator John McCain, a man who speaks his mind, says the Saudi ruling family is paying the price for years of funding terrorist organizations. The princes of the House of Saud know they have a problem but have yet to figure out a way to solve it.
Guests:
Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi writer and advisor to the Saudi ambassador in London
Matthew Levitt, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Tom Lipmann, author of “Inside the Mirage: America’s Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia” and adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute.