https://arab.news/46g7z
I have had the privilege of living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in three different time periods, each of them during unique political and military challenges in the region. I first came to the Kingdom in 1979 as a student of the Arabic language at King Saud University. Later, in 2002, I returned as an associate professor and, finally, in 2024, as ambassador of my country. Remembering how life was in Riyadh back in the 1980s, the pace of change in the Kingdom in general and in Riyadh in particular has been truly amazing. In the meantime, I am pleased to observe that the generous Saudi hospitality has not changed throughout this time and I am grateful to the great people of Saudi Arabia for making me feel at home again in the Kingdom.
This time around, the geopolitical landscape is certainly very different from both 1979 and 2002. There are major security threats arising from multiple sources, including the ever-increasing Israeli aggression, the plight of the Palestinians, instability in Lebanon, the transition in Syria, threats to maritime security in the Red Sea, and the conflict in Sudan. While global attention is currently — and rightly — on the developments in Palestine in general and Gaza in particular, we should not be distracted from the implications of these matters in the wider region.
