On Tuesday this week, Saudi Arabia hosted the first set of high-level talks between the United States and Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Saudi Arabia’s role in facilitating the negotiations has drawn attention to Riyadh’s pursuit of an increasingly elevated status on the world stage. It also comes amid intensive U.S. efforts to win Saudi Arabia’s support for a normalization deal with Israel. Asher Grant-Sasson speaks with Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS Middle East Program, to discuss what Saudi Arabia gains by hosting the talks and what this might signal about Riyadh’s next moves.
Babel: Translating the Middle East