going on? you wrote a wonderful book about saudi arabia. >> i think they have given up on us. they understand in a tribal society like saudi arabia weakness brings not only contempt, but the risk of aggression. and they don't want to walk around that nasty neighborhood holding hands with the cowardly united states. i mean, that's their view. we haven't -- we let mubarak go. we ditherred for weeks over was the coup in egypt that threw out the muslim brotherhood a coup, and should we end military assistance. and then, finally, did. and then, in syria, we sort of said we're going to help them, but we haven't. and then the president said he was going to bomb them, retaliate for their use of chemical weapons, and whipped around and hugged the russians and hoped that they can get rid of the chemical weapons.