Steven A. Cook is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. His latest book is The End of Ambition: America’s Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East.
Then-Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the G-20 opening ceremony at the Hangzhou International Expo Center in Hangzhou, China, on Sept. 4, 2016. (Nicolas Asfouri/Getty Images)
A police officer enters the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, Turkey, as the search continues for Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. (Onur Coban/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Yemeni mourners bury the bodies of Houthis killed in a car bomb attack which targeted a Shiite Muslim mosque in Sanaa during a group funeral procession in the Yemeni capital on July 22, 2015.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (L) arrive at the presidential palace in the UAE capital on July 20, 2018. (KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin (C), Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) and Commander in Chief of the Russian Navy Vladimir Korolev (L) watch a terrestrial globe while visiting Russia's Navy Headquarters during Navy Day in Saint Petersburg on July 30, 2017. (ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images)
U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend the opening ceremony at the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, on July 11. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Crown Prince Of Saudi Arabia Mohammad Bin Salman speaks during a bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis March 22, 2018 at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A picture taken on March 1, 2018 shows a member of the Russian military police standing guard between the portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) hanging outside a guard-post at the Wafideen checkpoint on the outskirts of Damascus neighbouring the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan sign agreements in Ankara on December 18, 2013. (Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images)
Ivanka Trump andJared Kushner at the presentation of the Order of Abdulaziz al-Saud medal at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh on May 20, 2017.(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks on a morning television show from the grounds of the White House, on May 9, 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Donald Trump joins dancers with swords at a welcome ceremony ahead of a banquet at Murabba Palace in Riyadh on May 20, 2017. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
