## Metadata * Author: [[Ben Hubbard]] * ASIN: B07WPQFXXY * Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WPQFXXY ## Highlights That meant there was not much to do. In fact, it was excruciatingly boring. No movies. No music. Few parks. — location: [522](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07WPQFXXY&location=522) ^ref-46671 --- In May 2015, the leaders of the Gulf Arab monarchies came to Washington for a summit at Camp David with President Obama. It was an awkward visit, not least because of the rustic conditions. American presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt had slipped away to the rural Maryland retreat to host high-profile dignitaries far from the hubbub of the capital. That history meant little to the Gulf royals, who were accustomed to palaces and luxury hotels. Sleeping in rustic cabins, walking dirt trails, and riding through forests on golf carts was not their idea of a good time. — location: [689](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07WPQFXXY&location=689) ^ref-34951 --- That focus on engagement almost killed him. In 2009, the brother of a storied Saudi bomb maker who was hiding out with Al Qaeda in Yemen announced that he wanted to return to the kingdom and surrender to MBN in person. The prince received the man in his palace, ordering that he not be searched to avoid humiliating him, and sat next to him. Then the man detonated a bomb hidden in his rectum, killing himself and giving MBN what were described at the time as light wounds. — location: [744](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07WPQFXXY&location=744) ^ref-51985 --- “In the Arab world, in Saudi Arabia, the leader always has much stronger moves,” he said. “There is a Parliament, but at the end of the day, the king says what goes, so what Trump does is similar in tactics to what the Arab leaders do. That’s why some of the Americans are against him. ‘He did this! He fired the head of the FBI!’ This is how we do it here.” — location: [2034](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07WPQFXXY&location=2034) ^ref-12126 ---