Atlanta is one of the most interesting cities in the US. I have visited Atlanta many times. The most important two visits were in 1996, for the Summer Olympics, and the other in 1994 for the Super Bowl. This year I really wanted to be in Atlanta from December 5th to 7th. During those three days in Atlanta, there will be a very important gathering for Saudi and American businessmen and women to review business opportunities.

This year will long be remembered and analyzed by scholars and students for the so-called “Arab Spring” sweeping the Arab world from North Africa across to the Arabian Peninsula. Simmering tensions in a dozen countries boiled over in protests and revolts toppling several regimes – Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – and pushing others to the brink. In the Persian Gulf Iran is playing an outsized role, threatening the neighborhood: sponsoring terrorism, building nuclear weapons, and dominating the scene in Iraq as America is shown the door by Baghdad. Meanwhile, 44 years of conflict and occupation in Israel-Palestine shows no signs of a solution. Indeed the threat of an American veto to a Palestinian statehood bid in the United Nations illuminates Washington’s dilemma of balancing interests versus America’s principles.