David Kenner is exploring the economic changes underway in Saudi Arabia. He is focusing on how the new generation of Saudis is adapting to that change, and its members’ hopes for the years ahead. David has reported widely from across the Middle East for more than a decade. He was Foreign Policy‘s Middle East editor from 2013 until 2018, when he guided the magazine’s regional coverage while based in Egypt and Lebanon. A lifelong student of Arabic, David is a graduate of Georgetown University, and also attended the American University of Beirut. He is particularly interested in how American values and interests intersect with Middle Eastern politics.
Dispatches from David Kenner
Saudi Arabia’s quiet frontier
When viewed from the kingdom’s deep south, political and economic life look different than in the bustling capital.
Lebanon in uncharted territory
It’s far from clear how the government can square the need for economic austerity with protesters’ steadily mounting demands.
Present at the creation: William Eddy and the US-Saudi alliance
In a remote cemetery in Lebanon, the grave of the man who forged one of the 20th century’s central relationships prompts questions about its limits.