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Karen Elliott House, a widely respected expert on Saudi Arabia, gives her assessment of the Saudi situation as the Obama administration completes a nuclear deal with Iran in July 2015. She says the Saudis have few options in the short term. She also points out that the unfreezing of $100 billion in assets of Iran by the end of 2015, and the lifting of economic sanctions, could exacerbate tensions in the Middle East if Iran uses the money to increase support to proxies in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has a large population of young people and high youth unemployment, increasing political risks, says Karen House.

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U.S. president Obama visits Saudi Arabia in April 2016. President Obama presents arguments for forging "a cold peace" between Iran and Saudi Arabia after proxy conflicts in the Middle East. During the visit president Obama will encourage dialogue between Iran and Saudi Arabia, at a time when Saudis are skeptical about U.S. policies in the region. Saudi Arabia has reduced the economic gains to Iran from lifting of sanctions and entering the oil market by ramping up Saudi production to bring down prices. The situation also affects Russia and Venezuela.

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Rep. Paul Ryan tells Bill Keller that his ideas on Medicare and Social Security are not "the last word" but a way to start an "adult conversation." Keller describes what a Romney administration might look like with Ryan, Dan Senor, and Glenn Hubbard.

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Iran will discontinue the second phase of the subsidy reduction program as the currency depreciates drastically in October 2012.

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Karen Elliott House, a former publisher of the Wall Street Journal, who won a Pulitzer prize for reporting on the Middle East, is now researching Saudi society. She now writes this scathing report from Saudi Arabia. She says that just as in Egypt, an old corrupt leadership continues in power for several decades, an old corrupt leadership in the form of 7000 princes in a vast royal family. King Abdullah is in his eighties and the ruling princes have an average age of 83, and have illnesses for which they are under medical treatment. They continue to lead a nation where 60% of the people are young people under the age of 18! Itself an astounding fact. Karen House points out that the internet and social media have also made the young very knowledgeable about the conditions in the country- where 40% of Saudis live in poverty and 70% cannot afford a home. Bad managemet by the princes has affected basic services including the sewage and drainage problems in Jeddah after the floods. It is astounding that far less wealthy Gulf sheikdoms are doing a better job of providing education, jobs and health care. Thirty years of visiting Saudi Arabia, and the last four years of intensive reporting, has persuaded Karen House that this situation is at an impasse that might end up resolving itself through some sort of upheaval. To Karen House this looks like the last days of the aging leadership under Brezhnev before the Soviet Union collapsed....

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U.S. Secretary of State Clinton and Turkey's foreign minister Davutoglu met in early August 2012 and agreed to set up intensive operational planning and coordination of the two countries efforts on Syria to end the Assad regime. The two foreign ministers said a unified task force with intelligence, military and political leaders would be set up immediately and will look at all options including direct assistance to the democracy movement and forces fighting the Assad regime.

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Unemployment at 7.3% was lower in Rochester, New York, in October 2011, than the 9% in the U.S. Entrepeneurial activity has taken the place of jobs with large corporations, as Kodak has seen job declines that are severe- from about 55,000 in 1980 to less than 10,000 today. Xerox and Baush & Lomb also have downsized, and are down to half of the employees they had in the 1980's. Former Kodak engineers now work for smaller companies doing pioneering work in medical and other fields. The result is smaller incomes- average income in Rochester was $47,333 compared to $66,327 in New York state and $55,739 in the U.S., according to the Center for Governmental Research.