Location
Saudi Arabia
Bartlet conjures Saudi Arabia as a powder-keg U.S. stronghold in his nightmare scenario: a terrorist flashes Zoey's hostage photo with the blunt order to pull all American forces from its sun-blasted sands. The kingdom crystallizes raw vulnerability—decades of alliance now a leverage point for extortion, fueling presidential dread over rash decisions amid Zoey's peril.
1 events
1 rich involvements
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
S4E23
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Twenty-Five
Bartlet's Crisis: Fear, Memory, and the Transfer of Power
Saudi Arabia is referenced in Bartlet's imagined coercion scenario—hostage imagery and forced withdrawals—illustrating the kinds of demands that could be leveraged against the President and thereby push him to irrational military choices.
Atmosphere
Used as a loaded foreign locus to amplify Bartlet's terror; not a physical site in the scene.
Functional Role
Hypothetical locus of coercion that frames the personal stakes.
Symbolic Significance
Embodies geopolitical leverage and the personal vulnerability of leaders tied to global deployments.
Referenced verbally to create a worst-case scenario
Conjures images of hostage coercion and forced foreign policy concessions
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here