When asked about the initiative and the Saudis, Friedman e-mailed that, "I was glad to relay it as maybe a faint glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak, and getting bleaker, landscape. But I don't want to be their explainer, denier, or elucidator. If they cannot or will not speak for themselves, then it cannot be and will not be important. This is not about me at all, and I am doing my best to stay out of the way."