Saudi journalist disappears in embassy, believed murdered

[Sideroxylon]

Well, Turkey has already named a couple if not most of them, and they are very close to the clown prince. So if the king wants to stick by his story of not knowing, it seems the rogue element has to be his son.

Turkish daily Sabah offered up names and photos of all 15, along with details of their movements in Turkey.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...abah-newspaper-istanbul-erdogan-a8576781.html

 

[Cosmic Yak]

Should probably have posted this here...

After speaking to the Saudi king by phone, the US president said Salman “denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened” to the journalist and was “working closely with Turkey” to find out what happened to him.

As it is widely believed that King Salman is suffering from dementia, it is quite likely that he has no knowledge whatsoever of what he had for breakfast this morning.
It is entirely possible he had no knowledge of what happened, and so this is technically plausible, but as the Crown Prince is the real power in the country, his words would be more illuminating.

 

[TofuFighter]

It used to be like that, yeah.
Now all that is needed is for the bloodthirsty dictators to "strongly deny", and then go on to their next murders.

But...it was a very, very strong denial.

 

[Belz...]

When you're sitting on trillions and trillions of dollars of one of the most sought-after and in-demand resources on the face of the earth, resources that can make or break entire societies, you tend to acquire a disproportionate amount of political power as well as the obvious economic power.

Well, Dune is based on exactly that situation anyway, and there's quite a bit of arabic-sounding jargon in the book.

 

[Information Analyst]

Well, Dune is based on exactly that situation anyway, and there's quite a bit of arabic-sounding jargon in the book.

Although he spell "Jihad" wrong.

 

[Allen773]

If you thought possibly, at least partially and indirectly funding and facilitating the worst terrorist attack against the world's only superpower and Saudi Arabia's government was a reckless and boneheaded move on the part of the Kingdom...

The Old Guard of Saudi Arabia has nothing on this Crown Prince "MBS."

 

[Allen773]

Ah.

I'd expect them to both be on 'team Sunni'.

Turkish Islamists vs Arab absolute monarchs who always make a point out of saying "the clerics answer to the state, not the other way around" (as opposed to, say, Iran, whether the clerics are the state)?

Yeah, they're not on the same team.

 

[luchog]

Well, Dune is based on exactly that situation anyway, and there's quite a bit of arabic-sounding jargon in the book.

Well, yes, obviously. Aside from the mysticism, "Spice" is clearly a metaphor for oil, and the entire first book for the colonialism and oppression that resulted from its critical importance to modern industrial society.

 

[Belz...]

Although he spell "Jihad" wrong.

It's spelled differently in ten thousand years.

 

[Allen773]

I suspect the animosity is more ethnic than religious, Arab vs Turk. Although it does blend in with religion-- Arabs in general and Saudi Arabia in particular seem to consider themselves the most genuine inheritors of Islam, and while other ethnicities are certainly welcome to be Muslims too they can never be quite quite, not like a Saudi Arab can be. This attitude, or the perception of it, has caused some difficulties in the past.

In that vein, as I have already said - the Islamist populists that make up Erdogan's base are openly allied with the dreaded Muslim Brotherhood, whom Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE all consider a terrorist group and a critical threat to the security and stability of their regimes.

The Saudis vastly prefer secular or non-Islamic countries to Political Islam. The royals control politics in SA, not the religious Establishment, even if they need buy-in from the clerics. Though under MBS, it seems that even the powerful clerics are being marginalized more and more, with those who aren't mouthpieces for the regime being arrested, or worse.

Political Islam of any sort, whether it's the populist Muslim Brotherhood or the theocratic Iranian regime, is an existential threat to the House of Saud. This is important to keep in mind.

 

[Arcade22]

One wonders if the reason that the Turks have not showed any journalists or the public the evidence they used to quickly conclude that he was killed is because they want to extract concessions from Saudi Arabia such as cheap loans to prop up their economy.

Another possibility is that they are waiting for the Saudis to stop insisting on completely unbelievable blanket denials and instead come up with an explanation that's even a little bit believable. Then they release the evidence and show that lied about it.

 

[JoeMorgue]

When you're sitting on trillions and trillions of dollars of one of the most sought-after and in-demand resources on the face of the earth, resources that can make or break entire societies, you tend to acquire a disproportionate amount of political power as well as the obvious economic power.

Any society which is based on a single highly sought after natural material is doomed to turn into horrid places for the people in them because the people in power have zero reason to invest in the well being of the people. As history professor CGP Grey put it "You can run a diamond mine with dying slaves and still produce great profit."

Saudi Arabia doesn't make money off the skill or well being of its people. So it's people will not be well being-ed.

 

[Belz...]

Any society which is based on a single highly sought after natural material is doomed to turn into horrid places for the people in them because the people in power have zero reason to invest in the well being of the people. As history professor CGP Grey put it "You can run a diamond mine with dying slaves and still produce great profit."

Saudi Arabia doesn't make money off the skill or well being of its people. So it's people will not be well being-ed.

They're going to be real pissed off when cars mostly run on electricity.

 

[CORed]

Is everyone in power just getting dumber by the day? This seems like childishly incompetent lack of subtlety on both the Saudi and Turkish side. Aren't diplomatic assassinations normally a bit more sophisticated?

One curious thing I've noticed is that Turkey has all but admitted that they have the Saudi consulate under surveillance (how else would they have video?). Not that there is anything unusual about having a foreign embassy or consulate under surveillance, but it is a breach of diplomatic protocol, so it's pretty much unheard of to actually admit that you're doing it.

 

[CORed]

I have never fully understood how Saudi Arabia has so much influence on human rights policy at the UN. I felt much the same when Libya seemed to be in charge of human rights policy at the UN. I suppose the UN has become a useless organisation:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/n...risy-of-saudi-arabia-in-human-rights-council/

The World Health Organization does some very good work. But other than that, yes, the UN is pretty much useless.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

The World Health Organization does some very good work. But other than that, yes, the UN is pretty much useless.

Wrong.

The value of countries being able to bring their issues to an audience of World leaders is inestimably valuable.

 

[CORed]

Trump offered the Saudis "Rogue Killers", so having been given an out, they're running with it. My cynical side says that was the plan. My more practical side says Trump is too dumb for that.

But hey, every interrogator makes sure to take a bone saw along, don't they?

Prediction: SA will name a couple of guys and announce they've been beheaded. Journalists will almost immediately provide proof those weren't they guys. Trump will say "Fake News".

As I posted on another thread. Kashoggi was killed by some rogue security people who unfortunately took the king too literally when he said, "Will no one rid me of this turbulant priest reporter?"

 

[Childlike Empress]

You think they are SO stupid that they don't see that their oil will run out sooner rather than later? No. Just google "King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative", which is part of their "Vision 2030".

 

[Childlike Empress]

One wonders if the reason that the Turks have not showed any journalists or the public the evidence they used to quickly conclude that he was killed is because they want to extract concessions from Saudi Arabia such as cheap loans to prop up their economy.

Another possibility is that they are waiting for the Saudis to stop insisting on completely unbelievable blanket denials and instead come up with an explanation that's even a little bit believable. Then they release the evidence and show that lied about it.

Or they have no evidence and Muslim Brother Khashoggi is happily in honeymoon on a yacht in Cyprus waters with his new girlfriend who is a longtime protege of Muslim Brother Erdogan, while the latter is loudly laughing while feeding horror stories through his purged media and intelligence to the western pre$$titutes.

 

[Crossbow]

Or they have no evidence and Muslim Brother Khashoggi is happily in honeymoon on a yacht in Cyprus waters with his new girlfriend who is a longtime protege of Muslim Brother Erdogan, while the latter is loudly laughing while feeding horror stories through his purged media and intelligence to the western pre$$titutes.

This statement sounds a great deal like some of the other nonsense statements that were said when those three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964 by the KKK.