Saudis/MBS/Khashoggi/Yemen/Kushner

[fraurosena]

From Jennifer Rubin:

Whose interests is Trump looking out for in Saudi Arabia?

Quote

The Post's Phillip Bump writes: “The question of whether [President] Trump has financial interests has risen to prominence in recent weeks as questions about the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi emerged. … Are there business ties we don’t know about? Trump assures us that there are not — or, at least, that there are none in Saudi Arabia.”

That phrasing by Trump is not even subtle; it’s a glaring dodge around the real issue, which is the extent to which the president and his son-in-law Jared Kushner directly benefit from Saudi money. The issue goes to the heart of questions about Trump’s loyalty to the United States’ interests over his own and whether he is in violation of constitutional provisions designed specifically to prevent foreign manipulation of our government and its policies.

The Post previously reported:

Trump’s business relationships with the Saudi government — and rich Saudi business executives — go back to at least the 1990s. In Trump’s hard times, a Saudi prince bought a superyacht and hotel from him. The Saudi government paid him $4.5 million for an apartment near the United Nations.

Business from Saudi-connected customers continued to be important after Trump won the presidency. Saudi lobbyists spent $270,000 last year to reserve rooms at Trump’s hotel in Washington. Just this year, Trump’s hotels in New York and Chicago reported significant upticks in bookings from Saudi visitors.

Reports also circulated this year that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bragged that he had Kushner “in his pocket.” Whether he was referring to financial influence, or simply the ability to charm and manipulate the novice diplomat, is not clear.

This situation — fear of foreign manipulation of executive branch officials — is precisely what led the Founders to craft the foreign emoluments clause. Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe tells me, “The tortured and lackluster response of the Trump administration to the Saudi kidnapping, torture, and [apparent] murder in Istanbul of Jamal Khashoggi, a permanent American resident who was a longtime critic of the Saudi rulers and their policies but was a Saudi patriot even as he wrote for The Washington Post … cannot be persuasively explained by any meaningful economic or national security benefit to the United States.” He explains, “On the contrary, the only plausible explanation of our shamefully weak response is the way the Saudi Royal Family and the government it constitutes has been and remains a rich source of unconstitutional Foreign Emoluments to President Trump personally and to his barely American version of a ‘royal’ family.” He continues: “The point of the Foreign emoluments clause was to eliminate even the suspicion that our leaders are governing and shaping U.S. policy on behalf of foreign princes and powers rather than on behalf of the American people. No proof of quid pro quo bribery, independently an impeachable offense, is needed. In this instance, sadly, even such proof might not be too hard for a Democratic House of Representatives to unearth.”

There are multiple lawsuits seeking to uncover and eliminate Trump’s receipt of foreign monies. Norman Eisen, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is leading the effort in two lawsuits, one brought by CREW and private parties and the other by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Eisen tells me that “my colleagues and I have warned since Trump announced he would keep his businesses that doing so would violate the constitutional prohibition on ’emoluments’ from foreign governments — and create devastating conflicts of interests.” He points out that “we now have the latest of many examples with the president’s handling of the Khashoggi matter.” He notes that Trump’s past dealings with the Saudis, including ongoing money from his hotels, give us reason to wonder whether “his outrageously inadequate response is the result of these Saudi emoluments.” He argues that Trump “has behaved like a patsy, not an American president. All the more reason that we must get to the bottom of Saudi and other emoluments, and we intend to probe them in our litigation.”

If Democrats take the House, matters become much easier. The relevant committee can subpoena all documents (including tax returns) evidencing monies from state actors. The House — which has never officially approved Trump’s emoluments as spelled out in the Constitution — can vote to disallow them. In the meantime, the transformation of the United States from a constitutional republic to a Third World potentate continues — until the voters or the courts say otherwise.

 

[fraurosena]

A Dutch language news article, citing a Turkish newspaper, is stating that the Saudi consul was present during Khashoggi's murder, asking them to 'do this outside'.

My translation:

Quote

The Saudi consul in Turkey was aware of the torture of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Even worse, he appears to have been present while it was happening. That’s what the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safa claims, basing their comments on an audio fragment on which the torture can be heard.

“Shut up”

According to the newspaper consul Mohammed al-Otaibi can be heard on the audio.
“Do this outside, you’re going to get me into trouble,” he says to those busy torturing Khashoggi.

He can’t have been pleased with the response he got to his question.
“Shut up if you want to see Saudi Arabia alive again,” one of those present snarled at him.

Speedy retreat to Riyad

The newspaper notes that the consul hastily retreated to the Saudi capital of Riyad after the murder. According to Turkish authorities it has been definitively confirmed that Khashoggi was tortured and murdered two weeks ago in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His body was dismembered and removed [from the consulate].

Evidence cleaned up

In the past days Turkish forensic experts have meticulously combed through the Saudi consulate. Afterwards Turkish president Erdogan stated that parts of the consulate had been repainted recently. This could mean that the Saudi’s tried to clean up any evidence that the torture took place there. 

 

[Howl]

One has to assume that this wasn't the first rodeo for that particular Saudi crew.  Let that sink in. 

One article I saw mentioned that the fiance waiting outside was not anticipated. Had she not been there, no one would have known where or when or how he disappeared and the "mission" would have been successful instead of a gory international incident.

[Drala]

America’s Dilemma: Censuring M.B.S. and Not Halting Saudi Reforms

Thomas Friedman, NYTimes, 10-17-18

Spoiler

I have three thoughts on the Jamal Khashoggi saga.

First, I can’t shake the image of this big teddy bear of a man, who only wanted to see his government reform in a more inclusive, transparent way, being killed in some dark corner of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by a 15-man Saudi hit team reportedly armed with a bone saw. The depravity and cowardice of that is just disgusting.

Second, I do not believe for a second that it was a rogue operation and that Saudi Arabia’s effective ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is very hands on, had no prior knowledge, if not more. And therefore, not as a journalist but as an American citizen, I am sickened to watch my own president and his secretary of state partnering with Saudi officials to concoct a cover story. The long-term ramifications of that for every journalist — or political critic in exile anywhere — are chilling. By the way, I don’t think they will get away with it.

This leads to my third point: How should America think about balancing our values and our interests going forward? The best way to answer that, for me, is to go back to the basics. I always knew that M.B.S.’s reform agenda was a long shot to succeed, but I was rooting for its success — while urging the Trump administration to draw redlines around his dark side — for a very specific reason. It had nothing to do with M.B.S. personally. Personally, I don’t care if Saudi Arabia is ruled by M.B.S., S.O.S. or K.F.C.

It had to do with how I defined our most important national interest in Saudi Arabia since 9/11. And it is not oil, it’s not arms sales, it’s not standing up to Iran. It’s Islamic religious reform, which can come only from Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina.

By pure coincidence my first job as a foreign correspondent was in Beirut in 1979. The first two big stories I covered were the Iranian revolution and the takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by an ultra-fundamentalist Saudi extremist preacher who claimed that the al-Saud family members were corrupt, womanizers and Westernizers.

That Mecca takeover terrified the Saudi ruling family. So, to shore up its religious credentials and protect itself, it made a sharp religious right turn in 1979, letting clerics impose much tighter religious controls on the society and expand exports of their puritanical Salafi Sunni brand of Islam abroad — building mosques and schools from London to Indonesia and from Morocco to Kabul, funded by higher oil prices.

This had a hugely negative effect on education and women’s rights and political freedom throughout the Arab-Muslim world — and the most extreme version of this fundamentalism, Salafi jihadism, also inspired the hijackers of 9/11 and ISIS.

I believe 9/11 was the worst thing to happen to America in my lifetime.

We can debate what was the right response to the attacks — Afghanistan, Iraq, the global war on terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security, or metal detectors everywhere. But we cannot debate the costs.

We have spent thousands of lives and some $2 trillion trying to defuse the threat of Muslim extremists — from Al Qaeda to ISIS — dollars that could have gone to so many other needs in our society.

And I believe that the roots of 9/11 came from two terrible bargains. One was that bargain between the Saudi ruling family and the kingdom’s religious establishment, where each blessed the other. The other was America’s cynical bargain with the Saudis, which went like this: “Guys, just keep your oil pumps open, your prices low and don’t bother the Israelis too much, and you can do whatever you want out back — preach whatever hate you want in your mosques, print whatever conspiracy theories you want in your papers and treat your women however you want.”

On 9/11 we got hit with the distilled essence of everything that was going on out back. Which is why this column, since 9/11, had been highly critical of Saudi leaders for not reforming their version of Islam, something that would require economic and social modernization as well. They would arrest religious extremists, but Saudi leaders almost never engaged them in a public war of ideas.

And so what most caught my eye about M.B.S. and made me most hopeful was his tentative willingness to engage in a war of ideas with his religious hard-liners, declaring publicly: “Do not write that we are ‘reinterpreting’ Islam — we are ‘restoring’ Islam to its origins.” He argued publicly that Islam in its origins was tolerant of other faiths and empowering of women and open to new ideas.

He seemed to be aiming to replace Saudi fundamentalist Islam, and its clerics, as the primary source of his regime’s legitimacy with a more secular Saudi nationalism — one, to be sure, that had a strong anti-Iran and anti-Qatar tenor.

Hey, maybe it was all just a fake to cover for a power grab and win Western support. But a lot of young Saudis I spoke to thought it was real and wanted more of it. On this question of Saudi Arabia’s most toxic export that had affected America and the whole world — jihadi Islamism — M.B.S. was doing and saying stuff that had real promise.

As veteran U.S. Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross recently pointed out in an essay in The Washington Post: “M.B.S.’s appointment of Muhammad al-Issa as the head of the World Muslim League has sent a powerful new message of tolerance and rejection of radical Islamist teachings. His visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, his commitment to interfaith dialogue and his calls for peace mark a significant departure from his predecessors.”

But now M.B.S.’s government also has Jamal’s blood on its hands. Should we all overlook that as President Trump is doing? We must not, and, in fact, we cannot.

For starters, I believe that the promise of M.B.S., however much you did or did not think he could bring social, economic and religious reform, is finished. He’s made himself radioactive — absent a credible, independent exoneration for Jamal’s disappearance and apparent murder. M.B.S. may be able to hold onto power in Saudi Arabia, but his whole reform program required direct foreign investment — and money has been flowing out of Saudi Arabia for months, not in. Now it will get worse.

Yes, I covered the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre. I know that money has a short memory. But Saudi Arabia is not China. There has been just way too much craziness coming out of the M.B.S. government for many investors to want to make long-term bets there today, which is too bad. It will weaken any hopes of future reform.

And here’s one more complication. Even if M.B.S. were pushed aside, if you think there are a 100 Saudi royals with the steel, cunning and ruthlessness he had to push through women driving, removing the Islamic police from the streets and reopening cinemas, you are wrong. There are not. All of these reforms had intense conservative opponents. This is not Denmark, and yet, without sweeping social, economic and religious reforms, Saudi Arabia could well become a huge failed state. Remember, one of ISIS’ biggest sources of young recruits was Saudi Arabia.

And by the way, if you think M.B.S. had a dark side, you ought to look under some rocks in the kingdom. You will find some people there with long beards who don’t speak English who believe the most crazy stuff about Shiites, Jews, Christians, Hindus, America and the West. And right now, trust me, they are applauding Jamal’s assumed murder.

So, once again, what do we do? I don’t have a simple answer. It’s a mess. All I know is that we have to find some way to censure M.B.S. for this — without seeming to attack the whole Saudi people and destabilize the country. And we have to make sure that the social/religious reform process in Saudi Arabia proceeds — whoever is in charge there. Because that is a vital U.S. interest.

But you can’t fix stupid. And when your ally does something as sick and as stupid as the Saudis apparently did in Istanbul, there is just no easy fix. But Trump might start by appointing an ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He has never had one — and it shows.

 

[Drala]

Elizabeth Warren came out swinging.  I wish she hadn't taken the Orange Toddler's bait re: Cherokee ancestry.    

 

[Howl]

Details, details: 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Saudi Arabia transfers $100 million to U.S. amid crisis over Khashoggi"

Spoiler

The United States received a payment of $100 million from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the same day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh to discuss the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a State Department official confirmed Wednesday amid global calls for answers in the case.

Saudi Arabia publicly pledged the payment to support U.S. stabilization efforts in northeastern Syria in August, but questions persisted about when and if Saudi officials would come through with the money.

The timing of the transfer, first reported by the New York Times, raised questions about a potential payoff as Riyadh seeks to manage the blowback over allegations that Saudi agents were responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance. The State Department denied any connection between the payment and Pompeo's discussions with Saudi officials about Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist.

“We always expected the contribution to be finalized in the fall time frame,” Brett McGurk, the State Department's envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition, said in a statement. “The specific transfer of funds has been long in process and has nothing to do with other events or the secretary’s visit.”

Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich monarchy and staunch U.S. ally, has long relied on its financial largesse to persuade partners to support its foreign policy objectives. Western diplomats suspect that the kingdom will also compensate Turkey for its willingness to launch a joint investigation on Khashoggi’s disappearance — a payback that could come in the form of large-scale debt relief, strategic buyouts or other arrangements that boost Turkey’s ailing economy.

Khashoggi’s disappearance has hurt the reputation of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, whose close relationship with President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has put him at the center of the administration’s Middle East policy.

Turkish authorities say Khashoggi was killed Oct. 2 during a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document required to get married.

Trump initially promised “severe punishment” for Saudi Arabia if the United States determined that Saudi agents killed Khashoggi. But the president has since floated an alternative theory involving “rogue killers” and compared the case to the sexual assault allegations against recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

“Here we go again with, you know, you're guilty until proven innocent,” Trump told the Associated Press in an interview Tuesday.

During Pompeo’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the top diplomat and the crown prince smiled for the cameras and emphasized the two countries’ mutual interests. When asked if he had learned any details about Khashoggi’s disappearance, Pompeo told reporters that “I don’t want to talk about any of the facts; they didn’t want to, either, in that they want to have the opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way.”

The Saudi payment to support stabilization efforts in Syria is a cornerstone of Trump’s “America First” strategy, which calls on regional countries to take on a greater burden for security challenges, including Syria. In August, U.S. officials hailed the Saudi pledge and said the United States would use $230 million earmarked to help stabilize Syria for other purposes.

McGurk, the State Department envoy, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday to discuss how the $100 million in stabilization money would be spent, said a State Department official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

The official said the timing was a coincidence and that transferring the $100 million “has multiple steps, all of which clicked through over the past two months.”

Middle East experts said the timing of the transfer probably sent a clear message to the Trump administration.

“In all probability, the Saudis want Trump to know that his cooperation in covering for the Khashoggi affair is important to the Saudi monarch,” said Joshua Landis, a professor at the University of Oklahoma. “Much of its financial promises to the U.S. will be contingent on this cooperation.”

The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

This is Jared. Jared is hiding. He is scared. 

Khashoggi disappearance prompts Kushner retreat from Saudi frontlines

Quote

Facing scrutiny for cultivating close ties with Saudi Arabia's powerful and domineering crown prince, Jared Kushner has remained intentionally in the background this week as West Wing officials feared a more public role would prompt backlash, multiple people familiar with the matter say.

Kushner instead has been operating behind-the-scenes to mitigate the fallout but leaving public explanations to others as his father-in-law's administration confronts a full-blown diplomatic crisis over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. The prominent Saudi journalist has not been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul more than two weeks ago and is widely presumed dead.

President Donald Trump's son-in-law and top adviser has remained involved in the administration's efforts, two sources familiar with the matter said, quietly leveraging his close relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman throughout the saga when asked and retreating to the sidelines when necessary. The sources said Kushner is wary of overstepping, mindful of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's purview as the nation's top diplomat.

The White House declined to comment on Kushner's role in the administration's response to Khashoggi's disappearance.

Senior administration officials said Kushner's close relationship with bin Salman was an early cause for concern among career national security staffers, who worried off-the-books conversations with the young prince could lead to misunderstandings or worse. Kushner is known to have messaged with the prince on the communication app WhatsApp.

But people familiar with the situation say after those concerns were raised, Kushner began notifying other members of the President's team about his conversations and providing readouts afterward.

Publicly, Trump has downplayed Kushner's close ties to Prince Mohammed, saying last week: "We have a lot of very close relationships with a lot of countries."

But in private, the President has been frustrated at news coverage of the situation, including at suggestions he and his son-in-law became overly cozy with a repressive -- and allegedly murderous -- regime.

Above scrutiny?

Kushner was walking off a flight from Washington to New York on Tuesday when a reporter seated several rows ahead of him attempted to ask about Khashoggi's disappearance.

"I don't give a damn who you work for," a Secret Service agent traveling with Kushner said when the reporter on the plane identified himself. "There's a time and a place."

That time and place didn't appear imminent on Wednesday as the administration continued to defer to an ongoing Saudi investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance.

As the crisis over Khashoggi's disappearance mounted last week, Kushner was at the President's side. He traveled with Trump to Orlando, where the President delivered remarks to a conference of police chiefs. Later he was seen chatting amicably with chief of staff John Kelly as they returned to Washington.

But even as Trump was otherwise occupied, it was becoming clear the disappearance of a dissident columnist -- and the potential involvement of the Saudi government -- would pose a test for Kushner.

Prince Mohammed, who was concerned at reports emanating from Turkey about his government's role in the disappearance, reached out to Kushner, with whom he'd met several times and established a close rapport. But when the White House returned the call, it was not only Kushner on the line but also national security adviser John Bolton.

And after the call wrapped, Pompeo followed up with a phone call to the crown prince, sending a clear signal that the matter would be handled through official diplomatic channels.

Since then, Kushner has helped shape the administration's response to the situation, which has developed into a diplomatic crisis. He and other senior administration officials have insisted in phone calls to senior Saudi officials that Riyadh investigate the matter.

This past weekend, Kushner spoke with the Saudi crown prince and urged him to launch a full and thorough investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance, a source familiar with the matter said.

Remaining in Washington

But instead of flying to the Saudi capital this week with Pompeo, Kushner remained in Washington, attending West Wing meetings as scheduled and exuding a calm demeanor amid mounting questions about whether he put too much trust in Prince Mohammed.

He was still in New York on Wednesday, absent from a Cabinet meeting Trump convened. Normally he is seated along the wall during such gatherings.

For Kushner, cultivating ties to Prince Mohammed began early in the administration, at the same time he was developing a wide portfolio as a senior adviser that included huge swaths of foreign and domestic policy. Kushner adopted responsibility for drafting a peace framework between the Israelis and Palestinians, which he once hoped could gain approval from the Saudis (those prospects seemed to dim after Trump moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem).

Khashoggi's alleged killing now threatens to throw a wrench in those efforts, potentially further delaying the long-awaited peace plan Kushner has worked to formulate and which administration officials have said relies heavily on the alignment in interests between Saudi Arabia -- and Arab states that follow its lead -- and Israel.

Kushner was instrumental in arranging Trump's first stop abroad as president to occur in Riyadh, where the President was welcomed with extravagant displays of royal pageantry, including a traditional sword dance. At the conclusion of the stop, Kushner took the unusual step for a senior adviser of releasing his own statement on the visit, thanking the President's Saudi hosts and lauding "great progress" toward combating intolerance and terrorism.

Since then he's visited the Kingdom on his own, including during a tour of the Gulf in June. Prince Mohammed has also been welcomed to the White House for talks, including during an American tour that included stops in New York, Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Bin Salman has promoted reforms within his kingdom, but some in Washington have cast skepticism on his intentions. Those came into sharp relief after the detention and reported torture of dozens of Saudis in the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh -- an episode that came just weeks after Trump stayed at the hotel on his visit.

 

[Howl]

12 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Saudi Arabia transfers $100 million to U.S. amid crisis over Khashoggi"

Sigh.  SMH.  This is where we're at. It's blatant, it's overt.  And it's just another day in the fetid undrained swamp. 

Fortunately, at some people are on top of it: 

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Howl

[fraurosena]

What are these "things" that he's talking about? What "things" exactly did the Saudi's buy, worth $450 billion, no less?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[Drala]

When I feel discouraged over the plutocratic corruption of our democracy or oppressed by the gas-lighting, authoritarian narratives of the present administration, I remember to feel grateful that the First Amendment is still in place.  I am empowered by my ability access information and express my thoughts openly. That's why I find Khashoggi's story so disturbing.  He died for one of the most fundamental rights a free citizen can have.   

Jamal Khashoggi's final column

Spoiler

A note from Karen Attiah, Global Opinions editor

I received this column from Jamal Khashoggi’s translator and assistant the day after Jamal was reported missing in Istanbul. The Post held off publishing it because we hoped Jamal would come back to us so that he and I could edit it together. Now I have to accept: That is not going to happen. This is the last piece of his I will edit for The Post. This column perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A freedom he apparently gave his life for. I will be forever grateful he chose The Post as his final journalistic home one year ago and gave us the chance to work together.

I was recently online looking at the 2018 “Freedom in the World” report published by Freedom House and came to a grave realization. There is only one country in the Arab world that has been classified as “free.” That nation is Tunisia. Jordan, Morocco and Kuwait come second, with a classification of “partly free.” The rest of the countries in the Arab world are classified as “not free.”

As a result, Arabs living in these countries are either uninformed or misinformed. They are unable to adequately address, much less publicly discuss, matters that affect the region and their day-to-day lives. A state-run narrative dominates the public psyche, and while many do not believe it, a large majority of the population falls victim to this false narrative. Sadly, this situation is unlikely to change.

The Arab world was ripe with hope during the spring of 2011. Journalists, academics and the general population were brimming with expectations of a bright and free Arab society within their respective countries. They expected to be emancipated from the hegemony of their governments and the consistent interventions and censorship of information. These expectations were quickly shattered; these societies either fell back to the old status quo or faced even harsher conditions than before.

My dear friend, the prominent Saudi writer Saleh al-Shehi, wrote one of the most famous columns ever published in the Saudi press. He unfortunately is now serving an unwarranted five-year prison sentence for supposed comments contrary to the Saudi establishment. The Egyptian government’s seizure of the entire print run of a newspaper, al-Masry al Youm, did not enrage or provoke a reaction from colleagues. These actions no longer carry the consequence of a backlash from the international community. Instead, these actions may trigger condemnation quickly followed by silence.

As a result, Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate. There was a time when journalists believed the Internet would liberate information from the censorship and control associated with print media. But these governments, whose very existence relies on the control of information, have aggressively blocked the Internet. They have also arrested local reporters and pressured advertisers to harm the revenue of specific publications.

There are a few oases that continue to embody the spirit of the Arab Spring. Qatar’s government continues to support international news coverage, in contrast to its neighbors’ efforts to uphold the control of information to support the “old Arab order.” Even in Tunisia and Kuwait, where the press is considered at least “partly free,” the media focuses on domestic issues but not issues faced by the greater Arab world. They are hesitant to provide a platform for journalists from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen. Even Lebanon, the Arab world’s crown jewel when it comes to press freedom, has fallen victim to the polarization and influence of pro-Iran Hezbollah.

The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power. During the Cold War, Radio Free Europe, which grew over the years into a critical institution, played an important role in fostering and sustaining the hope of freedom. Arabs need something similar. In 1967, the New York Times and The Post took joint ownership of the International Herald Tribune newspaper, which went on to become a platform for voices from around the world.

My publication, The Post, has taken the initiative to translate many of my pieces and publish them in Arabic. For that, I am grateful. Arabs need to read in their own language so they can understand and discuss the various aspects and complications of democracy in the United States and the West. If an Egyptian reads an article exposing the actual cost of a construction project in Washington, then he or she would be able to better understand the implications of similar projects in his or her community.

The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events. More important, we need to provide a platform for Arab voices. We suffer from poverty, mismanagement and poor education. Through the creation of an independent international forum, isolated from the influence of nationalist governments spreading hate through propaganda, ordinary people in the Arab world would be able to address the structural problems their societies face.

 

[Howl]

On 10/17/2018 at 7:25 AM, Drala said:

America’s Dilemma: Censuring M.B.S. and Not Halting Saudi Reforms

Thomas Friedman, NYTimes, 10-17-18

I find this  fascinating, mainly because Khashoggi left KSA basically in fear of his life, and he became a critic of MBS BECAUSE it became apparent that MBS was using social reforms to cover for a very, very dark turn to autocracy.  He left the country just before  MBS's brutal crackdown on intellectuals, moderate dissidents and perceived enemies that included torture and even the death of one person. 

Khashoggi had left the country just before the "purge", which was also a massive shakedown resulting in a large transfer of wealth and treasure to MBS. 

KSA is an absolute monarchy and MBS is the Crown Prince and heir apparent to the throne; he is consolidating power, treasure and money while waiting to assume the throne in the not too distant future.  Jets that were surrendered to MBS during that shakedown were used to transport at least part of the assassination crew. 

Keep in mind also that MBS had an experienced black ops assassination crew ready to roll, which speaks to a state apparatus that uses torture on a regular basis. 

 This has turned into an international incident; the bright side for MBS is that the details of Khoshaggi's torture and death are striking a deep fear into the heart of ordinary citizens, journalists, intellectuals, anyone really, who might even consider criticizing or saying a harsh word about MBS and that there is no fear of murdering people in foreign countries. 

It's also pissing me off whenever a news outlet refers to Khashoggi's "interrogation."  There was no interrogation.  There was recreational torture as part of an assassination. 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Howl

[Howl]

As I've noted somewhere else, YOU CANNOT MAKE UP THIS SHIT! 

 

[Howl]

A bit more: 

And here's something from a twitter account that I follow from back in MARCH, with some MBS, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Eric Prince, Kushner, Trump and also the timing of Rexit (Tillerson's exit stage left) and why it's not necessarily just Russia, Russia, Russia.  Sarah Kendzior follows and retweets iyad al-Baghdadi, the author of this thread, and that is how I came to follow him as well. 

It's long (not Seth Abramson long, but long-ish) and if you scroll way down, there is an unroll.  However, may of the tweets have links to articles that provide more context; I don't know if that carries over into an unroll. 

 

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

However, may of the tweets have links to articles that provide more context; I don't know if that carries over into an unroll. 

The unroll thing just takes the tweets and puts them all on one big page, so links and pictures do transfer over.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/973667667382022145.html

 

[Audrey2]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

As I've noted somewhere else, YOU CANNOT MAKE UP THIS SHIT! 

 

Hmmm... I thought these Evangelicals were pro life. Guess not for anyone who isn't a fetus, especially if they were originally born in another country, then came to the U.S.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Why one man’s disappearance captured the outrage and media attention that war has not"

Spoiler

In the months before the disappearance of columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s government racked up a startling record of human rights abuses.

It has led a coalition waging a brutal war in neighboring Yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians, including 40 children whose school bus was bombed in August. Saudi officials have jailed dissidents, busi­ness­peo­ple, clerics and journalists, as well as royal rivals to the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

None of the Saudi atrocities and trespasses generated sustained outrage, at least not in the West. Thanks to crafty public relations management, Mohammed until recently enjoyed an image as a progressive reformer and staunch American ally. On a recent goodwill tour of the United States, he was cordially received by the likes of Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeffrey P. Bezos, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Oprah Winfrey and Rupert Murdoch.

The apparent murder of Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul appears to have changed all that.

Why the reaction to Khashoggi, a man few people had heard of until his disappearance, when so many other acts of barbarity by the Saudis have been largely overlooked?

The answer may be a combination of the time and place of Khashoggi’s disappearance, and the gruesome circumstances of his apparent death, which may have made his story more “relatable” to American viewers and readers. The accumulation of details has created the kind of sustained news coverage that the faceless victims of war and violence rarely receive, experts on international affairs say.

The Khashoggi story has been prominent in the American news media almost since he walked into the consulate on Oct. 2. Governments around the world, including the United States’, have called on Saudi Arabia to account for what happened. In the days since, a Saudi investment conference involving American media companies and investors has all but collapsed in reaction. The constant news coverage has created perhaps the foremost foreign-policy crisis of President Trump’s administration.

Apart from the geopolitical implications of Khashoggi’s apparent killing, the volume of news coverage about him is a validation of a saying attributed to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin: “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”

Though not widely known before this month, Khashoggi was well connected in Washington. A former Saudi insider himself, he lived in exile in Northern Virginia and was a familiar figure among Washington’s foreign-policy wonks, politicians and media figures. He had also worked since last year as a contributing columnist for The Post, an association that gave him an establishment perch and international cachet.

All that made him distinct and distinguishable from Saudi Arabia’s many victims, said Stephen McInerney, executive director of the Project on Middle East Democracy, a Washington-based policy organization.

“Brutal violence happens relatively frequently in Saudi Arabia, but the victims tend to be anonymous,” McInerney said. “Jamal was not anonymous. He was a writer and journalist for The Washington Post. It personalizes him. It humanizes him as a victim in a way [others] aren’t humanized in their own country.”

It’s also important that Khashoggi was apparently killed outside the kingdom, he said. The murder of a dissident inside Saudi Arabia would very likely have been covered up.

In this case, the events in question occurred in Turkey, a country with an adversarial relationship with Saudi Arabia and thus an incentive to expose what happened, he said.

In fact, the Turkish government has been the leading source of leaks about the incident, providing such key bits of information as the identities of some men in the alleged Saudi “hit squad” and closed-circuit footage of Khashoggi entering the consulate. Each new revelation — released at strategic points over the past two weeks — has propelled the story. (The irony is that Turkey ranks as the world’s foremost jailer of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.)

What’s more, Turkish officials have been the source of media reports about the way Khashoggi was said to have been tortured, beheaded and dismembered inside the building. These accounts have inextricably linked Khashoggi’s name to a chilling phrase: “Bone saw.”

“What’s been reported is so brazen and so gruesome that it seems like something out of a horror movie,” said Sarah Margon, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch.

The allegations have turned the Khashoggi case into “one of the most craven and depraved killings of a journalist that I can recall,” said Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. “The brutality inflicted is the kind of thing you see from a terrorist group, not a state actor.”

Simon said a significant part of the public reception of the Khashoggi story was his association with The Post. While most people can’t name an individual who died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Simon said, many remember the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl a few months afterward because of his affiliation with the Wall Street Journal. Pearl was kidnapped and killed by the terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed while reporting in Pakistan in 2002.

But even more mundane details about Khashoggi have served to make his story distinctive and memorable, said Margon of Human Rights Watch. She notes, for example, that he went to the Saudi consulate to get documents he needed to marry his fiancee.

“There’s so much conflict globally and so much brutality that it’s easy to say, ‘War is war. Terrible things happen,’ ” Margon said. “When an individual is killed this way, it sticks with you. You can understand it.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

 Follow the dead Saudis

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

10 hours ago, Howl said:

As I've noted somewhere else, YOU CANNOT MAKE UP THIS SHIT! 

 

If you tolerate this then your children will be next...

[Drala]

15 hours ago, Howl said:

As I've noted somewhere else, YOU CANNOT MAKE UP THIS SHIT! 

 

Pathetic little pharisee. What does it profit a man if he gains the world but loses his own soul?

[GreyhoundFan]

"Saudi Arabia fires 5 top officials, arrests 18 Saudis after saying Khashoggi was killed in fight at consulate"

Spoiler

RIYADH — The Saudi government acknowledged early Saturday that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, saying he died during a fist fight.

The annoucement, which came in a tweet from the Saudi foreign ministry, said that an initial investigation by the government’s general prosecutor found that Khashoggi been in discussions with people inside the consulate when a quarrel broke out, escalating to a fatal fist fight.

The Saudi government said it had fired five top officials and arrested 18 other Saudis as a result of the initial investigation. Those fired included Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s adviser Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri.

The announcement marks the first time that Saudi officials have acknowledged that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. Ever since he disappeared on Oct. 2 while visiting the mission, Saudi officials have repeatedly said that he left the consulate alive and that they had no information about his whereabouts or fate. He had gone to the consulate to obtain a document he needed for an upcoming wedding.

Turkish investigators had concluded days ago that Khashoggi, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post was killed and dismembered by a Saudi team dispatched to Istanbul. U.S. officials have said that Turkey has audio and video recordings providing evidence that he was interrogated, killed and then cut into several pieces.

Earlier Friday, Turkish prosecutors questioned staff at the Saudi Consulate, state media said, suggesting attempts to strengthen a possible criminal case with insider details from the last place journalist Jamal Khashoggi was seen alive.

An undisclosed number consulate employees in Istanbul were interviewed by prosecutors, the semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported, a day after Turkish authorities began combing through wooded areas outside Istanbul in an apparent search for Khashoggi’s remains.

Turkish officials say that Khashoggi — a U.S. resident — was killed by a 15-member Saudi hit squad after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2.

The refocus on the consulate employees suggests that investigators are seeking to bolster a possible criminal case. Turkish officials say they also have an audio tape that purports to record Khashoggi’s killing, but the tape has not been shared with American or Saudi officials.

The disappearance of Khashoggi has provoked global criticism of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and convulsed the kingdom as it struggles to respond to increasing international pressure to explain the journalist’s fate.

Turkish media reports said more than a dozen Turkish staff members of the consulate — including technicians, drivers, telephone operators and accountants — were being interviewed by prosecutors.

Their accounts could provide valuable insights into the movements of Saudi officials at the mission in the hours and days before and after Khashoggi vanished.

It was not clear why the investigators waited more than two weeks to conduct the interviews, but the move comes a day after Turkish officials said they are searching two wooded areas just outside Istanbul for possible remains.

Until recently, the inquiry has focused on the consulate in Istanbul’s Levent district and the nearby residence of the Saudi consul general, Mohammed al-Otaibi, who left Turkey this week.

Earlier Friday, Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country has not provided the audio recording of Khashoggi’s alleged killing to American officials but promised that Turkey would “share with the world” the results of its investigation, according to Anadolu.

On Thursday, President Trump said Khashoggi is likely dead and warned of “very severe” measure against Saudi Arabia if they are found to be responsible.

Several of the 15 Saudi suspects who were in Istanbul when Khashoggi went missing have close links to Saudi Arabia’s security forces. Some had social media posts self-identifying as being members of Mohammed’s Royal Guard — raising questions about whether the crown prince had any knowledge of a plan to target Khashoggi.

A person close to the White House said on Thursday Saudi officials are considering a plan to shield Mohammed from scrutiny and culpability by blaming Khashoggi’s apparent death on an operation ordered by on Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the deputy head of Saudi intelligence and a close adviser to the crown prince.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on behalf of the administration or the Saudi government.

 

[fraurosena]

Even if for arguments' sake we'd go along with that idiotic theory, then why did they at first claim Khashoggi had left the embassy? Why did they deny he had died? What was the quarrel about, and why did they have to get into a fist fight about it? Who started the fight? Why did it take 23 (!!) people (24 if you count that man who 'accidentally' died in a car crash yesterday) to win a fight with Khashoggi? Where is his body now? Why was it dismembered? Why did they bring a bone saw? Why did most of those taking part in the fist fight fly in early that morning and leave back to Saudi Arabia directly after the fist fight?

There are so many holes in their story it's an insult to our collective intelligence that they're even attempting to foist it on us.

I hope that Turkey will release the tapes they have.