Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Khashoggi Murder Being Whitewashed
Jamal Khashoggi of the Washington Post was definitely murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The Associated Press is reporting that Turkish officials have found evidence of the murder. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known as MBS) is the Minister of Defense among his other titles, and therefore, the security service answers to him. The current plan is to diffuse the situation that has pitted the Saudis, Turks and Americans against one another. "Rogue killers" was the term President Trump used for the excuse that will become official policy in the next few hours. Then, everyone can get back to business, except the late Mr. Khashoggi.
Mr. Khashoggi entered the consulate a couple weeks ago to take care of some paperwork to allow him to marry his Turkish fiance. He never came out. A few hours earlier, fifteen men arrived from Saudi Arabia, checked into a hotel and then made their way to the consulate. One was an autopsy expert wielding a bone saw, according to the Associate Press. This journal is satisfied that he was bumped off at the behest of the Saudi authorities, including MBS and possibly King Salman.
Yesterday, President Trump spoke with King Salman who denied everything, and because it was a powerful denial, that was good enough for the failed casino owner and POTUS. He said of the king, "I don't want to get into his mind -- but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers." Only the most gullible could believe that 15 rogue killers flew from Saudi to Turkey to pull this off without MBS or anyone else in authority knowing about it.
However, suppose for a moment that this ridiculous excuse becomes the party line today or tomorrow. That many rogue killers, about whom MBS knows nothing, pose a serious threat to the stability of the kingdom. Someone will have to be punished. The existence of real rogue killers implies that a top-to-bottom purge of the security forces is necessary. If it's a sham, instead, some scapegoats are still necessary, and that will create ill-will toward the crown prince. Either way, his position is less stable because there are real enemies within or he must turn on his own minions, which always harms loyalty.
Still, this fabrication lets MBS off the hook, and it also means that Presidents Trump and Erdogan are able to de-escalate as well.
Mr. Trump, ever the greedy and needy merchant, has his mythical $110 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia on his mind. "If they don't buy it from us, they're going to buy it from Russia or they're going to buy it from China or they're going to buy it from other countries. From the standpoint of jobs, economic development, a lot of other reasons, I would like to do something where we could maybe look at other things [than canceling the deal]." Now, he doesn't have to punish anyone, so his pipe dream continues.
As for Mr. Erdogan, he released an American pastor being held on terrorism charges (meaning he was nice to the Kurds) to get on Mr. Trump's good side. Now, MBS can hand over a few lackeys to him, and the Turks can have their show trials. The crisis is diffused, and Mr. Erdogan can go back to fixing his broken economy, perhaps, with some Saudi funding?
Meanwhile, Mr. Khashoggi is dead, but the whitewash should be enough to cover up the blood.
© Copyright 2018 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
Kensington Review Home
|
|
|
|
