Jamal Khashoggi
It’s just dangling there in an AP piece. But according to the AP, one of the members of the Saudi hit team made five calls from the consulate that day – four to the head of MBS’s office and one to the United States. Read More
A Few Thoughts on the Reaction to the Khashoggi Murder
Here are a few thoughts on the still unfolding Khashoggi scandal and story.
First, I think critics of Saudi Arabia should take some solace from the fact that the Saudis I believe had and perhaps still have a narrow window in which they could depose Mohammed bin Salman and wash their hands of Khashoggi’s murder. Yet they show no sign of doing so. Saudi Arabia has long been a brutal and utterly repressive regime. But in the last few years it’s become a different kind of brutal and utterly repressive regime. Saudi Kings – all sons of state founder ibn Saud since 1953 – have generally ruled by consensus within the upper echelons of the al Saud clan. That’s one reason so many longstanding challenges have gone unresolved or postponed. It’s not a system which makes room for dynamic leadership. It’s a highly conservative ruling circle which doesn’t do a lot of dangerous or crazy things. Until now. Read More
