SAUDI ARABIA & THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JOURNALIST JAMAL KHASHOGGI

[HairOfTheDog]

There's some thought that Turkey may be pushing the Apple watch story hard because apparently it's illegal to bug an embassy for sound & video. Take it for what it's worth, nothing has been confirmed.

Not laughing at the seriousness of an apparent murder, not at all.

I can see the Apple Watch story being bogus so that Turkey could provide the audio evidence without compromising its own covert intelligence operations and/or being called out for illegality.  

Unfortunately though, lying about the source of the evidence (if that's what's going on) will give some people reason to doubt the evidence itself.

Anyway, whatever the source..........it's clear, to me, that top U.S. officials have heard the audio evidence and verified its authenticity. 

I don't think Corker would go so far as to say publicly that all evidence thus far points to Saudi Arabia otherwise. Nor would Trump say "they deny it, but it could be Saudi Arabia" without some pretty damning evidence, in my opinion.

[Duchess]

As you might imagine, there is a great deal of chatter about this in cyberspace, as with opinions, and other things, everyone has a theory and now I'm wondering if it's possible the United States knew of the threat to Jamal and didn't warn him. He is/was a US resident. Surely the relevant people would have warned him had they known, right?

[Rootilda]

We had intelligence about ⁹⁄₁₁ and look what happened.

[HairOfTheDog]

As you might imagine, there is a great deal of chatter about this in cyberspace, as with opinions, and other things, everyone has a theory and now I'm wondering if it's possible the United States knew of the threat to Jamal and didn't warn him. He is/was a US resident. Surely the relevant people would have warned him had they known, right?

It's been confirmed that U.S. intelligence agencies  captured intel of Saudi crown prince MSB indicating he wanted to capture Khashoggi.  

It's not yet clear to me if our intelligence agencies honed in on it before Khashoggi's disappearance or instead while investigating after the fact.

Assuming we honed in on the intel real-time, would U.S. intelligence have warned Khashoggi?  I'd love to say, "of course!" unequivocally.  But, I'd be lying.  I'm really not sure.

[HairOfTheDog]

Saudi Arabia is a huge sponsor of terrorism, more so than than their arch enemy Iran even.

The House of Saud is largely responsible for modern radical Islamic fundamentalism, via state-sponsored Wahhabism and state-sponsored proliferation of it by Saudi clerics working throughout the Middle East.

@Mohammed prompted me to do quite a bit of research on this topic a few years back -- his claims were factually correct. Biggie and I have briefly discussed the matter a couple of times here at Mock as well.

Anyway, Saudi Arabia was the main force behind the 9 / 11 attacks on the United States, in my opinion, based on declassified intelligence docs and the backgrounds of the terrorists who carried out the attacks.

Yet, the U.S. held other countries responsible for the terrorist attack on NYC.

Our government targeted for retaliation other countries with whom we had old axes to grind, despite the fact that those countries had nothing to do with the 9 / 11 attacks.

The U.S. gave Saudi Arabia a pass for by far the worst and most deadly terrorist attack on our soil, likely due to the greed of our own government, our war profit industries, and in exchange for the Saudis forging alliance with Israel -- in my opinion.

[HairOfTheDog]

So, I have little faith that our government would call out Saudi Arabia for the lame-ass claim that all of the surveillance cameras at their consulate in Istanbul weren't working the day Khashoggi disappeared.

Sadly, my faith would be limited no matter who was sitting in the oval office.

However, my faith is even lower with Trump filling the Commander In Chief role.

He and Kushner have bent over backwards to elevate Saudi Arabia and crown prince MBS. They have face to save.

And, Trump boasted about how much money his private businesses make off of Saudis at campaign rallies.

Furthermore, since he became President, the Saudis have forked out a lot of money on stays at Trump properties.

[HairOfTheDog]

Bottom line: the Saudis are overdue for a "times up" moment, as far as I'm concerned.

And, I suspect they'll get it if they indeed ordered and facilitated the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

But, the overdue comeuppance won't be because the U.S. government takes the high road in terms of human rights and justice.

I suspect it will instead be because the global community won't be willing to join the U.S. in looking away again, which will force the U.S. government to acknowledge the reality and respond accordingly (lest face an overdue comeuppance of our own).

[HairOfTheDog]

Denials, Warnings, and Threats

The Saudi rulers are apparently sticking to their story that the cameras inside their Istanbul consulate only live streamed and there's no footage of what went down after Khashoggi entered the building.

The government of Saudi Arabia on Sunday denied any involvement in the disappearance of Washington Post contributing journalist Jamal Khashoggi and warned that any sanctions against the oil-rich kingdom would be met with "greater action" and possible exploding oil prices.

"The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations," the government said in a statement released in Saudi media. "The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action."

The warning came after President Donald Trump warned that Saudi Arabia could face "severe punishment" over Khashoggi, feared murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 2.

[HairOfTheDog]

Trump's warning dealt a gut punch to the Saudi stock market, which crashed 7% on Sunday before recovering some of the losses to close down 3.5%.

The kingdom's statement warned that the Saudi economy plays an "influential and vital role" in the global economy. Only Russia produces more oil than does Saudi Arabia.  

Turki Aldakhil, who leads the Saudi-controlled Al Arabiya Television News Network, warned Sunday that U.S. sanctions could ignite an "economic disaster that would rock the entire world."

"If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure," Aldakhil wrote in an opinion piece. He added that the fallout could drive "the entire Muslim world into the arms of Iran."

[HairOfTheDog]

Trump, however, has sent a mixed message. In a Saturday afternoon news conference in the Oval Office, the president said "we would be punishing ourselves" by canceling an arms sales deal with Saudi Arabia. He said the U.S. was competing against China and Russia for the $110 billion deal.

Saudi Arabia has worked to diversify its economy by luring foreign investment. The kingdom hosts its three-day Future Investment Initiative forum later this month. Dubbed "Davos in the Desert," the forum draws government and financial leaders from around the world. Some are dropping out as concerns over Khashoggi's fate rise.

The president said he planned to speak with Saudi King Salman soon, adding that he also plans to meet with Khashoggi’s family. Trump also confirmed reports that Turkey claims to have audio and video of Khashoggi’s killing. The president said he had not seen or heard the recordings but planned to "soon."

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/worl...639987002/

[Duchess]

President Donald Trump warned that Saudi Arabia could face "severe punishment" over Khashoggi,

Pfft. trump is no more going to severely punish the Saudis any more than I am going to throw on an apron and cook a five course meal for y'all.

[BigMark]

Fuck em, we established the strategic oil reserve when we weren't the global leader in oil production lets sell high and buy low. I assure you that would have an effect on the market.

[HairOfTheDog]

President Donald Trump warned that Saudi Arabia could face "severe punishment" over Khashoggi,

Pfft. trump is no more going to severely punish the Saudis any more than I am going to throw on an apron and cook a five course meal for y'all.

Yeah, Trump has made it very clear that he prioritizes money and ego over human rights, free press, truth, and morality (in all matters).  This matter is no exception.

However, Senator Rubio has publicly stated that he's not on the same page as the President, who seems to me to be setting the stage to do much too little to nothing if Saudia Arabia is shown to have killed a reporter of Saudi citizenship, living in America, inside a Turkish government building.



Rubio says with 100% certainty that congress will initiate appropriately harsh retaliation if Trump refuses to do so. I hope there are enough other right-minded Republicans in congress to justify his confidence.

[Duchess]

Yeah, Trump has made it very clear that he prioritizes money and ego over human rights, free press, truth, and morality (in all matters).  This matter is no exception.

The Saudis have enlisted our dumbass president to be their PR dude. Now he's floating "it must have been rogue killers" theory. Jesus Christ.

[Maggot]

It's not like he was an "ambassador" or anything.

[HairOfTheDog]

The Saudis have enlisted our dumbass president to be their PR dude. Now he's floating "it must have been rogue killers" theory. Jesus Christ.

 Well, if you want to float a baseless conspiracy theory or promote a limited/compromised investigation, the current President of the United States is sure qualified through experience.

Trump also said he's taking immediate action, 13 days after-the-fact.  

I saw that Trump just now spoke to the Saudi King (MBS's dad) and, of course the King denies any knowledge.

Saudi Arabia still has not provided any evidence of Khashoggi leaving their consulate or provided any explanation of what happened inside, 13 days later.  

But, they've reportedly finally given Turkish officials authority to 'inspect' the premises, with the mandate that Saudi officials be present.

Despite what I see as obvious obstruction to getting at the evidence/truth, I'm fairly optimistic the truth will come out.

[Duchess]

It's not like he was an "ambassador" or anything.

The ambassador position of both relevant countries is vacant. The positions in both Saudi Arabia and Turkey are not filled and they are not the only countries that we no longer have ambassadors in.

[Maggot]

I've been looking around for a translated version of what he was writing about but cannot seem to find anything. Just to see if he was getting close to something very important to the Saudi's 

[HairOfTheDog]

It's not like he was an "ambassador" or anything.

The ambassador position of both relevant countries is vacant. The positions in both Saudi Arabia and Turkey are not filled and they are not the only countries that we no longer have ambassadors in.

It's really discouraging that the U.S. does not have ambassadors even in these two key countries nearly two years into the administration.

I don't know if it would have made a difference in terms of Khashoggi's disappearance and presumed murder, but it may have helped deter it or at least provided an American on-the-ground and in-the-know within Turkey to assist in the investigation.

Instead, the diplomatic channel provided by an ambassador is non-existent and that's a problem for the U.S. on several fronts, in my opinion.

[BigMark]

Holy shit dude.


http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion...ara-131343