Darius Shahtamasebi — The Real Reason Western Media & CIA Turned Against Saudi's MbS

Kashoggi? Human right? Forget about it. 

Wandering off the reservation.

Zero Hedge
The Real Reason Western Media & CIA Turned Against Saudi's MbS
Darius Shahtamasebi

Politico — Full text: President Donald Trump's statement on Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi killing

How political capital will this cost?

Politico
Full text: President Donald Trump's statement on Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi killing

See also

POTUS testing, "How low can you go?"

The Hill
Khashoggi editor on Trump Saudi statement: 'This is a new low'
Chris Mills Rodrigo

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Washington Free Beacon
Trump Stands With Saudi Arabia: We Must ‘Ensure the Interests of Our Country, Israel’

Cameron Cawthorne

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Fortune
Trump Says He Stands With Saudi Arabia Despite Khashoggi Murder

Renae Reints

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The Week
Trump disputes CIA findings in Khashoggi case, signals no further action against Saudi Arabia

Kathryn Krawczyk

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The Hill
Ex-CIA chief calls on Congress to declassify CIA findings on Khashoggi killing

Aris Foley

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In a statement on Tuesday, the president said that “the United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”

Last week, the CIA reportedly concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of the journalist, who was a US resident, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

But Trump and members of his administration continue to back Riyadh because they don’t want to jeopardize billions of Saudi dollars flowing into the US economy through weapons purchases and investments.

This isn’t that surprising — for decades, the US has quietly looked away from Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses for material gain. Trump, however, is making this subtext explicit in a way that no administration has before.

Donald Trump is not at all concerned with political correctness. The US is the hegemon and will do what it pleases. Donald Trump is president, so he gets to choose that. Elections count. End of discussion.

VOX
Why the US won’t break up with Saudi Arabia over Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

Alex Ward

See also

The Guardian (UK)
Trump 'stands with' Saudi Arabia and defends crown prince over Khashoggi

Julian Borger

also

HaAretz
Report: Netanyahu Asked Trump to Stick With Saudi Crown Prince After Khashoggi Murder

Amir Tibon

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Sputnik International
Washington Post: Trump 'Surrenders' to Saudi Government Over Khashoggi Slaying

Alastair Crooke — Khashoggi’s Murder – At the Complex Intersection of Three Points of Inflection

Good backgrounder on the current state of the snake pit.

Khashoggi is hailed in the West as a liberal, favouring democratic reform, but in fact, he was a staunch supporter of the monarchical system (of which MbS is the effective head). He contended however, that all these monarchies were “reformable”. Only the secular republics, he suggested (such as Iraq, Syria and Libya) were unreformable, and required to be overthrown. Where he fell out with MbS therefore, was that he favoured not a turn to secularism or western-style ‘liberalism’, but a reforming Islamisation of Arab politics along Muslim Brotherhood lines – just like Erdogan, in fact....

Strategic Culture Foundation
Khashoggi’s Murder – At the Complex Intersection of Three Points of Inflection
Alastair Crooke | founder and director of the Conflicts Forum, and former British diplomat and senior figure in British intelligence and in European Union diplomacy