This is part and parcel of the problems that we have. Not just this country,
NONONO. Corruption money. Power. No room for integrity in that world. Values
honesty, decency, character, caring for your neighbor and the common good.
Those are gone. Or seemingly self. It’s really quite sad. And it does not bode
well for the future of the human race. And no ideology like Marxism or Maoism
or national Socialism can fix it.
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 30, 2018, at 7:26 PM, Evan Reese <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hey Guys,
Yeah, I know I said I needed a break, but I’m not replying to a post, I’m
sending you an article.
Some of you may recall that last week I said that I believe that they would
try to paper over the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi and move on. I’m not
saying I’m happy about looking like being right, but that appears to be
what’s shaping up if this article from the most recent issue of The Economist
is accurate.
This article appeared in the Middle East and Africa section of the print
edition under the headline "The prince tries to explain"
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2018/10/27/a-journalist-is-confirmed-dead-saudi-arabias-crown-prince-is-defiant
THE ROOM went dark, then filled with beams of light. A man danced with a
drone on
stage. That is how Saudi Arabia’s big investment conference, nicknamed Davos
in the
desert, began on October 23rd. But the real spectacle came later, when
Muhammad bin
Salman, the crown prince, swept into the hall to a standing ovation. The next
day
he spoke, at last addressing the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi
journalist,
in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd. “It is a heinous crime
that cannot
be justified,” said Prince Muhammad, sidestepping any blame.
In the days leading up to the conference, rumours swirled around Saudi Arabia
that
Prince Muhammad would be dismissed. For two weeks the kingdom insisted that
Mr Khashoggi
had left the consulate safely—until October 19th, when it claimed that the
mild-mannered
journalist was accidentally killed in a brawl. President Donald Trump, a
Saudi ally,
called it the “worst cover-up ever”. But the international outcry has not
dimmed
the confidence of Prince Muhammad, who spoke like a man who is secure in his
job.
The question now is whether other world leaders will continue to press the
issue.
Arab rulers, such as King Abdullah of Jordan and Muhammad bin Rashid of
Dubai, have
rallied around Prince Muhammad. Even Saad Hariri, the prime minister of
Lebanon,
whom Prince Muhammad detained for two weeks last year, sat next to him on
stage.
(“He will be here for two days, so no rumours that he’s been kidnapped,”
joked the
crown prince.) More important, Prince Muhammad’s tone suggested that he had
reached
an understanding with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
Pardoning Turkey
For days it seemed that Mr Erdogan would discredit Prince Muhammad by
revealing what
he called the “naked truth” about Mr Khashoggi’s death. Turkish officials had
already
leaked gruesome details of the killing, carried out, they said, by a Saudi
hit squad.
But in a speech on October 23rd Mr Erdogan held back. Though he described it
as “a
planned operation” and called on Saudi Arabia to punish those responsible,
“from
the person who gave the order, to the person who carried it out”, he did not
allocate
blame. Nor did he mention the recordings of Mr Khashoggi’s last moments that
Turkish
investigators claim to possess.
It sounds as if Mr Erdogan is “playing ball” with the Saudis, says a
confidant of
Prince Muhammad. In return, some suspect that the kingdom will inject cash
into Turkey’s
frail economy or release Islamist dissidents. Mr Erdogan may want more. He
disagrees
with Saudi Arabia over its confrontation with Iran, its blockade of Qatar and
its
rejection of democratically elected Islamist governments. Turkish officials
see Prince
Muhammad as a destabilising force in the region. “Erdogan does not want him
as king,”
says Behlul Ozkan of Marmara University in Istanbul. A good gauge of whether
relations
have truly improved is if the leaks stop.
Mr Trump, for his part, is sending the kingdom mixed messages. He called the
Saudi
investigation of Mr Khashoggi’s death credible, before casting doubt on it.
Mike
Pompeo, the secretary of state, said America would deny visas to some of
those who
took part, but not Prince Muhammad. Mr Pompeo and Jared Kushner, the
president’s
son-in-law, are said to have told the crown prince to change his ways. But Mr
Trump’s
priority appears to be selling arms to the kingdom, and enlisting its help in
squeezing
Iran.
American lawmakers and European governments have threatened harsher
punishments.
Germany recently cut off arms sales. But Prince Muhammad has reasons to be
confident.
He has neutralised royal rivals, stifled critical clerics and bought the
loyalty
of powerful institutions, such as the National Guard. He restricts access to
his
father, King Salman, who has just approved changes that increase Prince
Muhammad’s
power. The crown prince himself will now chair a committee tasked with
overhauling
the intelligence services, which have been implicated in the killing of Mr
Khashoggi.
The Saudi people are also rallying around Prince Muhammad. Public opinion is
difficult
to read, not least because critics of the government are afraid to speak out.
But
young Saudis—around two-thirds of the population is under 30—laud the crown
prince
for easing social restrictions. “If 18 people failed you, then 30m are with
you”,
reads a widely shared tweet, referring to the 18 suspects whom the government
has
arrested in the Khashoggi case. Many Saudis see the affair as a plot by
rivals to
undermine the kingdom. Saudi media, largely controlled by the state, have
blamed
“haters” and “ill-wishers” in Qatar.
Largely forgotten was the conference itself, which aimed to attract foreign
investment.
Many of those invited pulled out of the event. Some who attended voiced
concerns
about Prince Muhammad and his inner circle of advisers (two of whom have been
fired
over the Khashoggi affair). Foreign direct investment had already plummeted
from
$7.45bn in 2016 to $1.42bn last year. In response to the death of Mr
Khashoggi, global
fund managers withdrew $650m from Saudi Arabia’s equity market in one week.
The Saudi economy, meanwhile, is stagnating. Unemployment rose to 12.9% in
the first
quarter and is about twice as high for young people. Prince Muhammad, aware
of the
unhappiness this causes, hopes to create 450,000 new jobs by 2020. But that
largely
depends on increased foreign investment, which, in turn, depends on the crown
prince
showing better judgment.
Evan
