Death of Kashoggi and the death-knell of liberal values

Jamal Ahamed Khashoggi, the Washington Post correspondent, US resident and Saudi dissident was killed in the Saudi embassy in Turkey. 

Since the allegations surfaced, the Saudis have gone from blanket denial of knowing anything about Khashoggi’s whereabouts, to finally admitting Khashoggi ‘died’ in the Saudi embassy in Turkey - quite accidentally of course, in the course of a tussle! According to the Saudis, Khashoggi got involved in fisticuffs while in the embassy and died as a result. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman claims he has no knowledge of the incident.   

It was by chance of course, we are supposed to believe, bin Salman’s Deputy Intelligence Chief , Ahmad al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani, senior aide to the Crown Prince, plus a slew of Saudi security personnel suddenly descended on the Saudi embassy/consulate a few hours before Khashoggi was due to arrive. Khashoggi himself, was expecting to complete paperwork needed to marry his fiancee who waited outside the embassy.  According to evidence in the hands of the Turkish authorities, Khashoggi’s fingers were cut off while he was still alive. 

From nomadic tribes traversing the Arabian desert grew, the House of Saud, the present rulers of Saudi Arabia. 

Over the years, the Saudi royal family has passed the kingdom between founder Ibn Saud’s 45 or more sons, from one son to another depending on who was more powerful and Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MbS) is the first grandson of the late founder to wield power. The oceans of oil beneath the desert sands which make up the kingdom, native cunning or a sound understanding of geopolitical realities led the founding king of the ‘House of Saud’, to throw in his lot with the leading imperial powers of the day. He thus ensured Saudi Arabia’s and his family’s dominant position in Middle East affairs.   

Saudi Arabia and its monarchs are to the US and the West, key to ensuring an uninterrupted, cheap flow of precious oil on which the western sky-scraper based model of economic development depends, as well as to contain nations like Iran. 

Until recently this strategy of the late Ibn Saud has held good. That is, until journalist Jamal Khashoggi a critic of the Crown Prince, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, was lured into and killed in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey. 

Since his rise to power, MbS has exhibited narcissist tendencies, the jailing of his rival cousins, torture of critics, silencing dissenters and waging a brutal war in Yemen and creating in that country a staggering humanitarian crisis. The killing of Khashoggi is in character.    Though Saudi rulers have not been known for their liberalism, the sending of a hit squad with instruments of torture to eliminate a dissident on foreign soil is the act of a brazen, arrogant, mad man who cares tuppence for any country or individuals opinion -- international or otherwise. The world at large with the exception of the US, (which attempted to provide the Saudis with an out, suggesting the killing could be the work of a rogue agent) condemned the deed.   

But will the EU, Britain and the US impose sanctions on MbS and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as they did against Russia, over the still unproven charges of poisoning the Skripals in Britain or for Russia’s annexation of Crimea? 

The US President has already ruled he would not endanger the $115 billion arms deal he signed in May 2017 with Saudi Arabia which includes the sale of warships, helicopters, plus maintenance of the same. Certainly not over a trivial matter like the premeditated torture and killing of a journalist! Other than withdrawing from Saudi Arabia’s ‘Future Investment Initiative’ (FII) Conference in Riyadh next week, action has been limited to words of criticism.   

A mild slap on the wrists so-to-say.   

Saudi oil, the containment of upstart nations like Iran who choose to stand up to US and Western domination, follow policies independent to those of the west and attempting to govern the prices of its resources are far more important than principles and value systems. Sadly the grisly killing of Saudi journalist Khashoggi seems destined to end up in the dustbins of history.