“My genial lunch partner and I understood one another.”
Just as I did not commit the absurdity of claiming to be an independent energy issues writer who by pure coincidence happened to be on the payroll of the Saudi government’s oil company, he made no pretense that Al-Arab would be an enterprise in independent journalism. There was, and there still is, no such thing as independent journalism in Saudi Arabia. Al-Arab was intended as an elaborate influence operation to project Saudi power just as Al Jazeera projects Qatari power.
Al-Arab, like many such enterprises in its part of the world, took a long time to get up and running. It began broadcasting on the first day of February 2015. Eleven hours later Bahraini “security forces” arrived to shut it down. Why did the Bahrain government do this? The most likely answer is that the new Saudi King Salman, who had ascended to the throne only a week earlier following the death of his brother King Abdullah, did not want to permit such an operation controlled and favored by rival members of the family, and he instructed Bahrain to put Al-Arab out of business tout de suite. This sort of sudden, crushing power play is a much-loved tactic in the Middle East.
Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia in late 2017, the same time that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman detained Khashoggi’s patron Prince Alwaleed and other royal and non-royal oligarchs at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton on allegations of corruption. Khashoggi soon was writing occasional columns for the Washington Post. Now that his faction of the royal family was on the outs, he had undergone an epiphany. He had discovered the desirability of respect for human rights, and even democracy! In his Post articles he waged a persistent campaign of criticism of the crown prince.
Was the new Khashoggi a lonely, idealistic individual or the instrument of Saudi factions in opposition to the ascendant crown prince? Common sense would suggest there’s greater probability in the latter thesis. […]
Whatever Khashoggi was working for on his final mission, it was not a project to transform Saudi Arabia into a sandier version of Montgomery County, Maryland.
Update. What to make of this?
Can’t forget this: Joseph Mifsud was on Khashoogi’s payroll. This was no ordinary “journalist,” just like Mifsud was no ordinary “academic.” That Mifsud-Khashoogi connection is much deeper than many realize. I witnessed it in London.
— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) November 20, 2018
(Bkgd on Joseph Mifsud.)
Why would we care the slightest about Khashoggi’s murder? Seriously? The Chinese killed 1000 people in the open in Tiananmen Square and no-one gave a flying fart. Politics in the Middle East is blood sport. Even the US participates in murder. Obama even bragged about it.
Do tell.
scar, your answer would be something I expect from unDork. It is not about Khashoggi’s death. Once you figure that out, git back to us!!
I’m with Scar….
“…he made no pretense that the CBC would be an enterprise in independent journalism. There was, and there still is, no such thing as independent journalism in Canada. The CBC was intended as an elaborate influence operation to project Laurentian power just as the New York Times projects American power.”
Equivalent statement written off of a high horse.
Not a surprise.
I recall back in the early 80’s when this devout cleric from Iran living in Paris was a staunch critic of the Shah of Iran.
He was also a darling of the media at the time, they where so supportive of him they where overjoyed when the Shah was ousted from power and that dear old man of god arrived in Teran to the cheers of the masses.
Yep the media was just as thrilled then as they are currently hoping for a repeat in Saudi Arabia.
Except for the rude awakening the peanut gallery got when the revolutionary guard took over the US embassy and declared Iran an Islamic theocracy.
Yep
History repeating.
Media darling indeed! I remember watching the disgusting interview Mike Wallace had with the Ayatollah Khomeni in Paris. Wallace literally said cross legged at the great man’s foot, and behaved like a respectful acolyte, getting the master’s message out and never daring to contradict. The same Wallace who roasted other interviewees over the fire. Wallace asked Khomeni about freedom of speech, and Khomeni said of course he believed in freedom of speech, pause, then added unless it contradicted with the Koran. Instead of ringing warning bells in Wallace’s head, Wallace let that pass without comment.
Any idiot could see if Khomeni’s supporters gained power in Iran, they would install a theocracy, to replace the most open society then in the Muslim world. Stupid young women in Tehran would put chadors over their miniskirts to protest the Shah, but said to reporters of course it was only symbolic. Little did they know that after the revolution, it was in fact the law. (Pardon me if that was not the chador but something else. I don’t have the patience to learn all the varieties of clothing that subjugate the female in Islam.)
I don’t know which legacy of Carter was worse, Iran or “returning” the Panama Canal to Panama, only to let it fall into the hands of the Chicom which now controls its access. If I were to “return” the land where the canal sits to Panama, I would fill in the canal and bomb out every single lock. That was the state of the land before we built the canal. Not to mention our building the canal was the only reason for the existence of Panama to begin with.
Whatever Khashoggi was working for on his final mission, it was not a project to transform Saudi Arabia into a sandier version of Montgomery County, Maryland.
The Progressive Left’s goal is turning Montgomery County, Maryland into a greener version of the theocratic KSA. The difference is they will worship the State and Marx, not Allah and the Koran.
Update. What to make of this?
++++++++++++++++
I think the best way to answer that is to refer you to Mark Steyn’s piece. Read this, and it will make much more sense:
https://www.steynonline.com/8667/tinker-tailor-clapper-carter-downer-halper-spy
Essentially, there is an incestuous relationship between spy organizations and the media. In the example of Carter Page…an attempt was made to get him to participate on a panel (of which he had absolutely no expertise) at a conference set up by British intelligence. Even Madeline Albright was pressuring him to sit on the panel. The purpose was to get him to say something on record. Then, a friendly media rep would write up a blurb. The blurb would be pulled and sent to the CIA or any other alphabet agency in the US. This was used to authorize further investigation on that particular individual. UK and Australia were up to their necks with this sort of act. Alexander Downer is the Aussie player IMO.
“Essentially, there is an incestuous relationship between spy organizations and the media.” Exactly. This essentially is the hub of all the machinations of the WaPop and NYT and their Deep State fellow operatives in the Obama administration to undermine the liberal democracy of the republic of the United States. Kashoggi was just a sideswipe footnote in the broader international affair.
As Steyn so aptly refers to this business, Tinker, Tailor, Clapper, Carter, Downer, Halper, Spy. Some day this will make a fantastic thriller book.
That’s a remarkable article about how Washington works out of sight of the citizenry.
Time to break up Amazon.
This really doesn’t matter. He was still murdered for speaking out against an evil regime, aspersions aside.
Khashoggi was an extremist saudi turd who just happened to provide some propaganda to a Democrat rag and the Prince who offed him is a saudi turd. The people who used his offing to attack Trump during the election are a bunch of turds and to hell with every turd in the bunch.
If there wasn’t away to spin it into some election scandal no one would have cared.
the truth is, they, nobody, really cares.
The globalist media are turning on the Saudis because the Saudis are making common cause with Israel against Iran.
The globalists have given up on trying to destroy Israel, but will settle for making her a pariah state to which globalist-controlled governments can expel their Jews. They are not happy that the Sauds are now Israel’s ally, however temporarily.