Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy has been in transformation particularly since the start of the Arab uprisings that began in Tunisia in late 2010. While Saudi Arabia previously followed close cooperation with the United States in regional and global politics, its foreign policy had a different turn in the post-Arab revolutions era. This was mainly because of two reasons: First, the Obama administration in the U.S. made unexpected moves that irritated the Saudi leadership. While Obama was not as keen as Saudi Arabia in preventing the success of Arab revolutions, his moves to restore U.S. relations with Iran received cold reaction from the regime in Riyadh.

Another decision that caused mistrust between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. was the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. The JASTA allowed for U.S. citizens to sue foreign governments that were believed to be involved in terrorist activities in the U.S. The bill was originally intended to allow families affected by the 9/11 terrorist attack to sue Saudi Arabia, which allegedly played a role in the attacks on the World Trade Centre buildings in New York. As the uncertainty towards Saudi Arabia grew in the U.S. leadership, Riyadh’s trust in Washington also loosened. The problem also continued in the post-Obama era, despite the efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to re-gain the trust of Saudi Arabia.

As China is becoming a vital player in the Middle East and Africa, Saudi Arabia considers Beijing as an actor, which can bring foreign policy benefits for Riyadh.

In the face of these developments, the Saudi leadership had sought for alternatives in order to establish long-term alliances that could bring political and economic benefits in regional and global politics. An important actor in this regard is China. Beijing is important for Riyadh for a number of reasons: First of all, China is one of the biggest oil importers for Saudi Arabia. As Chinese economic growth continues, Beijing will sustain its level of oil imports from Saudi Arabia. For Riyadh, China is a crucial market, which brings huge revenue from oil.

Another reason for China’s rise as an important partner for Saudi Arabia is related with global geopolitics. As China is increasingly becoming a player in the Middle East and Africa, Saudi Arabia considers Beijing as an actor, which can bring foreign policy benefits for Riyadh. For this reason, Saudi Arabia has increasingly sought to deepen its relationship with Beijing.

Finally, the new foreign policy strategy of Saudi Arabia is also a reason for deepening relations between Riyadh and Beijing. Since 2015, King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia has initiated a new approach in Saudi foreign policy, which includes increasing interactions with wider geographies in the world, including Asia. Under this active and multi-dimensional foreign policy strategy, Saudi Arabia has increased its interaction with global actors such as Russia and China.

Despite Trump’s efforts to reassure the Saudi leadership of U.S. support, Riyadh has been more careful due to the uncertainty and continuing mistrust between the two countries.

The Saudi interest in advancing relations with China can be observed from the high level visits made from Riyadh to Beijing. The frequency of these visits increased after 2015, following the leadership change in Saudi Arabia. In 2016, former Defence Minister, Mohammad bin Salman, visited China in order to bolster economic cooperation between the two countries.

In 2017, Saudi premier King Salman made a month-long trip to Asia, which included China. It is reported that the Saudi King signed deals worth as much as $65 billion with the Chinese leader. More recently, the Saudi Crown prince visited China in February 2019. Apart from signing a number of economic agreements, MbS showed strong support with the Chinese administration in Beijing’s controversial policies in the Xinjiang region towards Uighur Muslims.

Saudi Arabia no longer considers the United States as its sole partner in global and regional politics. Despite Trump’s efforts to reassure the Saudi leadership of U.S. support, Riyadh has been more careful due to the uncertainty and continuing mistrust between the two countries. Moreover, economic objectives, geopolitical concerns, and the unstable regional political environment has forced Saudi Arabia to seek for new alternatives in global politics. As a result, Saudi Arabia sought to develop stronger ties with China. It can be argued that turning this cooperation into a strategic partnership is the next step in line for relations between Riyadh and Beijing.

Selahattin Emre Celebi interviewed Ferhat Unlu – from the special investigation department of Sabah newspaper – on the new publication, ‘Diplomatic Cruelty: The Dark Secrets of the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi,’ written by Ferhat Unlu, Abdurrahman Simsek, and Nazif Karaman. The book details almost every point on the brutal murder of the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi that occurred in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.

We would like to thank Mr. Ferhat Unlu for the time he shared with us, and to the authors of the book, which seeks to provide the Turkish and international public on the truths of the murder.

Importance

You describe the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi as the most ‘interesting’ murder in history and according to the data provided in your book, the murder was the most covered topic both in Turkey and the world media in October 2018. What makes it so important?

This is a peculiar case – in Turkish we call this ‘idiosyncratic’ in a negative sense of the term as it’s the first time in the modern history of international diplomacy that a citizen has been murdered in the embassy of his/her own state. There is no example of this in the history of diplomacy. On the other hand, with regard to the history of intelligence, there is no example of such an operation either. This murder is planned as – so called – an intelligence operation; this is the purpose, to be honest. However, intelligence services conduct these kinds of operations in very detailed, well planned, and executed in a much more sophisticated fashion. For example, a consulate is not chosen as a place of murder! There is no example of this. Another interesting fact about the murder is the location of the place. I personally believe that an influencing factor for the Saudis to choose Turkey – but not a western state like Britain or the U.S. – to execute the murder, is to give a message to the opponents of the Saudi regime currently in Turkey that Turkey is not a safe place for them.

On the other hand, the Saudis cannot dare to execute such an operation in a ‘superior’ western country. According to the Saudi perception, Turkey is a rival country. They often take a hostile approach towards Ankara in Middle Eastern affairs, so this operation was an opportunity for them to target the government. However, the execution of the operation – leaving traces all over, coming to the airport with a team of 15 officers, records of their images and voice records during the operation were all a total fiasco. Especially, failing to predict the possibility that Turkish authorities will record everything stunned the Saudis. If the operation had been successful, including the stuntman, it would have been a historical operation and Turkey would have had difficulties to clean up its image as a result of the murder. However, Turkey prevented this by providing both voice and image records of the operation and revealed the real story behind it in a very successful manner. These are other historical and significant developments, since the murder was one of the most interesting operations in history.

The Jamal Khashoggi murder was a total fiasco for the Saudi administration as they left traces all over, coming to the airport with a team of 15 officers, records of their images, and voice records during the operation were a total intelligence fiasco.

Why was the murder so brutal and violent? Could they not have silenced the victim in a more ‘moderate’ way?

Well, the post-mortem process is a factor. You came to execute the operation with a forensic expert. The intention here is to get rid of the body. Bringing a stuntman reflects that as well. They wanted to kill the victim, and wanted the body to disappear. They wanted to say: “Look, an opponent of the Saudis disappeared in Turkey and Turkey could neither prevent this, nor find the body.” I do not believe that the barbaric nature of the murder has anything to do with punishing the victim. No one deserves and nothing justifies this violence. But according to the plan of the operation, after murdering the victim, the ‘instinct’ to get rid of the body – taking the body out of the consulate, bringing it to the residence, and ‘extinguishing’ the body – with the purpose of eliminating evidence, caused them to conduct such a brutal and barbaric murder.

Why Khashoggi?

You ask the basic 6 questions of journalism in your book: What? Where? How? When? Why? Who? We can answer almost the first 4 in detail at the moment. But how do you answer the last two? Why this murder? Why Khashoggi? What is the message given here? And how do you read this in the bigger picture considering that international balances across the globe are changing? 

Well, we have indicated 4 parameters in our research. Yes, of the reasons for the murder of Khashoggi was due to the fact that he was an opponent of the Mohammad bin Salman administration. He was not an opponent of the Saudi Kingdom, he was a patriot who loved his country. In the past, he worked as a consultant for Turki b. Faysal of the Saudi intelligence service, therefore he was a person who was close to the administration.

In addition to being an opponent to MbS, he was a columnist for The Washington Post. He was a critique of MbS and was criticizing him in Washington, where the Prince got the most important support for his administration. Khashoggi’s influential criticism of Mohammad bin Salman in Washington angered the Crown Prince.

Another reason why Khashoggi was targeted was due to his stance on the Muslim Brotherhood. Although Khashoggi criticized the Muslim Brotherhood from time to time, he did not totally oppose them. He had a more balanced stance, which was totally unacceptable for MbS.

Khashoggi’s arguments of seeing Turkey as a model state for the Saudis and the rest of the Middle East, in my view, was another reason why he was targeted by MbS, who is jealous of Turkey and President Erdogan.

Finally, another reason for targeting Khashoggi was his intention to give life to the project ‘The Bee Army’ together with Saudi activist Omar Abd al-Aziz. This ‘The Bee Army’ project was planned by Abd al-Aziz and Khashoggi against the troll army of Saud al-Qahtanti called ‘The Fly Army.’ The conversations between Khashoggi and Abd al-Aziz were detected by MbS with the help of an Israeli cyber security company. This last point, probably forced by Qahtani, had a significant effect in the final decision to target Khashoggi.

Oxymoron

The title of the book contains and oxymoron: diplomacy and horror. How will this murder effect diplomacy and how will it be remembered in history?

As a journalist, I wouldn’t dare commenting on the history. As journalists, we provide facts for historians, that’s all. But I don’t think that there will be another example of this kind in the future of diplomacy. The political approaches of states reflect on their intelligence operations. For example, Turkey is a democratic state – I’m highlighting this for the outside world – whether they like it or not. Therefore, it minimizes security and terror threats in a democratic fashion as much as possible. It is a state that can differentiate between the guilty and non-guilty. We saw this during the ‘Trench Operations’ in 2015 in south-eastern Turkey. This is the concept of Turkey, it does not change. At the moment, Turkey strategically moved a bit further to prevent the threats outside its borders in Syria. This is a strategical change, but the understanding and approach does not change. You won’t kill opponents, if you have a terrorist group like FETO, you will judge them according to the constitution and put them behind bars. Therefore, it is unimaginable to think that Turkey will conduct such an operation.

When we look at other countries and their intelligence services, you cannot see these kinds of operations in the U.S. and Russian intelligence services. Maybe MOSSAD comes close to these kinds of operations – for example there was an operation in Dubai by Mossad members who were using British passports and angered the British administration – but even they will not think of such an operation. There are some unwritten rules in diplomacy and intelligence operations. Saudis destroyed all these rules with this operation. I believe that no one – including the Saudis – will plan such an operation in the future, and this murder will probably remain as the only one in history. It will be a milestone for the history of intelligence wars by heating up tensions between various states as well.

There are some unwritten rules in diplomacy and intelligence operations. The Saudis destroyed all these rules with the Jamal Khashoggi murder.

Turkish Wisdom

What does the murder mean for the Turkish state, public, and media? How has the Turkish state and intelligence service dealt with the process?

Turkey has been very successful in preventing any undesirable result of the incident towards its security and political image. During the first days of the incident, some argued that this could lead to a declaration of war between the Saudis and Turkey, resembling the murder of the Crown Prince in the Balkans, which triggered the start of WWI. But thank God, Turkey has been quite successful during this sensitive process.

From another point, Khashoggi was a guest in Turkey and Turkey is a country where opponents can easily take shelter. For example, during the 80s, many opponents of the Iranian regime had been eliminated by the Iranian intelligence service, but Turkey had been a place for harbor for many Iranian opponents at that time even though Turkey was not a state that was politically independent, it set its principles clear with regard to its intelligence. During 2008-2015, Russia had eliminated many Chechenia opponents, conducting some operations in Turkey. But Turkey put an end to these operations by making a deal with the Russian administration, and they have not been able to conduct such operations in Turkey since then. We have many ties with Russia at the moment, including the S-400s and cooperation in Syria, etc.

During the first days of the incident, some argued that the Khashoggi murder could lead to a declaration of war between the Saudis and Turkey, resembling the murder of the Crown Prince in the Balkans.

When we look at the bigger picture, Turkey has been quite pro-active during the process. First, by taking the incident as an attack on its political image, and secondly, by dealing with the incident with a humanistic approach. Turkey has been trying to solve the puzzle since the murder and informed the international public with the details. With the orders of President Erdogan, the Turkish state used all aspects of intelligence diplomacy and managed to bring the incident to the attention of the international public in a successful manner. The head of the Turkish intelligence service met with the heads of American, Canadian, British, French, and German intelligence services. If Russians had asked for evidence, it would have been given to them as well. Therefore, by conducting open intelligence operations, Turkey convinced Western countries, who also had no doubts about the incident. After convincing such countries, the United Nations also became involved in the process. Recently, the special envoy to the UN, Agnès Callamard, came to Istanbul and carried out research, speaking with us as well. These are quite important developments. Turkey did not want to lead the case alone and managed to bring it to the attention of the international public successfully. In a way, Turkey managed to counter the attack made on its image and security, just like a boomerang.

It’s sad that there is no piece from the corpse of the victim and President Erdogan has voiced this on many occasions. This is inhumane and unacceptable. It is not only against our religious and cultural values, but this kind of treatment is against all belief systems and values. Any human being, regardless of any affiliation, at least deserves to have a decent funeral ceremony.

In this regard, Turkey has fulfilled part of its responsibility, seeing it from a humanitarian perspective. And this time, Turkey did not suffer from what we call ‘valuable solitude,’ as Turkey informed the international public very well on the incident and the international public reacted in a positive way.

How about the Turkish public? How do they see the incident? What is the general attitude of the Turkish public towards the Saudi regime and the people responsible for this murder?

Look, this and similar regimes in the region are ‘strange’ regimes. They are established by hegemonic Western powers; their ideologies are invented by the West. Look at Wahabism, for example, consolidated a couple of centuries ago. Their economies are dependent; they may have petrol but they do not control the market. Therefore, Saudi Arabia is not an independent state. In this regard, Turkey’s position is quite different from Saudi Arabia. Turkey is aware that the Saudi administration is not independent, of course, keeping aside the Saudi society, as Turkey has no problem with the Saudi society. There are many opponents of MbS within Saudi Arabia who are Saudi citizens and MbS is suppressing them with very harsh methods. After seeing these developments, Turkey realized that this cannot continue like this. I mean the real ‘armageddon’ will begin after the death of King Salman Abd al-Azizi – father of MbS. Of course, we don’t know what kind of result will come after the competition starts between families and princes during that time. MbS may find himself all alone after the death of the King. Although Turkey has seen the King clear of the murder, the current position of MbS is supported by the King himself. King Salman has chosen MbS for the position and keeps him there with his full support, even though MbS is not the eldest child; he is the youngest child of the youngest wife. Therefore, I see this Khashoggi murder as an incident that its aftershocks will continue for a long time.

In a way, we can relate this with the downfall of FETO. When did it start? February 7, 2012. You may take the date earlier, but February 7 was the first serious ‘fight’ between FETO and the Turkish Republic, when the terrorist organization rebelled against the central authority of the state, targeting then PM Erdogan. This is when the downfall of FETO began. In this regard, we may compare February 7 with the Khashoggi incident: what the February 7 event was for FETO, the Khashoggi incident is the same for the current Saudi administration. I believe we will see the aftershocks in the upcoming days. We call this the ‘9/11’ of the Saudis in the book, and there will be, and currently are, serious consequences of this incident.

Killer

At this point, can we clearly determine who was responsible for this brutal murder?

Yes. The political responsibility belongs to MbS and the executers are the killer team of 15 people – these facts are certain. Look, this incident is the subject of a crime. I read and studied crime for long years, wrote 5 books on crime cases. Crime is the subject matter of my work and from the perspective of criminology, everything is clear. Only the Saudis are hiding the facts. The actors who took place in the murder, the execution of the operation and the political responsibility are all apparent, ready to start a trial. These evidences have been given to the UN special rapporteur – Agnès Callamard as well. Therefore, all the evidence required for a fair international trial exist, but the Saudis are not cooperating on this issue. The Saudi Foreign Minister even said that they do not know where Maher Abd al-Aziz Mutreb is – a member of the killing team and a close aid of MbS. This is totally unacceptable and ridiculous. Is it possible for a hit squad of 15 Saudis to arrive in Istanbul and murder an opponent Saudi journalist inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul without the knowledge of MbS? In such a case, would they be able to return to Saudi Arabia? They will be executed if they did such a thing according to their own will. Even al-Qahtani cannot do such a thing. This is not even a probability. So, everything is clear. There is only the trial left, but the Saudi administration refuses to cooperate.

One of the members of the killing team – Mashal Saad al-Bostani – reportedly died in a so-called traffic accident. But he was probably murdered. This is confirmed by various sources, and Turkey has also confirmed this. Now, they are saying that they do not know the whereabouts of Mutrab. I mean he is the main executer. Another member of the hit squad – Salah Muhammad Tubaigy – used to live in Jeddah after the incident according to our investigation, but we do not know whether he is still there or not. There is a rumour that the whole team are being kept together in an anonymous location. In short, the Saudi administration will not give these suspects to Turkey or the UN for a trial because of the possibility that they will speak and reveal all details including the name of who gave the order. They did not even allow the UN rapporteur to enter the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. In other words, the Saudi administration is not cooperating with anyone in order to solve the murder, even more, they have tried to sabotage Turkey’s attempts during the investigation process. We will see the outcomes of this historical incident in the near future.

The political responsibility of the Jamal Khashoggi murder belongs to MbS and the executers are the killer team of 15 people – these facts are certain.

Where do you think the body is?

We cannot talk about a body, but the remains of a body, since it was cut into pieces. And I believe these remains are in Turkey and were not taken out. Most probably inside the well of the Saudi consulate, if it were not removed from there later on. Another possibility is that they got rid of the pieces in another way. It is not difficult to do this once the body is dismantled, but not with acid. There is no evidence of this method being used according to our investigations. But we do know that the pieces of the body were taken to the residency from the consulate with suitcases. This is clear and Turkish authorities have tracked these steps. Video and voice recordings during and after the incident also confirm this. But, after this point, it is not clear. Just like with the entrance of Khashoggi going to the consulate and never leaving, the suitcases with the body pieces entered the residency and never came out. So, there is a high chance that they got rid of the remains inside the residency. They did not allow Turkish authorities to search the well, arguing that according to the Vienna Agreement, Turkish authorities could only search inside the buildings and not outside of them. Turkey is still trying to pursue a thorough investigation inside the consulate, but the Saudis are not responding at all. At this point, the situation is shameful and Saudis are fearful that this brutal murder will be revealed with all the evidence and remaining details.

To answer the second part of your question, I believe that the political future of MbS is at stake. The support of the U.S. is decreasing; any disagreement with the Trump administration can shake his seat. For example, if the rapprochement between the MbS administration and Russia gets stronger, the U.S. administration can easily pull down MbS. Former Crown Prince Muhammad b. Naif is a person trained by the FBI. These are clear in open sources, I am not making it up. Therefore, the U.S. always has a B plan. And the possibility of MbS getting closer to Putin is not something unreal. He has been approaching Russia since the murder, and we saw this at the G20 Summit. Khashoggi had also been writing against Putin, describing MbS as the Putin of Saudi Arabia. Here, the important point will be the decision made by the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council after the UN finalizes its report. But personally, I do not believe that the political career of MbS will continue, I highlight here again, after the death of King Salman.

“I believe that the political future of MbS is at stake. The support of the U.S. is decreasing; any disagreement with the Trump administration can shake his seat.”

Personal

What is the place of this murder in your life as a Turkish journalist?

Let me tell you this, we as a country, and not just as journalists but the whole of society, have been combatting terrorism, and I do not mean just one type of terrorism but various terrorist movements with different genetics, in a democratic approach for a long time. We have seen many attacks with different natures. But we have never seen such an attack on our soil. This is new for us. Unfortunately, this incident has entered our intelligence and diplomacy history as a ‘negative experience.’ It was not in our hands to prevent it, and after the incident, as the whole of Turkish society, we have done and are still doing what we have to do. I did not know Khashoggi, but as far as I know, he was a decent man who stood by Turkey during the July 15 coup attempt. Some rumoured that he was a Turkish spy, referring to his origins in Anatolia, which is really funny. He loved Turkey and its society, which is totally normal. But this point made the Saudi administration furious. It is really unfortunate that a man with 4 children and grandchildren, and who was in the eve of getting married was murdered this way. It is truly a sad story.

As journalists and as the special investigation department of our newspaper, Abdurrahim Simsek, Nazif Karaman and I felt like we had a responsibility. During our investigation, we realized that we needed to write a book on this incdent and were convinced that we could be the only department who could finish such a detailed research in a short period of time. And I believe we have done our best with the publication of this book.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is visiting his close allies in the Middle East before attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Argentina on November 30. MbS arrived in Egypt on Monday.

After visiting Mohammad b. Zayed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, and both King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman b. Hamad al-Khalifa in Bahrain on Monday 25 November, his visit to Egypt is the third leg of his first trip abroad since the murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey last month. In Bahrain, MbS was given the Order of Sheikh Isa b. Salman al-Khalifa of the Exceptional Class in recognition of his efforts in supporting and strengthening Saudi Arabia-Bahrain relations.

On his arrival to Cairo on November 26, Crown Prince Salman was greeted by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. In total this is the sixth visit of the Saudi Crown Prince to Cairo, and the second since he assumed the post of Crown Prince in June 2017.

As a result of bilateral agreements, Saudi Arabia is becoming the largest Arab investor in the Egyptian market, and the second largest foreign investor in general, accounting for 11 percent of total foreign investment in Egypt.

During his last visit in March of this year, the two countries signed bilateral agreements involving billions of dollar investments in projects by Saudi Arabia in Egypt. As a result of these agreements, Saudi Arabia is becoming the largest Arab investor in the Egyptian market, and the second largest foreign investor in general, accounting for 11 percent of total foreign investment in Egypt.

Prince Salman is expected to travel to Tunisia after his two-day visit to Egypt before leaving for the G20 in Buenos Aires at the end of the month.

According to news reported by Reuters, Tunisian activists and journalists staged a small protest in the capital Tunis on Monday against Mohammad bin Salman’s planned visit. Turkish newspaper YeniSafak claimed that the Egyptian Civil Democratic Movement, a liberal political movement formed in Egypt in 2017, issued a statement titled ‘Not Welcome,’ criticizing the Crown Prince’s visit to Egypt.

The controversy as to whether Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman will attend the G20 remained high on the political agenda. A new aspect added to this debate was reported by The Guardian, which claimed that Argentina prosecutors are considering charges against MbS at the G20.

*Written by Selahattin Emre Celebi.

The Americans are nervous that the UN will accuse them of human rights violations in Yemen and so should take a stand against the Saudis there. They can start with ending the Saudi travel ban on journalists.

Did Trump really tweet about the ‘cover up’ of the Khashoggi murder in such a manner, that it appeared he derided the amateurism of those carrying out the ghastly killing? It’s almost as though he is saying if the Saudis had paid him a decent wedge, that his own people could have done the job much more professionally.

Far fetched? Perhaps. But the horror story of despot getting into power in the White House and giving his Gulf Arab oil sheikh friends in the Middle East the green light to flex their muscles and behave badly – really badly – is not. It’s a reality which we are all living with as America is forced to re-examine its relations with Saudi Arabia whose benighted 33 year old Crown Prince has shown the world a glimpse of the brutality which is carried out habitually to anyone who dares to think. Just to think. Mohammad bin Salman cannot take any kind of comment or even humble advice from even those in his own court and is running Saudi Arabia along fierce, autocratic lines, which is expected of him, from his peers.

We shouldn’t be so shocked about Khashoggi who was only one of many who were renditioned and it is only down to the sensational amateurism of MbS’s henchmen – and the current Turkish investigation – that we know all the gory details.

But it isn’t so much the murder itself, but more the abysmal, half-cocked effort to cover it up which has spurned a broader morality check from Western governments, with Germany taking the initiative to block its own arms sales to the Gulf Arab kingdom. The wholesale impunity afforded to the Saudi Prince, via Trump’s absurdly inexperienced wannabe something son-in-law Jared Kushner, has resulted in the derailment to attention, to Saudi Arabia’s nefarious techniques in governing; or rather preserving the existence of its elite, the Saudi royal family, which the British enshrined during the first world war as they created a cluster of clients states in the Middle East whose very existence was based on their savagery, lack of trust of one another and reverence to the colonial model.

Seven Pillars

Indeed, T E Laurence, a polemic loner and somewhat awkward British serving officer said of the Saudis and their neighbors “The Arabs are even less stable than the Turks. If properly handled they would remain in a state of political mosaic, a tissue of small jealous principalities incapable of cohesion.”

The House of Saud was favored by the British for this reason and, not withstanding its savagery and reputation to never take prisoners as it swept across the (then) fractured country, its firebrand leader united a vast country, what is known as Saudi Arabia today. But there came a price. Wahhibism – a uniquely crafted interpretation of Islam not entirely unlike what Daesh practices against its non-believers – was also seen as a strong point, much later, after the second world war, where it was seen as a shining counterweight to the rapid expansion of communism. But the price the British paid then was savagery. And it’s the price that Trump is now paying with the Khashoggi attempted rendition and many like his.

Does the young prince believe he is more modern than his ancestors as he at least gives his enemies a chance to repent and to return to the kingdom? Khashoggi was a traitor. He had lived a rich and prosperous life as a devoted surf of his Saud rulers. He gained their trust and respect. They shared all their secrets with him over thirty years until the day he decided that he wanted to not only leave their propinquity, but to also use that privileged inside information against them to gain their respect and attention – but in so doing, possibly destroy them.

When President Erdogan of Turkey referred in his own parliament to the “Political killing” of Khashoggi, no western journalists picked this up, but his own parliamentarians knew what he meant. Khashoggi was a Muslim Brotherhood supporter – an organisation which the Saudis hate more than even Iran – and he was hoping to set up a TV channel in Turkey, a country which is aiming to take for itself more hegemony in the region, directly out of Saudi Arabia’s hands. The murder was not only a message to Saudi dissidents, but also to Turkey’s leader: don’t think you can ever get away with a stunt like that. 

Yemen rules

Yet the murdering and rendition itself is nothing new. MbS had been doing this for well over a year, detaining and murdering anyone who he feared might dare to comment on his ideas, let alone present himself as a threat to his tumultuous leadership. But it took the Khashoggi affair to gain the attention and imagination of the world’s media. It was like he did this to one of ours.

Although the West, neither today nor historically, cares not about such atrocities as long as they are kept from the weary eyes of its media or politicians who fear that this ugly proximity to Arab brutality might affect them getting re-elected in the age of Twitter. And the media in the U.S. (and U.K. also) is more guilty for one small, but important detail which Trump’s own support base should care about.

If Western media, and in particular the left leaning Washington Post isn’t guilty for sending its Saudi columnist to his death when they agreed to his articles being published in Arabic, they are certainly guilty for allowing Trump to let the Saudis get away with what they are doing in Yemen – a war and subsequent famine which befits no superlatives in the English language in its biblical level of cruelty and rancorous savagery.

Saudi US-made jets pound these poor people who, skeletons who resort to eating leaves, have no energy to run when they see the jets coming. World records are made everyday with infant mortalities as parents leave their frail babies in the hospital and don’t turn around as people starve – not due to lack of food but money to buy it.

With up to 100,000 dead so far and a contingent of Congress members eager to show Saudi Arabia it has to adapt to Washington rules, there has never been a better time to push for the end of the war in Yemen – which is largely a by product of America over selling the Iran threat to insecure Saudis who are addicted to US arms sales. Saudi Arabia loses 50bn dollars a year in Yemen.

The repugnant reality of the relationship between Washington and the Saudis is that it is western jobs and morally bankrupt politicians who are procuring the justification to sell arms to the Saudis. And the media is part of that collusion.

The Khashoggi murder and all its wretched detail has garnered a momentum of consciousness and probing, probably for all the wrong reasons. But how can we live with ourselves if we are to turn a blind eye to thousands dying in Yemen, who are certainly less worthy of their fate than a merely one journalist with grandiose ideas about his career?

Wrangle with Saudis

Most western editors who have the power to cover Yemen chose not to, as they know that if the U.S. business being done with the Saudis is seen in all its glory with its southern neighbor, it’s not going to score them any points with White House and State department mandarins and, in this era of high lay offs in the newsroom, might even cost them their jobs. But there’s another reason which is far more shameful and leaves us all with blood on our hands.

The Saudis for quite some time now impose a travel ban on western journalists wishing to work in the north of Yemen, where the real story of humanitarian calamity can be captured. Saudi Arabia does not issue journalists with special visas to enter the country. It is this rule, which western media largely complies with – and respects – which should be now at the heart of politicians zealous consciousness as they wrangle with the Saudi question.

How can the Trump administration accept such an arrangement when Yemen is a sovereign state and not a protectorate of Riyadh? When will journalists who sit in each day at Washington press conferences put their hands up and ask the ex Fox moronic press mannequins, the simple question “why does President Trump allow such a rule which prevents us from traveling to Yemen to report there?” The British may have created the house of Saud and planted the seeds for their present day savagery, but it will have to be American journalists who will stand up and stop Trump keeping such traditions alive.

John Cusack, the American actor, may be right about Trump being mentally ill. It’s not important. What is important is that Trump acts now to pull this ruling Saudi family out of the middle ages and convince them that the historical ‘no prisoners’ rule of their ancestors is no longer conducive with the modern world and that the West no longer considers them an asset when they continue to divide the middle east along outdated British imperial lines. Trump needs to show the Saudi Crown Prince the errors of his ways before it’s too late. And Yemen would be a good start for him, MbS and the American media to redeem themselves.

The Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s heinous murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has led to an international outcry against Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. The ambitious and young heir has already run into trouble with his Yemen policy that created a humanitarian disaster. His moves against his family members to claim the crown, as well as the Hariri saga showed the scale of his political ambitions.

The Khashoggi murder, however, represented a new high in the scale of recklessness, erasing any positive image he may have created in the West through an expensive PR campaign. All this seems to be the result of the Crown Prince’s ambition to reshape Saudi Arabia in a way that would afford it international legitimacy and acceptance as a modern country in a troubled region.

One of the main strategies of the Crown Prince has been to promote “Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030” to make the country a leader in the Islamic world through economic transformation. Emphasizing the need to diversify the Saudi economy, the much-touted program has yet to show significant progress. It is an incredibly difficult job to transform such an oil-dependent economy which requires nothing short of a sustained national effort over many years.

In many ways, MbS showed that his real focus is not economic transformation first and foremost but achieving the consolidation of his power through a charm offensive in the West while proving that it is a power to reckon with in the region. Instead of focusing on economic accomplishments to build credibility, he has been trying to enlist unconditional U.S. support against Saudi’s regional rival, Iran. Delivering on the structural economic promises beyond some symbolic gestures could have afforded him with legitimacy and support at home and abroad.

Khashoggi’s murder has irreparably damaged MbS’s credibility and legitimacy given that the Saudis were brazen enough to take such an action and incredibly incompetent to manage the fallout. Now that we know this was a premeditated act, it is safe to assume that it was part of the plan to embarrass Turkey by pinning the “disappearance” of Khashoggi in the country. The Saudis clearly thought they could get away with murder in Istanbul, but failed to calculate that the Turkish leadership would not simply let this go.

Many commentators have commented on Turkey’s “drip drip” strategy of releasing information to hurt the Saudis, but we need to remember that the leaked details were often to counter the Saudi indifference at first and the lack of assuming responsibility on their part. It was the Saudis who failed to own up to their catastrophic mistake and tried to wash their hands of it. Turkey was left with no choice but to release these details in the face of Saudi non-cooperation, especially during the first two weeks of the incident.

This episode will play a major role in the regional dynamics in the years to come. Saudi Arabia under the leadership MbS appeared ready to solidify an anti-Iran bloc, consisting of UAE, Egypt, the U.S. and tacitly Israel. Defining Iran as an existential threat, this confrontation could ultimately lead to new conflicts in the region.

In an effort to push back against Iran in the region and to sideline Turkey whenever possible, this regional pseudo alliance could pursue proxy wars against Iran, destabilizing the region even further. Turkey also has an interest in reduction of some of the Iranian influence in the region, but not at the expense of stability throughout the Middle East. During the Gulf crisis, Turkey tried to appeal to the wisdom of the Saudi King while supporting Qatar. In the Khashoggi incident, Turkey similarly invited the King to intervene and hold those responsible accountable, refusing to simply let it go.

MbS may survive this episode and assume the crown eventually but the damage is already done. He will have to show real and concrete achievements to regain any kind of legitimacy and the Khashoggi affair will follow him regardless. There is still the likelihood that his political ambitions might lead him to future disasters like the Yemen, Hariri and Khashoggi ones. However, if regional tensions can be lowered due to a politically weakened MbS, it could count as a win for Turkey.