Khashoggi Disappearance

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Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:00 am

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'Deafening silence': White House’s response to Khashoggi disappearance
#Khashoggi
MBS has been at the helm of a kingdom-wide crackdown on opposition since ascending to crown prince. But has Trump emboldened him?

The US presidency has yet to comment on the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (AFP)

MEE staff
Monday 8 October 2018 11:34 UTC
Last update: Tuesday 9 October 2018 6:41 UTC

Social media users have criticised the "deafening silence" from the US administration following the alleged death of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared on Tuesday after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul.

An unnamed Turkish official told the Reuters news agency over the weekend that Turkish police believed Khashoggi had been killed and his body then removed from the building.

Jamal Khashoggi: A different sort of Saudi
"The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Mr Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul. We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate," said the official.

No evidence has yet been provided by officials.

As a Turkish forensic team prepares to enter the consulate, where authorities suspect that Khashoggi was killed, social media users have been highlighting the seriousness of Khashoggi’s disappearance - and the failure of the White House to respond.

Tikun Olam

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Deafening silence from White House over Saudi assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. Could it be Trump-MBS bromance is strained by this bit of mischief on part of young crown prince? Nah...nothing could break the chemistry these two have. Except maybe cancelling that $100B arms deal!
11:14 PM - 7 Oct 2018


In May last year, US President Donald Trump signed the largest arms deal with the Gulf kingdom in history.

The deal - worth $109.7bn - caused uproar, with Amnesty International accusing Trump of “emboldening” further violations of human rights in the region.

Social media users seemed to agree that Trump’s embrace of the Saudi government has empowered the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

Nicholas Kristof

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The White House empowered Saudi crown prince MBS as he confronted Qatar, as he kidnapped Lebanon's prime minister, as he starved Yemenis, as he crushed dissent. Will it continue to sell him weapons if it's confirmed that he murdered a brave journalist, Jamal Khashoggi?



Khashoggi is a Washington Post columnist and outspoken critic of Saudi government policies. He had been a prominent and well-respected journalist for decades and worked as a foreign correspondent for Saudi newspapers across the region.



Glenn Kessler

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Glenn Kessler Retweeted Glenn Kessler
If this is true, I wonder why the Saudi government thought it could kill a prominent journalist without consequencesGlenn Kessler added,
Glenn Kessler
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Turkey concludes that Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Saudi consulate - The Washington Post https://apple.news/A18HwhMwbTp6rrOhPsBKSmw
396 replies 949 retweets 2,382 likes
Reply 396 Retweet 949 Like 2.4K

Olga Lautman


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Replying to @GlennKesslerWP
Idk maybe because Trump promotes the press as the ‘enemy of the people’ or the fact that Khashoggi got banned in Saudi for criticizing Trump. Maybe because Kushner handed sensitive info to MBS leaving him compromised or maybe it’s just plain old money that will buy inaction



Khashoggi also previously served as the media advisor to Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal during his tenure as ambassador in London and Washington.

He had been based in Washington DC since he fled Saudi Arabia in 2017 over fears of the new government’s crackdown on critical voices and was unsparing on the issue that caused his final rift with Riyadh.

He also pointedly criticised President Trump's relationship with Riyadh.

"From time to time, Trump tweets that he is protecting us and that we must pay for such protection to continue. He protects us from what? Or he is protecting who? I believe that the greatest threat facing the Gulf countries and their oil is a president such as Trump who sees nothing in us apart from the oil wells," Khashoggi wrote.



Will Bunch

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The blood of the world's murdered journalists like Jamal Khashoggi and countless Russians is splattered on Donald Trump, who lavishes praise on their killers like MBS and Putin while calling a free press "the enemies of the people," egging them on
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"I have left my home, my family and my job, and I am raising my voice," Khashoggi wrote in September 2017.

"To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot."

Yasin Aktay, a former MP for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the man Khashoggi told his fiancee to call if he did not emerge from the consulate, voiced concerns over the Saudi national's whereabouts.

Missing Saudi journalist: Turkish forensics team poised to probe Khashoggi 'murder'
"His friends had warned him [Khashoggi], 'Do not go there, it is not safe,' but he said they [the Saudis] could not do anything in Turkey," said Aktay.

Turkish authorities believe that a group of 15 Saudi nationals may have been involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Police said about 15 Saudis, including officials, came to Istanbul on two private flights on Tuesday and were at the consulate at the same time as the journalist. They left again the same day, according to MEE's sources.

Another police source told MEE on Saturday: "The consulate is surrounded by cameras, no evidence of Khashoggi leaving was recorded on them."

Trump allies speak out

In the face of continued silence from the White House, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted on Monday that it was "imperative" to find out what happened to Khashoggi.

"Honest answers must be forthcoming for the sake of the Saudi-US relationship," he wrote.

Graham also said that if allegations of Saudi wrongdoing prove true, "it would be devastating to the US-Saudi relationship and there will be a heavy price to be paid — economically and otherwise".


Lindsey Graham

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Just spoke to Senators @BobCorker and @BenCardinforMD about our shared concerns regarding the whereabouts and treatment of Mr. #JamalKashoggi.
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Lindsey Graham

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We agree if there was any truth to the allegations of wrongdoing by the Saudi government it would be devastating to the US-Saudi relationship and there will be a heavy price to be paid — economically and otherwise.


In a talk with the National Press Club in Washington, House Majority Leader Paul Ryan said news of Khasoggi's disappearance is "very disturbing and unnerving".

"We just need to get clear facts from both governments. As an elected leader, we stand with the media in solidarity to make sure that this does not go unnoticed," he said.

Bob Corker, the Republican senator who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said he personally raised the issue of Khashoggi's disappearance with the Saudi ambassador.

"And while we await more information, know we will respond accordingly to any state that targets journalists abroad," Corker tweeted on Monday afternoon.

On Sunday, another Republican senator, Marco Rubio, also tweeted that he was "deeply disturbed" by the news of Khashoggi's disappearence and called for action from the US:

Turkish police believe Saudi journalist was killed at consulate: sources

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities believe that prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared four days ago after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, was killed inside the consulate, two Turkish sources said on Saturday.

A demonstrator holds picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest in front of Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, October 5, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
“The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Mr. Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul. We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate,” one Turkish official told Reuters.

The sources did not say how they believed the killing was carried out. Saudi Arabia’s consul-general told Reuters on Saturday his country was helping search for Khashoggi, and dismissed talk of his possible abduction.

Khashoggi, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Washington for the past year fearing retribution for his critical views on Saudi policies, entered the consulate on Tuesday to secure documentation for his forthcoming marriage, according to his fiancee, who waited outside. He has not been heard of since.

Since then, Turkish and Saudi officials have offered conflicting accounts of his disappearance, with Ankara saying there was no evidence that he had left the diplomatic mission and Riyadh saying he exited the premises the same day.

Accusations, denials in search for Saudi journalist
Earlier on Saturday Turkish officials said prosecutors had begun investigating Khashoggi’s disappearance and a spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party said authorities would uncover his whereabouts.

Reporting by Orhan Coskun, Editing by William Maclean
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saud ... ce=twitter

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/deaf ... -992416786


Jamal Khashoggi: Turkey hunts black van it believes carried body

Officials search for vehicle they say was part of convoy belonging to Saudi hit squad

Martin ChulovTue 9 Oct 2018 03.09 EDT
Turkish authorities are examining motorway cameras in the search for a black van they believe carried the body of Jamal Khashoggi from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week – one of six cars investigators say belonged to a Saudi hit squad thought to be behind the suspected murder of the dissident journalist.

Officials say the convoy left the consulate around two hours after Khashoggi entered. Security camera footage shows boxes being loaded into the van, which carried diplomatic number plates. After leaving the consulate grounds, three cars turned left on to a main road while the remaining three turned right. Investigators say one of the vehicles, a van with blacked out windows, has become the focus of the investigation, and was briefly tracked to a nearby motorway.

Nearly a week since Khashoggi disappeared, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stepped up his calls for Riyadh to explain what happened to the high-profile critic of the Saudi leadership. The Turkish president had struck a measured tone when pressed on Khashoggi, while allowing government officials and state media to drip-feed allegations. Details of the convoy were disclosed by the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper.

“We have to get an outcome from this investigation as soon as possible,” Erdoğan said from Budapest. “The consulate officials cannot save themselves by simply saying: ‘He has left.’”

He said he was personally following the case but had no new evidence to table.

Senior officials in Ankara remain convinced Khashoggi was killed by a Saudi state hit squad sent to Istanbul to abduct or kill him, who were lying in wait when he arrived at the consulate last Tuesday afternoon. It was Khashoggi’s second visit to finalise his divorce, after being told the previous Friday that his papers were not in order. His fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, had waited outside.

Flight records show two Saudi planes arrived at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport on Tuesday and departed separately that same day, hours after Khashoggi was last seen.

Saudi authorities continue to insist they played no role in Khashoggi’s disappearance. They acknowledge that a “security delegation” was sent to Istanbul on Saturday but have not offered a reason for the journey.

Profile
Jamal Khashoggi

Turkish investigators have hinted they know more about the disappearance than they have disclosed. Though wary of each other, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have traditionally tried to avoid public spats. The countries have significant trade and investment ties and vie for influence across the region. Erdoğan’s response is likely to become more pointed in the coming days if there is no movement on issues that matter more to him than the disappearance of a foreign national inside Turkey.

Khashoggi has been one of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s most prominent critics. A member of the Saudi elite, he had remained in exile in the US for much of the past year, from where he wrote columns for the Washington Post critiquing aspects of the Kingdom’s reform programme.

Turan Kislakci, a friend of Khashoggi, said the 59-year-old told him he had been invited to return to Riyadh by the crown prince to act as an adviser. Khashoggi had sought assurances about his safety from friends in the US before visiting the consulate and had asked Cengiz to contact Turkish authorities if he failed to emerge. She raised the alarm four hours later, by which time the convoy is believed to have left the consulate.

Turkey has an extensive system of motorway cameras that are regularly used to provide evidence in criminal probes. The disappearance has shocked many in Turkey and caused alarm in some quarters of Riyadh.

Calls for clarity from the international community mounted on Monday, with the US, Britain and France seeking explanations from Riyadh.

After six days of silence from the Trump administration, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, issued a statement saying senior US diplomats had spoken to their Saudi counterparts about the case.

“We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation of Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation,” Pompeo said. A few hours earlier, Vice-President Mike Pence said he was “deeply troubled” and warned that “the free world deserves answers”.

The US president Donald Trump, a robust ally of Saudi Arabia who had pledged to stay out of the country’s domestic affairs, made more tentative remarks, telling reporters he was “concerned” about “some pretty bad stories” about Khashoggi’s fate. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner maintains close personal ties with the crown prince.

Speaking for the first time about the allegations, a UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “These are extremely serious allegations. We are aware of the latest reports and are working urgently to establish the facts, including with the government of Saudi Arabia.”

The episode has put the UK in an awkward diplomatic position since it is close both to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Office would face charges of hypocrisy if, after its outrage over the attempted assassination by Russia of the former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, it remained silent over an alleged murder by the Saudi government.

It would also put Britain directly at odds with the crown prince, who is a key UK ally. In his dealings with Canada, including a withdrawal of investment, the Saudi ruler has shown he does not tolerate criticism of his country’s human rights record.

France said it was seeking an explanation as to how an “accomplished and esteemed” journalist had vanished.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... udi-arabia


Will Jared Let His Saudi Buddy M.B.S. Get Away with (Alleged) Murder?

The Trump administration has been mum on journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance, and the strong possibility that he was murdered by the White House’s best buddy.

Bess LevinOctober 8, 2018 1:11 pm
Foreign Policy

Donald Trump holds up a chart of military hardware sales as he meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Donald Trump and close personal pal Prince Mohammed bin Salam.
By Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images.
In an administration that provides fresh horror on a daily basis, one of the most alarming aspects of Donald Trump’s presidency is his penchant for casting off decades-long relationships with democratic allies and cozying up to autocrats in their place. While Vladimir Putin will always have a special place in Trump’s heart, another clear favorite is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who ingratiated himself with the ex–real estate developer by agreeing to a multi-billion-dollar arms deal that allowed Trump to maintain the illusion of being a successful businessman. In exchange, the president of the United States has basically cheered on the prince’s human-rights abuses. Last November, with the tacit support of the president, M.B.S., as he is known, rounded up 200 businessmen, Saudi officials, and family members as part of a crackdown on alleged corruption, and detained them for months at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton—a move Trump publicly endorsed. In August, Team Trump essentially gave Saudi Arabia its blessing to expel Canada’s ambassador, ban new trade, freeze Saudi Airlines flights to Canada, and order the withdrawal of more than 12,000 Saudi citizens studying in Canada, after our neighbors to the north mildly condemned the arrests of several political activists, and called for their release. But a recent incident—wherein Saudi Arabia may have kidnapped and murdered a journalist who has been critical of the regime—could make it tough for Trump to look the other way. Though lord knows he’s trying!

The disappearance and alleged killing last week of dissident Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi while he was visiting the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul is only the latest challenge to a U.S.-Saudi relationship that both governments have diligently cultivated.

The Trump administration has said little beyond expressing public concern over Khashoggi’s fate, and the kingdom has sharply denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.

Turkish investigators charge that that is not true in the slightest, telling The New York Times and other news outlets that Khashoggi, who went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain a marriage document, was killed and dismembered by a 15-man team of Saudi agents. “There is concrete information,” Yasin Aktay, an adviser to the head of Turkey’s governing A.K.P. party, said during an interview on Sunday. “It will not remain an unsolved case.” That’s made things rather uncomfortable in Washington where, per the Times, “many current and former American officials are friendly with Mr. Khashoggi, a resident of the United States,” but the president and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are tight with his alleged killers. Thus far, State Department officials have said only that the U.S. cannot confirm Khashoggi’s status, but that they are following the case.

Lawmakers have reacted, understandably, with a little more outrage. “If this is true—that the Saudis lured a U.S. resident into their consulate and murdered him—it should represent a fundamental break in our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Senator Chris Murphy wrote on Twitter, while Senator Tim Kaine added: “We must get to the bottom of what happened and then impose strong consequences. Targeting journalists must stop.” It’s not clear that the president agrees.

Update: Trump has said he doesn’t like what he’s hearing and hopes the kidnapping and dismemberment “sort itself out”:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/10 ... udi-arabia



Claims emerge that footage of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder exists
‘There are claims that there is a video of the moments Jamal Khashoggi was killed,’ says Yeni Şafak colomnist Kemal Öztürk

Editor / Internet
10:44 October 09, 2018
Yeni Şafak

Video footage of the moments missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the consulate exists, according to Yeni Şafak daily’s colomnist Kemal Öztürk.

“The Saudi consulate says they have no [video] recordings. The Saudi consulate says that they don’t have any footage. But we [Turkey] have our own cameras. There are claims that there is a video of the moments Jamal Khashoggi was killed. I haven’t seen it, nobody has,” Öztürk said during a TVNET program.

“Every embassy and consulate has security officials stationed in front. Some of them are intelligence. The embassies of high-risk states are under surveillance. The embassy or consulate has its own security system, but so does Turkey, because its safety has been entrusted to Turkey and so it is responsible if anything happens. Turkey protects them diligently. Both physical and technical protection. There's a record of entry and exit,” he added.

Possible last moments of missing Saudi journalist revealed
Possible last moments of missing Saudi journalist revealed
The Washington Post on Tuesday published a surveillance image revealing missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, just before he disappeared.The image also bore a date and time stamp reading, 2018-10-02, 13:14 p.m.The Post said "a person close to the investigation" had shared the image with them.Khashoggi, journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.Khashoggi, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Washington for the past year fearing retribution for his criticism of Saudi policies, went to the consulate last week to secure documents for his forthcoming marriage, according to his fiancée, who waited outside. He has not been heard of since.Turkish authorities believe he was murdered within the consulate walls, but the Saudi government has refused the claims and said accusations were baseless.On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged the Saudi consulate to prove whether or not Khashoggi exited the building after entering, saying that consulate officials "can't get away with [simply] saying 'he left the building.'"Turkish police also said that 15 Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and entered the consulate while Khashoggi was inside.Pompeo calls on Saudi govt to investigate Khashoggi disappearancePressure Saudis on Khashoggi case: Yemeni Nobel winnerSaudi Arabia must show journalist made exit: ErdoğanSaudis to pay price if journalist killed: US senatorTrump ‘concerned’ over fate of Saudi journalist

Khashoggi, journalist and columnist for The Washington Post who has lived in self-imposed exile in Washington for the past year fearing retribution for his criticism of Saudi policies, has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish police investigating the case said Saturday that 15 Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and entered the consulate while Khashoggi was inside.

Turkish sources also said that Turkish authorities believe Khashoggi was deliberately killed inside the consulate, a view echoed by one of Erdogan's advisers, Yasin Aktay, who is a friend of the Saudi journalist.

Speaking to journalists in front of the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on Sunday, Turan Kışlakçı -- head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association (TAM) -- said they were informed that Jamal Khashoggi was “brutally murdered.”

“After the statements of unnamed security forces and Turan Kışlakçı, whoever ordered the execution must prove that Jamal Khashoggi was killed. If you remember, the same happened in Syria and the photos were published by Anadolu Agency. They stamped every Syrian opposition that they killed and gave them a number and photographed them. I was so surprised by this; you killed them, why did you number them?” Öztürk said.
https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/clai ... ts-3463054


'Complicit' Mike Pence Blasted Over 'Freedom Of The Press' Defense Tweet

Lee Moran
Vice President Mike Pence faced accusations of hypocrisy on Monday night after he tweeted about the importance of “freedom of the press.”


Turkish authorities believe Khashoggi, who disappeared a week ago after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, was killed inside the consulate. He was known to be critical of Saudi policies.

The irony of Pence’s post was not lost on Twitter users, many of whom accused him of being complicit in President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on reporters and media outlets’ critical coverage of the administration:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mi ... 70d054863f



southpaw


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“Previously, the Saudi govt threatened Canada with a new 9/11. That may not have been—optically speaking—the best move. Fortunately, a new opportunity has arisen to feign concern for the journalist they apparently murdered and maybe throw some patsies overboard in the bargain.”
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Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 09, 2018 8:12 am

Did the Saudis Murder Jamal Khashoggi?
Robin Wright
October 7, 2018 4:55 PM
Tawakkol Karman, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, leads a demonstration outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul..
Photograph by Ozan Kose / AFP / Getty
The last time I spoke with Jamal Khashoggi, in August, he was worried about his life. The Saudi dissident, a fifty-nine-year-old former editor and government adviser, was convinced that the kingdom’s new leadership wanted to kill him. “Of course they’d like to see me out of the picture,” he said. He’d said it to me before, but by then he had been in exile, in Washington, for more than a year, so I thought he was exaggerating the dangers. Maybe not. Khashoggi hasn’t been seen since he went into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, on Tuesday, to get papers verifying his divorce so that he could remarry. His fiancée, who waited outside for eleven hours, said he never emerged.

Five days have passed, with no proof of life, and international human-rights groups now allege that Khashoggi has been abducted. On Sunday, Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdoğan, told Reuters that Turkey believes Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate, adding that fifteen Saudis were allegedly involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance. Erdoğan told reporters that his government is investigating the event. “Entries and exits into the embassy, airport transits, and all camera records are being looked at and followed,” he told reporters. “We want to swiftly get results.” The U.S. State Department also said it is closely following the case. A Turkish colleague of Khashoggi’s told journalists, on Sunday, that the Turkish government advised him to “make your funeral preparation.” Khashoggi had been killed “in a barbaric way” and then dismembered, Turan Kışlakçı, who heads the Turkish-Arab Media Association, told the Associated Press. Another report claimed that his body had been taken back to Saudi Arabia.

Khashoggi has long been an important voice in the kingdom. I’ve known him for decades. He had been loyal to the royals, and, for many foreign journalists and experts, he was always a good place to start to understand the monarchy’s thinking. Khashoggi served as the editor of the Saudi daily newspaper Al Watan and headed a television station. But he became increasingly critical of the government and, in June, 2017, decided to leave. Even in exile, he still influenced the debate about the kingdom’s future, with almost 1.7 million followers on Twitter, a Global Opinions column in the Washington Post, and regular appearances on international television.

The bizarre mystery surrounding Khashoggi’s disappearance is part of a broader trend since the appointment, in June of last year, of the young Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is more commonly known by his initials, M.B.S. The thirty-three-year-old has pledged sweeping reforms, but his rule has been increasingly ruthless, with mass arrests of businessmen, and even other princes, and death sentences meted out, this year, to a women’s-rights activist and also to moderate clerics who have preached against extremism. “Above and beyond the persecution of activists, writers, clerics, scholars, and businessmen inside Saudi, where the Saudis could claim some kind of ‘process,’ the apparent kidnapping of Khashoggi is now a pattern of attacks where the Saudis don’t even make a pretense of legality,” Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division, told me on Sunday.

The growing campaign of intimidation, she noted, includes the arrest, in May, of Loujain al-Hathloul, a women’s-rights activist who once ranked third among the Arab world’s hundred most powerful women—even as the kingdom said that it was opening up opportunities for women by allowing them to drive, an issue that Hathloul had championed. Another is what Whitson called the “goonish assault” on Ghanem al-Dosari, who is famed for his satirical YouTube videos criticizing the Saudi royal family, by Saudi agents in London. Three Saudi princes have been abducted since King Salman, M.B.S.’s father, became king, in 2015, the BBC reported. Taken together, Whitson said, all of these acts “reflect the brazen, crude, Qaddafi-like nature of the Saudi crown prince, and, above all, his message to Saudis inside and outside the country: you better shut up. You are not safe. There is no law that can protect you.”

In an interview with Bloomberg this past Wednesday, the crown prince dismissed reports of Khashoggi’s abduction as unfounded “rumors,” and vowed to probe the case alongside Turkish authorities. “My understanding is he entered and he got out after a few minutes or one hour. I’m not sure,” M.B.S. said. “We are ready to welcome the Turkish government to go and search our premises. The premises are sovereign territory, but we will allow them to enter and search and do whatever they want to do. We have nothing to hide.”

On Saturday, four days after Khashoggi’s disappearance, the Saudi consul-general in Istanbul, Mohammed al-Otaibi, took Reuters journalists on a tour of the six-story consulate, opening cupboards and doors to prove that Khashoggi was not there. On Sunday, I e-mailed Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister (and a former neighbor of mine, when he lived in Washington as a young diplomat), asking about Khashoggi’s status. He did not reply.

But experts on Saudi Arabia suspect a more ominous pattern. “The crocodile tears of the crown prince and other Saudi officials are probably for deception and prevarication,” Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A., Pentagon, and National Security Council staffer who is now at the Brookings Institution, told me. “The disappearance of Jamal fits with a pattern of crude intimidation and the silencing of criticism and dissent.”

In words that now haunt his own case, Khashoggi told me, in August, that the crown prince has “no tolerance or willingness to accommodate critics.” Although he is technically next in line to the throne, M.B.S. acts as the country’s de-facto leader, Khashoggi said, and has already become more autocratic than any of the previous six kings who have ruled since the death of Ibn Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, in 1953.

When we spoke last November, Khashoggi compared the Saudi monarchy to the Iranian theocracy. “M.B.S. is now becoming the supreme leader,” he said, a reference to Iran’s top authority, who has veto power over every branch of the government. Since his father became king, in 2015, M.B.S. has consolidated his hold on the five major sectors of power, serving as minister of defense, head of a new economic council, and chief of the royal court. “He is very autocratic and totally illiberal,” Khashoggi told me in August. “I worked for the government for four or five years. I never thought I’d be arrested, but then I thought I might. That’s why I left.” Khashoggi’s status became ever more precarious as his critiques of the monarchy sharpened in recent months.

In a statement on Sunday, the Washington Post called Khashoggi a “committed, courageous journalist.” Fred Hiatt, the Post’s editorial-page editor, said, “He writes out of a sense of love for his country and deep faith in human dignity and freedom. We have been enormously proud to publish his writing.” Hiatt called reports of Khashoggi’s murder “a monstrous and unfathomable act.”

Amnesty International called reports of Khashoggi’s assassination “an abysmal new low. Such an assassination within the grounds of the consulate, which is territory under Saudi Arabian jurisdiction, would amount to an extrajudicial execution. This case sends a shockwave among Saudi Arabian human rights defenders and dissidents everywhere, eroding any notion of seeking safe haven abroad.”

In one of his early columns for the Post, in September, 2017, Khashoggi said it had taken a long time for him to reach the point of challenging his own government. “It was painful for me several years ago when several friends were arrested. I said nothing. I didn’t want to lose my job or my freedom. I worried about my family,” he wrote. “I have made a different choice now. I have left my home, my family and my job, and I am raising my voice. To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot. I want you to know that Saudi Arabia has not always been as it is now. We Saudis deserve better.”

They certainly do.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-des ... ssion=true



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Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
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Don’t forget that.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby Jerky » Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:30 am

This and China kidnapping the head of Interpol (which, if anything, is an even bigger, more dangerous development) are the two stories that have me most worried on the short term.

Something terrible is going down. Also, 2 days ago I had a terrifying dream in which a large first-world city, near water, suffered a horrific, explosive event, either nuke or asteroid. I've been flashing on "Baltimore" (as some of you old-timers with excellent memories might remember me mentioning a few times) ever since 9/11, which I also foresaw, in "print" (online, really, at my former Daily Dirt blog), the day before 9/11.

This is not a bad joke. I don't claim to be a psychic, but I DO get the occasional psychic flash (mostly having to do with family). On the rare occasion that I get a strong one, maybe 3 or 4 times per decade, it proves correct. I take no pride or pleasure in this.

Anyone else here having odd dreams?

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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:55 am

the Russian Troll Factory is on fire

29 days left for trump to create something really special

and this

Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova raped and murdered

Bulgarian journalist raped and murdered
(CNN)Bulgarian authorities are investigating the rape and murder of an investigative reporter in the northern city of Ruse, the third journalist to have been killed in the EU in the past year.

The body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova, who worked for broadcaster TVN, was found on Saturday near a pedestrian alley in an area with heavy vegetation, Bulgarian state media reported.

Preliminary investigations showed the cause of death was blows to the head and suffocation.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Mladen Marinov described the murder as "exceptionally brutal" and said Marinova was raped before she was killed, according to state media. He said the country's top murder investigators had been sent to Ruse to work on the case.

Vigil for murdered TV journalist Viktoria Marinova in Ruse, Bulgaria.

Investigators are working with a psychology team to produce a profile of the perpetrator but authorities have not yet identified a suspect.

It is not clear if Marinova's murder was related to her journalistic work. Authorities are working to identify witnesses and potential motives.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said investigators were looking into Marinova's professional and personal life. One theory they're pursuing is that the assault was an unplanned event, carried out by someone from a psychiatric facility in the vicinity of the crime scene.

"However, we do not exclude a version for planned action also by such a person or a personal motive. So, absolutely no version is underestimated," he said, according to state media.

Ruse Regional Prosecutor Georgi Georgiev told state media that Marinova's mobile phone, car keys, glasses and part of her clothing were missing when her body was found. As of late Monday, her mobile phone had not been found yet, said Commissioner Teodor Atanasov, head of the regional Interior Ministry directorate.

A friend of Marinova, Todor Gechev, told reporters from Bulgarian National Television (BNT) that he met with her on Wednesday. She told him she was working on a journalistic investigation but didn't feel worried about her safety and had not received threats.

Vigils in Marinova's memory were held Monday evening in Ruse, the capital Sofia and other cities.

Most recently Marinova anchored the program "Detector" on TVN, where she interviewed two journalists who were investigating alleged corruption involving European Union funds. Previously she hosted a lifestyle program and was involved with charity work. She was the mother of a young daughter.

"With enormous pain and insurmountable grief the team of TVN television is experiencing the loss of our beloved colleague, Victoria Marinova," TVN said in a statement. "Therefore we ask for sympathy for the sorrow of relatives and colleagues. A bow in her memory!"

International condemnation of Marinova's murder


The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Bulgarian authorities to conduct a "rigorous, thorough investigation" into the killing.

"CPJ is shocked by the barbaric murder of journalist Victoria Marinova," said CPJ European Union Representative Tom Gibson in Brussels. "Bulgarian authorities must employ all efforts and resources to carry out an exhaustive inquiry and bring to justice those responsible."

Candlelight vigil in memory of murdered Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova in Sofia.
Candlelight vigil in memory of murdered Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova in Sofia.
The organization added in its statement that Marinova's last broadcast was an interview with Romanian journalist Attila Biro and a Bulgarian colleague, Dimitar Stoyanov, who were looking into allegations of fraud involving EU funds, and that the two reporters were detained by Bulgarian police in September.

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmerman said he was "shocked by the horrendous murder." "Those responsible should be brought to justice immediately by the Bulgarian authorities," he said in a tweet.

Shocked by the horrendous murder of Victoria Marinova. Again a courageous journalist falls in the fight for truth and against corruption. Those responsible should be brought to justice immediately by the Bulgarian authorities.

— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) October 7, 2018
Harlem Desir, media freedom representative for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) condemned the killing on Twitter, saying that he would closely follow the investigation.

Three journalists have been killed in the EU in the past year. Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing in October in Malta and Jan Kuciak was murdered in Slovakia in February.
Bulgaria was ranked 111 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index this year, lower than any other EU member.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/08/europe/b ... index.html
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Oct 10, 2018 6:40 am

Image



9E797060-863F-4A42-A8F2-F3337714F507.jpeg
EHA News
@eha_news
Turkish newspaper Sabah releases names & pictures of the 15 Saudi who are suspected to be involed in the disappearance of the Saudi journalist.

85B5A28E-AB3D-4FA2-B9CC-274F940A1377.jpeg


https://mobile.twitter.com/eha_news/sta ... 7649487872


. US intelligence reportedly captured Saudis discussing a plan to kill Khashoggi.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/ ... ssion=true


Did Nikki Haley know?

Is this why she resigned
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Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:22 am

Jamal Khashoggi: Turkish media says video shows disappearance plot

Image

Purported Saudi intelligence officers said by Turkish media to be linked to the disappearance of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, 10 October 2018Reuters
Turkish media outlets have published CCTV footage which they say shows evidence of a plot linked to missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It shows purported Saudi intelligence officers entering and leaving Turkey via Istanbul airport.

Mr Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi monarchy, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October and has not been seen since.

Turkish authorities say Mr Khashoggi was killed. Saudi Arabia denies this.

What else does the video show?

Broadcast by Turkey's TRT World channel and apparently garnered from security cameras, the footage shows vehicles driving up to the consulate, including black vans thought to be central to inquiries.

Groups of Saudi men are seen entering Turkey via Istanbul airport, checking in at hotels and later leaving the country.

Turkish investigators are looking into two Saudi Gulfstream jets that landed at the airport on 2 October. The video shows aircraft waiting on the tarmac.

What we know about missing Saudi journalist
The journalist who vanished into a consulate
Turkish press trace Khashoggi's last steps
Saudi Arabia's missing princes
Mr Khashoggi was visiting the consulate to finalise his divorce so he could marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.

He is seen on the video entering the consulate. His fiancée waits outside.

Turkey's Sabah newspaper reports that it has identified 15 members of an intelligence team it says was involved in the Saudi's disappearance. Among them was a forensics expert, it says.

Image

Maps showing the location of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and the Saudi consul's residence
Diplomatic vehicles were seen entering the consulate and driving to the Saudi consul's residence shortly after Mr Khashoggi's arrival
Presentational white space
Police are reported to be examining 150 security cameras as part of their investigation.

Some local media have also been reporting that Mr Khashoggi may have been abducted rather than killed.

Turkey says it will conduct a search of the Istanbul consulate, while Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said the country was "open to co-operation" and a search of the building could go ahead.

Image

CCTV footage shows missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Ankara is demanding that Saudi Arabia prove he left, while not providing definitive evidence to support the claim he was killed inside.

Who is Jamal Khashoggi?

A critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Mr Khashoggi was living in self-imposed exile in the US and writing opinion pieces for the Washington Post before his disappearance.

A former editor of the al-Watan newspaper and a short-lived Saudi TV news channel, he was for years seen as close to the Saudi royal family. He served as an adviser to senior Saudi officials.

Image

Jamal Khashoggi: Saudi Arabia needs reform, but one-man rule is "bad" for the kingdom
But after several of his friends were arrested, his column was cancelled by the al-Hayat newspaper and he was allegedly warned to stop tweeting, Mr Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia for the US.

What has the international reaction been?

The UK's foreign secretary told Saudi Arabia that Britain expects urgent answers over the disappearance of Mr Khashoggi, it emerged on Tuesday.

In a phone call to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Jeremy Hunt warned that "friendships depend on shared values".

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Saudi Arabia to "support a thorough investigation" of his disappearance and "to be transparent about the results".

UN experts have demanded a "prompt independent and international investigation" into his disappearance.

Last week, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg News that his government was "very keen to know what happened to him", and that Mr Khashoggi had left "after a few minutes or one hour".

Crown Prince Mohammed's brother and the Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Khaled bin Salman al-Saud, has insisted all the reports about his disappearance or death "are completely false and baseless".

How has Khashoggi's fiancee reacted?

Hatice Cengiz has appealed to the US for help in an emotional article in the Washington Post.

"I implore President Trump and first lady Melania Trump to help shed light on Jamal's disappearance," she wrote.

"We were in the middle of making wedding plans, life plans," when he vanished, she said.

Image

Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, waits outside the Istanbul consulate, 3 October 2018AFP
Hatice Cengiz waited outside the consulate for her fiancé
"Jamal is a valuable person, an exemplary thinker and a courageous man who has been fighting for his principles. I don't know how I can keep living if he was abducted or killed in Turkey."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45809470
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Thu Oct 11, 2018 8:27 pm

emptywheel
·
2h
I'm glad Khashoggi's assassination is making the elite squeamish about association with the thuggish Saudis, but tens -- if not hundreds -- of thousands of dead Yemenis are wondering where that line in the sand was.



Polly Sigh

An Apple Watch, hired jet, and mystery vehicle figure in the search for journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who "disappeared" inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi is an outspoken critic of Jared Kushner's good friend, Saudi Crown Prince MBS.

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ICYMI on Oct 29: "Kushner left DC via commercial airline on Wed for the trip, which was not announced to the public. The WH official would not say who Kushner met w/ in Saudi, but he's cultivated a relationship w/ Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman."

Recall: Jared Kushner's unannounced Oct trip to Riyadh caught some intelligence officials off guard. “The two princes stayed up until nearly 4 am...planning strategy.” The following week, the crown prince launched his royal "purge."


More than anyone in the Trump administration, Jared Kushner cultivated Saudi’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman — who likely ordered Jamal Khashoggi's murder — elevating MBS into a key ally [and passing MBS intelligence straight from the PDB].

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The Turkish government informed US officials that it has audio & video recordings that prove @washingtonpost columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured then murdered.”
My god.


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F2FD391B-7A79-4A51-A2FA-690AD3A09606.jpeg




In 2015, Trump bragged that Saudis "buy apartments from me. They spend $40M, $50M. Am I supposed to dislike them?”

Room revenues at Trump’s New York hotel saw a 13% boost in Q1 2018 because of Saudi Prince MBS' visit to NYC in March.


D8999DDD-7BFE-4C2F-84AA-7977E24CC05D.jpeg

Image


Dec 2016: Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi banned by his country for criticizing Trump. "When his advisers show him the map, will he realize supporting Putin means supporting Iran?"

Trump will never condemn Saudi re Khashoggi.


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Donald Trump Has a Serious Saudi Arabian Conflict of Interest

“They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them?”

Russ Chomsky

October 10, 2018 4:14 PM

President Donald Trump meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office in March.Evan Vucci/AP



The grisly details of an alleged Saudi government plot to murder dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi are roiling diplomatic and national security circles, but the Trump White House’s reaction has been strangely muted. Asked about the matter on Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump vaguely condemned the “bad situation,” while also praising King Salman, the Saudi monarch, as a “fine man.” He stressed that Saudi officials say it’s unclear what became of Khashoggi, who disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Turkish officials say he was killed within hours of entering the consulate by a Saudi hit squad on the orders of senior Saudi royal family members.


Trump’s meek response to the diplomatic crisis highlights the ongoing conflicts of interest posed by his business empire.

At a 2015 campaign stop, Trump bragged to the crowd about his business dealings with the Saudis. “Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them,” Trump said. “They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”

In 2001, the Saudi government bought the 45th floor of the Trump World Plaza building in New York City as part of its mission to the United Nations. And shortly before entering the White House, Trump was aggressively pursuing deals with Saudi investors and attempting to build hotels in the Saudi Arabia. In August 2015, in the middle of his presidential run, Trump registered new corporations to manage a prospective hotel in Jeddah, the gateway city to the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina. That project never came to fruition, but the Washington Post reported that at least two of Trump’s US hotel properties—both called the Trump International Hotel & Tower, in New York and Chicago—have benefited hugely from Saudi business.

At Trump’s New York hotel, room revenue declined for two straight years after Trump launched his presidential bid but saw a 13 percent boost during the first three months of 2018. The reason, according to hotel management, was SaudiPrince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to New York City in March. The crown prince, who is known as M.B.S. and is said to wield most of the power in the Saudi government, didn’t stay at the Trump hotel (the rooms are apparently not big enough), but members of his entourage did, and that was enough to give a last-minute shine to the hotel’s quarterly finances. Trump’s Chicago hotel, meanwhile, has seen a 169 percent increase in visits from Saudis since 2016.

This all raises the question: Are Trump’s personal business interests influencing his handling of the unfolding diplomatic crisis?
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... -interest/
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Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
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Don’t forget that.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby Elvis » Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:30 pm

Wow. :shock: The existence of the recordings seems very plausible if not likely. It's gonna be interesting to see what comes of this (maybe nothing that we'll be told about).

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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby RocketMan » Fri Oct 12, 2018 4:18 pm

Saudi-Arabia goes on a tear, painting the town red.

Seems like the 9/11 themed, well-intentioned, jokey meme in Twitter was just the hors d'oeuvre. It appears though, that some plutocrat code of conduct has now been breached...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... appearance

Saudi Arabia has found itself further isolated over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after the business world turned its back on a high-profile investment conference in the kingdom and US officials claimed audio and video recordings had captured the moment the journalist was murdered in Istanbul.

The Future Investment Initiative conference, to be held in Riyadh later this month, was rapidly turning into a fiasco on Friday after most media partners and several top business allies pulled out. More were expected to follow. All said they had been disturbed by the circumstances of Khashoggi’s disappearance from the Saudi consulate in Turkey and the lack of credible responses.


Witnessing as we are at the same time the rehabilitation of George W. Bush it seems that Stalin was indeed right when he mused that killing a single man is murder, while killing a million is in the purview of statistics.

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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:11 pm

Polly Sigh
2h2 hours ago

Khashoggi set his apple watch to 'AUDIO record' when he went into the consulate. It recorded his brutal beating & murder. The Saudis discovered the watch & tried to get the data but it had already uploaded to Khashoggi's phone, in his fiancee's hands. per @NicRobertsonCNN @Sabah
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https://twitter.com/dcpoll/status/1050882904853745664


Ragıp Soylu

@ragipsoylu

HUGE news by @Sabah on #Khashoggi :

• Khashoggi himself recorded his questioning via Apple Watch.
• Records were uploaded to ICloud
• Saudis questioned, tortured, and killed him
• Hit squad had access to watch via his fingerprints, deleted some files
• Phone had backup
https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby BenDhyan » Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:04 pm

Beware of Media Sourcing for Jamal Khashoggi 'Scoops'

By Patrick Poole October 12, 2018

There are still more questions than answers surrounding the disappearance of sometime Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. And the whole affair has become a tug-of-war between Middle East interests and an ongoing conflict between Saudi Arabia and other powers in the region, including Turkey and Qatar.

In the absence of verifiable facts, the American media are floating all kinds of leaks from Turkish sources. As I noted just last month, American media continue to gravitate towards the Erdogan regime, even as Turkey remains the largest jailer of journalists in the world, creating several layers of irony in the Khashoggi saga.

But in the past 24 hours we now have a glimpse of exactly who is feeding the establishment media reporting on the Khashoggi matter -- including at least one source who was tied to a joint Libyan intelligence and al-Qaeda plot to assassinate the Saudi crown prince.

Earlier today, Yahoo News published an article quoting an associate close to Khashoggi. The source conveniently said that President Trump's criticism of the media is directly tied to the alleged decision by the Saudi Crown Prince to have Khashoggi murdered.

The source for this article and the allegation is Khaled Saffuri:Saffuri also appears as a named source in a Daily Beast article from earlier this week on Khashoggi's alleged pro-democracy efforts.

It would be helpful to explain to our readers just who Mr. Saffuri is. Khaled Saffuri is the protege of al-Qaeda fundraiser Abdurahman Alamoudi, who is currently serving a 17-year sentence in federal prison for his role as bagman for the Libyan/Al-Qaeda assassination plot.

Remarkably, Saffuri's ties to terror financing were reported on shortly after the 9/11 attacks by none other than Michael Isikoff -- one of the authors of today's Yahoo News article. Yet Saffuri's background is never mentioned.

Saffuri got his start in Washington, D.C. as Alamoudi's deputy and chief lobbyist of the American Muslim Council.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/beware-of-media-sourcing-for-jamal-khashoggi-scoops/
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby Elvis » Sat Oct 13, 2018 1:20 am

Most interesting. Suddenly the world is concerned about a dead journalist. It looks like a decision has been made—Saudi Arabia is next.

I just caught a UK official of some kind on BBC saying that if the Turkish allegations are true, it would place the Crown Prince in the same league as "Assad of Syria, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Ghadafi of Libya."

We all know what that means. And it will be a "good war."

Trump doesn't seem to be playing along, for now.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby RocketMan » Sat Oct 13, 2018 1:40 pm

Elvis » Sat Oct 13, 2018 8:20 am wrote:Most interesting. Suddenly the world is concerned about a dead journalist. It looks like a decision has been made—Saudi Arabia is next.

I just caught a UK official of some kind on BBC saying that if the Turkish allegations are true, it would place the Crown Prince in the same league as "Assad of Syria, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Ghadafi of Libya."

We all know what that means. And it will be a "good war."

Trump doesn't seem to be playing along, for now.


Doesn't Saudi Arabia have one of the largest armies in the world, no joke?
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:21 pm

after Khashoggi

the big loser here will be Kushner

and there will be no war with the Saudis

how much classified intel did Kushner give the Saudis ?

how much financially the House of trump owes the House of Saud?

emptywheel

As arms merchants try to blackmail the govt into ignoring assassination, it might be a good time to talk about how to replace arms sales in our export portfolio.


Reuters Top News

Verified account

U.S. arms makers express concern to Trump administration about Saudi deals: official

U.S. weapons makers rattled over Saudi Arabia deals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major U.S. defense contractors have expressed concern to the Trump administration that lawmakers angered by the disappearance of a Saudi journalist in Turkey will block further arms deals with Saudi Arabia, a senior U.S. official told Reuters on Friday.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds a chart of military hardware sales as he welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
Turkish reports that journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a vocal critic of Riyadh, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and removed have hardened resistance in the U.S. Congress to selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, already a sore point for many lawmakers concerned about the Saudi role in Yemen’s civil war.

Saudi Arabia rejects the allegations in Turkey as baseless.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was wary of halting arms sales to Riyadh because of Khashoggi as it would just shift its weapons purchases to Russia and China.

Saudi Arabia, where Trump last year announced a $110 billion arms package, has been a centerpiece of his overhaul of weapons export policy in which he has gone further than any of his predecessors in acting as a weapons salesman. However, critics say the new approach gives too much weight to business interests versus human rights concerns.

The senior U.S. official declined to identify the companies that had contacted the administration over their Saudi arms deals. Defense contractors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Raytheon Co (RTN.N) have been the most active U.S. defense companies with potential sales to Saudi Arabia since Trump announced the package as part of his “Buy American” agenda to create jobs at home.

In Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike are alarmed by the disappearance of Khashoggi, a U.S. resident who wrote columns for the Washington Post. He entered the consulate on Oct. 2 to collect documents for his planned marriage. Saudi officials say Khashoggi left the building shortly afterwards, but his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said he never re-appeared.

Even before Khashoggi’s unexplained disappearance, Democratic lawmakers had “holds” for months on at least four military equipment deals, largely because of Saudi attacks that killed Yemeni civilians.

“This makes it more likely they’ll expand holds to include systems that aren’t necessarily controversial by themselves. It’s a major concern,” the senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

About $19 billion in deals have been officially notified to Congress, according to government records, making it unlikely that they can be halted. These include training packages for Saudi troops and pilots and the THAAD anti-missile system that could cost as much as $15 billion.

One lobbyist for a defense company who spoke on condition of anonymity said worries about a potential across-the-board blockage of Saudi sales by Congress had surfaced in recent days, a development that would hurt a range of contractors.

A second U.S. official said there were also current holds in place on training sales for the Saudi government.

Under U.S. law, major foreign military sales can be blocked by Congress. An informal U.S. review process lets key lawmakers use a practice known as a “hold” to stall deals if they have concerns such as whether the weapons being supplied would be used to kill civilians.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia, threatened on Thursday to introduce a resolution of disapproval for any Saudi military deal that came up.

LMT.NNew York Stock Exchange
LMT.N
Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters on Thursday he recently told a defense contractor not to push for a deal with the Saudis, even before the Khashoggi case.

“With this, I can assure it won’t happen for a while,” Corker said.

While details of all the previously blocked Saudi deals were not immediately available, one was the planned sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of high-tech munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Since 2015, Gulf Arab states have fought to restore a government in Yemen driven out by the Houthis, Shi’ite Muslim fighters Yemen’s neighbors view as agents of Iran. The war has killed more than 10,000 people and created the world’s most urgent humanitarian emergency.

Senator Robert Menendez, the top Foreign Relations Committee Democrat, said the Trump administration had not satisfied concerns he first raised in June about the sale to members of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen of Raytheon’s precision-guided munitions.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saud ... ium=Social




How much does it cost to get away with murder?

$110 billion if you’re Saudi Arabia and you want Trump to look the other way

Lucian K. Truscott IV
Do you want to know what you should do if you want to get a handle on this week’s story about the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi? Get on Google maps and punch up Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. It’s a metropolis of six million residents located about 500 miles northeast of the holy city of Mecca, and about 300 miles west of the Persian Gulf. These days, it’s a modern city, with two of the tallest skyscrapers in Saudi Arabia, the 99-story Kingdom Tower, and the 1,000-foot Burj Rafah, which features 474 condominiums and a 350 room five-star hotel, the Kempinski.

The city is bisected by one of the country’s few major highways, Route 65. Go south about 30 miles, and Route 65 ends in the town of Al Kharj. South of there, all the way to the border with Yemen, there is nothing but sand. Oh, there are a couple of little settlements in the desert — Layla, and then Wadi ad-Dawasir. But to the east, all the way to Oman and the Persian Gulf, nothing but sand. Zoom in, and you’ll see that the sand drifts in long, wave-like dunes for miles and miles and miles. But there’s nothing else there. No water. No vegetation. No towns. Nothing.

Head north on Route 65 out of Riyadh, and a couple dozen towns are strung out along the road for about two hundred miles. Then the low hills and settlements and a few irrigated farms end, and there’s nothing but sand, a great swath of it, running east and south, mile after mile of shifting dunes and . . . nothing.

It’s the great, empty nothingness when you drive Route 65 out of Riyadh that tells you why Saudi Arabia thinks it can get away with killing Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its embassy in Turkey last week. Saudi Arabia is one of the most isolated, barren countries on the face of the earth. It has been inhospitable to outsiders for centuries. The Muslim world has to deal with them because Mecca and Medina, the holy places of Islam, are within its borders. The rest of the world has to deal with them because they’ve got oil. But beyond that, they don’t give a damn what we think, because they don’t have to.

The Arabian peninsula has been a barren, sandy wasteland for millennia, isolated from the rest of the world by its inhospitable geography. As recently as 40 years ago, it was nearly impossible to travel to Saudi Arabia. I wanted to go there from Beirut, when I was in the Middle East in 1974-75. I went to the Saudi embassy and asked about a visa, and they sent me to the offices of ARAMCO, the Arabian American Oil Company. They were located in a modern building on one of Beirut’s main streets, and the guys at ARAMCO told me that basically, if I wasn’t doing business with them in Saudi Arabia, forget it. I told them I was a journalist, and all I wanted to do was see the country. Journalist! They just laughed and pointed to the door.

The Saudis appear to be stiff-arming the world about Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance after he entered their embassy in Istanbul seeking a document that he needed in order to marry his fiancé. They admit that he entered the embassy on Tuesday, October 2, but claim he left later, and they don’t know what happened to him. His fiancé was waiting outside the embassy entrance. She never saw him again after he went inside.

Turkish sources told the Washington Post on Thursday that they have audio and video recordings of Khashoggi being interrogated, tortured and then killed inside the Saudi embassy shortly after he entered on October 2.

There were other reports that a 15-man “security team” traveled to Istanbul from Saudi Arabia on two private jets the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance, and returned shortly afterward. There is speculation that the Saudi agents were sent to kidnap Khashoggi and return him to Saudi Arabia, but when he showed up at the embassy, that plan was scrapped, and they simply killed him there. One of the members of the so-called “security team” was a forensics expert who carried with him a surgical saw into the embassy. It is thought that the saw was used to dismember Khashoggi’s body after he was murdered.

Khashoggi has been a frequent critic of Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen. He has also been critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the current ruler of Saudi Arabia. MBS, as he is known, locked up hundreds of Saudi businessmen and members of the royal family in 2017 in a so-called crackdown on corruption. According to the New York Times, the Saudi government subjected the detainees to “coercion and physical abuse” to extort money from them.

This is what dictators do. Russian President Vladimir Putin orders the deaths of reporters critical of his regime and poisons dissidents and critics on foreign soil. Mohammed bin Salman rounds up his political enemies in Saudi Arabia and uses torture to extort money from them and kills a dissident reporter in one of his embassies overseas.

What is Donald Trump’s reaction to the barbarism of these dictators? Putin’s a great guy, a “strong leader.” He practically abdicates the presidency to him in Helsinki and wants to have him over to the White House. And Mohammed bin Salman? Another great guy. He plastered pictures of Trump all over Riyadh when he visited the Saudi capital last year, and he made a phony “deal” to buy $110 billion in advanced American armaments, a deal with no contract that has produced zero sales so far. Trump told reporters on Thursday that Khashoggi wasn’t “a United States citizen,” and he didn’t want to do anything that would endanger the $110 billion Saudi weapons deal because it would be bad for the economy.

Trump isn’t going to be any more eager for sanctions on Saudi Arabia than he was for sanctions on Russia. But the Saudis have made the mistake of ignoring a rule that the Mafia learned decades ago. You don’t kill cops, and you don’t kill journalists, because neither the police or newspapers will ever let it go. They’ll stay on the murder of one of their own until the killer is tracked down and brought to justice.

That’s what happened when Wall Street Journal writer Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by extremists in Karachi, Pakistan in 2002. The Journal and American law enforcement officials kept the pressure on the Pakistanis, and in less than a month, three suspects were arrested. A few months later they were tried and convicted in the death of Pearl.

The Washington Post has pledged not to rest until Khashoggi’s killers are brought to justice. But it doesn’t look like they’ll get much help from the White House. Shortly after Trump wrote off Khashoggi as “not an American citizen” on Thursday, he was sitting down to lunch with Kanye West and Kid Rock. By three o’clock on Friday, Trump was on his way to another rally, this one in Cincinnati, Ohio. He will doubtlessly be golfing on Saturday and Sunday, that is, if he isn’t jetting off on Air Force One to more political rallies.

So let the word go out to dictators around the world: flatter Donald Trump, and do deals with him — even phony deals with no contracts — and you can get away with murder.
https://www.salon.com/2018/10/13/how-mu ... lY.twitter



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Saudi Arabia arrests princes, ex-ministers anti-corruption
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=40754&hilit=lawsuit+saudi


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Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Khashoggi Disappearance

Postby seemslikeadream » Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:49 am

Trump Jr. retweets unsubstantiated claim on missing Saudi journalist

Trump Jr. retweets false claim about Khashoggi
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump Jr. retweeted an unsubstantiated claim on Friday insinuating missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a terrorism sympathizer -- a move that comes as the administration of his father, President Donald Trump, faces pressure on how to respond to the journalist's disappearance.

Khashoggi, a former Saudi royal insider who became a critic of the country's government, disappeared last week after he went into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancée.
Turkish authorities have said they believe Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed inside the consulate, a startling allegation that is firmly denied by the Saudis.

The series of tweets that Trump Jr. retweeted Friday included a post by Patrick Poole, who according to his Twitter profile is a national security and terrorism correspondent for PJ Media, a conservative-leaning collaborative news and commentary blog formerly known as Pajamas Media.

In his tweet, Poole shared images of a decades-old newspaper article written by Khashoggi about the mujahedeen.

In a photo accompanying the article, Khashoggi, a prominent journalist in the Middle East, appears beside individuals identified as members of the Islamist group and holds a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. A separate photograph in the article pictures Osama bin Laden and some of his associates. Bin Laden cofounded al Qaeda in the late 1980s.

Trump's $110 billion Saudi arms deal has only earned $14.5 billion so far

In the tweet, Poole wrote: "I didn't realize until yesterday that Jamal Khashoggi was the author of this notorious 1988 Arab News article of him tooling around Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda co-founder Abdullah Azzam. He's just a democrat reformer journalist holding a RPG with jihadists."
Khashoggi covered al Qaeda as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan and Sudan and was well known for his several interviews with Osama bin Laden. He distanced himself from bin Laden after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the time of the news article posted by Poole, the United States was arming and funding the mujahedeen in the Soviet-Afghan War.

Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, retweeted Poole's post with a comment claiming Iranian influence over the news media's reporting on Khashoggi, implying an effort by Iran to damage US-Saudi relations. Iran and Saudi Arabia are longstanding rivals.
"Huh. It's almost like reality is quite different than the evidence-free narratives peddled by media with a long history of cooperating with or getting duped by Iran echo chamber architects," Davis wrote on Twitter.

Trump Jr. then retweeted Davis' comment.

The Trump Organization on Friday night did not immediately return CNN's request for comment on Trump Jr.'s Twitter post.

Trail of evidence


According to a US official familiar with the intelligence, the United States has intercepts of Saudi officials discussing a plan to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia and detain him, but it is unclear if the original plan was to murder Khashoggi or if something went wrong at the consulate and that he might have been killed during an attempt to kidnap him.
A US official familiar with the latest intelligence told CNN that the "working assumption" in Washington currently is that Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the consulate in Istanbul.
"We are pretty clear eyed it is likely to have happened, and it didn't end well," said the official, who also cautioned that this was the latest assessment and no conclusions had been made.

Apple Watch worn by Saudi journalist may have transmitted evidence of his death, Turkish paper reports
However, US officials have so far declined to endorse a Turkish assessment of Khashoggi's death, which includes -- according to Turkish claims -- audio and video recordings from inside the consulate revealing Khashoggi was killed.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker told CNN that the "intel points directly" at Saudis, for Khashoggi's disappearance.
In the wake of the disappearance, Trump and his administration have resisted cutting ties to Saudi Arabia, a key US defense and trading partner.
Although the Saudis have issued a broad denial of responsibility, they have not offered concrete evidence to prove Khashoggi walked out of their consulate or is still alive.

US response


On Friday, Trump vowed to raise the matter with Saudi King Salman and claims that answers will come "sooner than people think," but senior administration officials described a process that could take weeks, if not months, to determine what precisely happened to Khashoggi and develop a US response if it is determined he was killed on orders from the Saudi government.

Khashoggi's fate could sink MBS in brutal Saudi politics
A combination of Trump's world view and his Middle East ambitions have meant the White House has been loath to criticize Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's 33-year-old de facto ruler.
Trump has made clear that his administration will not make human rights overseas a priority; he and especially his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, maintain close ties to the crown prince; and Trump has long had business ties to Saudi Arabia, where he made his first foreign trip as President.

In addition, Trump has established a trio of goals in the Middle East that depend on Saudi Arabia's rulers and their money. The kingdom is central to the Trump administration's goals on Middle East peace, its effort to fight ISIS in Syria and elsewhere, and its foreign policy priority of countering Iran.

That combination of factors explains low-key US responses following aggressive Saudi foreign policy moves and the muted response to Khashoggi's suspected assassination. They also create a dilemma for the White House, as lawmakers moved Wednesday to force a showdown over US values in foreign policy by triggering a human rights probe that could lead to sanctions.

Asked in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" airing Sunday if he would impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia it they're shown to be responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance, Trump repeated earlier remarks that he didn't want to do something that would force US military contractors to lose an order for arms sales, a reference to billions of dollars in arms sales to the country.
"There are other ways of punishing, to use a word that's pretty harsh but it's true," he said, adding later, "We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/13/politics ... index.html


Saudi Arabia responds to Trump, vows to retaliate against any action
Avery Anapol10/14/18 07:55 AM EDT
Saudi Arabia is rejecting President Trump’s latest comments related to the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and vowing to retaliate to any actions.

In a statement released Sunday, Saudi Arabia affirmed its “total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it,” according to an English translation of the statement from the Saudi Press Agency.

“The kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action,” the statement reads.

Trump, in a new interview on “60 Minutes,” vowed “severe punishment” if Saudi Arabia killed Khashoggi.

Turkish officials say they have evidence that Khashoggi was killed under orders from Riyadh inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The journalist, who was a U.S. resident and wrote for The Washington Post, entered the consulate earlier this month and was never seen leaving the building.

Trump is facing pressure from both sides of the aisle to take action against Saudi Arabia if there is proof that the Saudis are responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance.

The president said in an interview set to air Sunday night on “60 Minutes” that “we don’t know yet” if Khashoggi was murdered. He also defended a $110 billion arms deal with Riyadh, saying there are “other ways of punishing” Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s government has denied accusations that it is behind Khashoggi’s disappearance and suspected death.

--This report was updated at 8:10 a.m.
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... any-action
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
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