Biden Won’t Penalize Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi’s Killing, Fearing Relations Breach

[Aunt Antifa]

WASHINGTON — President Biden has decided that the price of directly penalizing Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is too high, according to senior administration officials, despite a detailed American intelligence finding that he directly approved the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident and Washington Post columnist who was drugged and dismembered in October 2018.

Biden Won’t Penalize Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi’s Killing, Fearing Relations Breach (Published 2021)

The decision will disappoint the human rights community and members of his own party who complained during the Trump administration that the U.S. was failing to hold Mohammed bin Salman accountable.

www.nytimes.com

This is gross. Expected but gross. Our cynical relationship with the Saudis is a stain on us. It taints all of our efforts in the ME, it renders our commitment to human rights as facile, and allows a brutal ugly regime the ability to do this with abandon.

Dems should be unified in condemnation. GOP will, and they should, and we’ll yell at them that they’re hypocrites and we’ll be right but *so will they.*

 

[j brown's body]

Biden Won’t Penalize Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi’s Killing, Fearing Relations Breach (Published 2021)

The decision will disappoint the human rights community and members of his own party who complained during the Trump administration that the U.S. was failing to hold Mohammed bin Salman accountable.

www.nytimes.com

This is gross. Expected but gross. Our cynical relationship with the Saudis is a stain on us. It taints all of our efforts in the ME, it renders our commitment to human rights as facile, and allows a brutal ugly regime the ability to do this with abandon.

Dems should be unified in condemnation. GOP will, and they should, and we’ll yell at them that they’re hypocrites and we’ll be right but *so will they.*

Agree, all the way around.

 

[mrjurrs]

Biden Won’t Penalize Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi’s Killing, Fearing Relations Breach (Published 2021)

The decision will disappoint the human rights community and members of his own party who complained during the Trump administration that the U.S. was failing to hold Mohammed bin Salman accountable.

www.nytimes.com

This is gross. Expected but gross. Our cynical relationship with the Saudis is a stain on us. It taints all of our efforts in the ME, it renders our commitment to human rights as facile, and allows a brutal ugly regime the ability to do this with abandon.

Dems should be unified in condemnation. GOP will, and they should, and we’ll yell at them that they’re hypocrites and we’ll be right but *so will they.*

I don't think the report has been discussed with King Salman yet has it?

 

[Aunt Antifa]

I don't think the report has been discussed with King Salman yet has it?

I don’t think so. Last I read about that, Joe had spoken to him prior to the report being released. Which would make sense if Biden’s stance is “Meh. Let’s move on anyway.” What is there to even speak about?

Completely disgusted with our Saudi relationship. They’re monsters.

 

[mrjurrs]

I don’t think so. Last I read about that, Joe had spoken to him prior to the report being released. Which would make sense if Biden’s stance is “Meh. Let’s move on anyway.” What is there to even speak about?

Completely disgusted with our Saudi relationship. They’re monsters.

I believe there will be repercussions. I think this report jumped the gun. (I hope)

 

[Rogue Valley]

Biden did end US support for the Saudi war in Yemen.

But his stance regarding MBS is disappointing, yet not unexpected in the realm of real-politik.

 

[Napoleon]

Khashoggi was an interesting character and I’m not entirely convinced that Saudi Arabia wasn’t within its rights to eliminate him. What do we do with former intelligence assets who become a liability?

 

[prometeus]

Mohamed bad salmon is piece of crap. No wonder Trump kissed his ass.

 

[prometeus]

Khashoggi was an interesting character and I’m not entirely convinced that Saudi Arabia wasn’t within its rights to eliminate him. What do we do with former intelligence assets who become a liability?

What the **** is wrong with you?

 

[ASHES]

Saudi Arabia is a Band-Aid we need to rip off as quickly as possible.

 

[CaughtInThe]

end our dependency on oil.

 

[lemmiwinx]

Biden won't punish the Saudi prince, lol! Biden is living behind 15 ft. razor wire fences and 50,000 national guard troops. He and Nancy have Washington DC pretty much under control. Why stir up anything in the ME?

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Biden Won’t Penalize Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi’s Killing, Fearing Relations Breach (Published 2021)

The decision will disappoint the human rights community and members of his own party who complained during the Trump administration that the U.S. was failing to hold Mohammed bin Salman accountable.

www.nytimes.com

This is gross. Expected but gross. Our cynical relationship with the Saudis is a stain on us. It taints all of our efforts in the ME, it renders our commitment to human rights as facile, and allows a brutal ugly regime the ability to do this with abandon.

Dems should be unified in condemnation. GOP will, and they should, and we’ll yell at them that they’re hypocrites and we’ll be right but *so will they.*

Oh Christ, GOP loves the Saudis, but I totally agree, what ARE the Saudis good for? We should be condemning them.
Biden should be condemning them, hell for that matter Obama should have condemned them.

Are we supposed to fear another Saudi Oil Embargo of the US?
Might be the best thing to happen to us.
Of course it would kill Biden's hope to curtail fracking but it's time to recognize that fracking, and petroleum exploration in general, cannot and will not be "turned off like a light switch"...it never could be and it can't be now.
But it would also supercharge our commitment to electric passenger vehicles and dovetail nicely with GM's commitment to electric, as well as Ford and Volvo and a few other mfrs.

Is KSA supposed to be regarded as some safety valve against ISIS? That failed miserably too.
They're only concerned about ISIS as far as their borders and nothing more.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

end our dependency on oil.

Well, Saudi oil anyway. Our reliance on petroleum isn't going to be over for a while.
It's going to get pared down gradually but you will still see gas stations forty years from now, they'll just be fewer and farther between, and forty years from now they will be tied together with charging stations.

 

[Napoleon]

What the **** is wrong with you?

Nada. Just pointing out that intelligence assets like Khashoggi usually aren’t long for this world when they become a liability to their home country.

 

[prometeus]

Nada.

Your post said otherwise.

Just pointing out that intelligence assets like Khashoggi usually aren’t long for this world when they become a liability to their home country.

No that is not what you did.

 

[Napoleon]

Your post said otherwise.

Why are you shocked and appalled that someone who worked for Saudi Intelligence was assassinated? The guy became a liability to Saudi Arabia so they ended him. You don’t think the US does the same?

 

[MaryP]

Why are you shocked and appalled that someone who worked for Saudi Intelligence was assassinated? The guy became a liability to Saudi Arabia so they ended him. You don’t think the US does the same?

Do we saw them into pieces while they're still alive? Just asking.

 

[The AntiDonald]

Biden Won’t Penalize Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi’s Killing, Fearing Relations Breach (Published 2021)

The decision will disappoint the human rights community and members of his own party who complained during the Trump administration that the U.S. was failing to hold Mohammed bin Salman accountable.

www.nytimes.com

This is gross. Expected but gross. Our cynical relationship with the Saudis is a stain on us. It taints all of our efforts in the ME, it renders our commitment to human rights as facile, and allows a brutal ugly regime the ability to do this with abandon.

Dems should be unified in condemnation. GOP will, and they should, and we’ll yell at them that they’re hypocrites and we’ll be right but *so will they.*

I seriously doubt this is the end of the story. Biden and his team are looking at everything that can be done. I agree this looks real weak. If it were me, I send the CIA in there to cut him up. But that's just me.

 

[Napoleon]

Do we saw them into pieces while they're still alive? Just asking.

It’s possible. The CIA doesn’t publish how it disposes of such people. The only reason we know how Khashoggi was killed is because Turkey bugged the Saudi consulate.

 

[ASHES]

It’s possible. The CIA doesn’t publish how it disposes of such people. The only reason we know how Khashoggi was killed is because Turkey bugged the Saudi consulate.

How could the Saudis let that slip by them?

 

[Nickyjo]

Why are you shocked and appalled that someone who worked for Saudi Intelligence was assassinated? The guy became a liability to Saudi Arabia so they ended him. You don’t think the US does the same?

As far as I can tell by looking it up, he was a lifelong reporter who became a liability because criticized the Saudi human rights record and its invasion of Yemen, not for any fear of an intelligence breach. Where did you get your info that he worked for Saudi intelligence?

 

[Napoleon]

How could the Saudis let that slip by them?

Easy. Especially if the building was constructed by Turkish workers. We didn’t know the Embassy we were having constructed in Moscow was one giant surveillance device until the KGB told us what they’d done.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Disappointing, but predictable. Welcome to the quagmire known as our greater Middle East foreign policy filled to the brim with hypocrisy, confusion, and epic failure.

 

[ASHES]

Easy. Especially if the building was constructed by Turkish workers. We didn’t know the Embassy we were having constructed in Moscow was one giant surveillance device until the KGB told us what they’d done.

If they used radio transmitted bugs, they would be detected by bug sweepers. If they were just recording, they needed ongoing on site access to the bugs. If it was hardwired, you would think that's the kind of thing a consulate might look for moving in, extra wires running out of their new building. Any of the choices show pretty poor counter-intelligence.