Daily Times

The CIA has concluded that Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) gave the order to assassinate journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That this comes just days after the Saudi public prosecutor vindicated him only adds to President Trump’s dilemma.

Of course, there should, in reality, be no ambiguity. Not least because as pundits point out, the CIA would not have leaked its findings had it not been one hundred percent sure of the evidence. This is a clear case of state-sponsored extra-judicial killing. And the bottom line is that MBS should he held to account by due process before an international tribunal; given that the premediated murder took place on Turkish soil.

Yet already there appears little chance of this happening. Indeed, CIA analysts believe that MBS will still succeed to the throne when the time is right. Thereby underscoring how the consolidation of power in the hands of a single family is always but anathema to meaningful democracy and notions of justice and accountability. Though this is seemingly of little import to Trump. For reports suggest that the American President is averse to seeing the Crown Prince go anywhere but all the way to the top.

Strategic stability is the name for the game. But in terms of US regional interests rather than for the people of the Middle East. And the priority remains containing Iran. Riyadh has proved more than a willing partner on this front as the war in Yemen shows; not to mention the curious case of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigning live on Saudi television this time last year. Naturally the Kingdom enjoys considerable leverage as one of the world’s largest oil producers. This has seen successive White Houses turn a blind eye to gross human rights abuses at home — particularly when it comes to women, minorities and dissidents — and the export of virulent extremism abroad.

MBS, when seen through American eyes, holds the key to revamping his country’s authoritarian image. As was evidenced by the touting of the Crown Prince as the king of reformers in a bid to support his Strategic Vision 2030; an immense investment opportunity for the international community. That being said, in light of CIA disclosures, it hard to see how the US or, indeed any of the major western powers, will be able to carry on as before. Citizenries at home have long raised concerns over their respective governments’ continued arms sales to Saudi Arabia as the UN warns that at least 10 million Yemeni children are on the brink of starvation. But the Khashoggi murder has now turned the tide in political circles. As key opposition members and certain government officials have belatedly woken up to the fact that weapons sales do, in fact, make nations parties to wars by proxy. This is mercenary profit by another name.

Nevertheless, previous British and American regimes have survived direct acts of aggression in the region. From Iraq to Libya to Syria to the latest of crippling US sanctions on Iran. Thus it remains to be seen whether the brutal assassination of one man will translate into a tipping point of sorts. Global civil society can only hope.  *

Published in Daily Times, November 18^th 2018.