Your use of the word "should" three times in the final paragraph of your article, is a somewhat futile cry. It should be "any normal President WOULD" take those steps. All we can do is wait out the current occupant.
8
We need more outrage to jolt the public awake & storm the polls! I’m no fan of Gov. Kasich but I applauded his rant to Chris Mathews about this latest abomination on Monday night. Our founders & every patriot who died for our freedom are spinning in their graves every hour this corrupt regime is allowed to continue trampling on our values and their souls. End it! Only we the people can & we must!
15
Your Conservative colleagues are already rationalizing this. Trump is steering the whole American Right into a territory of shameless, even proud, amoral depravity.
21
They are both equally mad.
13
The killing od Jamal Khashoggi wasn’t a crime. The crime is what happens let’s say on the streets on Chicago when the innocent people are murdered in the gang violence.
Unfortunately, this was something the POTUS and the Secretary of State willfully participated in by trying to cover it up or put a positive spin on it to be socially and international acceptable.
What was it?
It was the case of international terrorism. It was meticulously designed, directed and executed!
The US resident was killed in the capital of the NATO ally to terrorize the domestic population and terrify anybody willing to stand up against the Saudi royalties, or demand democracy or responsibility in the kingdom.
Do you know what Saudi Arabia means if actually translated? The land of family Saud!
Just imagine if the USA from 1932 was called let’s say Trump America!
Now, that kind of behavior is directly opposite to the very verses from the Quran that prohibits the believers from idolizing any human being, but especially the kings, the princes, or any other religious authority.
Thou shall have no other gods before me!
If the Quran is against the Saudi royalties, if America is against the undemocratic and tyrannical regimes, if those rulers have committed the gruesome murder of an innocent individual, if the law is trashed, is it possible that a Saudi prince is stronger than the rest of the world?
Those letting any family clan rule them endlessly don’t implement the Commandments in their life.
6
Anyone that shares an ORB with MBS has no standing to criticize Obama's bow, or GeoW Bush holding hands with the Saudis
2
Saudi profits, man, Saudi profits!
4
A better title to this article might be, "A mad president kowtowing to a mad prince." We have a man in the Oval Office who has consistently put his own personal profit ahead of the reputation of the office of the presidency. His use of the office for personal aggrandizement violates not only the emoluments clause spelled out in the Constitution, but the spirit of the document he swore to uphold. The question is, how long must we endure this farce that our government is knowingly playing out. Both parties have no shame: the one, hanging on to power by every means, fair and foul, and the other, singularly lacking in courage and imagination to mount an effective challenge.
6
I can totally see our President start bombing Iran with the Saudis help about 12 hours after the Mueller report is released accusing this President and his family of multiple RICO charges. I believe this President would sacrifice American lives to cover his crimes in a second. He has no moral compass regarding anyone but himself. I hope we have some adults in the War Room who stop it from happening.
16
Ready, Fire, Aim. It is unfortunate that Mr Kristof was not as quick to judge Hillary Clinton's misdeeds. But if he can really forecast accurately Trump's future actions, maybe he can tell us who will win the midterm elections so that we peasants don't need to waste time voting.
2
This murder and cover-up, Kavanagh, and other outrages are just cover for trump's purposeful destruction of America's position of leadership in the world. Paris Accords, abuse of Canada, Europe, and Australia. Who benefits? A third-rate country with the economy of New York, The Russian Federation's Putin, who owns trump through massive loans that trump cannot repay.
16
Yet again, no recourse for powerful men from Trump. Always an assumption that male power trumps all.
5
From the Book of Common Prayer: "Forgive us of the evil we have done and the evil done on our behalf."
Are there are enough prayers, actions or outrage to blot this atrocity out?
6
Donald Trump has a lucrative business arrangement with MBS. He's not covering up the barbaric behavior, he's covering up his own complicity in the Saudi bailing out his failing business ventures. MBS knows his audience, he knows Trump and Kushner families value money via Real Estate over all and he and the Saudi royal family have long used their money and oil to buy US loyalty. Without their billions invested over the years the Trump and Kushner families would have sunk into - gasp - the middle class. How can we be surprised at Mr. Trump's misplaced loyalties?
7
Your fear is warranted. Only, I am not sure who the driving force will be?
3
Trump must go because he has no moral compass. Everything is transactional for Trump. Perhaps we can buy out his contract.
6
We are so rapidly becoming all we were once proud to not be. How can this disastrous Trump slide into fascism be stopped? We have some heroes among us who speak out and write, including our journalists and many conservative Republicans, but it is clearly not enough. He and those enabling him for their own power have no shame.
4
I just spent most of today--like the previous three days--volunteering for Antonio Delgado's campaign in D-19 in upstate New York by making phone calls through Hubdialer. Many I call hang up right away (totally understandable). Some make racist remarks (at this point that's water off a duck'ss back). With some, I get to chat a bit.
What's so dispiriting is to realize how many Americans Just Plain Don't Care About Anything Other Than Their Paycheck.
8
Way to go, Nicholas, it's time we get angry, we get confrontational, we demand change! If this egregious act doesn't propel us to action, what will?
Trump and feckless son-in-law have totally miscalculated on this. The world community is not as easily duped as the folks here are.........and both the US and Saudi Arabia will be weakened and isolated because of this incident. MBS is likely history, and even the Republicans are parting ways with Trump on his handling of this. One could call it a "bone headed" mistake...........
2
Trump enjoys rallies and cameras clicking. That is what the Presidency is for him. Trump also likes to hobnob with the rich and put a few bucks in his pocket. That is what Saudi Arabia is for him.
The GOP Congress sees Trump as their puppet assisting the destruction of Democracy and the promotion of their Oligarchy to the lofty level of a Theocracy. Saudi Arabia, like Trump, is for them just one more mechanism to that end, one more nail in the coffin of abandoned ideals.
There we are! What’ll we do about it? Eh?
11
"In short, the mad prince is not only barbaric, he’s also unreliable and incompetent. He doesn’t advance our interests; he damages them. Indeed, one of my fears is that he will try to drag us into a war with Iran."
Not to worry; we have Netanyahu for that.
5
When a US President labels journalists as "enemies of the people," he invites authoritarian rulers around the world to act on their worst impulses with regard to the press - and he may be soon to follow.
6
If Trump could make money espousing human rights, he'd be the world's greatest social justice fighter. But he cannot so he's taken the opposite path.
3
Spoiler alert/Trigger warning: Politically incorrect viewpoint coming your way.
Look into Khashoggi's history and his positions and active involvement in terrorism. Frankly, he probably deserved to die, but not the way he did.
He should have been arrested by the Saudis and put on trial.
Then, having had due process and a public trial, if he was found guilty under the laws of his own country, he could have had his head removed in the Arabian style.
There was an absence of due process in the American tradition, but probably not in the traditions of Khashoggi's own country and culture or, indeed, within his own political and personal belief system.
4
The United States is not the greatest nation on earth, not by a long shot. We happen to be the largest consumer of carbon products, and that does not make us great, quite the opposite, in fact. We have the largest military that is bigger than the next 10 or so largest militaries, and that does not make us great, if anything it shows how insecure we are. We have an education system that is not great by standards of many other nations. Our food production and healthcares systems are shameful for how unhealthy and costly tbeh are, respectively. Our domestic politics are intractable, controlled by oligarchs, and our voter participation rate is so low it's hard to really say we have a democracy.
We elect to start wars, we pick allies using the same rationale, and we conduct foreign policy insofar as it serves the corporate sector. Worldwide, we are renowned for the seamless weaving of our private and public sectors that produces the social fabric we find ourselves wrapped in like a straight jacket, limiting our liberty in ways the framers of the constitution could not have envisioned.
Sure, I can agree that we need to make America great, because it is patently obvious to the world we are not: just the fact we have to placate the world's leading tyrant and dictatorship shows just how weak we really are, morally and economically.
10
The point that needs to be developed further is this: Supporting MBS is NOT in the interests of the US, geopolitically or otherwise. To argue this effectively, really driving it home, and then critique those, like Jared Kushner, advising POTUS to keep supporting MBS, would lift this whole matter out of the realm of moral morass, where it now seems to be stuck, and into the realm of America First! and smart politics.
5
One could reasonably ask, instead of drawing us into a war with Iran, wouldn't it be more advantageous for us to ally with Iran in a war against Saudi Arabia? Prior to our overthrow of a democratically elected leader in Iran, they were more aligned with us than with the rest of the Arab world. Iran has still the most progressively educated populace (excepting, perhaps, Israel) in that region. Are we that much of an oil junkie that we protect our dealer whatever?
11
MBS is just another dictator promising phony "liberalizations" in order to cement his power. Keep in mind he could BE in power for 40 or more years. That is his clear aim.
8
"M.B.S. talks a good game but ... didn’t back the Trump peace plan for the Middle East ...."
Ha ha ha ha. Good one, Nick. (Or: how to kill a column, in less than a sentence.)
2
As with all things Trump, follow the money. Herein lies the dilemma caused by a President not disclosing his tax forms. we have no idea if Trump is guided by a misplaced sense of diplomacy, or something more sinister.
15
No, not kowtowing. Trump is likely treating this as a "business matter" where you don't care if the other party is literally a murderer as long as the business prospects are not jeopardized. And it is for this reason that shame and morality play no role in his universe. Any altruistic tendencies that may have been naturally present in his youth have long since been erased from his psyche. Therefore the enormous symbolic significance of his post, such as respecting the honor of the country, upholding the highest ethical standards, lending the prestige of his office to humanitarian goals, has no power over him. If any unselfish thoughts arise in him he probably just bats them away. Somehow, in a one-in-a-million chance the throw of the dice created a specific election mood which bestowed the presidency upon such an unworthy recipient. No one should be surprised at his outrageous behavior.
10
Even now, President Trump is tweeting "IF" Khashoggi is dead, the Saudis will face some kind of retaliation.
But he didn't give any specifics and also stopped short of saying Prince Mohammad bin Salman was responsible for his death even though one of his personal aides was seen walking into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul when Khashoggi was known to be there.
Talk about denial.
9
Mr. Kristof rightly notes that "Trump acts as if the Saudis have leverage over us": It's called control of oil prices via commitment to increase production when November sanctions against Iran pull lots more oil out of the general market.
Trump needs an explanation of the Khashoggi Event that provides for sanctions against Saudi Arabia that are gentle enough to keep M.B.S.'s commitments in the oil market, while letting Trump seem to be acting on principle.
Indeed, Mr. Kristof's proper animus presumes a world where acting on principle matters. But we know that Trump—the real estate salesman who was mentored by Roy Cohn—is "just doing business" (as the mafia hit man says to the sucker).
This is about power. Predatory capital loves authoritarian stability. It's good for markets. Nothing helps a warrior more than a clearly defined playing field, principle be damned.
5
Trump and his Russian-Republican government have descended below boorishness, below moral depravity, and below barbarity all the way to wanton savagery.
The United States no longer is a civilized nation.
15
Trump is a barbarian.
That's why he is ok with the dismemberment of a human being in a CONSULATE NO LESS!
9
Is MBS mad or malevolent? I would argue he’s the latter. Trump is evil incarnate, too. So it should come as no surprise that he’s supporting the House of Saud and their vicious acts of savagery. The Antichrist is here (in the Oval Office).
17
Saudis have both Trump and Kushner by the financial short hairs. Barbarians both there and here (cough, John Bolton, cough) are using it to their advantage.
Meanwhile, Trumpsters out in "real 'murka" don't care because every outrage by Trump "owns the libs."
11
Trump's second favorite murdering totalitarian ruler needs help and Trump is there for him 100%. Putin is innocent of hacking, it could have been a rogue 400 pounder doing it from his bed. The Saudi Prince is innocent, it could have been rogue killers. MBS should enjoy the presumption of innocence, just like Kavanaugh. Say what??? Mr Bone Saw and Judge GangBang (one of his nicknames) are both victims denied the presumption of innocence that applies in a US courtroom? What they have in common is that they'll never be tried, let alone convicted, and they are useful to Trump: MBS is good for $$$$$$ and Iran. Kavanaugh thinks a sitting President cannot be subpoenaed or indicted.
16
At least the Bush Family had the courtesy to put their holdings in a blind trust and release their taxes. Maybe it shouldn't be a courtesy anymore.
19
It would be the surest way of preventing him running for a second term. Therefore, i hope a bipartisan Congress makes it a priority to pass a law to require such disclosure.
12
Is THIS the reason for Nikki Haley’s VERY sudden resignation???
Just what did SHE know, and when ??? Very curious timing.
20
I can't shake this ominous feeling that Trump and the GOP are closely watching our response to these journalists dying left and right. First the foreign journalists (e.g. in Russia), now an American resident journalist who contributed to an American newspaper. What happens if a prominent American citizen journalist mysteriously dies or disappears? If they can just explain it away with alleged "rogue killers", then we've lost all remaining hope for true freedom in this country. We should be pounding this issue through the heads of people who aren't already lost to bigotry and propaganda, and make sure to vote blue come November.
33
@Ed S...which is exactly why democracy is in peril. We keep talking AROUND the issue because, A) we can't believe it's happening, and B) no one what knows what it to do with 40% of the population suffering from populist psychosis. The latter derails democracy, as it has 100% of the time throughout history, and will be here long after TrumPutin and his sideshow. Reckoning will come, but not at the ballot box...
1
Hmmm... I suggest an online conversation between idealistic Kristof and realpolitik Friedman. There seems to be some difference between the two, and I think the gap is reader worthy of real dialogue/debate.
5
I keep thinking, "when are they going to start killing people here?" You only have to listen to Trump to know that is what he wishes he could do pesky reporters and protesters and politicians from the other political party who frustrate his plans.
15
Well said Nick! I am very proud of you my friend. Continue bringing the truth out and never be anyone's puppet.
17
I remember a few years ago, a meeting to discuss the future of Syria.
Mr. Obama insisted that Saudi Arabia be invited to this meeting.
Let me just say that I was not pleased.
5
Mr. Kristof, I agree. Then again, why should we expect Donald Trump and his clone-in-chief, Jared Kushner, to care about millions of Yemeni children, let alone one journalist, when they are getting away with figurative murder, if not literal murder?
They yearn to be American royalty and so they kowtow to actual, though brutal, royalty.
If white supremacists are "fine people," then why would not the Saudis with their billions to spend, also be worthy of Trump's and Kushner's plaudits?
We set the bar low for Trump and then he goes lower.
14
A “fall guy” will be forthcoming soon. The rich and powerful are seldom held to account, especially in family-run ops.
10
MAGA, by currying favor with, colluding and protecting:
Putin the poisoner & propagandist election stealer
Duerte the slayer
Kim the gulag builder & death by starvation
Salman the butcher and beheader
Keep repeating, well they may or not,
he says he's not guilty,
We have good chemistry,
It could be a 400 lb guy on a sofa
I really, really like him
How can we tolerate this immorality as a country? From
the mobster who lives in the WH.
17
Kristof hits all the right points about what the American response by our president should be. Lets be realistic, this president believes there is too much to lose and will not take any actions that he believes will jeapardize arms sales and/or the flow of oil. At this point, this nation is capable of weaning itself completely off of imported oil in a few short years if Congress and Trump would adopt an energy plan that provides incentives for wind, solar and creation of microgrids. We already produce more oil than Saudi Arabia. Its time to now be leaders in clean energy independence.
8
Saudi oilfields could be occupied, and their air force destroyed.
1
President Trump has repeatedly humiliated the American people by fawning over totalitarian despots during his term of office. Kim Jeong-Un, Vladimir Putin, Prince MBS, etc. At the same time he’s gone out of his way to insult the fair-minded leaders of democracies with whom the U.S. is allied.
One new embarrassment Trump added to this recent misuse of his presidential authority was Trump’s preoccupation with a $110 billion arms sale agreement with Saudi Arabia, sending a clear message to the world that the American head of state is much more concerned about the money to be gained by providing weapons to totalitarian governments than he is about human rights or the murder of a dissident journalist or any of that inconsequental nonsense.
13
Hope Mr Kristof does not have any plans to go for a journalistic pilgrimage to Middle East soon !MBS has a long reach as evident by the immoral support he got from rest of the oil kingdoms except Qatar on the ruthless murder of Jamal Khashoggi .Your President and his circle does not love NY Times and CNN in particular. They will be relieved if some one else can do their job . Price of oil and Defense contracts will weigh in heavily to decide any meaningful action.
1
I wish we could use this tragedy to kick start a concerted effort to fully embrace renewable fuels and finally kick our addiction to oil.
8
Why would Trump want a full and independent investigation into the tragic killing of an American based journalist. In his fantasy world he would love to eliminate troublesome journalists with impunity.
9
Trump acts as if the Saudis have leverage over he himself, and The Boy Blunder, Jared.
FIFY, Mr. Kristof!
3
Nikki Haley spoke to the Council for National Policy just days before she announced her resignation. "She also told the highly secretive group that she met with Henry Kissinger every two months."
https://pagesix.com/2018/10/17/nikki-haley-dishes-on-her-time-in-trump-a...
When Ambassador Haley tells her "funny" story that she told President-elect Trump that she didn't even know what the UN does and reveals some "Rocket Man" discord, it's all part of selling her "normal" aura to the public.
But that "hidden genius" tribute to Jared Kushner, that was her departure pledge that her alignment will remain. Effectively, there's no difference between Ambassador Haley and Former Ambassador John Bolton who was sending-out 2016 donation solicitations that stated "Defund the UN" - 9 TIMES in 4 pages!
Leading an international body has been replaced with "telling" an international body. Today, on-her-way-out Ambassador Haley further abandoned any pretense of enjoining world leaders in common and just causes.
"America First" is a mouth full of decay. Until every bad tooth is pulled, America's smile is "Out of Service".
4
If it’s true that laws run our nation
I wonder how in all creation
The prince called M. B. S.
Known best for his excess
Won’t suffer eternal damnation
2
The Trump administration can not win this chess game anymore. In fact, the entire situation puts the US at very high risk possibly to be lured in to other tragic events set-up by KSA in order to have the US 'commit` to its strategic alliance.
Mashad Saad al-Bostani, 31-year-old lieutenant of the Saudi Air Force, and one of the 15-members death squad of Istanbul as been killed already in a car-crash yesterday. 14 pple will follow.
The options for Trump are diminishing and the face loss will be no face-off.
4
What is missing in this discourse is what Trump would say it it were someone else doing this.
He'd scream and holler that the leaders of our country are not protecting the rights of our citizens..
He'd say that "it's a disaster...Bigly [sic]"
it's time for our Genius President..(President Tiny as some with more intimate knowledge would opin) to start getting his own medicine.
The high road is great..and we should always stick to it..but its time to turn the table
I don't think the NYTimes will do it (they have too much class)..but its right up CNN's alley!!
2
Sooner or later the audio/video tape will be leaked. It will be telling--won't it--what Trump will say then.
And I can't help but wonder what the anonymous "White House official" author of the critical op-ed is thinking and feeling about Trump right now. Is he/she still a patriot? Still willing to work for Trump? Advising him on how to handle this?
3
Like they say on Fox News, why is this our concern? It happened to a foreigner in a foreign country, nothing to do with us. Ignoring it plays to his base.
2
Enough already - a thirty three year old manipulative young man watched a pro for years denigrate the press and encourage violence by labeling the press "the enemy of the people."
If Trump in his role of leader of the free world, had upheld and respected the first amendment then, with all eyes on Trump around the world, they would have taken their cues from him.
The sad irony is a man seeking safety in America for his speech was in the realm of a hate monger eroding his very own safety and life.
4
All I can do is cry.
69
@Linda
He has made me almost...embarressest to be an American.
@Linda, wipe your tears...there is a way out of this mess
Vote in 19 days...
1
@Linda Don't cry, help get out the vote.
1
Trump is probably getting the Saudis to buy up some of his failing real estate ventures in exchange for turning a blind eye to this barbaric torture and murder of a journalist.
He's admitted in several news clips that he loves the Saudi government because they buy so much of his real estate and "things".
Trump has no morals. All he cares about is money. It's sickening.
18
Obama not only bowed to the Saudi King, Obama droned a bunch of Saudi enemies to death in Yemem killing innocents in the process. along with ever US President since Eisenhower Trump has to get along with the crazy Saudi's. get over it.
1
What simpering cowards are Trump and Pompeo !
It turns my stomach to hear Trump dodge questions And insinuate that he can't do anything to condemn Jamal Khashoggi's murder by Saudi Arabia because we have a 100 billion dollar deal with them and he doesn't want to lose the money
And to see Pompeo with his smarmy oily smirk, shaking hands with the crown prince.......Prince, indeed ! He has more in common with the lowest cut-throat in the filthiest alley of Rhayader.
7
The terrorists who flew the planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and crashed in PA on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. Why is the U.S. not dropping sanctions on this rogue country that sanctions murder, censorship and misogyny?
15
@Patriot1776, because they buy billion Dollars worth goods and weapons from us. So they Pay us so we can pay our bills, keep the economic churning. Money does not have affiliation biases prejudices it’s just money. So we sell and the Saudis buy. Used to be we bought Saudi oil but Obama helped us gain independence from Saudi oil...
2
Not a “mad prince” , so much as a very wealthy spoiled brat who did not develop a mature human personality, due to the atrophying effects of exorbitant wealth. This type of personality is unable to function as a full human being.
3
These men are simply well dressed thugs typical of some large men who literally as well as metaphorically look down on most men and probably all women.
This is a problem which has been with us since the earliest of our civilizations when a smash to the face or a stab in the back were considered the fait accompli of power and control.
We are and have been ruled by men of the sort who think little of murder as a useful tool. It is well past time for an actual civilized culture to emerge.
Vote!
6
During one of the Presidential pre-election debates, Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump a puppet of Putin. He reacted angrily but Hillary was wrong. Trump is not only a puppet of Putin, he is also puppet of MBS and other dictators. He only becomes a biting dog when he is facing democratic leaders such as Trudeau or Merkel who are too civilized or polite to strike back with the same vulgarity Trump attacks them. What a weakling.
11
@W All bullies are cowards in that they only fight those perceived as weaker. At the first sign of strength they shrivel.
1
I truly feel as if we are living in a world gone mad. If we don't succeed in turning the tide this November; if people do not get out and vote, or they do vote in support of this administration and their fascistic policies, then we have the government we deserve.
8
Trump is kowtowing to the military-industrial complex that Ike warned us about in 1961. Don't mess with the customers.
3
Hear! Hear! It is beyond imagination to this American, a historian, a lawyer, and an honorably discharged officer in the United States Army how the United States has tread so far from the path of our heritage. How is it that our nominal chief executive is defending a brutal tyrant who heads a theocracy, which in and of itself is contrary to some of our most basic political heritage? Fellow citizens and humans, wake up and rescue our country from the current crop of barbarians in power.
7
You can bet your bottom dollar that Don personally has some serious financial ties with Saudi Arabia. If Mr. Trump is found to be assisting in the cover up of the murder of the Post reporter, then impeachment is the least form of punishment he should suffer.
Oh, and while we are at it, why is no one pointing out the obvious - that the president of the United States has repeatedly incited violence against reporters? It is just a matter of time before one his deranged, AR-15 toting supporters takes Trump at his word and eliminates one of the "enemies of the people."
7
I cry for our country. It's to the point that it is getting out and out dangerous. to be an American.
5
trump has to protect his financial milk cow. The Saudis & Israelis are keeping trump & kushner afloat. trump will never turn against the mega-rich or the “supreme rulers” of countries. He desperately wants to be one of them but for right now some laws are preventing him from declaring dictatorship. He needs the Saudis to further his take-over.
6
Trump courts and gushes over these hideous beasts because he yearns to be like them, hacking away at and beheading anyone who displeases him. It's sick, evil, twisted, and disgusting. It is unimaginable that the Land of Freedom is being led down the path to hell by someone who aspires to be a soulless, cold-blooded killer.
15
Trump is used to do business with murderers. He partnered with mobsters to finance his casinos and hotels in the '80s and '90s, he got financing from Russian criminals in exchange for money laundering in the '00s and '10s, and possibly from the Saudis themselves as well. For any of those types, killing and chopping a person to pieces is just another day at the office. Anybody acting shocked for his lack of morals has really been watching some other movie for the past couple of years.
BTW, really interesting to see how the US cuts so much slack to Saudi Arabia, but Canada gets treated as an enemy and humiliated at every step. Way to go...
18
America as the Handmaid of Saudi Arabia. Who would have believed that was even possible two years ago?
6
Canada voiced their opposition to Saudi human rights violations and got absolutely no support from any other country. Sad!
23
“M.B.S. attacked Yemen, creating what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, bombing schoolchildren and leaving eight million Yemenis on the brink of starvation…”
“The Saudis haven’t even been able to defeat a rebel militia in Yemen…”
Trying to reconcile these two statements.
5
@Lars Ronning
Maybe that’s why Trump is so bound and determined to provide Saudi Arabia with oodles of American-made military equipment. Guns, tanks, explosives and such. As a would-be member of the Totalitarian Tyrants Club, Don might think (and I use the term with tongue in cheek) it will bolster his image to aid the Saudis in their bid to rid the world of those pesky Yemanis.
2
I'll say it one more time, so it sticks in your mind.
Saudi Arabia draws a black goo from pits in the earth. There are pockets filled with the resin of extinct species. It's pumped to the surface, sold & burned, releasing the toxic fumes of extinction into the air. The petroleum producers take the sludge of extinction & use it to poison the earth. The last round of extinction drives the next, facilitated by humans who place wealth before the sanctity of the planet. Secretary of State Tillerson, anyone?
The sun beats down on the same arid lands in the middle east. It's relentless, ubiquitous & the source of unlimited free & clean energy. Technology exists to capture it.
Jared Kushner thinks that if we enlist Saudi Arabia in taking down Iran, as the key to negotiating lasting peace for Israel. Jared is a child, blinded by his wealth.
Saudi Arabia & the rest of their pack are just taking out their rivals before they come for Israel. You can't count a psychopath as an ally. Short term gains won't trip their long game.
Want to bring peace to the middle east? Partner with Palestinians Instead of throwing stones, use them to build safe, beautiful homes from the native rock. Paint "love" on the wall. Sibling rivalry gets old. Extract the wolve's teeth by putting in fields of solar panels. Make oil useless. Make OPEC and Exxon the globe's Blockbuster Video.
Don't ask. Do.
MBS can drink his vile swill of extinction. The Star of David is the Sun. This is about light vs darkness.
11
Are we great yet?
7
A butcher in Saudi Arabia--a political lamb in DC.
Perfect ingredients for a ritual sacrifice.
12
Why are the Saudis not supporting their denials by allowing their fifteen man suspected killing team to give a public account of their actions in the consulate, and why is the US not insisting that they do so instead of giving them more wriggle room?
6
No collusion? How about conspiracy to cover up torture, dismemberment of a body and murder. Just another collusion delusion suffered by the Democrats. Yeah right.
6
It is money ------ money talks ------ money is magic -------money is mesmerizing, otherwise Trump has no love for MBS. Trump hates Muslims. Same thing true for his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a son of Charles Kushner. Now you know rest of the story.
2
If this indifference to torture and murder doesn't make you wonder about MAGA it should! I am so ashamed of the loss of moral superiority I once believed my country had. We can never recover our dignity and humanity until Trump is gone in disgrace. He has always valued money over honor and human rights. Please vote next month. It is your right and your privlige as an American citizen.
21
Trump is always criticizing and insulting others for being weak. He's the weak one! (And the puppet.) He won't stand up to our adversaries (Putin, Erdogan, etc.) He won't stand up to white supremacists. He kowtows to dictators and racists because he thinks they're strong, and he wants to be strong.
Being strong, having courage, means standing up for what is right. Trump hasn't a clue. I hope voters make it clear in November by voting overwhelming for Democrats.
11
No surprise here. It all falls in line with this president's tendency to worship strongmen and madmen -- because let's face it, you must be pretty mad to have no problem with killing your own people just because they criticize you.
And since wealth and power is such a determining factor in this presidents raison d'etre, it's no surprise that he's willing to cut the Saudis so much slack...even though they tortured and killed Jamal Khashoggi, who was a U.S. citizen, and they continue to kill thousands of Yemenis everyday with U.S. warplanes.
In fact Donald Trump's obeisance to Mohammad bin Salman is as disturbing as it is revealing, because it shows just what kind of leader he is, and aspires to be.
This is something that should concern to every American.
And this is not "winning".
3
We have a president who is puppet to Saudis, Russia, and North Korea. Yet he has almost severed our strong bonds to Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada and all other world democracies. Doesn't this tell us anything? He is certainly operating under the control of someone counter to our interests. Nes pa?
5
Yes, the Saudi crown prince is mad, barbaric, unreliable and incompetent but gets President Trump's buddy-love because he buys "Made in the US." All issues come down to money.
3
And have we forgotten that 15 of the 19 terrorists at the 9/11 attacks were Saudis?
11
On the contrary, you guys should ONLY write columns when you're upset. If you're not upset these days, you're not paying attention.
10
"If the reports are true, it happened in part because American officials — and many others in their bipartisan gushing over [Donald J. Trump] — enabled a reckless ruler, helped him gain and consolidate power, and led him to think that he could get away with anything."
There, fixed your column....
4
Complicity with powerful bullies is a good way to start bad wars. Trump is repeatedly complicit with powerful bullies.
5
I'm sorry, Mr. Kristof - but is there a more meaningless phrase anywhere than "Trump should"?
4
Alt-title: "A Mad Middle East Prince Cooperating with a Megalomaniac Global Emperor".
Is there any doubt about which one of these lying con-artists actually thinks he's entirely in charge of our fragile little world --- and as the "Times" insightful columnists; Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and David Leonhardt cogently discuss in “The Times’s Opinion podcast", "The Argument" whether "Trump Is Destroying the World Order".
While there are no comments in "The Argument" --- I would expect that there is 'No Argument" with the fact the Emperor Trump is causing our formerly promising and sometimes progressing country, America into "acting exactly like an unhinged Global Empire".
Which is why I previously said in a Times comment that:
"My advice to Americans about voting in 2018 if they are smart, but more about 2020 if they're not, is to ask themselves this simple seminal question:
Do you want to vote in favor of a country that "acts like an Empire?" --- or a country that "acts like a democracy?"
4
How is what MBS did worse than what Bush-Cheney did when they had God only knows how many people tortured to death? Acts that Obama saw as not requiring investigations, trials or any consequences at all?
And let's not forget that Obama and Clinton sold Saudi Arabia the weapons it used to commit genocide in Yemen.
4
@Derek Flint
As much as I dislike bush, he didn't have his critics chopped up into little bitty pieces, nor did he kidnape the prime minister of another country. Obama made a grave mistake when he didn't go after the Neo Cons.
It is in our national interest to NOT let this go the way of every other Trump indecency. He isn’t addled - he’s a monster. He’s clearly setting the table for lack of interest when the next American citizen is killed. Excellent column, Mr. Kristof. We live in dangerous times
2
Fox news thinks the prince is a good guy, an ally in the fight against ISIS, and trump is correct to wait for the facts in the case. Just like he did with Kavanaugh!!! It makes me sick to think of all those Fox acolytes swallowing this hook, line and sinker.
8
If only Trump was "Kowtowing to a Mad Prince." MBS isn't mad, he's just acting as a Saudi leader should be expected to act, the only difference being that in this time around, the Kingdom of
Saud's actions were incredibly botched.
4
If we have the sense to take climate change seriously and push through a switch to electric cars, we can dump our relationship with Saudi Arabia and kill two birds with one stone.
2
you're right about not writing columns when angry.. the same holds true for letters. The despicable conduct by POTUS is nothing new. You call him a puppet of MBS, but he has managed to be a puppet of Putin, Duterte, Erdogan and Xi as well. Is there nothing we can do? It seems that way, and THAT is what is infuriating most of all
3
"if the reports are true"
Truth has nothing to do with your reportage, Mr. Kristof. Don't pretend that you bring any objective evaluation of reality to your articles.
This atrocity, whatever the circumstances, is just another opportunity for you to display your rabid biases.
"if the reports are true"
Mr. Kristof rabid?
Really?
Best look up the word. You are using it incorrectly.
6
@Albert Edmud
I would take a long look in the mirror before calling anyone else rabid and showing their biases.
Some people don't like America doing business with people who chop up their critics into little pieces.
just saying
Follow the money.
3
Thanks for your intelligent coiumn. Trump et al do not listen to advisers and US intelligence sources who have/ can enlighten them about MBS and how he harms Mideast neighbors and also the US. This blind ignorance about world affairs continues to show how tragically unsuited Trump is to represent this country, both internationally and domestically
6
Nick, we should all be thankful to Almighty that we are not the subjects of this mad prince. I hope that Trump stops his kowtowing to the mad man and does not hand over American Journalists ,like you, to him , if they ask. Hey, you never know !
3
@Syed Abdulhaq, they may even go one step further and target the civilians in NYT comments! Russia and China a already know how to hack our websites.
1
Winston Churchill knew how to treat them. At a conference he was told that Ibn Saud objected to tobacco and alcohol, but after dinner he stillhat his bandy and cigar.
3
Thousands of people die every week around the world and especially in the Middle East. It is not the responsibility of the USA or the President to interfere and rectify all these wrongs. You journalists seem to think you are more important than all the other people. I say: Fewer journalists, less fake news. This guy was no angel himself, and the enmities and issues which haunt the Muslim world are far too complicated for Americans to make decisions--especially since it has been shown that we cannot trust the motives or accuracy of our own journalists. When journalists show more objectivity I will become more concerned about their welfare.
2
I'd suggest a consumer boycott, a la #grabyourwallet, but they don't make anything...
1
"If the reports are true, it happened in part because American officials — and many others in their bipartisan gushing over M.B.S. — enabled a reckless ruler, helped him gain and consolidate power, and led him to think that he could get away with anything. Trump and Kushner cultivated M.B.S. early on as a potential ally, inviting him to dine in the White House and backing him as he rose to effectively run his country."
There you go again...... Why the need to include "bipartisan" in this essay? If I remember correctly Obama bowed to the King in a traditional show of respect and then kept the Saudis at some arms length in an attempt to get them to come to terms with the 21st Century.
t rump wants to be able to do what his heroes in the rest of the authoritarian world do but our laws and traditions frown on that sort of thing. Murder and torture, things like that.
The republican love of dictators and titans of business is not equally shared across the aisle and the sooner reporters get this figured out the sooner we might be able to get back our democracy.
2
The Pen will only gain it’s mighty predominance over the Sword if people vote Trump and his regime out into history for good.
3
At least we see the "president's" real feelings on this issue. He's not outraged. He's envious.
3
Easy answer: Strongmen admire strongmen. Trump cozies up to all the dictators. Why should we be surprised?
@MsLadyLib
Because Trump is really not a strongman. He’s a wannabe
1
Bravo!
Trump acts like we have no leverage, as though we are so desperate for Saudi arms $$$ that we will roll over and let them tickle our tummy. The Saudis meanwhile spent $18m on lobbyists efforts to ensure the arms sales, that we think may be in jeopardy, would gain approval in Congress.
Secondly, anyone worth their salt know that the Saudis are absolutely dependent on the US for spare parts and ammunition supplies that keep massive previous investments functioning.
I don't for one minute believe Trump doesn't know these things. The only conclusion you can reach is that he does not want to use the leverage we have. He does not want to hold the Saudis to account. Real question is - Why???
2
@Brendan
I for one, don’t believe Trump knows anything beyond when his next meal might be. Whenever you see him having “talks” with international figures he sits there like a stump, gazing into the middles distance with a total lack of understanding writ large across his face.
4
The author said we should confront the Saudi because they are murderous thugs but in the past he repeatedly advocated for not confronting the Iranian (other murderous thugs) because that would make more difficult to manage the Middle East, could he just make up his mind? The reality is that all Middle East government are murderous thugs in relation with their own citizens, the only difference is that some also want to kill us too. If we are going to confront every Middle East government who kill their own citizens, we would better abandon the whole place (not that it would be a bad decision)
@George1111: The present US drift towards its own form of theocracy is not helpful.
1
America used to stand for basic human decency however, Trump and the Republican party have thrown that out the window along with the Rule of Law. Saudi barbarism or American barbarism, or both.
3
The alignment of the U.S. and Saudi governments shows that both are illegitimate. The Saudi government is doing to the Yemeni people what the U.S. government did to the Iraqi peoples. Their rot cuts quite deep.
4
We should be very cautious that a phony "incident" looking like an Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia doesn't result in the U.S. joining Saudi in a war with Iran. There is still time for an October Surprise before the election.
2
"Trump acts as if the Saudis have leverage over us." Actually, he acts as if the Saudis have leverage over him. Like Putin, they do.
3
Every president I can remember has kowtowed to Saudi Arabia, both Republicans and Democrats. This is the larger issue and what should be discussed. Indignation over Trump allows people to think it's him. It is not. U.S. policy has been to look the other way over Saudi Arabia's commitment to and practice of terrorism, the most repressive form of sexism and racism, while selling them arms and buying their oil.
2
Ever since we learned that 15 of the 19 911 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, that should have ended our relationship right there. Instead, Saudi royals were allowed to leave the US when there were no flights. Thus, GW Bush was in on this, but then Obama did nothing to change it. Trump did not get us here by himself, but expect him to. They give him money.
1
Wow, Kristof on a tear! (and rightfully so) I got a few paragraphs in when I thought to myself "I don't recognize this writing, is this the same Kristof who writes lofty, intellectual, considered, graceful pieces and is cool as a cucumber?" Then I got to the part where he muses about writing columns while upset.
Regardless, he captures the U.S. relationship with the House of Saud (and the Saudi nefarious activities in the region) very completely and accurately. Call me an optimist, but I believe this incident will prove a bridge too far for most in the Western world, including those on both sides of the aisle in our congress.
The only exception will be (as usual) the Trump "the free press is the enemy of the people" Crime Family.
Again, a very different submission from Mr. Kristof (as compared to, say, his beautiful chronicling of the Alaska Arctic, a place I've spent considerable time), but a very necessarily forceful one. Thank you.
2
They have leverage, plenty of leverage; over Trump family that is....
1
For the first time since 911 I actually think it’s possible the Saudis knew about or even planned the attacks. The fact that all of the hijackers were Saudi was never fully flushed out, in public opinion that is. Perhaps we should revisit it.
Clearly Trump sent Pompeo to Riyadh and Turkey to see if he can somehow deflate this problem. Luckily, Turkey doesn't seem to be interested in making a deal with the Saudis and keeps releasing information that surely will be incontrovertible. Deep in his mind, Trump knows this, and that's why he is laying low on this issue right now, as much as he wants to make it go away.
I think the only way out for Trump and the Saudis will be if king Salman tosses MBS and appoints another son as a crown prince. This will save face, but not remove their entanglement with the Trump clan or improve their dismal human rights and foreign politics.
3
"Trump is providing cover for the *latest* Saudi barbarism."
Fixed that for your, Mr. Kristof. Yes, the alleged murder of Jamal Khashoggi is a heinous act, even for the House of Saud, but American presidents have been turning a blind eye to gross violations on the part of the Kingdom for years. The barbarism of the war in Yemen; violations of human rights; violation of women's rights; religious persecution of religious minorities, particularly Shia Muslims; the active spread intolerance to other Muslim countries through the establishment's own dogmatic Salafism; the list goes on. President Trump isn't necessarily being reckless. He's just maintaining the status quo.
2
Is anyone surprised? Any critical thinker knows that our underlying problem here is our continued reliance on oil. Just for a moment think of how much freer and even handed our foreign policy could be if we were energy self-sufficient. Instead, A family of barbarians roaming around a desert happened to hit the lottery when they found oil. We have been bowing to them ever since. I hope one of the results of our rage will be a united push for homegrown, renewable energy sources.
3
@Ken Hajjar
We could also stop selling them arms. Greed, and the desire to look the other way when confronted with a major customer's crimes, seem to be the biggest part of the Trump administration's cowardice here.
1
Xi. Kim and MBS are sitting in a bar when DJT walks in. They look up and smile. Trump sits down at their table and says, "hey, did I ever tell you about Stormy?"
The US government has joined cosa nostra.
Parents, business leaders, teachers, forget about politics and focus on ethics. Crooked business and blood money, c'mon, we are better than that.
3
The heinousness of this hardly be understated. Nor can the moral imperative of denunciation. Nor the common sense justice of cancelling the arms deal
But what exactly to do longer term to prevent repeat occurrences is far from straightforward.
It is not hard to imagine Saudi Arabia exposing some nefarious doings of Turkey's dictator, for example.
We Americans have become so accustomed to our president being the Rogue in Chief, it becomes relatively easy to forget the "minor" flaws of "merely" aiding and abetting horrors committed elsewhere.
1
I'm very proud of and inspired by the appropriate outrage expressed in the overwhelming majority of these comments. That said, it is important to remember that US allies, puppets and even hand selected dictators--such as Agusto Pinochet in Chile, put in office by the CIA--have also ruthlessly murdered political enemies. Orlando Lettelier, for example, was blown up by a car bomb placed by Pinochet's agents right in front of the Chilean Embassy in Washington, D.C. Does this it excuse political assassination? No way. But let's remember how rough the game really is, and to what lengths authoritarians will go to silence opponents. Even if he US doesn't always live up to its professed ideals, I'd like a President who publicly, unabashedly, and consistently promotes them.
2
America's alliances in the Middle East are built on sand. The corrupt and murderous ruling family in Saudi Arabia has recruited America to fight its battles against Iran and in Yemen, easily capturing Trump and Kushner since they are so deeply entangled in their finances. So also, Israel, driven by the corrupt and extremist Netanyahu, the Kushners' family friend over two generations, has enlisted America in its wars of expansion and control. This will not end well, and the Trump regime will be bring terrible consequences to millions in death and suffering. It's shameful to see a supposed great power like the United States, which used to boast of being the world's only super-power, now a willing pawn in the endless plots and conspiracies of the Middle East.
3
@Hari Prasad, Bibi’s wife is also facing corruption charges.
2
M.B.S. and Trump both use the approach; "Throw money at it." The policy is intractable.
1
Trump does not care about rule of law, human rights, social norms or the well being of the citizens of THIS country. Can anyone legitimately express surprise that he has no real concern about the fate of people in another? Other members of our government might have some awareness as to why this is a big deal, but one has to be beyond credulous to think that our president is among them.
2
While I agree, I have to note that this column assumes Donald Trump can correctly identify his seat from a hole in the ground. I'm not sure he has the attention span for all that research.
2
Trump has financial ties (and more) to the Ibn Saud regime but in all honesty, what recent president has not kowtowed to the Saudi regime?
1
The list of things Trump *should* do is longer than Main Street. Unfortunately, he seems to treat the list like toilet paper.
As for the House of Saud, only generations of decency can make up for a century of blood and oppression.
To be fair, I think it is more likely for the Saudis to make this change at some point than I believe Trump will start treating the list of things he should do with respect. I very much wish it were otherwise.
1
Dear Mr. Kristof: In this heartfelt column, you wrote, "Maybe we shouldn’t write columns when we’re upset." I respectfully disagree. I believe that you chose the perfect time to write this column. You are more than upset; you also wrote that you are outraged, as well you should be—outraged by the horrendous torture and murder of a fellow journalist whom you have known for years and by the shameful complicity of our government. Please keep channeling your outrage and your sorrow into your writing. Please keep speaking truth to power. Your readers—in this country and around the world—need and rely on your work. I stand with you and with other journalists worldwide, and I applaud and am humbled by the courage and bravery of those journalists who continue to expose corruption and evil and tell the truth under oppressive, vicious regimes and conditions, even though it may cost them their lives. All of you are a light against the profound darkness that surrounds us now.
2
If the people who are disgusted and frightened by Trump's pro dictator-autocrat-strong men leanings, and his desire to cozy up to the likes of MBS, Putin and Kim Jong Un, do not come out and vote in the mid-terms and the 2020 election, then we are likely to become very much like one of the countries whose leaders he so admires. We have to take control of our country's future and vote for a Congress who will hold Trump accountable for his behavior and his dismissal of a murder by his Saudi allies. This is a turning point in America's history. Our democracy could very well morph into an autocracy, then a dictatorship.
2
Unbelievable! I believe Mr. Kristoff is right when he says that for decades we have supported Saudi Arabian misconduct, and that the mad prince is barbaric and unreliable and incompetent. No wonder that he and Trump like each other, they could both walk hand in hand down Fifth Avenue committing murder and get away with it,
For years we have been hypocritical when it comes to human rights. We profess to be human rights supporters and we condemn the behavior of other countries and their leaders. Our actions do not match our words, however. Talk is cheap. We have supported repressive regimes around the world, one of the most repressive being Saudi Arabia.
It is immoral for us to remain dependent on oil to begin with, given the dire warnings about climate change. Even worse, we are supporting genocide by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and helping them destroy Yemen and its citizens.
Despite our not so great record we must take the high road in condemning M.B.S.in the strongest possible terms regarding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. We must act morally, we must protect the press worldwide; is it only a matter of time before a reporter is jailed or kidnapped or worse in this country? Our morals may be slipping some and should never be for sale, yet we must remember that the United States is a much, much better place to live. We have great freedom to express ourselves. It is essential we protect or freedom and not live in fear. Remember to VOTE!
2
Much of the middle east, and countries around the world, kowtow to Saudi Arabia, and that is the problem, as Saudi Arabia has had little in the way of human rights, decency, or democracy for its people. It is a brutal, greedy place, not like Jordan, one of the only bright spots in that part of the world.
1
Considering how President Trump feels about journalists and the profession of journalism, it isn't surprising that he prefers to believe the innocence of MBS and the Saudi king. The notion of "checks and balances" on his administration is a threat. He would probably love to do the same thing to journalists in this country.
3
One wonders what sort of "leverage" the Saudis (and the Russians) may have over Trump, considering how he kowtows to them.
1
The unending mystery with Trump is why he is happy, even eager, to give the finger to long-standing democratic allies like Canada, Mexico, Japan and Germany, but will go well out of his way to make nice to countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia which are run by brutal despots who do not share US democratic values.
Admittedly, Saudi is supposedly America's best friend in the Middle East, but as Kristof shows, with friends like these ...
3
Here's how Cornell Law School defines "accessory after the fact":
"An accessory-after-the-fact is someone who assists 1) someone who has committed a crime, 2) after the person has committed the crime, 3) with knowledge that the person committed the crime, and 4) with the intent to help the person avoid arrest or punishment. An accessory after the fact may be held liable for, among other things, obstruction of justice."
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/accessory_after_the_fact
1
Mr. Kristof says it all, and with no if/and/but, unlike Mr. Stephens who still chooses to land very, very softly regarding the despicable horror occupying the White House.
1
All this is true, but I won't hold my breath until Trump holds accountable someone who flatters his ego and bank account.
1
I am sad and disgusted but 40% of our voters still like Trump. Sadly, it appears we will get the government we deserve, again!
How many more self-inflicted wounds can the US survive?
3
@Frank Walker
Pelosi 27% Trump 42% I don't like Trump either but like secure borders,respect police,ICE,tax cuts low black and hispanic unemployment,strong military,standing up Iran ,North Korea etc
I'd guess that removing his fingers was to help make the body less identifiable...
1
"Trump is providing cover for Saudi barbarism"
The political establishment of the United States of America is providing cover to Saudi barbarism, unless Trump is a dictator, which, of course he isn't.
To put it plainly, Trump is acting like a Mafioso trying to protect another regime that it is in the same game he wants to play: total rule by one man or one man and his henchmen. Why shouldn't he cover up for MBS? He admires the repression of populations and dissent wherever it occurs. MBS is one of his brothers in the same cause.
There is virtually no doubt that Trump would like to "achieve" the same sort of rule here, if he only knew how to go about it. Perhaps he would do so without mass beheadings? We can't be sure where he would stop because he demonstrates every day he does not believe in limiting his ego fueled tweets or observing any sort of normality in the conduct of the presidency. He is a rogue in rogues' clothing and only those who celebrate his excesses, or look the other way, fail to realize this fact,
Saudi Arabia is one of the worst nations in the world on human rights and freedom, qualities we claim to stand for and celebrate. There is an excellent, if incomplete, documentary about the country currently on Netflix called "Saudi Arabia, Uncovered". It goes into detail about mass beheadings and the imprisonment of anyone who dares to challenge the ruling royal family and their draconian rule.
Our "friends" in Saudi Arabia have spread the seeds of terrorism in every corner of the globe. After the attacks of 9-11, 2001, members of the ruling elite of SA who found themselves in the US were allowed to fly out despite the ban on all other air travel. Make note.
2
What happened to the EU and UK top leaders. Do they have an opinion about M.B.S. and his daddy. Just to have some Secretaries of State there express their worries and cancel a trip to Saudi Arabia is a meager expression of concern and anger. Why is it always the US that has to set the tone and level of anger and concern!
MBS does not have leverage over USA, but has over King Trump and prince Kushner. Trump is actually helping the cover up of this brutal crime.
1
All who revere the marketplace of conflicting ideas should speak out for justice for Mr Kashoggi, and others murdered and imprisoned for their speech. We cannot expect our president, with his lust for entry into the brotherhood of reckless strongmen, to speak to this value. He is incapable of looking beyond his own interest, and if he could, would silence every opposing opinion expressed here.
1
The whole story of a dozen "specialists" flying to Turkey to detain and kill one critic of the Saudi regime - without expecting anybody to notice - is too difficult to swallow whole. They could have shot him, poisoned him, stabbed him, drowned him, and dozens of other things, none of which required his presence in the Saudi Embassy (or was it Consulate).
I would not be at all surprised to learn that this was all a Mossad project intended to put Saudi Arabia firmly back in its place as the US's number TWO ally in the Mideast while Israel remains in first position.
1
Sad to say, this is just another day in Trumplandia. Trump is just being Trump.
The GOP is complicit in the degradation/destruction of our country.
2
How many Trump hotels and properties are in Saudi Arabia? How many more are being planned? I feel Trump doesn't care about what the prince has done, just so he protects his (Trump's) interests.
7
Trump on Kavanaugh: innocent until proven guilty
Trump on Prince Mohammed bin Salman: innocent until proven guilty
Trump on Hillary Clinton: Lock her up
What a complete joke we are as a country.
25
@Leo
And don't forget—
Trump on the Central Park 5: guilty (even though DNA evidence contradicts this)
source =
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-says-central...
2
@Leo
Yes, Trump has his stunts. Reminds me of Harold Lloyd,
in the classic film, "Safety Last".
Here is the famous clock scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuflxdBe9JQ
Harold Lloyd is seen hanging from a building clock.
Trump thrives on cliff-hangers, that get him daily media coverage. But we, the people, are suffering from his dictatorial insanity.
Will this publicity insanity ever end?
===========================
Fifteen men from Saudi Arabia hijacked four of our commercial airliners on the Eastern Seaboard. They flew one into the Capital of our Military, the Pentagon, flew two more into the World Trade Center's two towers, bringing them down, and committing the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil.
To punish them, we attacked Afghanistan. And then, Iraq.
When you allow kings and regimes get away with murder, then they have no incentive to quit murdering.
I know our President thinks HE could shoot someone on New York's Fifth Avenue, and suffer no consequences, base-wise, so perhaps he thinks other dictators are, or should be, immune as well.
Is THIS the Planet we wanna Live on?
We've come a long way, baby.
Too far, to live like savage barbarians, again.
If our President finds himself Impotent in the face of such an adversary, a Prince, for heaven's sake, perhaps Congress may themselves find the testicular fortitude to do the right thing.
18
Aiding and abetting murder and bowing to the dollar, that's our Prez.
10
And Fox "News" will tell the sheep how to think.
5
@Deborah Silverman -- if you go and look at fox right now the headline item is "Accused Treasury leaker had 'co-conspirator' in plot to spill dirt on Trump: court docs"
down toward the bottom of the page you can see without scrolling there's a list of miscellany:
"Woman caught dropping toddler at stranger’s front door blames address mix-up
Sen. Graham: I never needed police security before Kavanaugh hearings
Remains found in shallow grave in Costa Rica belong to man who vanished weeks ago: family
White woman who blocked black man from his apartment defends actions
State Department deliberately misled in Hillary email, Benghazi lawsuits: judge
Man shot outside bar after rejecting shot inside bar, officials say
Saudi doctor told others to listen to music during gruesome acts: report"
Farther down there is
"Khashoggi investigation narrowing focus on key figure"
and
"McCaul: Khashoggi case is a 'step backward' for Saudi Arabia"
One is free to come to one's own conclusions -- mine is that Fox knows their typical reader will never get that far.
2
Trump always supports the lowlife thugs of the world and gives some lame, illogical reason for his support. Now he colludes with the Saudis in blaming the gory murder of Jamal Khashoggi on some mysterious band of "rogue" operators when the truth is fairly obvious. When, if ever, will Trump go a bridge too far? Is that even possible?
9
Trump is disgusting and odious in his support of this
incompetent and barbaric Prince. I am ashamed that Trump is our so called President. He reminds me of a bullying Fascist despot, depraved, amoral, ignorant.
He is very similar to the Prince he appeases and adores. He is a true enemy of anything that is fine and noble in our American democracy. He reflects poorly on what our society and political system has become. I am truly ashamed and appalled. He needs to be impeached and indicted as the criminal fraud he is! I hope the Republican Party goes down with him to oblivion for supporting and using him to hold power and pass tax cuts for the ruling elite! They are equally despicable and hypocritical and favor power over Patriotism and American ideals!
5
MBS should also release everyone whom he put in the Ritz. My friend and former client Amr al Dabbagh is still in detention because he won't surrender his assets to this criminal. He's been tortured and kept from his family. MBS needs to be stopped.
6
Where is Senator Grassley's moral outrage about the killing of Mr. Khashoggi that he had on display for Kavanaugh? The ghost of John McCain will be visiting you soon, Chuck.
7
Trump has become an accomplice after the fact ... at least.
What is happening though is that it is turning out to be a Wile E. Coyote moment for Trump, working out even worse for him than the policy of separating children from parents at the border.
The Turks are slapping Trump silly, and Trump is being exposed as the lackey of a murderous Crown Prince.
Mohammed bin Salman is not even King of Saudi Arabia; he's the currently-anointed one of a pack of princes, many of whom would cheerfully slit his throat ... and it might come to that.
Trump has a bizarre propensity to kiss the rear of stone-cold killers -- starting with Putin, the fat boy, now bin Salman.
But bin Salman's problem, and Trump's, is that this was a ridiculous Keystone Kops blunder. If you want to rule through terror you cannot bungle like this; it just invigorates your enemies.
The inability to dispose of a soft pigeon like Khashoggi competently is reason enough for bin Salman to lose his position ... and perhaps his head, depending on how the Saudis play it.
The Turks are subjecting the House of Saud to investigation and ridicule, and making Trump look like the gibbering old fool he is.
The House of Saud at least won't take this sitting down. Somebody will pay.
4
It is a sad time for our great nation. We have a mentally compromised child bully narcissist authoritarian in the White House. His only mission in life is to win, no matter the cost. The con man love Saudi dynasty because they know how to manipulate the narcissist while he was in Saudi. The man has no ethics or IQ. It is okay with him when a journalist gets killed in a consulate office in a foreign country as long as the killers are loyal to him. What has happened to our great nation?How the peple can stand this corrupt person who came to the White House by colluding with the KGB? It is a travesty that this man is not impeached.
4
Trump is a mad prince as is Kim... like attracts like.
2
It's Trump's overwhelming political naiveté, if you want to be kind and offer an alternative to the usual description of his monumental stupidity, that keeps repeating.
He takes the view that as long as you can see someone face to face, everything will be better - Putin, Kim Jong-Un, MBS. He takes no account of the fact that liars, lie, even when they look at you and lie, that they're not a liar.
Which is all the more odd, as one would think a congenital liar would recognise such behaviour in another. I guess you can't be fair to him in thinking it's something else and it still is monumental stupidity holding sway, after all.
4
follow the money
5
Maybe all you liberals should wait to see proof before condemning anyone. or didn't you learn anything from everything you've been condemning previously.
1
@Neuplace
The probability--based on the assessment of US intelligence agencies, the Turks, footage and audio recordings--that this was a ruthless murder of a political opponent by MBS makes this issue rise above "you liberals" and "you conservatives." The sanctity of human life and the right of free speech are bedrocks both groups, in my seven decades of experience, agree on. If you don't see that, then you are perhaps lost in some fringe area.
3
It's time for the mainstream media, democrats and republicans to call out Donald Trump for the weak, owned, feckless loser that he is. He is trying to bring fascist dictatorial rule to the USA. He's a mobster in the White House. A low life con man, a repulsive, disgusting, ugly human being who is doing incalculable cultural and psychological damage to the psyche of the nation. He is truly awful, but in his web of self deception he actually thinks he's innocent, has never done anything wrong, and is a huge victim of being treated "unfairly" --his favorite word though he doesn't know the first thing about true fairness in anything. Not only that, he actually thinks he is a "nice" guy.
This is how socially primitive and emotionally damaged he is. He actually believes his own lie that he "just" fights back", "counter punches" when someone attacks him first.
So he is phony fake polite until someone gets real with him then he goes on the attack. He's so nice -- until someone starts it.
Of course this is all utter self deception, the convenient myth of who he is that he tells himself so he can live with himself in his, "I'm a nice guy victim treated so unfairly and taken advantage of".
The point is he lacks any significant insight into self, the truth about himself is too painful to face, so he lives in a fantasy world of his own creation. He must be recognized for how impaired he is and how that imperils our nation.
4
I feel the same way 100%. There is no bottom or level too low for the right to sink to.
1
"And he should make clear to the Saudi royal family..."
Please. He can't make anything clear to anybody. He has no State Department, only an amateur bag man gamely attempting shuttle diplomacy (maybe). The bottom line is and always has been: the oil must flow. All else is pandering, alternately between murderous despots and high-minded liberals desperately not understanding that the modern economy will not be inconvenienced by attempts to mitigate human suffering.
4
Trump has established a new bartering system: the thug exchange. For example, someone bails him out on bad real estate deals in NYC, they are a member. It doesn't matter what country they're from, what atrocities they've committed, what they say, what they do. If someone "likes" him, for whatever horrifying reason, they are a member.
"Likes" means they have to give him something, ego strokes, rent, money, bakshish, praise in front of a camera, which should cost them a lot, mentally. I would say morally, but obviously one must have morals first.
2
Perhaps Robert Mueller can add "aiding and abetting murder" to his laundry list of charges against Donald J. Trump.
6
No sentient being could think this murder was done without the approval of mbs.
2
What Trump exhibits with respect to MBS isn't really praise; it's envy. Trump wishes he could move more aggressively against journalists who shine a light on how unethical and incompetent he is.
He calls it the "failing New York Times" to distract people (including himself) from failing Donald Trump. As a "businessman," he had a special talent for running his companies into bankruptcy and for stiffing those foolish enough to contract with him. As a "university" founder, he supervised a vast fraud. His interpersonal skills speak for themselves. The only people who tolerate him are dictators, and they do that because it is so easy to use him as an unwitting tool.
5
First I want to express my sincere condolence to the family of Jamal Khashoggi, and to you Nicholas Kristov who knew him personally, and to all the journalists around the world. You are our only hope to maintain our fragile democracy! I forced myself to read the horrific description of Jamal Khashoggi's murder. It is unimaginable how the family can process this inhumane act. I wish them strength. I personally do not believe they will ever heal.
To identify rulers of dictatorships as strong men, that Trump admirers is a misnomer. They are Weak Men Bullies and Evil! A strong man speaks truth to power and does not kill his adversaries to remain in power. It is time to stop referring to them as strong and call them what they are and name them for what they are...Evil Liars and Bullies! This includes Narcissistic Fraudulent weak man Trump!
6
Let’s be more rational, if Saudi government want to kill him they will not kill him in their embassy.
This is a game was created by Turkish and Qatar government.
1
@Ziad
"... they will not kill him in their embassy." Unless they think that they can do whatever they want, almost anywhere they want to, with impunity. So far, it appears they may be correct.
3
Although I am sure that editorial policy would preclude it, I believe the headline of this piece would rightly read “...kowtowing to a MURDERER.” I appreciate the choice of the word barbarism; my preferred adjective for Mr. Trump is barbaric. Meaning ignorant, brutal and uncivilized. Every day [sic] Mister Trump shows that to be true, and his latest boot licking of the Saudi M.B.S.is further evidence of Trump’s utter lack of integrity and morality and humanity. The barbarian is not at the gate, he is in the Oval Office.
3
We should cut in half our diplomatic personal in SA and recall our embassador (what you say, we don't have one?) Trump apparently doesn't need no stinking diplomats anyhow.
2
Looks the mad prince is as ROGUE as it gets!
3
Presumably DJT anticipates and is now arranging reciprocal tacit support - from MBS, Putin, Duterte, Bolsonaro (of Brazil), etc. when as POTUS-for-life or maybe sooner he himself begins dismemberment of US press corps.
1
"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome journalist?"
Death comes again to a voice of dissent in order to protect the church of power, money and privilege. Nothing changes.
4
Groveling, simpering, capering, fawning, genuflecting -- Mr. Trump warmly, affectionately taking the autocrat's hand (yet another autocrat's hand) in his own, and looking deeply into the prince's eyes -- Mr. Pompeo chatting with the journalist-murderer in side-by-side armchairs -- the prince bombed children and hospitals in Yemen -- Pompeo with an ear-to-ear grin, eager beaver -- Trump reeking of warm sincerity -- millions of Saudi women living in forced medieval servitude (a Trump white supremacist fantasy of virgins and enslaved submissive stay-at-home women) -- Pompeo: "we won't talk about the facts, they won't talk about the facts" -- Trump: "rogue killers did it," "he died accidentally during an interrogation" -- Pompeo: "the prince will carry out an investigation" into whether or not it happened at all, whether or not the prince himself directed his own staff o torture, murder and dismember the columnist who wrote for the Washington Post -- "the enemy of the people," "fake news" -- the journalist who had, after all, been critical of the prince -- the cover up is as sickening as it is transparent -- a savaging of free speech and the free press -- this president and the people who have set aside their oaths, their democracy and their nation's aspirations in order to serve him, to wait on him -- hand and foot.
6
Trump voters, take a hard look in the mirror. You, by your choice, have enabled this Saudi madman to order the execution and torture (let's call it what it is) of an American citizen. Where is the outrage? Is this MAGA? Where are the constitutional protections for this citizen? Maybe this could happen to you? Would you want your POTUS to be providing cover for your murderer? Is your value as a human being based upon how much money you have managed to hoard?? We are on the cusp of losing this "democracy' and we are fighting each other; just what the grand confuser wants. The Saudis provided 17 of the 19 airline hijackers in 2001. Why didn't we invade Saudi Arabia? Why were Saudis whisked out of the country immediately after 9/11?
Every additional day this embarrassment of a POTUS remains in office adds another nail to the coffin of democracy.
3
@LaPine -- you ... are ... wasting .. your... breath.
Trump supporters voted for a man caught on video tape bragging about groping women.
Trump supporters voted for "Trump University."
These are despicably low crimes. MAGA means "the right" of the right to do whatever it wants, murder included ... as long as it's people they don't see as "real American patriots."
Jamal Khashoggi is NOT an American Citizen. This is between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Jamal Khashoggi was tight in the Saudi family. He died as a TRAITOR to his country, not as a part time journalist.
Traitor? For what? Criticizing his government? That's treason in your viewfinder?
8
James Baker, former Bush 41 Secretary of State, is the wealthy chief paid lobbyist for the Saudi royal family. That is all one needs to know about the sick corruption in America's soul.
9
The Sauds might want the tape released as an ISIS like warning about the consequences any journalist who opposes the regime will face.
A sacrifice may have been made, someone to take the blame for a rogue operation. He did it, it's all on him. Our hands are now clean, ignore the blood soaked robes we wear.
Saudi suspect in Khashoggi case'dies in car accident': Report
Hurriyet Daily News
1
God save us if there is a god,
From racism, facism, murderous dictators and people like trump who are out to destroy the country and succeeding ,
Never did I think I would live to see this.
7
@Carla We have to save ourselves.
1
Trump, the nitwit president is an autocrat just like the Saudis’. He is one of them. He is so outside the boundaries that this Nation has championed in the efforts of fair-play for the World that he shames the US.
5
I do not see Kushner and the Liar in Chief being manipulated. I see two despicable greedy people who cozied up to yet another despicable power-hungry despot. Let's look at the Liar in Chief and Kushner's business records. And what about that back channel that Kushner established with the Saudis?
3
Pictures of a smiling and chortling Pompeo shaking hands with Mr. Bone Saw so much reminded me of the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the oval office, guffawing at a Trump bon mot concerning his firing of "nut job" Comey.
Folks, it doesn't get any more un-American than this. What are we going to do about it?
3
Everyone needs to read this man's POV. Journalism is fastly becoming the most dangerous job in the world. WAKE UP PEOPLE!
2
I am hoping that someone acting on behalf of the American people is busy preparing the necessary documents authorizing impeachment of D Trump post haste early next year if not before. First, we watch the invasion of another country (Crimea) in real time which was bad enough ... now we have torture, death and dismemberment of a Saudi journalist by friends of a thugish Saudi prince to digest. Can this be real? They still don't teach history sufficiently in elementary or high school. Now, I understand how historical figures come to be known by their given names, i.e., Attilla the Hun comes to mind. Also, I see now how Pope Benedict, having stepped in it when he delivered his politically incorrect speech about the savagery of Islam (do you think?), had to step aside. Tsk, tsk!
This past year, 147 individuals have been beheaded in Saudi Arabia. Has anyone ever asked the question, what warrants beheading in Saudi Arabia? Has the United Nations ever inquired about this? And, we will accept this in time … I can't even get through old clips of Godfather I and II, it's so depraved. These are the types of people our current president (and a few before him) and the United States government wishes to mix it up with? Not me. A reckoning is certain and it won't be pretty.
4
"The mind is everything. What you think you become." Buddha.
What the leadership Saudi Arabia has become are known facts. We are dealing with murderous minds. To deny it is be an accomplice. And Trump succors them. That makes US partner in crime.
Let's be clear: America is being infected, corrupted. US must reconsider, reassess, not be wallowing in crime with the Kingdom!
2
Makes me ashamed of my country. Given my advancing age, I hang on to one last glimmer of hope that the American people will wake up, stand up and rise up. to remove the cancer of Trump from our lives and memories.
5
More like a prince taking advantage of a mad president.
1
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
2
Trump is bowing to the Crown Prince because he loves the money that the Saudi Arabians bring to his own coffers.
It's the same as the Russians.
Trump is in bed with the Saudis and the Russians and does not care what they do. Human rights violations. Chopping up a journalist. Spending billions to promote terrorism against America around the globe. Starving Yemenis. Locking up women who drive. Jailing people who speak out. Total lock on the country.
Saudi Arabia is a medieval torture chamber.
Mohammad should not be called MBS. You are buying into his western campaign to make him seem normal. He's not normal. He's a murderer. He's a controlling, misogynistic, dangerous man stuck in the 1500's.
He's manipulating Trump because he knows he can. Mohammad is sneaky and untrustworthy and cares nothing for human rights. Just like Trump.
When the Saudis get out of their pajamas...When they stop wearing their red and white checked handkerchiefs... When they stop forcing women to wear black... When they allow freedom of press, religion, and elections, we can take another look.
But right now, we need to stop buying and selling EVERYTHING. No oil. No parts. No weapons. No importing, no exporting.
Isolate them until they cave and come into the twentieth century. Not the 21st, too much to hope for.
(And who the heck thinks it's a good idea for Saudi Arabia to have weapons of any sort? It's like giving killers assault rifles.)
Trump sickens me. Kissing up to murderers.
Again.
3
Calling journalists at the Washington Post 'Enemies of the People', keeping journalists in pens at his rallies and encouraging his supporters to scream abuse at them and threaten them with physical violence would have emboldened dictators everywhere.
Just imagine Kushner's response if his best friend MBS ever asked him what he thought of American journalists on one of his many trips to Saudi Arabia.
Trump, being a narcissistic psychopath incapable of human feeling himself is just jealous he can't get away with anything like this. At least, not yet.
2
I keep thinking back to the fact that 15 of 19 9/11 terrorists were Saudi.
4
The International Court in the Hague should indict M.B.S. for crimes against humanity and an international arrest warrant issued.
If convicted he should be hanged.
3
Fantastic, Democratic party policy is to let popular opinion judge every case, if the accused in not a Democrat. It must be a depressing existence as a writer/newspaper trying to twist most every article to a singular purpose: making Pres. Trump and conservatives look bad. Weak, NYT, weak.
Nick ought to talk to his colleague, Tom Friedman, who lists all kinds of reasons for the US to tread carefully here.
He isn't going to condemn their behavior because he wants to have the power they have: the despots' ability to do whatever they want to their enemies. Kill them, jail them, say anything he wants to say about them.
Like any spoiled child, he thinks it's his right to do whatever he wants. Daddy fixed his entire life. Why should that stop now?
I find it odd that Mr. Kristof and other "unbias" journalists at the NYT didn't write an article like this when Pres. Obama and John Kerry were making their terrible deal with the Iranians.
You mean the terrible deal that worked and was supported by the Saudis and everybody in the region that wasn’t Netanyahu? The nuclear arms deal that the Times extensively reported on, including the details of all the arguments for and against?
4
@David Because it was a good deal. Because Iranians had not tortured and murdered a journalist, and had it covered up by the President.
3
Yes! 100% right on.
But it’s not just Trump, its the whole pathetic bunch of Republican bozzos who have turned a blind eye to all of this. Oh the howls when Obama supposedly bowed. If the Republicans have no principles when it comes to murder, what are they for?
Thank you, Nicholas Kristof!
3
Dear Mr. Kristof
Do not encourage him.
Sending fifteen to kill one smells already this is an event concocted by a person of medieval mind. He must have felt quite comfortable surrounded by like-minded people far and near.
1
Lots of Saudi princes to choose from if MBS needs to be replaced, but maybe the King should try a Princess !
Fast forward a few days:
MBS will say that his investigation shows that the 15 Saudi agents did it on their own. He then orders them immediately beheaded. Case closed.
1
Trump ánd company are stalling, hoping that Saudi Arabia will come up with a cover story. Won't happen. They're now stuck with the murderous thugs.
1
" the Saudis need a new crown prince who isn't a butcher."
Don't think they have those.
6
"he’s also unreliable"
unreliable for what?
Stop with this whitewashing of this country. It is not that Saudi Arabia is this monstrous country and the U.S. is suckered into being complicitous through naivety and a myopic sense of self-interest. This is a country with a brutal murderous history. And a brutal murderous present. You speak about Yemen. Where did those weapons come from? Why were they ever made. Can you even imagine a scenario where there can put to any good use.
I do feel bad writing the above because your grief and rage is so raw and immediate. But it makes me crazy how much you see, how passionate you often are and how quickly you almost always turn away from the full implications of wherever your insights could take you.
1
Outrageous Trump thinks he'll win with spineless approach to Saudi Arabia. Never so obvious he is illiterate. Where in history has anyone remotely aligned with his ideals gone down in history as "Great". Idiotic maneuvering that will only end in his demise--"live by the sword-die by the sword"
1
Please do not rush to conclusions.The truth will come out and then we can weigh our correct decision.I hate when people at the NYT get ahead of the story.It is the perfect time for them to attack the president.A prudent person would wait until we have more facts and not just rumors.If you are Kristof your hatred everything Trump can't afford to sit back and wait until the investigation is finished.
1
So this story is the latest “Trump is an idiot who needs to be removed from office” meme. It will go nowhere.
We are supposed to be incensed about the murder of a Saudi citizen, allegedly killed by the Saudis, on Saudi soil? The Saudis, like all Muslim-dominated countries, do this every day. But this guy happens to be a journal, so somehow it’s Trump’s fault.
None of these frauds have been concerned about the dozen jounos killed this year alone in Mexico.
1
Why is anyone surprised at Trump's embrace of tyrants? He's in love with Kim Jong Un and admires the deadly Duterte. Has anyone ever heard a disparaging remark about poisoner Putin?
4
Still not a word on your support for an honorable platform for the reminder of the odious Charles Murray. Still no ability to see how that ties into an honorable office for the oafish racist Trump.
Lol. The US has been supporting Saudi Arabia for decades with billions in high-tech weapons, which have been used to kill thousands. But the Sauds kill a journalist friend of Nicholas Kristof, and suddenly, a line has been crossed and it's all Donald Trump's fault.
This is why no intelligent, objective person takes much the mainstream media has to say seriously.
The barbaric MBS needs to go and so does his complicit "princeling" buddy in-his-pocket, Jared Kushner.
7
Sometimes, it’s just one detail that sums up the full horror of a moment in history. For me, it’s the Saudi doctor putting on headphones to listen to music while dismembering the journalist.
4
@Rod Jones
Well said!
2
Trump likes to claim he is tough guy. Whenever he is forced to confront an autocratic government, he demonstrates that he is actually a coward.
3
As Tony Blair was George W Bush's poodle, so is Trump Putin's and bin Salmin's poodle. They both have the goods on Trump. It isn't rocket science.
1
This is disgraceful. Are we living in the Middle Ages? Evidently, we are. MBS and his thugs are despicable. But equally despicable are our own thugs in power. Nick, you are absolutely correct. DT and Pompeo should be ashamed of themselves. Maybe Pompeo will be eventually, but the buffoon-in-chief sees nothing wrong with playing nice with the Saudi royals. Shame on you all. I am ashamed to be an American now, a citizen of a country that courts assassins and plays up to strongmen. We value money and pride over integrity, and I'm ashamed to be part of this disaster.
4
At least Trump doesn't bow down to them.
@cb
Making excuses for ruthless murder and possibly helping to make things safe for "business as usual": if that isn't kowtowing by the Donald to the Saudi's, I don't know what is.
4
@cb
So bowing down to them is worse than what Trump is doing?!
2
Just sword-dances, caresses a big flowing orb, and defends.
Big improvement, eh?
3
This paragraph could well be written about our own White House occupier:
“In short, the mad prince is not only barbaric, he’s also unreliable and incompetent. He doesn’t advance our interests; he damages them. Indeed, one of my fears is that he will try to drag us into a war with Iran”
Perhaps it is the similarities between MBS and DJT that lead the latter to accept the “Well he said he didn’t do it” defense. Like he did with Putin. Our special brand of idiot seems intent on always believing the unbelievable, supporting the unconscionable acts of dictators and despots, and branding the believable facts as “fake news”. They are both mad, yet only one of them is a prince. The other is a sad excuse for a human with limited intelligence, a lack of manners and humility, a big mouth and an equally large foot to ram firmly in it. Please god let this NOT go on for longer than his current term. We will all suffer even more than we already are. We are the laughing stock of the world.
1
Excellent column
1
I can tell everyone right now, DT's response is 'who cares'.
So get out an vote to get rid of this sickness
5
Trump's behavior is sickening. He is supposed to be our leader. He is supposed to represent the best of our nation. Trump doesn't even try. He goes right to the gutter every time. He is selling out our principles, our ethics and our morals. His friends and idols are all thugs and murderers, whereas our allies and historic friends are thrown under the bus. He makes us all so ashamed.
7
Remember Congress?
Alas, Nick Kristof, you're right, maybe you shouldn't write columns where youre infuriated as well as heartbroken, as you are over the assassination and dismemberment of your friend and fellow-journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudia Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. That Mohammad bin Salman was able -- through the good offices and admiration of Donald Trump, who helped to bring that heinous Islamic despot to power in Saudi Arabia -- to flout human rights by murdering a Saudi dissident makes us wonder how far president Trump will go to collaborate and collude in the cover-up of M.b.S.'s murder of a journalist who was your friend and colleague, and reported for the Washington Post.
Enough isn't enough, Nick! Not till Trump is expunged from our 45th America presidency.
6
Will Republicans soon be sporting "Better Saudi than Democrat" T-shirts?
3
Trump is bought by Russia and the Saudis, he sees everything through $$$$$$. He does not care about honor, doing the right thing, he only cares about money which is his idea of winning .
This murder was done to terrorize the Saudi people, to shut them up but instead MBS has terrorized thee tire world. Americans should put him on the terrorist list just like Iran.
2
Seems like only yesterday Trump was railing on the campaign trail about " evil brutal Muslims cut off people's heads... and they need to be banned from ever entering the US!!!"
REMEMBER?!?!?
Trump sure doesn't.
2
Well, we looked the other way w/the Saudi connection to 9/11, what did you expect?
2
The chopping of the fingers is particularly vicious. It seems very much prepared their torture to send a message. If you write the wrong thing your fingers will be cut. And I guess if you use your head you will be decapitated. Cutting tonges for speaking the truth? And of course flogging (think Badawi) to break someone's mind. October 2018.
Let's give a toast to Saudi kings---
Kiss their feet and then their rings;
Fifteen hijackers were not from Iraq,
But who did Bush/Cheney attack?
16
It’s obvious by now that Trump is a monster.
2
Trump won't do what Kristof's suggests. One, ethics doesn't factor in because he has none. Two, he never ever admits he's wrong. And lastly, he won't cut off the hand that feeds him; i.e., Saudi's oil money. He and Kushner are arrogant amateurs in the world of diplomacy. They are sinister, greedy, and dumb.
5
Thank you for this lucid piece - it's a fine antidote to vile apologia by another of your columnists, published Oct. 16.
(see : Opinion | Thomas L. Friedman: America’s Dilemma: Censuring M.B.S. and Not Halting Saudi Reforms)
1
Hear, hear!
2
Well said.
6
Trump should send George W. Bush to the Kingdom.
Remember when Bush called the then Saudi leader "Bandar Bush?"
He could look into MBS's soul and find another brother, "Bonesaw Bush."
1
Trump is the latest betrayer of a government murder victim for the modern equivalent of his (and apparently Jared's) 30 pieces of Silver.
How evangelicals can have the conscience to vote for today's in-your face, unapologetic, Rotten to the core, Judas is beyond me. Maybe they don't actually believe in Jesus. Just expecting the Heavenly reward.
1
Trump supporters couldn't care less about their leader's support of a torturer / murderer. He can do just about anything and his minions will stand behind him.
3
Excuse me? He IS a mad 'prince . . .'
2
Trump and Pompeo are not only disgracing themselves in this gruesome affair, they are disgracing our entire nation.
289
@Christy Agreed. But where is the outrage from the American people? Why aren't we demanding that our leaders hold Saudi Arabia accountable for this reprehensible crime?? If we remain silent, we remain complicit.
I disagree with Kristof's analysis that "Trump acts as if the Saudis have leverage over us", suggesting that Trump is not speaking up due to some fear of a backlash. I think Trump is simply acting according to his belief that it is bad manners - and bad business - to criticize someone who has benefited you economically and will continue to do so into the future.
In Trump's world, loyalty is bought. His interest in foreign affairs does not extend beyond investment opportunities. He will not increase hostilities and endager economic relationships over "stupid" things like human rights.
I think Conservative acquiescence to the way Trump has conducted foreign policy thus far demonstrates that their hatred of communism was based on it's economics, and not it's repression of free speech. As long as dictators and despots allow the accumulation of private wealth, and plays by their version of the golden rule - "he who has the gold makes the rules" - they are fine.
4
@DebbieR
I believe you're partially correct. But you also need to factor in his admiration for (and envy of) dictators, despots, & autocrats.
2
Totally understand your heartache and frustrations. You have lost so many friends over the years, people who have been brave enough to speak out and tell the truth. But this time it is different because we are knowingly aiding and abetting a crook, Mr Bone Saw. Children need guidance, direction, MBS got none from his royal family, instead they have spoiled him rotten. Just like Trump's parents did to him. Trump started to receive an annual allowance of $200,000 by the time he was 3 years old. To him, money came easy and with it, he saw first hand how easy it was to manipulate human beings. The power has gotten to his head, because his parents never taught him - respect decency courtesy dignity and truth. His high profile daughter went ahead and married another crook. From Vanity Fair article on Charles Kushner, "Lil’ Jared may be in hell right now, but he need only look down at the wallet his father made him while doing time for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering to know that Daddy Kushner is pulling for him. And hopefully, should the roles one day reverse, and Jared find himself behind bars, he’ll make his father something nice, too."
6
Trump’s every action is driven by his craven self-interest. He can’t stand a free and independent press, so he empathizes with those, like MBS who are in a position to do what he - deep down in his rancid gut - would like to do.
The American rule of law is quite inconvenient for a strongman wannabe like Trump, so he is not only willing to stand up for MBS and the Saudis, he is no doubt envious of them. And of course, let’s not forget Trump’s financial connections with the Saudis (which he currently denies even exist), as well as all of those potential deals to be made in the future with such good “friends.”
Mr. Trump is a pathetic excuse for a President, whose lack of regard for tradition, precedent, and the rule of law is breathtaking. But above all else - and most troubling to me - Trump is a man completely devoid of morality and any guiding values other than his overweening and unabashed self-interest. There is nothing he wouldn’t do, say, or defend if he thinks it may somehow result in his personal gain .... and he cares not a whit if it screws someone else, the nation, or the rest of the world.
Congressional Republicans have excused and enabled this human outlier for far too long. I sadly wonder, however, if they have reached a point of no return. Can Lindsay and company still muster something other than empty words, or will they once again excuse and defend the indefensible that is personified in one Donald J. Trump?
13
@John
American political parties have died or been thoroughly transformed: the Federalists first, the Whigs next. The Democrats have been around since the beginning as faction or party. The GOP only since 1856.
Maybe I see with a jaundiced eye, but I don't see the current GOP surviving much longer. We do need (if a two-party system continues to prevail) a "pull you" party and a "push me" party (shades of "Dr. Dolittle" of children's fiction). Which also can be seen as left and right wings balancing government' flight. I wonder where a new "push me" party will come from.
“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” Dante
7
Aside from all the other bad reasons for Trump to champion MBS, his own dislike of a free and critical press will make him less likely to see Khashoggi’s murder as problematic - he was just another purveyor of fake news, right? And his base will buy that.
5
One rationalization for downplaying the role of MBS in the Khashoggi murder is our reliance on Saudi cooperation in the military containment of Iran. Is that the case, or has Saudi Arabia entangled us in it’s holy war against it’s Shia enemy? Remember “The Age of Reason” when Obama was President? He sought to distance our relationship from the Saudi’s.
5
@Asher Fried The Middle East will be mired in permanent war. There must be total domination and obliteration because there can be no co-existence. Haven't we seen enough of this to realize that the two (or three, or more) sides cannot tolerate the existence of any culture other than their own? I believe it has gone beyond religion by now; it is a "thing" on its own.
We cannot do anything other than be sucked into it.
I believe that the President of the US, #NotMyPresident , would have no issue with ordering a similar fate to some of his least favorite journalists here at home. I have been wondering for some time why Ms. Maddow has not been attacked or worse. Does she even have security?
4
People do not understand how America’s democratic moral values have been the foundation of our safety and prosperity for over 200 years.
When the world started to see instances where we failed to stand up to our professed values, they started to see us as hypocrites and collaborators with those oppressing them.
This is how we got Iran kidnappings and 9/11. This is realpolitik, folks. What you do unto others, they generally do back to you.
America threw away its last vestiges of safety in November 2016, capping years of putting liars, cheaters and thieves in office under the Republican brand. For our own sake, we better get our morals back on November 6 2018.
7
Nick,no mater how many people he kills, Trump and Jared Kushner's BFF M.B.S. or Mr. Bone Saw as you named him, will continue to get full support from current administration.
And that is nothing but a travesty of justice and totally against the ideals that America was founded on.
So if this is the way a leader of the Free world behaves then what will stop the other strongmen who're as mad as M.B.S. is or maybe ten times more ruthless than the current Saudi prince is ?
The answer to that question comes with the question itself : Nothing.
It's true that none of us, working on the good side of the mankind compared to these butchers and animal like perpetrators, are asking Trump to invade Saudi Arabia and change their regime at this heart breaking moment for the families of the Saudi journalist, especially his fiancee who was about to marry him on the next day of his disappearance..
But Secretary Pompeo could at least give a stern warning to the King Sultan of Saudi Arabia yesterday that if it really turns out that his young son M.B.S. was involved from A-Z in this gruesome killing and dismemberment of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, then the United States govt will have to ask the king to remove his son from power.
And hand him over to the prosecutors of the United States or to the United Nations Rapporteur to try him in the I.C.C. in Hague for orchestrating a Genocide in Yemen causing the deaths of thousands of Houthi citizens by forced starvation.
4
Trump seems to value relationships based on his personal and financial benefit. He is morally bankrupt. Why is that so difficult for his supporters to understand?
11
@Guitarman
I think his supporters understand, its just that they don't care.
3
Not only does Trump's base not care about the constant lies, insults, chaos, etc., but now they don't even care about murder. These are so-called Christians? Wow, what religion are they members of? Once again, the republican congress and senate are sitting on their hands. At least they are consistent in their complicity.
8
“Trump acts as if the Saudis have leverage over us.”
No, just leverage over Trump.
10
We have seen this movie before. During the British occupation of India, the English routinely put malleable princes in charge so that they could get them to do their bidding and destabilize the neighborhood. MBS is vain and ambitious, and easily played by Kushner and Netanyahu to carry out the next phase of "creative destruction" of the Arab world.
This is not his first crime. The ongoing killing in Yemen has inured him to murder. He will have to be put down, and won't leave easily.
5
Calling Saudi Arabia's Tyrant-in-Training an "unreliable and incompetent" monster rather understates the case. Let us think about the nature of the crime for a few seconds. It is monstrous beyond imagining. Given what we now know, labeling this heinous act "alleged" is absurd.
When our monster in the Oval Office seeks to justify the behavior of such incomprehensible brutality on the part of the Saudi monster, then we are all accomplices in the monstrosity. It is because of us that our enabling monster finds himself where he now sits.
7
Just voting Republicans out of office is not going to be enough.
We need to see that anyone who's been providing cover for this administration, green-lighting sham investigations, and looking the other way while peoples' rights are being trampled is brought up on charges and adjudicated. It's the only way we can heal this nation, and set an example for the future.
5
President Trump told the AP tha Mr. Khashoggi was not an American citizen. Mr. Khashoggi was an American resident. I had a green card for 45 years. it's disquieting to hear my president disavow United States resident's human rights and the protections his native country should have honored in the Saudi Turkish Consulate.
15
Trump is bowing to the reality of geopolitic. Kristof my be too young to remember the disaster of President Carter and the Shaw of Iran. A country that was an ally with a leader who was trying to modernize and the corner stone of US policy is now an anti-US fundamentalist Muslim enemy. The ayatollahs are much worse and more autocratic than the Shaw. Do you want to repeat that history?
@wes evans
Wes, you may be too young to remember the disaster of the Republican - run CIA overthrowing a democratically elected pro-American leader in Iran (because he would not give a British oil company a good enough deal on Iranian oil) and installing the brutal regime of the Shah in 1954
https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-Persia-Muhammad-Mossadegh-Anglo-American/...
This US government action led to the growing resentment in Iran which led directly to the Ayatollahs. Now Trump is supporting the murderous Saudi MBS, pulled out of the Iran deal, thus further strengthening the power of the anti-American forces in Iran and weakening those moving Iran towards restoring the better, democratic western-friendly government it had before our 1954 coup
8
While I appreciate and agree with your outrage, it strikes me as incredibly magical thinking that Donald Trump is going to call for a UN investigation. Of course, this is what should, and would, happen in a country run by the leader of the free world; so, of course, this is the exact opposite of what will happen.
No consequences for committing murder, kidnapping, human rights abuses, creating a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, bombing school children, extortion, imprisonment of critics? Of course there were consequences. Donald Trump can be seen in videos of his meeting with MBS, holding up a board that listed all the consequences, reading off the dollars spent for each purchase of military equipment. He can be seen in a press conference in the Oval Office, arms folded in a classic defensive posture, reciting the value of the consequences and claiming them to be the "...biggest purchase in all of history."
Like Putin, Kim and Duterte, MBS knew full well what the consequences of his actions would be. He simply needed to combine his order to murder Khashoggi with his order for US military equipment, agree to conduct a sham investigation which will undoubtedly end with the execution of one or more members of his security force, and the consequences would be another invitation to the White House.
The consequences of doing business with the US is the freedom to act with impunity.
3
The “military equipment” are fighter jets fully loaded.. we support the worst.
1
I am sorry to say that I find most reactions about this affair quite hypocritical !
It is a well known fact that American involvement in the world has been quite brutal albeit one exception in Europe with the Marshall Plan.
It is also well known that foundations of American diplomacy of the XXth century relied on backing most tyrans of the world under the guise of anticommunism : Marcos, Suharto, Pinochet, Vietnam, Franco, Salazar, Argentina's generals, the Shah, North Korea, and the list goes on … (with the result that many American lives were and are still lost abroad in conflicts which could have been avoided).
There is nothing new about that : see the film "Missing" (1972), staring Jack Lemmon. Everything's there : a missing journalist, a dictator, and American officials who cover up …
Therefore differences between most previous administrations and this one are very tenuous : Trump says openly what previous presidents preferred to leave to the secrets of the CIA.
Why pundits get so outraged about this case when they remained silent before ?
1
Always one to up the ante, Mr Trump has now taken to proxy lying.
5
Kowtowing? More like co-conspiring.
3
Where are Mitch and Lindsay and their rants when their voice of a Republican Party leadership need to be heard expressing American values?
3
"Barbaric." "Unreliable." "Incompetent." Words used to describe M.B.S. that also apply perfectly to our own D.J.T. Their shared disdain for the disappearance, and likely gruesome murder, of a pesky journalist is no surprise when one considers what kind of people these are.
5
Does anyone seriously think that our leader will back down on his support of MSB? Didn't the Saudis give our leader a gold medal....what was that for?? Our leader had already boasted that the Saudis mean money to him personally....as in buying apartments, etc.....And I remember a little incident that happened on 9/11 in New York where the Saudis were rushed out of our country so they wouldn't be associated with a nasty bombing. Money, money, money...
6
Noise, noise, more noise, this time from a supposedly outraged Mr.Kristof. Nothing matters until this president and his party are removed from the political landscape. It will take much more than noise.
3
Saudi Arabia is part of the Middle East. There are no good guys in the Middle East. You can only align yourself with the best of the bad guys if you want to exert a positive influence in the region, which we are bound to do because of our interest in preserving a Jewish state. They are all barbarians and Iran is the worst of them. Even Jamal Khashoggi was a propagandist for the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that indiscriminately kills secularists, Christians and Muslims they don't like.
So, Mr. Kristof, take a deep breath, etc.
1
Please don't let this be one more news cycle that dies within weeks. Essentially the President of the United States and the Secretary of State are active participants in covering up a murder. It's obvious, criminal and despicable behavior.
The abuses the American people have endured by each crisis this Administration has caused are minimal compared to condoning a murder.
5
Don't look for justice from Trump. His main concern is how to use his administration to line his own pockets. He refuses to acknowledge Russian interference in our 2016 election because he doesn't want to stop the flow of Russian money. He refuses to stand up to the Saudis because they might stop buying his condos.
If only we had a Congress that would stand up to this unfit President and start its own investigations. Oh, well, maybe after November 6th.
3
My first thought upon seeing the photo and the headline was, "which is which?"
Then I remembered that the Saudis don't have a president.
My next thought was neither do we.
2
Trump and Kushner both have financial ties to the Saudis, now more than ever with this so-called "close friendship" between MBS and Kushner. How many times have I read that MBS refers to Kushner as the "Clown Prince" of America, the one who is easily played?
Flattery and financial deals (and you can bet your life those deals are not all for America; those deals are for the post-Trump presidency) will get you everywhere with Trump, Kushner.
5
@SCZ, trump and Kushner also have the blessings of the entire Bush clan. No mistaking that.
2
I could not even listen to reporters reciting the Turkish account of the atrocity inflicted upon Mr. Khashoggi. I have seen Americans, rightly, rise up in arms over the neglect of a dog or the killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe. Our government has outlawed cockfighting for reasons of animal cruelty. Yet here is the President of the USA making himself an accessory to the torture and murder of Mr. Khashoggi by cooking up an alibi for Mr. Bone Saw.
Trump cannot even pretend to be presidential in response to this crime against humanity. Every single day he acts as if everyone is dumb-as-a-rock and will believe anything that comes out of his wretched mouth. (No Mr. Trump, the only people who fit this bill are the ones who show up at your rallies.) He has been taking money from these corrupt foreign autocratic leaders for decades and his indebtedness to them is making him impotent in defending our country’s moral position in the world was well as creating national security risks. Most Americans, unless they are getting their news exclusively from Fox, are painfully aware of this.
I wish all the evangelicals out there would care as much for the commandment “Thou shall not kill” as they do for stacking the supreme court. Maybe then we’d see the same level of outrage for Mr. Kashoggi’s fate that we did for Cecil the Lion. Or maybe those rally-goers would come to realize they’d rather have someone that does not aid and abet murderers to praise with their cheers.
11
Yes, is it any wonder that the Saudis can get away with dismembering a journalist? And is it any wonder that Trump, who openly reviles journalists, doesn't want to damage the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia? The oil and arms sales are much too important than to have to worry about some trouble maker journalist. I'm quite sure Trump, who is a thug, isn't troubled in the least by Jamal Khashoggi's "disappearance."
6
@Martha He will only become "troubled" if Putin or Kim were to be "troubled". Which isn't likely, is it?
1
Trump is also unreliable and incompetent, and I too worry, a lot, about Trump getting us into a war.
5
The relationship with the Saudi's benefits only a few wealthy Americans--Trump among them. As Kristof points out US foreign policy does not require an alliance with the House of Saud. The disaster which was the invasion of Iraq changed so much in the region that other countries became more vital than an aging religious dictatorship finding poor traction in a modern world as the price of oil dropped.
It will become increasingly more difficult for the few US elites who owe the Saudi's to justify the expensive connections to US voters especially those voters in Trump's base who find it difficult to distinguish among the various Muslim "terrorists" they are encouraged to hate by Trump's policies. Even Fox has trouble explaining why the Saudi's are somehow the "good" Muslims.
The killing of one journalist, amplified as it was by the available tape, will resonate with voters. The personal connections to US journalists such as Mr. Kristof also make this story relevant to readers. While it may seem easy for Trump to pass off this murder as something a bloodthirsty ally does that the US must respect because of cultural differences, that theme will not convince all voters Trump's hands are without blood because he denies the worth of journalists in a modern society especially a democracy like the US.
1
As US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie made a misstatement of US priorities that convinced Saddam Hussein that he could do what he liked in the Middle East, as long as it caused problems only for the Iranians. At the time, the US had a principled President who understood how the world operates, but the resulting war and carnage throughout the region continue to this day.
Now we have trump, who knows nothing about politics or alliances. trump's inexperience has been amplified by that of Jared Kushner, who seemingly has made the same misrepresentation of US priorities to Mohammed bin Salman.
As a result of this episode, our nation may face far greater danger than we have experienced recently. We will be lucky if it doesn't.
2
@Michael: That is some sugar-coating of history. The US had set up Saddam to invade Iran eight years earlier, and the war had finally been settled. Iraq was bankrupt, oil prices were low, so Saddam asked Bush for permission to annex Kuwait, which had been a province of Iraq. April Glaspie told Saddam that the US would consider it a "local issue", and Saddam took it as a green light.
From the NY Times Crisis in Egypt
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD JULY 3, 2013
Despite his failings, and there were plenty, President Mohamed Morsi was Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, and his overthrow by the military on Wednesday was unquestionably a coup. It would be tragic if Egyptians allowed the 2011 revolution that overthrew the dictator Hosni Mubarak to end with this rejection of democracy.
NY Times, August 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian security officers stormed two encampments packed with supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, on Wednesday... A spokesman for President Obama said the United States was continuing to review the $1.5 billion in aid it gives Egypt annually, most of which goes to the military.
NY Times, April 2015
Obama Removes Weapons Freeze Against Egypt
WASHINGTON — Seeking to repair relations with a longtime ally at a time of spreading war in the Middle East, President Obama on Tuesday lifted an arms freeze against Egypt that he had first imposed after the military overthrow of the country’s democratically elected government nearly two years ago.
Mr. Obama cleared the way for the delivery of F-16 aircraft, Harpoon missiles and M1A1 Abrams tanks, weapons prized by Egyptian leaders,
---
Al Sisi killed more than one thousand dissenter. The Saudi Prince, if true, killed one dissenter.
Tell me who Kowtows more
1
What is the murder of a journalist against 9/11? Al-Queida is a Saudi outfit with Saudi personnel, Saudi ideology, probably Saudi money and weapons, albeit not directly from the Saudi monarchy. But it was Iraq that got bombed. So who is next?
3
Trump is not only co-operating in a cover-up of torture and murder, but his frequent denunciations of the media as the enemy of the people may well have emboldened those ultimately responsible for this barbaric act. He is every bit as reckless as MBS.
414
@PAW President Trump needs to do what is best for the USA and is not responsible for atrocities which occur in other parts of the world. Jefferson said something like that when he said America should seek positive relations with all other countries and "not go looking for monsters." The really sad thing here is that we can not trust the objectivity of our own media. That's why some people say the press is the enemy of the people. It is certainly undermining the democratic process with fake and biased news.
Speaking of unreliable and incompetent, Jared Kushner is reportedly deeply involved in creating the cover-up story to shield the Saudi leader/murderer. While many citizens, myself included, knew Trump would be a disaster as president, the extent of his depravity, rot and total immorality is breathtaking. This has to end.
10
There is a direct line between mass rallies in the US where journalists are called enemies and degraded, and the brazen murder of a journalist by a staunch US ally. Trump is responsible. Republicans are complicit. Face facts: if you support Trump you enable murder. Evil, plain and simple. Evil.
2
It is all a sickening disgrace: trump providing cover for a murderer by suggesting that the murder of Khashoggi was carried out by "rogue killers", and accepting the lies of a despot instead of facts gained through reliable intelligence. Where have we heard this one before: yeah, since Putin "denied" Russian interference in the US election "very very strongly" of course we should accept that lie. The next thing you know trump will be declaring that the villainous MBS has been proven "completely innocent", just like Kavanaugh (who should be embarrassed ot look his fellow justices in the eye). Let's just follow the advice of Claude Rains in Casablanca and "roundup the usual suspects". Or incite a crowd to chant "lock her up" (any woman who would dare challenge trump's assumed impunity) to distract from the reality of this grotesquely immoral presidency. On second thought, what does it matter - climate change is all a hoax, and it will all "change back". Just ask trump because he has better "instincts" for science than the International Panel On Climate Change. Let us hope and pray that the ignorance and moral depravity of this man do not lead to the destruction of the planet (or some lesser calamity like a war).
1
America seems to have abandoned all moral leadership and integrity. It's absolutely stomach churning what we, as a nation, have become. We are becoming rotten to the core.
1
Thank you, Nick, for giving voice to the horror, anger, and shame so many of us are feeling. May Jamal's family find peace, and may his murderers and those who enabled them face justice.
2
Mr. Kristof writes: "In short, the mad prince is not only barbaric, he’s also unreliable and incompetent. He doesn’t advance our interests; he damages them."
He could not have more accurately assessed the toddler in chief now occupying the White House.
1
President Obama didn’t “bow” to a Saudi king or Queen Elizabeth, as is charged by those who want to belittle him.
Barack Obama is significantly taller than most people, and he kindly bends down to shake hands.
Remember that summit in Europe when Trump rudely pushed past a head of state to be in the front for the photographers? Not kind, not diplomatic, but pushy and, to the Saudis, sniveling.
1
As of this moment, baring further developments, the United States is witness to and complicit in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, due in part to the outrageous statement drifting out of the Oval office and the pompous visit to Saudi Arabia by our Sec. of State.
donald's reference to the murder as possibly committed by a "rogue killer", followed in days by a cheerful, smiling Pompeo being greeted almost as a head of state.
Why should a trivial matter as murdering a dissident reported have to do with national interests?
1
Why does Donald Trump like a Saudi prince?
Because in comparison to the latter, everybody in this world look presidential and statesman-like.
Suddenly “Lock her up” chants look like the expression of democracy and tolerance!
There is no erratic behavior that doesn’t fade away in comparison to the Saudi cannibalism of eating own people.
1
"In short, the mad prince is not only barbaric, he’s also unreliable and incompetent." Sounds like our president and his family and friends that are ruining our country. Another reason to vote his Republican enablers out, like we needed one.
2
Trump's failure to castigate the Saudis falls right in line with his adoration of tyrants (Putin, Kim, et al). He lauds those who deny the horrific acts they commit because he is a serial denier. Trump has turned our country upside down. He's in love with Kim but trashes Canada. I keep thinking I'm living a bad dream but will awaken to thankfully find Obama as president. Our country has become a laughingstock at the hands of a corrupt, inept, juvenile man. But far worse, by his kowtowing to vicious dictators, Trump has put us in jeopardy of being rebuffed by our once most steadfast allies. And the Republican controlled congress, by its silence, is guilty of aiding and abetting our decline in the world.
2
Though setting up this regime and then kowtowing to it started after WWI, i agree with Ichabod Aikem that this time “A Mad President (is) Kowtowing to a Madder Prince?” If Trump can kill someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, the madder prince is getting away with killing someone in Istanbul. Remember 9/11? At least, this time, it's in the madder prince's consulate albeit in a foreign country.
1
There was nothing so barbaric as the killing of thousands of Americans and others in the World Trade Center and elsewhere on American soil on 9/11/01, and nothing so despicable as President Bush kowtowing to the Saudi Prince in the aftermath, even though that government was clearly involved the attacks. But its all Trump now: everything he does is unprecedented, everyone has amnesia.
1
PL Have you forgotten the Second World War? I'll bet Japan hasn't . . .
Your accusing words for this barbaric murder of a journalist, whose only weapons were his words based on the facts, are a balsam in this day and age when we have so much complicity of our own 'pseudo-leaders, adamant in protecting the suspected Salam, the brain behind the killing and dismemberment of your colleague Jamal Khashoggi. These United States, under the thumb of tyrant-to-be Trump, has lost all credibility in defending human rights around the world. You and I know what the answer is, other than seeking jail for assassin Salman, and that is the firing of Donald J, Trump, our illegitimate president, a total hoax and a fraud for any and all democratic values we used to hold dear. Can't we see that the Saudis are not our friends, as we aren't theirs, just empty promises based on dubious interests, and the flow of oil?
This is not new ground. Our govt has been kow-towing to the Saudi RF for over a half century. Obama or Clinton would have expressed fake outrage and then swept the entire incident under the rug. Trump is simply showing us the disgusting face of this policy in broad daylight. Shame on us for putting up with it.
2
What a disgusting display of gripping and grinning between MBS and Pompeo, though predictably a ‘source’ told Jamie Gangel that Pompeo had been really tough in the crown prince in private. Sure.
The crime family running this country is in business with the crime family running KSA and so here we are.
2
While Trump was only semi joking about not losing any supporters even if he killed a person on 5th avenue, he's taking the same tack seriously with his uber rich Saudi pals who did murder a newspaper reporter and Saudi critic. Of all the creepy things that Trump has accomplished, this excusing of murder has to be the top accomplishment.
1
This is not a political issue open to debate. It is cold-blooded, first degree murder, and everyone - including heads of state - must be brought to justice. Otherwise, the U.S. stands for nothing and the chaos will deepen.
2
Who are we to judge other nations and find them wanting?
Torture, check. Rendition, check. Indefinite detention, check. Invasion and occupation without due cause, check. Drone execution, check. Interference in democratic elections, check. Arms and financing of dictators, check.
And at home? Death penalty, check. Militarized law enforcement, check. Government spying on citizenry, check. Widespread political corruption, check. Persecution of whistleblowers, check.
We are hypocrites.
4
Get all the weapons and materials you can buy. Then do whatever you want to whoever you want and face no consequences. Call that a sweet deal for a despot. President Trump is not kowtowing to M.B.S. He's just jealous.
Trump sides with Saudi prince, Vladimir Putin, North Korea, and breaks with Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain. Come on America this illegitimately elected buffoon is simply an operative of Russian to demolish America. Who else would want to break up our postal system, eliminate Social security, eliminate Medicare, our National Park System, and turn our West Coast military installations into coal distribution ports? This not hard to see. It issuing on before our very eyes!
2
The assassination of a Saudi journalist critical of that country's foreign and domestic actions, and who worked for a newspaper a half-mile from the White House, is just the latest of the ever-increasing repulsive acts seemingly sanctioned by our minority-elected leader and, possibly, eventually perpetrated by that same individual. Every dreadful tweet, remark, speech, and action for which he is not held accountable will only lead to further abysmal depravities committed in the name of this once proud nation. Perhaps by nameless, faceless rogue villains.
2
Is this any different from the erstwhile Presidents’ blind support to Saudi Arabia ?
2
My advice to Mr. Kristofferson - Don’t ever even think of stepping inside a Saudi embassy. If MBS can get away with killing a SA citizen and journalist without repercussions, what’s next?
1
Yes, it all needs to be said loudly and often, mad or not.
But, I would recommend to Nick that he never, ever enter a Saudi embassy.
Or one of ours if this blows over with no conclusion or consequences. What is horrible today may soon become acceptable in our State Dept. Pompus is no more than a figurehead for Trump. And 'good media' is 'fake news'.
2
The role of madrasas in spreading false Islamic teachings of terror martyrdom infidels and such nonsense, cannot be underestimated. Factories of terror human machines, devoid of any emotion of empathy, just hard nosed fanaticism.
https://www.ft.com/content/d807f15a-7db0-11e5-98fb-5a6d4728f74e
In South Asia the proliferation of such madrasas is so ubiquitous at one time the prime minister of hindu majority India noted: "Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Indian prime minister and a leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party, called religious schools in neighbouring Pakistan “factories of terror” after an Islamist attack on the Indian parliament took the two countries to the brink of war in 2001."
Frontline reports: "In one madrassa in Pakistan, I interviewed 70 Malaysian and Thai students who are being educated side by side with students who went on to the Afghan war and the like. These people return to their countries, and then we see the results in a short while. ... At best, they become hot-headed preachers in mosques that encourage fighting Christians in Nigeria or in Indonesia. And in a worst case, they actually recruit or participate in terror acts."
1
There is hardly enough column space to spell out the things that Trump needs to do. His biggest failure is to act on the behalf of America.
He has suckered far too many people and I hope with all my heart that he feels it after the Fall elections.
THAT'S TAKING PLACE ON NOVEMBER 6!
2
Trump operates on a purely self interested, transactional, non-ideological and morally vacuous plane.
As tempting as it is to think of him as some kind of rube or "puppet" of MBS, unfortunately it's just not true and it's very dangerous to underestimate him in this way.
Do you really believe he cares about "chaos in Yemen", or that we might get dragged into a war with Iran?
Actually, isn't that the fondest pipe dream of John Bolton and his whole neocon crew?
This killing not only doesn't seem to trouble Trump, but on some level he may actually admire the brazenness of it.
Calling for Trump do "do something" about this is the height of naivete. He's creating the moral vacuum that encourages these kind of outlandish atrocities.
7
@JayK
"on some level he may actually admire the brazenness of it."
Yes, remember during the campaign he praised Kim for the way he consolidated power in NK including killing his uncle.
And Republicans still voted for Trump
3
And all those criticisms of both mad players were minus any reference to cash deals between the Trump organization and Kushner's family with Mr. Bone Saw.
So we all just learned that Saudi Arabia tortutes and kills Saudi citizens?
The world should stuff its selective outrage. AA does this everyday. Torture and cruelty is built into its legal system. It oppresses through torture and murder women for violating stupid religious laws, gays, dissidents.
A few months ago tech execs welcomed MBS with open arms. He was photographed at Starbucks wearing jeans. All the while prosecuting a war of starvation in Yemen with our weapons.
I understand khasoggi fled SA and was a journalist, the distinctions. I don’t see how that makes his torture and murder uniquely worthy of protest.
Honestly, Trump’s position is logically defensible: we tolerate so much from SA because it’s in our interest, why start now? I don't recall Obama standing up to SA either.
Perhaps this is the proverbial straw, and that would be to the good. The problem I have isn't the current outrage obviously, it’s that all these execs and politicians are seeking moral credit, and will go back to business as usual (literally) when this blows over.
Welcome to the post-moral, everything-is-for-sale USA. We have essentially a crime boss and his family running our country, and allying with other crime bosses and their families around the world. When will the revulsion set in, America ?? VOTE on Nov 6 to reclaim our nation.
1
I'm shocked, shocked that an Islamist government in the middle east is corrupt, backwards and violent. Next, Mr. Kristof, I suggest that you take a closer look at your beloved "Palestine" and express your outrage over the three women in Bethlehem that were arrested for dancing, the lack of free elections, the corrupt Abbas regime, and the virulent hatred of Jews and deification of terrorists that has destroyed the prospects for peace.
Of course what happened in SA was sickening, but such is the way of the world in Libya, Turkey, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. The only difference here is that the victim was a journalist and your buddy.
What MBS did to Khoshoggi is unexcusable.
That being said, I object to the use of the word "barbarism". I can't help but sense that anti Arab racism is at play here. Did anyone call the Russians barbaric after they murdered a dissident in Britain?
He bows to the dollar. Trump, Pence and the GOP don’t care about 911, murder or the 1st amendment.
They want the money!’ The Saudis and leadership are in the U.S. in American companies and real estate through a maze of dummy corporations, And convoluted schemes. Trump, Pence and the GOP don’t care about this murder, they care about money money money.
2
Trump has prostituted himself. No one respects him, and journalists need to be the ones who speak up. If you don’t look out for each other who on earth will look out for you?
I mean ratings are one thing, but torture, murder, and dismembering someone is completely evil.
If a conservative journalist had been murdered wouldn’t we say the same things?
2
trump will learn from this episode. he will learn that his lies can be even more brazen. he will learn that he really can lock up his critics. he will learn how to profess total bewilderment when his directives lead to a catastrophe for the nation.
IMPEACHMENT NOW!
1
I totally agree with all you say here. But as long as Trump and the GOP have the total power that they do, they will excuse what they please. MBS may well walk away from this killing to butcher again in the near future. As long as Saudi money continues to flow to the Trumps and the Kushners, MBS will do as he pleases. It is sick.
4
Yes, we need a full international investigation, now.
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What does Trump know? What did he know before it happened?
Is this another Trump distraction to get daily media coverage?
Is this a planned distraction from mid-term election campaign?
What is the full history of Trump's personal ties with the Saudis?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
There is something infinitely sad about the image of an American president (and his son-in-law) bowing low before the cabal of despots that rule Saudi Arabia.
p.
1
as trump moves us further and further away from the rule off law, with his voters and the US congress complicit? we are only left with the cult of personality..... and a grotesque personality it is.
1
But...but...we are the Exceptional Nation!
2
The Saudis butchered this permanent US resident in a carefully planned assault. Republicans will remain prostrated before Trump as he does nothing. Is this the country we want? In three weeks we learn the answer.
5
It takes a mad prince to know a mad prince-
two mad princes here in this story!!
Clear and Present Danger times two.
1
"Trump acts as if the Saudis have leverage over us. "
No, Trump acts as if the Saudi's have leverage over him. Same way he behaves with Putin. With Trump it is never about anything but Trump Inc.
btw: I wonder whose idea it was to brand Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the young, cool, modern, progressive by dropping his title and using just his initials. Deceptive.
1
If Trump is not careful he could fall on a his Saudi sword...bone saw. He has a personal $$$ relationship with the Saudis. Can't criticize your Saudi business partners.
1
"In short, the mad prince is not only barbaric, he’s also unreliable and incompetent. He doesn’t advance our interests; he damages them." This could also be a description of Trump...
2
It’s frightening to thing about Pompeo even briefly in charge of the CIA.
3
Trump is clearly complicit, in at the minimum, the cover up for Khashoggi. It seems like Trump may also be sending a message to journalists. That is why journalists really need to watch out for their own on this one. Murdering journalists because of their political views can only endanger all journalists in the long run.
1
Money first. The US won't stop feeding Saudis with arms.
1
Trump is providing cover because he intends to have his own hit squads, just ask the proud boys.
4
That 100 million dollars certainly had something to do with 45s and Pompeo's disgusting acceptance of this barbarism.
Every day it gets worse.
2
Saudi Arabia:
(1) provided 18 of the 19 9/11 hijackers
(2) gave the world Bin Laden
(3) brought a barbaric war in Yemen
(4) sponsors a radical view of Islam
(5) killed and dismembered a journalist at one of its consular offices (not on the streets).
When will the US Govt declare this a country that sponsors terrorism?
4
It’s just another sad depressing day. And to think we are not half way through his presidency. Everything transactional. With a serial “looser” representing us. But he was elected. As the saying goes “people get the leaders they deserve”. Or as they say in my homeland, Ireland, “you can’t expect much from a pig but a grunt”.
3
Outrage is the only sane response.
6
Would they react differently if it was a Faux News reporter? At least world can now see what the Saudis are like and what the illicit regime in DC is about too. But don't worry, the Iranians will sort this all out, it's only a few years off.
I appears that our president and his Republican party supporters lack any clear moral imperative. They wish this (what to them is merely a) tempest in the Saudi teapot to fade away, so they can get back to business as usual. They are squirming around looking for some way out of the fix. They lack any determination to uphold common standards of moral decency. What is to be done? Probably we need to start all the way back at the beginning: a declaration of moral principles and democratic norms and rights, a new constitution, in effect, that corrects the deficiencies that have made Trump and his sickening band of sycophants possible. Possibly an altogether new state. Such a disgraceful spectacle of debased public discourse, arrogant authoritarianism, toadying up to tyrants, and bare-faced greed should never, ever have happened. Something is very, very wrong here. This is not the behavior of a proper democracy.
Since September 11, 2001, we've been protecting the Saudis.
You haven't been listening. Journalists are enemies of the people. Our president is not collaborating with a Saudi prince, he is inspiring him.
1
What hypocrites we are when we excoriate and sanction Russia (which I agree we should have) for an attempted assassination of 2 of their citizens on foreign soil in the UK, but now we shrug and equivocate when Saudi Arabia does exactly the same thing to one of its citizens in Turkey. Granted, chemical weapons weren't used but literally butchering someone, while still alive according to unverified reports, is a degree of barbarity akin to something ISIS might be expected to do.
Are we going to continue to let this used car salesman posing as a president ruin the name and credibility of this nation until we have the reputation of a street hawker pushing stolen goods?
Shame on him and shame on us for letting this travesty of a presidency carry on without loud and continuous protest.
NOVEMBER IS COMING.
1
Mad Prince, Mad President. It is obvious, Trump represents everything bad about everything bad. You could say there is no collusion between Trump and truth.
3
If the media is "the enemy of the people", as the president says again and again and again, and Mr. Khashoggi was a member of the media, and a non-citizen to boot........ How is his murder not a win for the president? I suspect, in his dark little mind (and probably not too far from his loose little lips), he's thinking, "Gee, I wish I could do that." As always, his admiration of murderers and despots will win the day.
6
I have no doubt that Trump would do the same thing to troubling journalist here in the US if he thought that he could get away with it. He is clearly an authoritarian mobster whose biggest regret is that he can't run the US the same way that his idols Putin, Kim, Erdogan and M.B.S. do, at least not yet.
3
But MBS probably likes Trump.
I was literally appalled to see photos of Mike Pompeo smilingly shaking hands with M.B.S., the ring leader of the brutal and barbaric murder of Khashoggi. Both Trump and Pompeo will go down in history as facilitators in covering for the Saudi prince in this heinous act. I never thought in my wildest imagination that the office of the U.S. presidency would stoop this low.
If Kristof's brilliant pieces fall on deaf ears and Americans still refuse to wake up to the reality of the level of destruction this president has been causing, then pity on them! The world can rightly spit on us!
1
How important to the United States is Saudi Arabia politically? Militarily? How important is its hatred of Iran? Its oil? Its wealth?
Saudis torture, murder, and chop up Jamal Khashoggi. They regularly hold beheading ceremonies.
They were directly involved in 9/11.
They prosecute a genocidal war in Yemen, using American weapons.
When you marry for money, you earn every penny.
Sometimes in blood.
“As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.” (Voltaire)
1
They murdered a journalist and it looks like they're going to get away with it. That's not lost on Trump.
1
The mood index of American citizens today is oozing with a mix of anxiety and anger. It cannot continue without causing us serious damage. Yes we have been failed by our Democratic representatives and totally insulted by our Republican counterparts. We citizens have had enough of this sickening torturous dance to nowhere. Mitch McConnell is one of the most sleazy control freak I have ever seen. I cannot wait to see these disgusting specimens out. Term limits for our politicians have to come about in order to save ourselves and our democracy from the poisonous venom coming out of our representatives, shame on them and shame on us if we don't do anything.
1
Yes SA is an important Nation and its people and the country are able to play a critical +ve role in Regional,global Geo-Political stability and stabilizing the Global Economy.But what took place in SA Consulate in Turkey is the deed carried out through a reunion of Psychos of all brand: Hannibal Lecter,Jeffrey Dahmer,the Lead evil Character in American Psycho,etc.These sadists didn't get suddenly assembled they may be members of a stand by team who possibly carried out cruel acts on those who were rounded at The Ritz and they may be, if not checked,in the future to silence prominent critics.One typical characteristic of dictators is that they feel that are so indispensable and irreplaceable it is a fair game to delve into any depth of cruelty: That was the thinking of The Dictator who ruled this country (74-91) during whose term Torturing to death,pulling out finger nails or eyes,sending active Elec wires through female Pol prisoners' V.s,etc.were routinely applied.Already what happened to WP's columnist sends chills on other Saudi critics who are capable of coming up with genuine helpful criticisms that could be instrumental in further elevating SA's stature in the World stage.1 of the proofs of being a true reformer is giving critics enough breathing space.TMD.
May be you should write when you get upset. This article reflects my opinion and many others. The question though why now? only when khajjogi journalist has murdered in cool blood? MBS has been killing yemenees in thousands for years now without any legitimate claims, please do not repeat the propaganda for the same butcher about Iranian backed hothies group. Investigate this war carefully. It about Yemen freedom that they trying to achieve for decades from dominant neighbor suadi butchers. Are there lives worthless. That is why some Yemenees shouted the slogan Death to America. Because they know this war would not have initiated without American Trump support . Any way I myself fled that region since 1990 to America because of such thug rulers backed by America. I would say Thank you America for hosting and opening the your doors for me. BUT again shame on governments which support butcher rulers. Great article. we need more voices to speak up to stop Yemen war and future war.
2
In yet another display of Trump's putrified, unAmerican morals: This is the same guy who, just a year ago, called Islam the greatest threat to the free world. Who vilifies all muslims and issues unconstitutional travel bans against them. Who incited angry reaction toward muslims after he falsely claimed they cheered the 9/11 attack (which, BTW, was perpetrated by Saudi Arabians) and now he defends the torture and decapitation of an American journalist by M.B.S.?
In the American right-wing radicals' world, people and norms and and laws are merely tools. In Trump's case, tools to prop up his own belief that he is god. Oh, and also to enrich the donor class that sits in board rooms at Boeing and McDonnell Douglas.
What's a few fingers and heads when there are riches to be cached?
1
Good for you, Nicholas Kristof. Sometimes I think of you, unfortunately, as a pussyfooted, but there is no pussyfooting here. As there must not be. Can 45 learn not to admire authoritarians? Probably not—he’s probably too old. But then what is Jared’s excuse?
1
Trump is attracted to murderous authoritarians. It's troubling.
1
Mr. Kristof: ..."the mad prince is not only barbaric, he's also unreliable and incompetent. He doesn't advance our interests; he damages them...."
To which "mad prince" are you referring to, theirs or ours?
1
"Trump should stop collaborating in a cover-up."
Cover-up? That assumes that M.B.S. wanted to hide the torture / murder of a dissident journalist.
If the Saudis wanted to silence Jamal Khashoggi there were quieter ways to murder him.
From flying in a team of 15, to staffing that team with people known to be linked to M.B.S., to murdering him their own embassy, a site under constant video monitoring, it is clear that M.B.S. wanted to send a message to dissidents:
There is nowhere in the world you are safe, the U.S. will not lift a finger to protect you and the U.S. President will publicly state that you, and any western values you may represent, are not worth a few phantom arms deals.
Trump isn't just collaborating in a cover-up. He is playing the part he plays best: Useful idiot to murderous authoritarians and a key player in undermining democratic values.
2
The Almighty Dollar matters more to Mr. Trump than anything else---including morality or the law. Expect him to continue to kowtow to those who do big business with the U.S., including thugs and murderers...
1
Sounds like "Mr. Bone Saw" is King Salman's Jared, no wonder the two get along so famously; everything they touch turns to how Trump described Africans nations, minus the "hole", yet suffer no consequences, only fawning accolades.
1
Ian't it amazing that the person playing President seems to be BFF with dictators and has alienated our allies. He has dragged our country into the gutter with his low-class, common name calling and endless lying. He has no respect for the office of the President....if he even knows the meaning of the word respect.
One can only imagine that his supporters are just like him. What has happened to our country that we are tolerating his unhinged, incompetent, deranged behavior.
2
The Resolute Desk, the walls, the draperies, the carpets, everything in our Oval Office needs to be disinfected after Donald Trump leaves to remove the stain he has put on our national honor in this and so many other ways.
1
Who would travel to Saudi Arabia now with a psychopath on the loose there? Trump? Remember how many of the royal family were imprissoned in hotels so they could relinquish their wealth? Then there is the bombing of Yemen. Connect dots.
1
Secretary Pompeo smiles like a big check just cleared after the Saudis tortured, killed, and butchered a Washington Post journalist living in the United States who was lured into the Saudi Turkish consulate to get the paperwork necessary to marry his fiance, who was waiting outside.
That goofy, traitorous grin says all one needs to know about President Trump's seventh bankruptcy -- the complete and utter moral bankruptcy of his Administration.
The Secret Service might be able to manhandle a reporter who dared to ask one of our chief liaisons to the Saudis -- the President's unqualified son-in-law -- a question. But, but there are not enough Secret Service officers to prevent tens of millions of Americans from asking whether the President and members of his Administration are conspiring with a hostile foreign power to cover-up an assassination.
The caption under the photo which accompanies this column should read, "Nice doing business with you." Boys and girls, look closely, this is what a bribe looks like.
2
I can remember when George W. Bush said he looked into Putin's eyes and saw someone that he can do business with. And then Gates said that he looked into Putin's eyes and said that he saw a cold hearted killer.
Let’s cut to the chase: Trump would kill and/or imprison journalists if he could get away with it.
What is frightening is that his base—and this Congress—is within a gnat’s patoot of letting him do just that.
1
Yes, and while we're at it, we might investigate the brutalities committed by our other allies in the region, such as Turkey and Israel.
1
When I heard Trump on TV tonight saying that "we need Saudi Arabia, " my hands started shaking. Who are we? Are we no longer the United States??? WE need Saudi Arabia? The same people who sent 15 of the 20 9/11 terrorists?
How low has this country sunk?
5
Trump, the great Negotiator, is indeed the patsy for the Saudi royal family. What do you expect for a paper tiger like Trump, with all of his bluster, to crumple at the first sign of disruption of his "friendship" with the Saudis? If he challenges them, they may not like him anymore and deny his son-in-law lucrative back-room deals. Boohoo, poor Trump. Boohoo, poor us and Kashoggi's widow in having to deal with this deranged nincompoop.
1
But Trump will stick with them til the end - not because America would lose money on a deal but because Trump himself, as well as the Kushners, would.
1
Why did they choose to kill him in this way inside the consulate? If the goal was to remove him, they could have assassinated him easily many other ways. It sounds like a personal revenge ordered by a mad prince.
2
The Saudi consul who objected to this taking place in his office may want to keep a low profile. He could be an incriminating witness and the next to be murdered.
1
The government of the United States has been in free fall since inauguration day on January 20th, 2017. We are witness to a steady abandonment of those principles expressed in our country's constitution, by an amoral president and his congressional adherents. No matter how vile or reckless his comments, Trump will still have his adoring supporters. The premeditated murder of a journalist by a so called "ally" is criminal and the manner in which it was carried out was possibly designed to terrify other dissidents. The current occupant of the White House is complicit in this barbarism!
1
Major problem with Mr. Kristof's reporting is that while he shows the derring do, the guts to venture to hostile areas where many of his colleagues would fear to tread, he never stays long enough to be of any actual help. Nor does he seldom if ever return for a follow up. Thus, we do not know what has become of the sole American doctor using out of date equipment, of his efforts to defend locals against the Janjaweed militias in south Sudan, of the poor kid suffering from malaria in Liberia!You, Mr. Kristof, have penetrated the incuriosity of the world, motivated many to be of material help to the unfortunate, but never remain in these regions to be of real assistance. Nor have you ever sponsored, to my knowledge, a family from 1 of these heartbreaking places!U r seething about the murder of a journalist, but what about the half million Syrians who have died from cluster bombs, chemical war fare: an on going tragedy. Why are not the lives of all of Assad's victims not worth as much attention as the assassination of Mr. Kashoggi?"Il nous faut des explications, s'il vous plait!"
@Alexander Harrison Maybe it's partly the expense of having a reporter 'babysit' a foreign country. Maybe it's the cheapness of a public who demands up-to-date news almost before it happens, but accurate only, please . . . FOR FREE?
Well said sir. Does any politician really care what happens in this murderous country? Religion, oil and greed prevail. So be it, we have our own evils in America. Just be a person of color to really see what America is really like. Law and order is going, going gone. We are lost. Be careful out there Americans of what you wish for, we are a long way from perfect as a nation.
meanwhile,
I like beer.
2
MBS is a spoiled rich kid. Like Jared Kushner. Like Saddam Hussien's sons. Donald Trump is a spoiled rich kid. Sometimes spoiled rich kids reach a point in life where they feel they can take anything they want. Daddy has always covered for them.
2
Life is so unfair. It's funny how when you set an ambush upon an innocent man, torture and dismember him while he's still alive, people start to drift away and don't want to be friends any more. I mean we've all done something like that, right?
3
Trump does not seem to understand the seriousness of this situation. This is a dreadfully awful story which has upset people across the globe. Trump seems to think that with some spin it can be trivialized and that other news will replace it and it will be forgotten. This story will be out of the world’s attention soon enough. For the U.S., it’s not the bad press that matters, it’s having an ally whose judgment is so poor that it seems to be stupid. It’s deeply offensive for one country to murder people in another. To do so with such viciousness and over critical writings of a journalist is disturbing. It’s crazy behavior that makes other crazy behaviors a big concern.
People - 9/11- Never Forget.
2
This horrible act of turning one’s back to atrocities is nothing new in U S foreign policy. For decades presidents allowed the Shaw of Iran, whom we installed to carry out whatever atrocities he wished to inflict on his dissenters. As long as he kept it secret. But Trump is operating on a different level of venality. He is too foolish and arrogant to be careful and doesn’t know the meaning of ‘diplomatic’. He is the kid who didn’t listen when his parent told him not to get in the car with a strange man who offers you 150 billion in arms sales.
1
Which of them is madder, Donald J. Trump or Prince Mohammed bin Salman? While N.Kristof is outraged by 'the pathetic White House response' to the torture and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, is 'pathetic' the right word for it? Trump's deceitful support of the murderous barbarism of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is horrific. Are too many American citizens covering up for their own barbarian?
1
One “mad” too few in the headline.
These are actions of a mob boss and his enablers.
Thanks to our president, the country has descended into colluding with the mob boss.
How much more disgusting can trump become?
Stay tuned!!
1
MBS know exactly who he has with a Pompeo and Trump.
Knows far better than Nichokas and the Times. Just watch. MBS has watched the Putin kowtowing and the Kim loving.
And American evangelicals are content with butchery.
And columnists Brett and Ross after a period of squirming will fall in line once Trump picks a fight by telling some stupid lie. Just like always. The Republic is on the precipice.
1
Where is the moral outrage from the Congressional Republicans of the so called party of family values and the religious right?
Has our country become a fascist state ruled by an American Oligarchy?
President Trump is the conduit for a large Minority in the US who accept the detestable killing of an innocent journalist. Literally killing the truth.
1
Saudi Arabia means the land belonging to the Saud family.
Could you expect anything better from such a society than a cannibalistic butchering of the tribe members??
The very essence of the Quran is to prohibit the people from idolizing the human rulers pretending to be the Gods.
How could you end up from such a theoretic origin with a country idolizing a single family?
That’s the real crime against the faith. Destroying the faith is far worse than butchering any individual. If you destruct the faith you kill the dozens million people. Just add up all the victims from the 14-century long Sunni-Shiite atrocities or the endless conquest of the neighboring country.
You don’t spread a faith by the sword but by the words and good deeds.
How did humanity starting from “If somebody slaps you turn another cheek” ended up with chopping up the cheeks, the fingers, and the limbs?
We cannot pacify this world until we resurrect the pure faith!
The Saudi royalties like invoking the tradition. The problem is at the moment of Prophet Mohamed death there were no Sunnis, no Shiites and no schism.
It means all the divisions arenn’t faith-related but the consequence of the human cravings for the earthly power.
1
Pure evil. We are under attack from the Republican Party. They are insane and unamerican to the extent they resemble a foreign power bent on taking over all that is good in this country. Wake up America. We are at war.
6
@John barron They are . . . they're the old Confederacy. Haven't you noticed?
1
What is the likelihood that the Trump Administration was in any way involved with luring Jamal Khashoggi to the Saudi Consulate in Turkey? Why would Mr. Khashoggi go to the Saudi consulate to pick up papers (to get married, no less) knowing full well that he could be black-oped to Saudi Arabia or killed? Did any US government official (um, like, Jared) falsely assure Mr. Khashoggi that he would safe?
At this point, I put nothing past those who call the media the “enemy of the people.”
1
Our Secretary of State has no sense of dignity. He apologizes like a schoolboy to his Saudi murderer hosts for disturbing them and thanks them for agreeing to see him and for agreeing to investigate themselves. But then how could anyone working for this president have a sense of dignity and survive. Does he realize that he will be remembered for standing and joking with a murderer?
1
And Donald's other partner Vlad? How many hits has he ordered? Enough said.
218
@Eitan Not partner...puppet master!
I will be honest: I am of two minds on this.
On the one hand, this is disgusting. Our President is aligned with the Middle Eastern Tony Soprano. Awesome.
On the other hand, as a woman, I am equally amazed at the outrage about ONE male journalist when millions of Saudi women have been abused, incarcerated and denied basic rights and no one of consequence has ever said boo about it.
The truth is we have been in bed with the morally bankrupt Saudis for too long. To this day, I have a hard time understanding why the Saudis are "morally superior" to the Iranians as allies. To me they are the legitimate owners of the same barbaric, misogynistic philosophy that ISIS advocated.
It's time to call this reviled kingdom what it truly is: a cancer on the nose of humanity. They are EVIL personified. They are chaos bringers, misery spreaders, and downright animalistic and no amount of oil, money or influence will ever change my mind about the moral repugnancy of this evil regime.
460
@GWE -- a point long buried is that Iran does not hold to the same misogynistic philosophy. Women have had rights in Iran for a long time. Iran has been quasi-democratic since the Shah was ousted. Iran's complaint with the US and the world is that the world allowed Iraq to invade Iran and use chemical weapons with NO U.N. response, this led to the desire for nuclear weapons. Iran opposes the state of Israel as an imposed state created by terrorists. Iran does not oppose Judeaism and has a large protected Jewish minority. Iran has opposed Al Queda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Saudi Arabia has been spreading a virulent radical form of Islam to other countries, the form of Islam that promotes terrorism.
You are right to question whether we have we chosen the wrong allies.
2
@GWE
I do believe you are describing Obama's motivations when attempting to normalize US relations with Iran.
Iran possesses an educated and socially modern underclass suffering under the weight of a conservatively religious theocracy. Iran frequently contests US international positions. However, many Iranians are more closely aligned with US values than their ruling government would have you believe.
What does Trump do? He torches a generation long norm-breaking truce between Iranian and US diplomacy. A truce that legitmately descalates the potential for war within the region. Trump: Blowtorch.
Here we are now. The Turkish government is providing audio recordings of the murder and Trump is defending the murderer. Has Islamic politics become a proxy war for the American divide? With this administration, it certainly looks like one.
2
@DRTmunich
Everything you said was reasonable--but you lost me at their stance on Israel. Whatever it's origins (and we can argue both sides of that) the truth is that Israel is a working democracy in a way that Iran is not. I have stood looking down the promenade in Tel Aviv and have watched gay people walking hand-in-hand, women in burqas, men with yarmulkes, and many African immigrants. I am not Jewish so I have no stake in this and I certainly don't give Israel a pass for their current behavior against all Palestinians....but on the whole, I support Israel.
Let me also say that prior to 1947, there were many Jewish families in and around Jerusalem that had been there for five and six centuries. They coexisted peacefully with their Arab neighbors until the Arab neighbors turned on them and murdered them in unprovoked uprisings. The kind of thinking that led to those attacks is the very mentality at play in Saudi Arabia.
I realize to some degree that ethnically, these are apples and oranges being compared--but the thinking and the conflict seems consistently to be between barbarism and progress.
Mr. Kristof and other op ed writers offer well written, poignant, important accounts of events such as these. Don't stop offering these essays.
One suggestion, in the era of twitter, give, for those less enamoured of the lengthy essay format, an executive summary.
For instance, "Man, and fiancé go to Arab Embassy to get document to enable marriage. Man goes in. Fiance waits. He doesn't come out. Two weeks later, is he still in there??? Man has history of writing negative things about that country. Country has history of hurting, even killing, dissidents."
That might play better to Trump's base.
6
Mr. Bone Saw knows that if you tell Mr. Trump what he wants to hear, he will get what he wants from Mr. Trump. I am reminded of an experience many years ago when I worked for one of the many Saudi princes. We often chatted informally. In one conversation, he said "You should always tell people what they want to hear because it makes them happy." I asked whether or not the truth mattered. He said, "Of course not. They will be happy, and you will get what you want."
6
Compare this to the Skripal case.
60 Russian diplomats had to go home
166
@Joe43 But Trump's administration snookered him on that and he probably still resents it.
Orwell was wrong about one aspect in his 1984 dystopia, there is no need for a Ministry of Truth to methodically scrub and alter the historical records of inconvenient truths. We have a President and a Party which remain in power because their Base has no interest in historical facts, incidents or past positions and partisan posturing of their Party. Each day their memories are wiped clean, ready for the newest lies and "alt-facts" they are told to believe today.
16
Nicholas, I hear your grief and anger in this piece for your friend. Know one can truly understand what you have experienced with this killing. But we need to be very careful. Saudi Arabia and Iran are the major powers in the Middle East. We cannot afford to turn everyone against us nor to destabilize Saudi Arabia. Neither can we let this killing go and we need to showing MBS that this is unacceptable. But we need to realistic about what can be done and what better servers the interests of the people of Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Trump is part of the cover-up. Trump is an expert at cover-ups. Trump's life is a cover-up. He's also providing cover for Jared (family before humanity and country).
5
Thanks for so eloquently highlighting this disaster. There is no end to cruel, unthinkable outrages it seems.
15
It’s more than kowtowing to the prince, Trump wishes he could do the same. After all the press is the enemy of the people.
5
Thank you for voicing your outrage. I share it.
8
Some years ago I was fortunate to have a conversation with the wife of a dissident from Arabia. She pointed out to me that the country should be called Arabia and not named after one despotic family, the al-Saudis. Perhaps in the future the people will rid themselves of this corrupt, murderous, absolute monarchy and return to its original name.
4
No incident or accumulation of incidents will remove the threat Donald Trump poses to the free world. He and the Republican Party have learned to leverage a base of 33% to 45% support into a ruling faction. Without an overwhelming response at the polls, the American project is doomed. Outrage is reserved for high crimes like emails and casual remarks about, "deplorables." Murder and dismemberment of journalists barely produces a yawn.
6
The US may indeed have leverage over the Saudis. The problem is, the Saudis have leverage over Trump (as well as over Kushner) — and that is as far as this corrupt, shabby man can see.
5
Please, spare the global community the feigned concern for human rights and dignity. Crown Prince bin Salman is a Saddam Hussein wannabe and those who know history recall Saddam was America's best buddy for years despite his brutality towards his own people. History, also, documented the Cold War era installation of brutal dictatorships by both the United States and U.S.S.R. in an attempt to garner a stronghold on influence for the purpose of selling American products; military hardware in particular.
There is a distinct and troublesome difference in this case. The real America, excludes Trump's 52 million loyalists, is saddled with its first ever openly corrupt president; it's first autocratic oligarchy; its first business for me before country president; its first president ever who applauds brutal regimes and denigrates decades old allies; its first president with little interest in his job. America was great and respected before Donald J. Trump's bloodless coup d'etat. Don't expect anything decent from this man.
6
If a foreign power feels it is necessary to make up unbelievable excuses for their acts of violence, cruelty, and inhumane behavior then that's their choice.
But to have the United States president 'providing' excuses and theories for Saudi misdeeds..."rogue killers" in the case of Mr.Khashoggi ...is totally outside the realm of American leadership.
How long will the U.S. Congress and the American people allow this charade of an administration to continue?
6
Trump has shown by both words and actions that he wants to be an autocrat - it is all in plain sight. When Trump spoke of killing someone on Fifth Avenue and getting away with it, we Americans took it as a metaphor. He has embraced the guiding principle that The Ends Justify the Means, up to and including murder. At his acceptance speech, he painted images of American carnage. He is indifferent to school shootings. He may be even secretly glad that so many died in PR (less brown people speaking Spanish). He was casual in threatening nuclear war with N. Korea. He incites his rallies to view the press as Enemies of the People and wants his critics muzzled or locked up. When the Superpower of the world elects a President who is mad, we can only watch in horror as mad rulers act out their mad fantasies. He says a vote for Republicans is a vote for him. VOTE TRUMP AND THE GOP OUT!
4
What needs to be investigated is whether or not our president "signed off" on the hit against a "fake news media enemy of the people" with a wink and a nod in some form of communication with ABS. Nothing is beyond him; his sociopathic character is not capable of empathy or understanding what is right or wrong. This president knows no bounds of decency or morality. It's all about the win and the power and the money.
5
Kowtowing? More like mirroring.
3
"In short, the mad prince is not only barbaric, he’s also unreliable and incompetent. He doesn’t advance our interests; he damages them. Indeed, one of my fears is that he will try to drag us into a war with Iran.". Do you mean Trump or MBS?
6
Another foot down that slippery slope. The further down we go the faster we slide. Hang on Constitution, hang on.
20
Remember when the Republican mantra was all about family values? What do they say now about a president without values? Trump certainly doesn't represent US values as he cozies up to dictators and brutal regimes everywhere. Does he truly care about this country of ours? Is his America first cries more about putting trump first? Does he look at places like North Korea and Saudi Arabia in terms of future golf course and trump towers? Everything about this president is fake and deception.
4
I honestly believe that Trump and his family are privately profiting from this relationship with the "mad prince" and wish Congress would investigate.
I am sad beyond words about what the U.S. has become under Trump and his minions and hope the mid-term elections will provide us new leadership to take on the corruption in the White House.
7
The Saudis have leverage over TRUMP, and his “ business “. That is why they will be allowed to torture and Murder, without consequences.
VOTE in November. Stop this madness.
16
Every administration since 9/11, including the George W. Bush administration and the Obama administration have coddled the Saudis.
Somehow, the only plane allowed to leave the U.S immediately after the towers collapsed was a plane full of Saudis. Almost all of the perpetrators of 9/11 were Saudi. The Bin laden family is a wealthy Saudi family.
These people are directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent American citizens.
Don't even try to tell me for one minute that the Saudis' royal family wasn't aware of what was about to happen on 9/11. And yet here we are, the "Worlds greatest power," still kowtowing to them. Totally outrageous and disgusting.
6
Does any one, especially the liar-in-chief's supporters, remember in one of his campaign rallies in 2016 that Trump boasted that the Saudis spent $60 million (or some other large number) on his business so he likes him very much?
Heck, if someone gives me that kind of money I will kowtow to that person too, especially if my name is Trump.
Indeed, if I were Trump, I will say the group that entered the Saudi consulate were Iranians carrying fake Saudi identification papers the fooled the Saudi personnel and they've carried the chopped up body back to Tehran. So let's declare war on Iran. Bomb them back to stone ages and take their oil instead of Iraq's.
This is totally logical coming from someone who suggested to form a joint investigation team with the thugs of Putin to investigate their meddling in our 2016 election that elected trump.
3
Saudi Arabia own over 166.8 billion dollars in US treasury bills which they have threatened to cash in to create leverage over the US. There's a reason the US didn't retaliate against Saudi Arabia for sponsoring 15 of the 9/11 hijackers and exporting radical jihadism around the world. Saudi Arabia is also getting closer and closer to China which is worrisome for American foreign policy experts. Saudi Arabia also has the ability to roil the world oil markets which is another reason that Trump is such a milquetoast partner with them on the world stage. Sure Jared Kushner has a lot invested in placing all of the Trump administration bets on Saudi Arabia to check Iran's power in the Middle East. President Obama was attempting to decouple the USA dependence on an ally in Saudi Arabia with one of the world's worst human rights records & a fascist regime with no democracy when he supported the Iran deal. Iran, in comparison with Saudi Arabia, has a much better human rights record & has a better record on human rights, especially concerning women's rights. Although US's ally, Israel, feels Iran is the biggest threat, so therefore, Trump chooses a dictator. This almost makes Russia look much more like a moral leader on the world stage. Regardless, Trump is placing financial concerns above all else & therefore will not risk alienating his Saudi pal, M.B.S. like Canada and Sweden did by making a stand over human rights & the gruesome murder of a journalist.
2
This tragedy is directly attributable to the fact that the current occupant of the White House, along with his spectacularly incompetent son in law, are in way over their heads. They're not going to be able to play heads I win-tails you lose this time. I saw his final column was about press freedom in the Arab world. It looks like somebody thought he was an "enemy of the people".
4
Look this is what will probably happen. Trump and Turkey and Saudi Arabia are making a secret deal, Israel involved as well, and they all will all participate in the cover up story once they agree on the cover up story. No coincidence that the Saudis just gave the US one hundred Million for Syria. No coincidence that that Pastor was suddenly released by Turkey. And that is why Turkey has not released the tape and never will when they get what they want out of this situation. That is their leverage.
The fact that 2 autopsy experts and one with dissection experience I believe, were on that flight makes it so obvious this was done at the Prince's orders.
So the men ordered to carry out the torture and murder will now be blamed and murdered ( to keep them quiet) or the Prince will pick some enemies and blame it on them, and the US and Turkey get something they want out of it to keep them quiet and all will stand by the Prince.
I got this from TYT network and it rings more true than anyone else's take on it. Trump will always back people who give him money. And he has made lots of money from the Saudis. Israel is connected to the Saudis for protection as well. How very evil can you get.
And the message to me is very clear. No one is safe from the Saudis. They will send a team of torturers and murderers if you have a notable public platform and criticize them. And they think they can get away with it.
Well Congress can they get away with it?
9
Thank you, Nicholas Kristof!
I had just read Thom Friedman's column and there is a world between the two.
Friedman enraged me when he said, Hey! If you think MBS is bad then look at this bunch -!
That's not the point!
The point is MBS - Mr. Bone Saw, oh, yes, how true!
The point is HIS crimes, HIS game-playing.
The point is OUR collusion with trying to provide a cover-up to a cold-blooded murder.
Why is every one tippy-toeing around this?
Thank you, Nick, for simply speaking the truth.
19
I realized long ago that Friedman glides over the surface of things and stopped reading him @rosa. Some people have a glib tongue. He has a glib mind.
2
He sees the flow of vast funds that pour from the teat of Saudi Arabia, and he and his family greedily suckle.
Democratic norms, moral decency, and simple prudent checks on dictators and wanna be despots hold no value to him.
America is being used to unlock his own opportunities. He will not squander this chance to elbow into lucrative circles of power without consequences.
3
Finally, a Kristoff column that’s correct on the facts and the outrage. Trump is on the wrong side of this investigation. And Trump’s analogy of this to the Kavanaugh situation is ridiculous. Kavaugh’s controversy involved something that allegedly occurred 36 years ago, with almost no corroboration. Here we have videos of entry into the consulate, video and identities of the alleged perpetrators, and Turkish investigators confirming an audio recording of the gruesome killing itself. Trump’s pandering to the Saudis is an embarassment to all Americans.
2
Clearly M.B.S. regarded Khashoggi as an "enemy of the people."
7
9/11 - Nineteen Saudis, Zero Iraqis. W gave the Saudis a clean pass out of the country when the rest of us were grounded. Seems oil is thicker than blood to American politicians.
5
We can not expect 45 to do the right thing; he never has. And Congress can no longer be expected to do the right thing, either, as they are simply puppets and sycophants of this administration. No longer can America be looked at as the "shining city on the hill" or exceptional -- we have now sunk to the level of a third world authoritarian country and I'm not sure how we'll get back to what we used to represent.
7
Only in Trump’s demented version of reality are we supposed to believe that the accused country will investigate itself. It’s no surprise that they won’t find anything.
Pompeo showed us that he doesn’t care about facts with this comment:
“I don’t want to talk about any of the facts; they didn’t want to, either,”
16
"In short, the mad prince is not only barbaric, he’s also unreliable and incompetent. He doesn’t advance our interests; he damages them." This description of MBS is, as well, an apt description of DJT who famously said: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, ok? It’s, like, incredible.” The pupil has now surpassed the teacher.
19
@Ivan W
Trump delighted himself with that example, to the horror of anyone else with a brain and a conscience.
1
Nicholas: Please remind me as to how and when you as strongly condemned Obama for remaining silent while the Iranian mullahs had their goons gun down pro-democracy protesters in the streets in 2009. Please remind me.
However, I can see the difference. Presently, Trump has to choose between taking a moral stand or soft-peddling relations with a brutal regime in the interests of the US's geopolitical interests in the Mideast in which he feels we'll need Saudi Arabia for support, and its business dealings. In contrast, Obama had to choose between taking a moral stand or soft-peddling relations with a brutal regime in the interests of the US's geopolitical interests in the Mideast in which he felt we'd need Iran for support and its potential business dealings (wouldn't hurt selling a few more jumbo jets for example ... and the oil, too).
And the NYT and its columnists and Democrats wanted the reset with Iran, but not with Saudi Arabia. Now I get it. And now I also see why Democrats were also so enamored with Obama's soft-peddling and full relations with Cuba -- ruled by a regime that also has had its good share of murdered journalists and dissidents. Also in the name of geostrategic interests ... at least when you and the NYT see them as outweighing the moral.
Where is the outrage of the American people
This could be one of our sons or daughters.
We all have to vote in November to dissolve this corrupt administration.
6
Each event in Middle East makes the US look worse; with friends like these who needs enemies. It is time to shut down the entire middle east operation.
2
Dream on. Trump wants to keep things cool so he can build a hotel in the prince's $500 billion city of the future.
4
It would be interesting to know how Trump or Pompeo would react if the victim of Saudi torture and dismemberment were a member of Congress, a family member, or an American oil executive...
2
How could Trump, who repeatedly cried “Lock her up” not call for the same for the Crown Prince MBS? After all, even if he’s jailed for the gruesome torture and murder of a journalist he despised, the Saudi’s themselves would like to see MBS behind bars, and they’ll continue to buy our fighter jets, which are the best in the world.
Hey Trump, your next tweet should be “Lock him up!” You’ll throw everyone off, which we know you love doing.
4
Thank you for speaking truth to power. I was extraordinarily pleased to see you call this unspeakable murder what it is: barbarism that is antithetical to all for which America has ever stood. And Donald Trump’s behavior threatens to make America worse than it has ever been even in its darkest hours. It is time for cabinet members to stand up for America and invoke the 25th Ammendment. Trump is dangerous and a menace to our morality and our national security. Remove him now!
29
I do not think that Trump has measured the enormity of the affair, the utter disgust of those who have been following it. A disgust that will stick to him if he does not reverse his position very quickly.
So, one question. If Donald Trump had the power to dispatch secret crews of assassins equipped with bone saws to murder a journalist, would he do it?
I can’t answer that question, but it’s worth pondering. We know that Trump naturally sympathizes with fabulously rich, merciless male autocratic thugs and cheaters who’ve been accused of misbehavior. Lots of misbehavior. There’s an obvious reason for Trump’s inclination to empathize with guilty, yet successful, dictators.
But.
Trump didn’t start this game. The US has been selling sophisticated, astronomically expensive weapons to the Saudis (and to Israel) for decades.
Trump is just doggy paddling in a strong current of profitable military-industrial-complex exchanges. Politics. Trades.
Please, somebody tote up the income that Lockheed-Martin and Boeing (merged with McDonnell-Douglas) have taken in by selling weapons, including fighter planes, to countries in the Middle East.
2
The MBS brothers, separated at birth: Mr. Bone Saw, meet Mr. Bone Spur.
32
@teach
Thank you for reminding us of Trump's heroism during the Vietnam War: 5 deferments all due to Bone Spurs. How any Vet can support this guy is beyond me.
2
It's a useful exercise to review the events of Trump's May, 2017 visit to Saudi Arabia (BTW what other country is named after a family?).
They projected a 4 story image of him on the side of a prominent building, there was that awkward sword dance, the glowing orb, etc.
This shallow, greedy excuse for a human being, seduced by artiface, apparently has no ground floor when it comes to how low he can sink... and take the rest of us with him.
6
American Citizens of all political parties need to focus, breathe deeply and address what it taking place in our nation's government. Saudi Arabia is not the only country being governed by spoiled rotten trust fund kids who have been encouraged to embrace despotic behavior. The current leader of the United States is a dishonest, greed obsessed despot. Unfortunately, Trump is getting away with his despotic behavior because the Republicans in the Senate and the House are doing nothing to stop him. WE the PEOPLE can stop him. It does not matter which political party one aligns with. EVERY Republican running for office needs to be defeated. WE the PEOPLE must send a message to Washington. Our political and governing leaders have failed us and failed the world. A sociopathic madman is occupying the White House. Many like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and countless others stood by and did nothing. WE the People must vote the leaders who have failed us out of office. WE the PEOPLE must insist that Mueller continue and deepen his investigation. AND WE the PEOPLE must send Trump a message. YOU WILL NOT BE REELECTED in 2020.
21
The media continue to speak as if the United States has an actual presidential administration. We don't. We have a president who is just incapable of rational thought. He does have the predator's instinct for feeding and survival, but that's all. He has yet to evidence even a modest level of intelligence. His administration is overwhelmingly composed of opportunists and criminals, each pursuing his or her own agenda regardless of the national interests. Some work toward a full plutocracy, some for a Taliban-like theocracy, some for a libertarian fantasy, some to, well, simply enrich themselves. To continue to speak as if the White House can actually deal in policy or strategy is absurd.
14
There used to be a time in this country when being deeply ashamed of a president was indeed a rarity, almost unheard of. Now, thanks to detestable Donald Trump's moral bankruptcy, it's daily. And the Founders, no doubt, are weeping.
7
It's really very simple - trump loves despots because he aspires to be one himself. He hates and despises anyone who represents democracy.
4
and the band played on. His "base" loves it. Every. Drop. Of. Blood.
18
What? This is far from the first time the US has covered for another country's barbarism. This isn't even the first time the US has covered for Saudi Arabia's barbarism! It's not even the first time this year!
5
Perhaps Mr. Trump has finally over estimated the amount of greed and evil the American people can take.
I know I've had my fill.
2
Given Trump's hatred of the free press, I'm not surprised.
14
Trump has made clear that under his administration, the United States stands for nothing but business deals. We are nothing more than a transactional state. But let's put the Saudi arms deal in perspective: $110 billion sounds like a big number, but the US GDP is $14 trillion annually. Yes, the loss of the arms deal will hurt Boeing, Lockheed, Northrup, Raytheon, et al, but at some point, we have to say the US stands for something other than business transactions.
7
The press is the only profession that is in an amendment, and for good reason. They provide our government with checks and balances. They tell the world what is going on in other countries. If Trump does nothing about this heinous murder, he’s letting a dangerous man and a dangerous country do as they please. Saudi Arabia has the worst human rights record in the world, according to WHO. The crown prince “the lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Salman is threatening our country but as stated, they need us more than we need them. We have enough oil. His country is desperate for military parts. Trump clearly benefits financial on a opersonal level. Why many trump fans ignore his time after time illegal behavior is quite beyond me. Anyone who values freedom should be appalled by this. I may not agree with some things in the press, but I have that option. As an early retired journalist, this news made me sick to my stomach because I know Saudi Arabia will get away with this and Trump will benefit. When you kill one journalist, you kill a part of the rest of us.
248
@Elizabeth
As a retired journalist, I suggest the headline be:
"Kleptocratic President Kowtowing to a Mad Prince".
Call them as what they are!
1
Trump has business interests in Saudi Arabia, so there is no way he'll do anything to jeopardize them, even if it means sullying the reputation of the United States or the Office of the President. Besides, he was given the ultimate red carpet treatment during last year's summit, and as we all know, stroking Trump's vanity is almost as good for securing lasting support as protecting his business interests.
9
My reading of the situation is that Trump is indifferent to the Saudi relationship with the United States, but obsessed with the Saudi relationship with him.
30
Even the most experienced politicians, business leaders and others of power and influence are remarkably unable to "think outside the box." Thus for whatever reasons, because "we've always done it this way" the United States must maintain its stroke and snuggle relationship with Saudi Arabia.
What more proof need be known that "the most powerful nation on earth" is not all that powerful since it must grovel before brutal, maniacal leaders and their murderous ways.
"When will they ever learn?" Apparently never ever. Merrily down the stream.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
138
@Doug Giebel
It is not true that the US MUST grovel before Saudi Arabia's brutal, maniacal leaders. We grovel because our weak, cowardly leaders see personal benefit in it.
In particular, the current and most recent Republican Presidents (i.e., Trump and George W Bush) have been especially feckless when dealing with Saudi actions, criminal or otherwise. that are counter to US interests and/or the values of good people everywhere.
2
It's a simple equation: More Trump properties in Saudi Arabia than in Turkey.
Do you think Puerto Rico would have suffered as much if Trump's golf course didn't fail down there?
6
Donald Trump is in one business, and that is what's best for Donald Trump. The answer to that is money. He's a self dealer. Always has been, always will be. Your money, their money, our money is his money. He just hasn't picked our pocket yet. But in his mind, all the money is his. Its how any con man thinks. Everything is ripe for the plucking.
9
@Peter S., trump is a mere symbol of Americans greed and unbridled capitalism.
1
But Nick, if Trump called for those things or demanded accountability for the murderous Saudis, they would cut off the funding stream for Trump/Kushner Inc. And that, more than anything else, drives Trump.
6
Let be honest, every President from FDR to Trump provided cover for Saudi barbarism. The only difference is how far they are willing to go to cover the Saudi barbarism.
1
I believe Mr. Kristof should reword his sentence that reads,
"Trump acts as if the Saudis have leverage over us".
Perhaps that should say, "Trump acts as if the Saudis have leverage over him."
And indeed, since Trump and Jared both have fed and continue to feed at the Saudi money trough, their actions as toadies for the Saudis are clear conflicts of interest--at best.
But given Mr. Trump's and Jared's greed, dishonesty, lies and ability to escape genuine scrutiny, it is very possible that the Saudis have info about Donald and Jared that ensures the two will continue to jump when the Saudis say jump, repeat the Saudis' baldfaced lies, and further degrade our country.
1
"And he should make clear to the Saudi royal family that if it wants to sustain its relationship with America, it needs a new crown prince who isn’t a butcher."
M.B.S. just got caught (sort of) because of improvements in intelligence technology in Turkey (and perhaps some Saudi sloppiness).
The next crown prince, if there will be one soon and that is doubtful, will be cut from the same cloth and will have learned from the mistakes here.
What I cannot understand is why US intelligence who must have known what the Saudis thought about their wayward countryman did not give Mr. Khashoggi a heads up regarding the dangers facing him in a Saudi consulate. They had to have known. They let him walk in. Why?
2
Civilian slaughter in Yemen, financing of international terrorism, stonings, beheadings and state sponsored hit squads seeking out dissidents on foreign soil- perhaps we should be referring to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia more accurately as “Murder Inc.” The implication of MBS in the torture and killing of Jamal Khashoggi could not be clearer than if the Saudis replaced the sword on their flag with a bone saw.
We can no longer count on the Trump administration or the craven GOP Congress to take any action against human rights violations in America or anywhere else in the world, but decent Americans can send a message at the ballot box in November. VOTE !
5
So much for the Saudi reforms. Maybe the world should reform instead, and complete the transition away from fossil fuels that are cooking the planet, and turn away from this flawed “reformer” whose regime has bombed schoolchildren and murdered a journalist who wielded nothing more threatening than a laptop.
17
And Republicans criticized President Obama for bowing "too deeply" to the Emperor of Japan?
2
We know by now that Trump admires and gravitates toward authoritarian dictators, regardless of how ruthless and evil they are. He needs no moral compass to find them, because he has no moral compass. He wants to learn from them because he desperately wants to rule like them. And our fragile democracy with its increasingly fragile checks and balances on his power is, to our peril, making his authoritarian leash longer and longer.
8
Trump, of course, will follow none of Mr. Kristof's excellent suggestions, because to do so he would need to have a) some basic concept of morality; b) a concern with the power and status of the United States and c) a commitment to the basic concept of following the law. He has none of these. He is purely transactional; he would have no qualms about making a deal with Satan himself, if he thought he could make some money.
I will admit, though, it is interesting that a man who lies so constantly himself seems to have no problem believing in the lies of dictators, even when it so obviously to their advantage not to tell the truth. The Saudis threw him a big party when he visited there, and in return, he will believe whatever outrageous lie they tell him.
15
@mmwhite
I honestly don't think he believes their lies. Trump is stupid but not naive. His lies are to promote his power and enrichment. He admires those qualities and understands that this kind of prevarication is necessary to maintain power. It is central to his political philosophy.
The I Ching, Hexagram 60 is most appropriate for MBS.
He who knows no Limitation
Will have Cause to Lament.
I posted a few months ago that MBS lacked the necessary sagacity to enact real change in the Kingdom. The only impressive thing from MBS is his commitment to grifting.
His military strategic acumen is lacking. At 33 Vo Nguyen Giap had already founded and trained the vanguard of what would become the NVA. Giap inherited nothing but privation in a French jail and the memories of the execution of his wife and other family members. He made many errors but he studied the cause of the error to enact corrections.
Like a part from the movie Pulp Fiction, MBS has cast himself not as a reformer but a sadist with a killing technique in line with the Medellin Cartel, Khmer Rouge and ISIS.
1
I've wondered for a while now if flat out criminality isn't the biggest threat to civil society these days. Not just oligarchy but a criminal class, from drug lords to kleptocrats to tax-dodging Gucci-fakers, vastly empowered by globalization, with hundreds of billions of dollars in illegal cash to invest and bribe with every single year. Trump is their President. Khashoggi's gruesome end is their modus operandi, and a warning to us all.
6
We know Trump only cares about Trump so the only question is what is he getting out of this relationship?
2
Trump can't order the murder of journalists on home soil so he had it done on foreign soil and claimed ignorance and complacency. Bolton, last month, stated America will not be held responsible for crimes and murders they commit globally, that no global court ever has the say on American deeds. Trump and Jared had this done and Pompeo is the front man trying to cozy up to a murderer.
4
In spite of the small hiccup that is Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia is moving into the 21st century at a far greater pace than the United States. With the president's new conservative Supreme Court, we're now headed for thirty years of backward evolution toward a second Dark Ages, while Saudi Arabia creeps slowly forward. In the near future, we will program the human mind in a computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we have tricked the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about just what is supposed to survive - producing minds de facto programmed for destruction. When we come to understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity. See RevolutionOfReason.com
2
@RLB
Please don't be naive, this is not a small hiccup. In general, each Country has a specific agenda.
But the Middle East, was exceedingly tribal, such as the Sunnis and the Shites. Colonialism, led by England and France destroyed much of this region to control the oil, creating adhoc Nations that contained the very tribes who hated each other. Finally, America, made numerous errors, installing a puppet leader in Iran, unending wars in Afghanistan, followed by Iraq. We added to this quagmire by our adoration of Israel, accelerating the Palestinian problem. We conveniently forgot the Saudi's connection to 911. Making Iran the evil devil to please Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Those who disregard history are forced to relive it, a small hiccup, indeed.
@RLB Murder is NOT a "small hiccup". Ask Putin, who murdered his enemies on the streets of London, and many others who dared to criticize him politically in Russia and elsewhere. So now Prince Bone Saw is learning how to murder his way out of domestic criticism. "Small hiccup" ?? You've got to be delusional.
1
It's clear that MBS is involved with the brutal assassination of Mr. Khashoggi which leads to some disquieting thoughts. If foreign governments feel free to assassinate permanent residents of the United State without fear of reprisal that can only mean that MBS thinks that the American people are as unintelligent and craven as Trump is, that Trump feels the same way about the American people and, so far, 40% of the American people have not let Trump down in showing that's true.
3
Fully realizing that it's asked every couple of weeks, let's try again. "Whose side is Trump on?"
20
Trump and his family are not just kowtowing: they are bought by them. Just yesterday on TV Trump boasted how nicely he makes money from the Saudis, who bought apartments from him, etc. The junior (Jared Kushner) wants to outdo his dad in begging Saudis for money to save him from bankruptcy because of bad deal in real estate in New York. I imagine how Trump dreams about being like a Saudi king who can easily deal with his opposition, or his other idols: Putin and Erdogan.
God save America!
21
Hard for a devout atheist to say, but "Amen!" @Stefan
1
Can we step away from Trump for a minute? Khashoggi was a Saudi national, working in the U.S., murdered in Turkey. I haven't seen any outrage from other countries. Is this only a U.S. problem? When the Russians poisoned Soviet citizens in London, there was European outcry, and action was taken by England and the U.S. Why with Khashoggi are there no complaints that the EU is completely silent, and while the Turks are investigating, even there it appears that there is no serious protest.
I used to be a Republican, and even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Still, Donald Trump, who calls himself a "stable genius," is SO inept that I fear for the future of this country if the Democrats don't re-take the House AND Senate next month.
But every night, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham spend every minute of their time to make sure that won't happen. Thank you, Rupert Murdoch. It's too bad that Australia's export of poison couldn't have been stopped at the border.
26
We have the president of the United States covering up murder and millions upon millions of Americans don’t seem to care. Where’s the outrage. What’s wrong with this country? Has this deeply dishonest man normalized corruption to this extent?
3
Like the Russian oligarchs, the House of Saud has been, and will be, some of our president's personal best customers and financial supporters, creating a massive conflict of interest regarding the Saudi Royals.
Money talks, nobody walks, and, as our president constantly reminds anyone who will listen, "the press is the enemy of the people", in which case atrocities committed against journalists can be swept under the rug without consequence.
America, beautiful no longer, resembles its leader more and more, day by day.
4
For Trump, critical journalists are the enemy of the people. No wonder he sides with MBS. He wishes he could behave like him.
1
trump is devoid of any moral compass, To him it is all about the money. He has not been entirely clear if he means what the Saudis put in his family's pockets through real estate deals or the mythical military contracts. Nevertheless there is a term for those that will do anything for money.
13
@John Warnock, America proved it had no moral compass when it blatantly lied to go to war with Iraq, just because a son wanted to fulfill his dad's incomplete mission to oust Saddam? It didn't matter to the Bush administration that hundreds and thousands of people would die, untold miseries, destructions. All they cared about was showing off their "advanced" missile technology to shock and awe the whole entire world.
1
Nicholas Kristof wrote a heartbreaking story about the ongoing holocaust in Yemen perpetrated by the Saudi government with the help of the U.S. government -- journalism at its best.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/opinion/yemen-united-states-united-na...
Yet the Jamal Khashoggi killing has generated a great deal more attention thanks to the WaPo editors and writers doggedly pursuing the story, as well as other newspapers, such as the NYT. Another important factor is Mohammed bin Salman, the quintessential Hollywood villain.
Yet the solution Kristof proposes is for Trump to require that the Saudi government make personnel changes, specifically removing Mohammed bin Salman. Looking at history shows that is insufficient.
During the Vietnam War, when the U.S. government changed presidents, from Johnson to Nixon, that did not stop the victimization of innocent people in Southeast Asia.
To honor the memory of Khashoggi and all the other victims of government, past, present and future, we need better ideas and remedies than Kristof has proposed.
4
Thank you, for a cogent piece. This seems to me to be a new low, even worse than Trump’s “friendliness” with Putin.
I believe in what I thought my country’s ideals were; this president is mocking them.
11
Just when I think the Trump administration can't sink any lower, it does. I am ashamed for my country.
33
Anyone who believes that the Saudies... any of them.. are a firm and genuine ally who would help forward human interests in the Middle East region and an enlightened approach to genuine freedom and dignity... hasn’t been reading the paper much over the past 40 years or so.
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When fundamental humanity becomes negotiable, we have become something less than human.
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Mr. Kristof, please do indeed continue to write columns when you are upset. You are representing thousands upon thousands of Americans who share your outrage toward this ruthless and barbaric Saudi "butcher," to use your words. And be assured that the disgust that I and, I am certain, thousands of my fellow citizens feel toward Mr. Trump is visceral. We need a voice, and we rely on yours and your colleagues at the Times. We must have that unity of justice because God knows we are not getting it from this administration and its Congressional puppets.
As heinous and atrocious as Mr. Khoshoggi's final end seems more and more likely to have been, I can not feign surprise that the probable perpetrator was M.B.S. This is nothing new under the sun when one considers Saudi Arabia's thuggish and powerful influence over its neighbors in the Middle East.
But how low this nation of ours has sunk in but a few short years when thinking Americans come to expect that their president will defend to the point of covering up a tyrannical assassin rather than grieve the victim. Our country is in serious trouble when our elected officials impugn the good and embrace the evil. And the buck stops with Donald Trump. He is giving the green light to all that is unethical and amoral because he himself has no moral compass. And where is our courage to stop this madness? We never lose if we stand up for what is right.
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Nick, you know better than most that if you can't put a famous (or, at least, singular, sympathetic) face to a particular outrage so many of us, including our leaders who have the power to do something about it, just end up shrugging.
Here, you have not just a face but a face who was an American resident AND a Washington Post contributor. So, maybe here, there will be a consequence to the outrage, especially since it was perpetrated by a regime which has been suspect by many Americans since 9/11 .
But, I must admit to great distress that all of those other outrages which you have worked so assiduously to uncover and report on which did not involve a sympathetic and renowned victim on are now nothing more than digital bytes in the NY Times database.
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It seems between Trump and Kushner a great deal of money has been loaned between their families and the Saudi royalty, and therefore debt and leverage exists. It is a twisted web that Kashoogi sought to unwind & I pray it is and his death wasn’t in vein.
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The last time we sent mixed signals like this, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. We need clarity and consistency, and not complicity.
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I wouldn’t doubt before this all happened that M.B.S. considered what the repercussions would be and landed on nothing because he’s seen how Trump has backed down to Putin and other authoritarian leaders.
Sweeten it with a little cash, let’s say $100 million, and M.B.S. knew he had a lap dog in Trump.
And so over the next 2 years I’d guess we’d expect to see more of this behavior from countries around the world because they know the US will not push back on this.
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MBS isn't 'manipulating' the Trump crime family. If anything, the Trump mob is doing the manipulating. The Kashoggi killing is admired by Trump - who would emulate it if he could (incl. it's 'clumsy' implementation - to send a signal to all other would-be critics). And the entire GOP is fully on board. We're well on our way - don't count on the November election from saving us.
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The American god is money. Saudi money, K Street money, money from despots, the origin of that money doesn’t matter. The GOP will allow the medieval dismemberment of a journalist, the deaths of thousands of Americans because of NRA money and the wholesale destruction of the planet by oil interests. They will let your children accrue debt that can never be discharged, all because kids want and need a college education. The will leave the sick without healthcare and they are trying to steal money from Medicare and Social Security which will harm the elderly. The Republicans care only for themselves. It is the party of unrestrained greed.
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Trump should do all the things you say he should do. But he won't. Because, as he proudly proclaimed, he's the king of debt. And since all American Bank have ceased lending him money many years ago, his debt is owned by shady but powerful foreigners like Russian oligarchs and Saudi Princes and others like them who will surface eventually....
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This is King donald I at his best, which is utterly horrifying.
It is pure Machiavellian without the genius of a plan.
The ends justify the means, but there is no real end because there is no true plan. Those who adore me the most can do no wrong. the more powerful and ambitious those people are the more I adore their raise.
The great tragedy is everything he is doing today to gratify his ego is damaging our long term reputation and future. Everyday he is our leader the true greatness of our nation diminishes. Every policy he advances sells out our children's future.
We are now the greatest laughing stock of the universe.
He lives in an alternate reality and so many foolish people have succumb to his lies.
We really are on the precipice in this midterm election.
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His supporters won't care. When you begin to press them with details, they throw up their hands and say "They all do it" or "They're all corrupt" or "Who knows with those people?"
This is why we need an independent press and independent law enforcement, judiciary, and legislative branch.
Organize, register and vote.
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We need to get our priorities straight with the Saudis. They have committed an act of individual terrorism against a respected journalist working for an American newspaper. We don't sell arms to terrorists. We don't buy their oil. We don't condone their terrorist behavior, from the president to the congress to the secretary of state. Trump is out of his league, and out of his mind.
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What does America stand for these days? Life, liberty and freedom? Or corruption and tyranny?
When America sells out its ideals and morals to foreign tin-pot dictators, it wouldn't be long before tyranny will take root inside US itself.
A sad period for the world and the US.
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@Old Major
The roots have always been there and they sprouted two years ago.
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Thank you Nick for the best summary of this outrage. If not now, when... will we hold the Trump administration accountable for it's terrifying indifference to human rights. In the famous poem "First they came..." by Martin Niemoller, we're asked to consider when to stand up in the face of encroaching fascism. I now have two slides in my developing powerpoint on this idea: First they came for the poor children of Central America; then they came for Jamal Khashoggi.
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Trump’s “circle of trust” in the international arena is a veritable who’s who list of dictators: Russia’s Putin, China’s Xi, North Korea’s Kim, Egypt’s el-Sisi and Saudi Arabia’s MBS. He fawns over them enviously and doesn’t miss an opportunity to praise them.
This is a man who famously told Bill O’Reilly, two weeks into his presidency, “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think — our country’s so innocent.” This horrific response was in defense of Putin, who O’Reilly had dubbed a killer. When a brand-new president could so blithely berate his own country, in order to defend the murderous dictator of its “number one geopolitical foe,” it became obvious we had a bigger problem than we had imagined.
The MBS saga is just another minor blip in Trump’s dictator bad behavior radar, so he is going to let it slide. Trump is incapable of impartially weighing the severity of a crime committed by any member in his international circle of trust.
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Mr. Trump has said nothing about the man who was murdered, although he lived and worked in the USA. Is it possible that he views the murdered man as a Muslim and, therefore, not deserving of positive comment? We know that he despises most Muslims (except wealthy ones). The man who may have orchestrated the killing, however, is well-known and powerful AND has lots of money, and Donald wants some of that money. He would do anything to make sure that the arms deal goes through as planned.
And why the devil are we sending American weapons of mass destruction to Saudis? We know from very recent history that they will just use our weapons against poor countries like Yemen. And who gets killed? Not the Saudis.
We saw only a few weeks ago that the Saudis are not beyond killing innocent children with our weapons. So why are we still giving them these weapons? It's shameful for Trump to give our weapons to people who will use them to kill innocent children. THIS MUST STOP! And Trump must GO!
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Trump's agenda will not be sidetracked by the intentional or accidental murder of a foreign political activist on foreign soil.
America's virtue signalling has always come with a price, a price paid by American workers through trade deal concessions. As horrible as Khashoggi's murder might have been, even it is not a suitable reason for our world agenda to be altered.
Khashoggi was an opinion columnist for a news publication that is owned by Amazon. When Jeff Bezos announces that he will not longer do business in Saudi Arabia, then we will have a real measure of the seriousness with which the murder should be viewed. At a minimum, Bezos should refused to deliver goods sold on Amazon to the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
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