On October 24, 2018
© By John Arkelian
When savagery collides with civilization, the civilized man must react with steely resolve. The autocratic regime of Saudi Arabia has shocked the world with an act that can only be called savage. On October 2nd, Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey by prior appointment to collect some documents needed for his intended marriage to a Turkish woman. His fiancé waited outside, but Khashoggi never emerged from the premises. He has not been seen since. Khashoggii was a journalist, who wrote for The Washington Post. He had quit his native Saudi Arabia in disagreement with its harsh authoritarianism, its hostility to democracy, and its enmity to basic human rights and freedoms. Khashoggi was a mild critic of the regime. He urged it to act on its purported interest in reform; he was what could be described as a member of the loyal opposition. He was neither a radical, nor a revolutionary; but the tyrants in Riyadh don’t like to be criticized, not even a little bit.
From what we know at present, it appears that a team of fifteen Saudis (twelve of them connected with that state’s security services, one of them reportedly in possession of a bone saw) were conveniently dispatched to Istanbul on the very day that Khashoggi had his appointment at the consulate. Despite the regime’s initial protestations of ignorance, followed by an absurd tale of a fistfight gone lethally wrong, it appears that assassins were dispatched by the Saudi regime to murder their gentle critic in cold blood – and to do so at the inviolable premises of a mission devoted to diplomatic and consular relations between two states. It is impossible to believe that this outrageous and grisly act of premeditated murder occurred without the foreknowledge and instigation of Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, who currently seems to call all of the shots there.
We in the West, with our allegiance to liberty, rule of law, inalienable human rights, and democratic, accountable governance, can only abhor an act of such barbarity. It is the act of savages, an act that is utterly reprehensible and repugnant to any civilized human being. Our response must be severe and implacable. The United States, Canada, members of the European Union, and other Western democracies should take these decisive steps: First, we should demand that Saudi Arabia immediately surrender all fifteen suspects for trial in the United States or at the International Criminal Court. (Given Turkey’s odious treatment of its own journalists and critics under the autocratic regime of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, this matter needs to be dealt with in an untainted venue.) Second, we should insist on the FBI investigating the murder. Third, we should resolve to uncover whoever gave the orders that resulted in the murder, even if that person is, as seems all too likely, the country’s de facto leader. We must resolutely ensure that all those responsible are held accountable: if evidence points to bin Salman’s culpability, we must demand that he be surrendered for trial in the West.
Fourth, we should indefinitely suspend all military and security cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including all sales of military equipment, notwithstanding the large financial cost to ourselves in doing so. Fifth, we should immediately suspend all new investment in Saudi Arabia or by that country in the West. Sixth, we should apply severe pressure (including sanctions) on the regime to immediately remove Mohammed bin Salman from any role in his country’s governance or succession, without waiting for the result of the criminal investigation. Sixth, all Western countries should immediately reduce their embassies and consulates in Saudi Arabia to a bare minimum, likewise severely reducing Saudi diplomatic and consulate presence in the West. Seventh, should the Saudi regime fail to cooperate with any of these measures, the West should formally break off diplomatic relations with that state. Eighth, the West should finally (and belatedly) pressure the Saudi regime to get out of Yemen, where it is, with tacit Western acquiescence, engaging in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Finally, it was reported early in the outrage following Khashoggi’s murder that the Saudi regime threatened to retaliate (if the West took measures to penalize them for their act of grotesque savagery) by hiking oil prices and throwing the world economy into chaos. The Saudis have, apparently, backed away from that threat. But, it should be made clear to them that any such action will result in severe countermeasures, up to and including our deposing their barbarous regime by force. There can be no compromise with savagery. Those who choose to behave as savages must be treated as such: Justice, and our own core values, demands no less.
Copyright © 2018 by John Arkelian