SAUDIS ON THE BACK FOOT

The disappearance and alleged murder of an influential Saudi Arabian journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, nearly a fortnight ago has forced the Islamic kingdom on the back foot, despite the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman trying to put a brave face on it, denying any role in his disappearance. Of course, nobody buys the protests of the young prince. Khashoggi was a known critic of the virtual ruler of Saudi Arabia. He was also a regular contributor to the authoritative Washington Post. Although independent Russian journalists critical of Vladimir Putin have been found dead in mysterious circumstances at regular intervals, the case of Khashoggi is quite different. Saudi Arabia under Salman claims to have turned a new page, with Salman easing some control on social and civic rights, including the right of women to drive. But the crown prince who snatched power after a family coup carried out at the point of a sword, is a Jekyll and Hyde figure, imprisoning the women activists who had campaigned for the right to drive and confining a number of wealthy aristocrats, including members of the royal family, in a luxury hotel on the ground that they had stolen money from the people. Salman himself is widely known to be a reckless spender, amassing a huge cache of wealth drawn licitly and illicitly from the peoples’ treasury. However, it seems he did not reckon with the strong reaction that followed the alleged murder of Khashoggi inside the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi mission, some insist lured by the Saudis, never to emerge from it. The Turkish media basing its reports on intelligence available with the government have suggested that he was murdered inside the mission and his body chopped off into tiny parts. A team of Saudi intelligence officials which had flown in hours before the murder is said to have left after the killing. It is claimed that the crown prince personally ordered the killing. Because he was a regular writer in the influential American newspaper, and often commented on the events in his home country on various television channels, he had become a thorn in the side of Salman. The Turkish authorities were joined by the European nations and President Trump himself in expressing concern at the fate of Khashoggi. But Trump was reluctant to proceed further, saying more than $100 billion in Saudi orders for military and other goods was on the line should he take a precipitate action. Besides, Saudi Arabia was the anchor around which the US middle east policy revolved. On the not-so-secret axis among the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel depended the fate of their common goal to neutralize the Shia Iran which threatens to grow into a rival centre of power in the Muslim world using the Hizbullah and the Islamic Revolutionary Corps as key tools in advancing its own influence in the region. Iran’s interference through surrogates in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, etc. posed a direct challenge to the Saudi-US partnership. It is notable that following his election, Trump undertook his maiden foreign visit to Saudi Arabia, with the crown prince going out of his way to serenade him as a very special guest.

However, Trump is under pressure from the Senate and independent public opinion to punish Saudi Arabia in case it is confirmed that Khashoggi was indeed murdered by the Saudis. In the meanwhile, a number of US and European billionaires who were committed to attend an economic summit, supposed to be the Davos in the Desert, in Riyadh have pulled out. Various European nations, the UK included, have publicly demanded that the Saudis reveal as to what happened to Khashoggi after he entered their mission in Istanbul, as caught on a close circuit camera whose footage has been shown umpteenth times on global television channels. The Saudis have reacted with wounded pride, threatening a fitting response in case punitive action was taken on account of Khashoggi’s disappearance. But unless he miraculously surfaces alive, the free world, particularly the US, will have to impose sanctions against the Saudis even if it results in Saudi funds drying up for buying up the American arsenal of warfare. Protection of human rights is a serious concern in the western nations. The autocratic Salman, 33, cannot play a reformer by the day and a cruel and barbaric tyrant by the night.