The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After Khashoggi, Saudi prince looks to rebuild image abroad
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s first trip abroad since the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi will offer an early indication of the repercussions he faces from the gruesome slaying.
The prince is visiting close allies in the Middle East before attending the Group of 20 summit in Argentina on Friday, where he will come face to face with President Donald Trump, who has defended U.S. ties with the kingdom, as well as European leaders and Turkey’s president, who has kept pressure mounting on Riyadh since Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
“It’s really going to be about can you travel to the rest of Western capitals for the foreseeable future and expect to sort of shake people’s hands, and I’m not sure that that’s the case,” said H.A. Hellyer, a scholar at the Royal United Services Institute and Atlan- tic Council.
The trip, aimed at rebuild- ing his image and reinforcing ties with allies, promises to offer a contrast to the prince’s lengthy tour across the United States in April, where he met Michael Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch, Disney chief Bob Iger, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Apple’s Tim Cook and former President George H. Bush, among many others.
“There’s no way he could do that sort of trip right now,” Hellyer s aid. The crown prince’s plan to attend the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires “tells me that he feels that he’s ridden out the storm, or that in order for him to ride out the storm, this is exactly what he needs to do.”
The crown prince faced an early rebuke during his stopover in Tunisia, where hundreds of protesters gathered late Monday to protest his visit. A large banner showing a doctored image of the prince holding a bone saw hung on the headquarters of the Tuni- sian journalists union. Turkish officials say Saudi agents used a bone saw to dismem- ber Khashoggi after he was killed. His remains have yet to be found.
After denying any knowl- edge of Khashoggi’s death for weeks, Saudi authorities eventually settled on the explana- tion that he was killed in an operation aimed at forcibly bringing the writer back to the kingdom. Saudi prosecutors say the plan was master- minded by two former advisers to the crown prince and are now seeking the death penalty for five people allegedly involved in the killing.
That seems to have settled the matter for Trump, who issued an extraordinary state- ment last week saying the U.S. would not take further action after sanctioning 17 individu- als linked to the killing. Trump has brushed aside assessments by U.S. intelligence and other experts that the crown prince must have been involved in the high-level operation, and said he would maintain close relations with Saudi Arabia in part because of its oil wealth and its multibillion-dollar pur- chases of U.S. arms.
Trump’s contention that “maybe he did, maybe he d idn’t” order the k illing appears to have helped pave the way for the crown prince’s return to international forums.
But even if Trump shakes his hand at the G-20 summit, the crown prince could still remain persona non grata within Washington’s beltway, where members of Congress from both parties have demanded stronger action, as well as Wall Street and Silicon Valley.
He could also get an icy reception from other leaders at the G-20. In Europe there have been calls to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and Canada could still be smarting from a diplomatic row sparked by Saudi anger at its criticism over human rights in the kingdom. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is expected to attend the summit, was instrumental to the global backlash the prince now faces.
Saudi analyst Mohammed Alyahya said that over the past two years many state institutions in the kingdom were marginalized in favor of a quicker, ad hoc decision-making process led by people with newfound power.
“There’s a real understanding, I think, in the kingdom, that there needs to be serious structural change to ensure that something like this can never happen again,” Alyahya said. “I think we’re going to see definitely some return to institutionalism, some return to a consensus-based decision-making process and commitment to defined procedures.”
Still, it remains to be seen whether a wider circle of advisers will be consulted, whether they will challenge the crown prince and whether he will listen to them.
“I’m unaware that he employs anybody deliberately who will tell him, ‘That’s a really bad idea,’” said Simon Henderson, a scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who has written extensively about the crown prince.