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New claims Crown Prince called Jamal Khashoggi moments before his murder
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A pro-government Turkish newspaper is reporting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the moments before his death. The Washington Post Journalist was last seen walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, with the Saudi government saying he died after a fight in the building.

The phone call has not been verified by the Saudi government, but western countries have openly cast doubt over Saudi Arabia's account of what happened, with the belief the journalist was tortured and murdered by Saudi officials.

 
Footage shows Saudis burning documents day after
Khashoggi's disappearance
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Footage obtained by Turkish broadcaster A Haber late Monday showed Saudi consular personnel burning documents a day after Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance.

The footage purportedly recorded in high-rises surrounding the consulate's compound in Levent district of Istanbul, shows two men burning papers in a trash container.

Khashoggi went missing on Oct. 2 after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

After days of denying to know his whereabouts, Saudi Arabia on Saturday claimed Khashoggi died during a fight inside the consulate.

The kingdom's announcement that Khashoggi died in a "fistfight" was met with international skepticism and allegations of a cover-up to absolve the 33-year-old crown prince of direct responsibility.

On the day of Khashoggi's disappearance, 15 other Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and visited the consulate while he was still inside, according to Turkish police sources. The 15 Saudis knew Khashoggi would enter the consulate to get a document he needed to get married, and once he was inside, the Saudis accosted Khashoggi, cut off his fingers, killed and dismembered the 59-year-old writer, according to media reports. All of the identified individuals have since left Turkey.


 
Saudi journalist tortured to death in prison
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Saudi journalist and writer Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Jasser has died after being tortured while in detention, the New Khaleej reported yesterday.

Reporting human rights sources, the news site said that Al-Jasser was arrested and tortured to death after Saudi authorities claimed he administered the Twitter account Kashkool, which disclosed rights violations committed by the Saudi authorities and royal family.

The sources said that the authorities identified Al-Jasser as the admin using spies in Twitter’s regional office located in Dubai. He was arrested in March.

 
William Sampson Reveals his Mistreatment by the Saudis
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TWO YEARS AGO, Canadian William Sampson emerged from a prison in Saudi Arabia with a horrific tale of torture at the hands of sadistic interrogators, who forced him to confess to crimes he didn't commit. Now, in a new book to be published next week, Sampson says the abuse he suffered while in Saudi custody was even more grotesque and terrifying than previously reported.

 
Don't worry Danny, the West is going through a period of believing the meek will inherit the World, I hope it works.
 
sptrawler said:
Don't worry Danny, the West is going through a period of believing the meek will inherit the World, I hope it works.
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Who's the meek? The West?

Did you like miss 500 years of the History Channel?

Over the past 100 years, the only other non-Western countries that come close to imperialism the West achieve was imperial Japan.

Some 250 years ago most of the Americas "weren't at all inhabited", neither was Australia, NZ.

Meekness didn't settle them continents.

Before that, Westerners were pretty much just as crazy as the current religious nuts.
 
luutzu said:
Who's the meek? The West?

Did you like miss 500 years of the History Channel?

Over the past 100 years, the only other non-Western countries that come close to imperialism the West achieve was imperial Japan.

Some 250 years ago most of the Americas "weren't at all inhabited", neither was Australia, NZ.

Meekness didn't settle them continents.

Before that, Westerners were pretty much just as crazy as the current religious nuts.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree, but at the moment, we are going through a real touchy, huggy stage, well unless you get in trouble for the touchy or the huggy.lol
But generally there is a big push to green power, gender equality, one punch gaol terms, racial tolerance etc.
There is a real 1960's flower power feel about it, somewhat Hollywood, but hey let them enjoy the moment.
There may be a lot of sabre rattling in World politics, but I don't see a stomach for it, at the pleb level.
Just my opinion.
 
The beauty of Diplomatic Pouches...



Jamal Khashoggi's killers carried syringes, electro-shock devices and cutting tools as they left Istanbul, says report

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Syringes, electro-shock devices and a blade similar to a scalpel were among the tools carried by Jamal Khashoggi’s alleged killers as they departed Istanbul after murdering the Washington Post journalist inside a Saudi consulate last month.

But there was not yet any evidence of a bone saw that would have been required to dismember his body, according to a new report published on Tuesday.

The Turkish pro-government daily newspaper Sabah published photos purportedly showing tools carried by the 15-man Saudi hit squad as they left Istanbul aboard a private jet after allegedly murdering the Washington Post columnist.

The leaked photos, along with a flurry of other leaks from recordings taken of the moment’s before, during, and after Khashoggi’s murder, suggest a continued pressure on Saudi Arabia and its western allies over the 2 October killing of the 59-year-old US resident inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The New York Times on Tuesday cited unnamed officials describing one member of the Saudi kill team being recorded phoning Riyadh after murdering Khashoggi and saying “tell your boss,” in a possible reference to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who is widely suspected of ordering the hit.


 
CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered
Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination
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The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last month, contradicting the Saudi government’s claims that he was not involved in the killing, according to people familiar with the matter.

The CIA’s assessment, in which officials have said they have high confidence, is the most definitive to date linking Mohammed to the operation and complicates the Trump administration’s efforts to preserve its relationship with a close ally. A team of 15 Saudi agents flew to Istanbul on government aircraft in October and killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate, where he had come to pick up documents that he needed for his planned marriage to a Turkish woman.

In reaching its conclusions, the CIA examined multiple sources of intelligence, including a phone call that the prince’s brother Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, had with Khashoggi, according to the people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence. Khalid told Khashoggi, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post, that he should go to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve the documents and gave him assurances that it would be safe to do so.

It is not clear if Khalid knew that Khashoggi would be killed, but he made the call at his brother’s direction, according to the people familiar with the call, which was intercepted by U.S. intelligence.

Fatimah Baeshen, a spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, said the ambassador and Khashoggi never discussed “anything related to going to Turkey.” She added that the claims in the CIA’s “purported assessment are false. We have and continue to hear various theories without seeing the primary basis for these speculations.”

The CIA’s conclusion about Mohammed’s role was also based on the agency’s assessment of the prince as the country’s de facto ruler who oversees even minor affairs in the kingdom. “The accepted position is that there is no way this happened without him being aware or involved,” said a U.S. official familiar with the CIA’s conclusions.​


 
Trump is looking more and more like an idiot on this front

IMO - The Middle East should be left to itself to sort itself out. The sooner that Saudi Arabia runs out of oil and stops promoting global Wahhabism, the better for the world...



Report claims CIA has ‘smoking gun phone call’ linking Saudi crown prince to Jamal Khashoggi killing;
Trump still stands by Saudis​


A Turkish newspaper claimed Thursday that the Central Intelligence Agency has heard a "smoking gun phone call" of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with an alleged instruction to "silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible."

The allegation was published in Turkey's Hürriyet Daily News, a well-established newspaper. The claim could not be independently verified by USA TODAY. The CIA could not be reached for comment. It rarely reacts to reports about its activities.

"The crown prince gave an instruction to silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible and this instruction was captured during (a) CIA wiretapping," the paper claimed.

CIA Director Gina Haspel traveled to Turkey last month as part of the investigation into the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Haspel has briefed President Donald Trump about her visit.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied its leadership had any knowledge of a plot to kill Khashoggi despite claims by Turkey's government that it has audio recordings indicating the contrary. Trump has cast aside calls from U.S. lawmakers and international allies to punish the Saudi crown prince for Khashoggi's slaying. Trump said Tuesday the benefits of good business relations with Saudi Arabia outweigh the possibility that the crown prince ordered the killing. Khashoggi was a U.S. resident at the time of his death.

On Thursday, Trump said the crown prince “regretted the death more than I do” and reiterated his position that there was no conclusive evidence tying the crown prince to Khashoggi’s murder.

“The CIA doesn’t say they did it. They do point out certain things, and in pointing out those things, you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didn’t,” he told reporters in Florida, where he is spending Thanksgiving with his family. He blamed the media of “false reporting.”​

 
DB008 said:
Trump is looking more and more like an idiot on this front

IMO - The Middle East should be left to itself to sort itself out. The sooner that Saudi Arabia runs out of oil and stops promoting global Wahhabism, the better for the world...



Report claims CIA has ‘smoking gun phone call’ linking Saudi crown prince to Jamal Khashoggi killing;
Trump still stands by Saudis​


A Turkish newspaper claimed Thursday that the Central Intelligence Agency has heard a "smoking gun phone call" of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with an alleged instruction to "silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible."

The allegation was published in Turkey's Hürriyet Daily News, a well-established newspaper. The claim could not be independently verified by USA TODAY. The CIA could not be reached for comment. It rarely reacts to reports about its activities.

"The crown prince gave an instruction to silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible and this instruction was captured during (a) CIA wiretapping," the paper claimed.

CIA Director Gina Haspel traveled to Turkey last month as part of the investigation into the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Haspel has briefed President Donald Trump about her visit.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied its leadership had any knowledge of a plot to kill Khashoggi despite claims by Turkey's government that it has audio recordings indicating the contrary. Trump has cast aside calls from U.S. lawmakers and international allies to punish the Saudi crown prince for Khashoggi's slaying. Trump said Tuesday the benefits of good business relations with Saudi Arabia outweigh the possibility that the crown prince ordered the killing. Khashoggi was a U.S. resident at the time of his death.

On Thursday, Trump said the crown prince “regretted the death more than I do” and reiterated his position that there was no conclusive evidence tying the crown prince to Khashoggi’s murder.

“The CIA doesn’t say they did it. They do point out certain things, and in pointing out those things, you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didn’t,” he told reporters in Florida, where he is spending Thanksgiving with his family. He blamed the media of “false reporting.”​

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SA is too strategically important for the US/Europe to let go. Even if the world no longer need its oil.

They're the corridor through which some crapload of world trade flow through. No way in heck they're going to let the Russians or the Chinese control that.

The good news for the average Saudi plebs is that once their oil ran out, they may get to have some sort of monarchical Democracy. Maybe.

That or they'll pull a Panama where on either side of the sea belong to the US and the Arabs can have what's left behind that.

SA might quick be running out of oil. I think that's why they're bombing and starving the heck out of Yemen. To control both the gate to the Suez as well as all those untapped mineral riches in them Yemeni hills.
 
Intercepts Solidify C.I.A. Assessment That
Saudi Prince Ordered Khashoggi Killing
​

The C.I.A. has evidence that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, communicated repeatedly with a key aide around the time that a team believed to have been under the aide’s command assassinated Jamal Khashoggi, according to former officials familiar with the intelligence.

The exchanges are a key piece of information that helped solidify the C.I.A.’s assessment that the crown prince ordered the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Virginia resident who had been critical of the Saudi government.

“This is the smoking gun, or at least the smoking phone call,” said Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. official now at the Brookings Institution. “There is only one thing they could possibly be talking about. This shows that the crown prince was witting of premeditated murder.”

first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed a highly classified document on the C.I.A. assessment of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing. The leak of the secret report, according to officials, infuriated Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director. It has also intensified calls by members of Congress to have Ms. Haspel go to Capitol Hill to brief them.

Mr. Qahtani has been one of Prince Mohammed’s closest advisers. When the head of the hit team, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was recorded by Turkish intelligence saying “tell your boss” that the team had carried out the mission, he was believed by American intelligence agencies to have been communicating with Mr. Qahtani.

People briefed on the intelligence said they believed that the 11 exchanges between Prince Mohammed and Mr. Qahtani could very well have been the time when the aide shared the news.

Current and former officials insisted that while the communications are suggestive and reinforce the intelligence agency’s conclusions about the culpability of the crown prince, they are not the kind of definitive, direct evidence that President Trump has suggested would be needed to convince him that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing.

Such evidence, the current and former officials said, is rarely collected, and the C.I.A. and other agencies often make their conclusions based on imperfect information. The C.I.A. has told lawmakers that it has medium to high confidence that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing. Medium to high certainty is a level short of high confidence, and demonstrates that the agency lacks a recording in which the crown prince orders the killing.

 
DB008 said:
Intercepts Solidify C.I.A. Assessment That
Saudi Prince Ordered Khashoggi Killing
​

The C.I.A. has evidence that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, communicated repeatedly with a key aide around the time that a team believed to have been under the aide’s command assassinated Jamal Khashoggi, according to former officials familiar with the intelligence.

The exchanges are a key piece of information that helped solidify the C.I.A.’s assessment that the crown prince ordered the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Virginia resident who had been critical of the Saudi government.

“This is the smoking gun, or at least the smoking phone call,” said Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. official now at the Brookings Institution. “There is only one thing they could possibly be talking about. This shows that the crown prince was witting of premeditated murder.”

first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed a highly classified document on the C.I.A. assessment of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing. The leak of the secret report, according to officials, infuriated Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director. It has also intensified calls by members of Congress to have Ms. Haspel go to Capitol Hill to brief them.

Mr. Qahtani has been one of Prince Mohammed’s closest advisers. When the head of the hit team, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was recorded by Turkish intelligence saying “tell your boss” that the team had carried out the mission, he was believed by American intelligence agencies to have been communicating with Mr. Qahtani.

People briefed on the intelligence said they believed that the 11 exchanges between Prince Mohammed and Mr. Qahtani could very well have been the time when the aide shared the news.

Current and former officials insisted that while the communications are suggestive and reinforce the intelligence agency’s conclusions about the culpability of the crown prince, they are not the kind of definitive, direct evidence that President Trump has suggested would be needed to convince him that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing.

Such evidence, the current and former officials said, is rarely collected, and the C.I.A. and other agencies often make their conclusions based on imperfect information. The C.I.A. has told lawmakers that it has medium to high confidence that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing. Medium to high certainty is a level short of high confidence, and demonstrates that the agency lacks a recording in which the crown prince orders the killing.

Click to expand...

Heard from some other expert saying that this CIA, good cop/bad cop act is to warn MBS to change his diversification strategy else he'll be overthrown/replaced by other SA princes.

Apparently MBS is trying to get too aligned with Russia... what with them two being major oil producing countries who's been having it tough with the oil crash and would like to see higher prices.

China and India has been working together on their own buyer's group, kinda like OPEC but for buyers instead of producers. MBS might like the idea too much if it mean they'd buy SA oil instead of Iranians.

But doing so would mean going off the petrol-dollar, drastically changed the way oil is priced and traded around the world.

While it's horrific and terrible how Khasogghi was murdered, the good senators and the "free press" cares about this one murder way, way too much. Especially when you look at the other crimes MBS and his kingdom have been committing lately. I mean, there's some 95,000 Yemeni children dead from famine since the bombings and blockade; some 10 to 15 million literally starving to death in Yemin from the same war MBS as chief warrior ordered...
 
Saudi Arabia Is Said to Have Tortured an American Citizen
​
A dual citizen of Saudi Arabia and the United States had been imprisoned in the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh for about a week when he heard a knock on his door.

Guards dragged Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained physician, to another room, according to a friend who took down the prisoner’s detailed account of his treatment. Dr. Fitaihi told the friend he was slapped, blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and bound to a chair. He was shocked with electricity in what appears to have been a single session of torture that lasted about an hour.

His tormentors whipped his back so severely that he could not sleep on it for days, his friend said, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals. The doctor had described the physical abuse, in general terms, to his relatives as well, a person close to them said.

Detained in November 2017 in what was billed as a crackdown on corruption, Dr. Fitaihi, 54, remains imprisoned without any public charges or trial. About 200 prominent Saudis were detained with him, and he is one of dozens who remain in prison.

Friends and families of others detained have also described episodes of torture. At least 17 detainees were hospitalized soon after the crackdown for injuries sustained while in custody, according to a doctor at the hospital and an American official monitoring the crackdown.

A military officer who had been detained died with a twisted neck and other signs of abuse on his body, according to a person who saw it. Women’s rights advocates jailed in Saudi Arabia have said they were also tortured, including by electrical shocks, according to their relatives and rights groups.

But Dr. Fitaihi’s American citizenship means that his mistreatment, which has not been previously reported, may now pose a special threat to Saudi relations with Washington. The Trump administration is already struggling to quell a bipartisan backlash against the kingdom over the killing last fall of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a Virginia resident and Washington Post columnist who was executed and dismembered by a team of Saudi agents in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.

This past week, Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, met for the first time since the killing with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom. American intelligence agencies have concluded that the crown prince ordered Mr. Khashoggi’s killing.​

More on link below...

 
Good recap on the Khashoggi muder in Turkey.

Note to self - stay away from Saudi embassy's and tandoori ovens.


​
 
Saudi arms race - Israel, Qatar and Yemen will be targets. The best case scenario is that they blow themselves up..


If You Cannot Trust Saudis With Bone Saw, Says US Lawmaker, 'You Should Not Trust Them With Nuclear Weapons'​

Trump administration's secret authorizations of nuclear technology sales to
Saudi Arabia spark alarm in Congress
​

The revelation that the Trump administration secretly authorized several U.S. companies to sell nuclear technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia is generating alarm over ongoing negotiations about a broader deal that critics worry could eventually lead to a nuclear-armed Saudi Arabia.

The Daily Beast and Reuters reported Wednesday that Energy Secretary Rick Perry had approved at least six Part 810 authorizations, which "allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power ahead of any deal but not ship equipment that would go into a plant."

Those reports provoked concerns from lawmakers that the development of nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia, with crucial assistance from the American government and companies, could potentially enable the key U.S. ally—and serial human rights abuser—to also pursue a nuclear weapon.

"This is incredibly dangerous," Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted Thursday with a link to the Daily Beast article. "We must do everything we can to make sure the Saudi regime cannot develop nuclear weapons."​

 
DB008 said:
Saudi arms race - Israel, Qatar and Yemen will be targets. The best case scenario is that they blow themselves up..


If You Cannot Trust Saudis With Bone Saw, Says US Lawmaker, 'You Should Not Trust Them With Nuclear Weapons'​

Trump administration's secret authorizations of nuclear technology sales to
Saudi Arabia spark alarm in Congress
​

The revelation that the Trump administration secretly authorized several U.S. companies to sell nuclear technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia is generating alarm over ongoing negotiations about a broader deal that critics worry could eventually lead to a nuclear-armed Saudi Arabia.

The Daily Beast and Reuters reported Wednesday that Energy Secretary Rick Perry had approved at least six Part 810 authorizations, which "allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power ahead of any deal but not ship equipment that would go into a plant."

Those reports provoked concerns from lawmakers that the development of nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia, with crucial assistance from the American government and companies, could potentially enable the key U.S. ally—and serial human rights abuser—to also pursue a nuclear weapon.

"This is incredibly dangerous," Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted Thursday with a link to the Daily Beast article. "We must do everything we can to make sure the Saudi regime cannot develop nuclear weapons."​

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Not Israel though. The two have been getting quite close of late.

Likely target would be Iran... Yemen is already stuffed. Qatar wouldn't be hit now even though SA wanted to... Can't because hidden genius Kushner boy wonder there just got paid some $1.5B by Brookfields on order of a Qatari sovereign fund to rent "not his" 666 building for 99 years... and paying upfront for it.

Not sure why they'd want nuke when most of the enemy is in the neighbourhood. Wouldn't the fallout get them too?
 
luutzu said:
Not Israel though. The two have been getting quite close of late.
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Maybe....

Bezos Investigation Finds the Saudis Obtained His Private Data

The National Enquirer’s lawyer tried to get me to say there was no hacking.
​
Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos’ phone, and gained private information. As of today, it is unclear to what degree, if any, AMI was aware of the details.

We did not reach our conclusions lightly. The inquiry included a broad array of resources: investigative interviews with current and former AMI executives and sources, extensive discussions with top Middle East experts in the intelligence community, leading cybersecurity experts who have tracked Saudi spyware, discussions with current and former advisers to President Trump, Saudi whistleblowers, people who personally know the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS), people who work with his close associate Saud al-Qahtani, Saudi dissidents, and other targets of Saudi action, including writer/activist Iyad el-Baghdadi.

Experts with whom we consulted confirmed New York Times reports on the Saudi capability to “collect vast amounts of previously inaccessible data from smartphones in the air without leaving a trace—including phone calls, texts, emails”—and confirmed that hacking was a key part of the Saudis’ “extensive surveillance efforts that ultimately led to the killing of [Washington Post] journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”

Some Americans will be surprised to learn that the Saudi government has been intent on harming Jeff Bezos since last October, when the Post began its relentless coverage of Khashoggi’s murder. The Saudi campaign against Bezos has already been reported by CNN International, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, and others.

Saudi Arabia attacks people in many ways, obviously, including through their elaborate social media program that uses sophisticated technology and paid surrogates to create artificially trending hashtags. To give you an idea of how this program has infected the U.S., the New York Times reported that the Saudis even had an operative inside Twitter, which fired the suspect employee, and later advised select activists and others that “your Twitter account is one of a small group of accounts that may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors.”

In October, the Saudi government unleashed its cyberarmy on Bezos (and later me). Their multi-pronged campaign included public calls for boycotts against Amazon.com and its Saudi subsidiary, Souq.com. Just three examples among thousands:

“We as Saudis will never accept to be attacked by the Washington Post in the morning, only to buy products from Amazon and Souq.com by night! Strange that all three companies are owned by the same Jew who attacks us by day, and sells us products by night!”

“Our weapon is to boycott… because the owner of the newspaper is the same as their owner.”

“We're after you - the Jew, worshipper of money, will go bankrupt by the will of God at the hands of Saudi Arabia... the owner of Amazon and Souq is the owner of the Washington Post is the spiteful Jew who insults us every day.”​

Bezos is not Jewish, but you get the point.

We studied the well-documented and close relationship between MBS and AMI chairman, David Pecker. That alliance includes David Pecker bringing MBS intermediary Kacy Grine to a private White House meeting with President Trump and Jared Kushner. Pecker has also traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with the Crown Prince. Though we don’t know what was discussed in those private meetings, AMI’s actions afterwards are telling. To coincide with MBS’ March 2018 U.S. tour, AMI created a 100-page, ad-free, glossy magazine called The New Kingdom. Since MBS wasn’t yet a notorious figure in the West (this was before the murder of Jamal Khashoggi), AMI’s magazine introduced him to Americans as “the most influential Arab leader—transforming the world at 32,” and “improving lives of his people & hopes for peace.”

The Associated Press reported that AMI sent an advance digital copy of their laudatory magazine to the Saudi Embassy three weeks before printing and distributing 200,000 issues. (Despite AP’s substantial forensic evidence, the kingdom denied it received the magazine’s content in advance. While we’re on denials, the kingdom says Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with the Bezos matter. The kingdom also says MBS had nothing whatsoever to do with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.)

When AMI publicly insisted that nobody outside of their executives and editors “had any influence on this publication or its content,” I guess they meant other than Kacy Grine, the very same MBS intermediary Pecker had brought to The White House. I say that because AMI soon had to disclose to the Department of Justice National Security Division that their mystery magazine included content written by Grine, and that they also gave him the whole working draft for advance review, and that he suggested changes, and that they implemented his changes, and that he provided better photographs of MBS. With friends like AMI, you don’t need… publicists.

My firm has done many investigations into Enquirer misconduct, including one that became the subject of a 60 Minutes investigative piece way back in 1990. Before then, tabloids had been seen as almost funny publications, mixing celebrity gossip with space aliens and Elvis sightings. But when the Enquirer’s on-again-off-again relationship with the truth percolated into politics, it wasn’t so funny anymore.

Though relatively benign at first (“Al Gore’s Diet Is Making Him Stupid”), the Trump/Pecker relationship has metastasized: In effect, the Enquirer became an enforcement arm of the Trump presidential campaign, and presidency, as the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York laid out in its case against Michael Cohen, who has pleaded guilty. The U.S. Attorney has done the country a service by levying extensive controls on AMI, David Pecker, and his deputy Dylan Howard, through a non-prosecution agreement that requires them to commit no other crimes for three years, and requires everyone at AMI to attend annual training on federal election laws. I’m guessing that’s not how they used to spend their time.​






It's getting interesting now -

The author is Bezos' investigator Gavin de Becker. He is claiming "high confidence" that the Saudis were actively involved in securing Bezos data as part of a scheme to exert influence over the Washington Post.

We did not reach our conclusions lightly. The inquiry included a broad array of resources: investigative interviews with current and former AMI executives and sources, extensive discussions with top Middle East experts in the intelligence community, leading cyber security experts who have tracked Saudi spyware, discussions with current and former advisers to President Trump, Saudi whistleblowers, people who personally know the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (also known as MBS), people who work with his close associate Saud al-Qahtani, Saudi dissidents, and other targets of Saudi action, including writer/activist Iyad el-Baghdadi.

The Enquirer story based on the data is believed by a previous National Enquirer editor to be an attempt by AMI to "make up" with Trump after cooperating with the Feds on the Stormy/McDougal hush money payments. Indeed, Trump enthusiastically tweeted just afteris in dire, existential financial straits, and the CEO (David Pecker) has settled on the Saudis as their ticket back to solvency, including becoming an overt US-based propaganda arm for the MbS regime.

Mohammed bin Salman detests Bezos' Washington Post in particular, and regards them as US media enemy #1. This status that has only increased since he ordered the assassination of WaPo contributor Jamal Khashoggi(who was dismembered with a bone saw and his body dissolved in acid).

Previously, the story on how AMI got Bezos data was that it all came from his mistress' brother. De Becker claims this is still true, but was only one prong of the effort to obtain Bezos' data.​




Khashoggi killers received training in the United States — report
​
Saudi operatives allegedly murdered Jamal Khashoggi in October, sparking an angry response from many lawmakers in the United States. Some of the agents are US-trained, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Several of the Saudi agents who were involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul last year had received training in the United States, the Washington Postreported Saturday.

Post columnist David Ignatius said US and Saudi sources told him that the training occurred before the killing "as part of ongoing liaison" between the US and Saudi Arabia, but that it has since been halted.

The leader of the team that killed Khashoggi was Maher Mutreb, a colonel in the Saudi intelligence service who comes from a "wealthy and respected Saudi family." Mutreb allegedly received training in the US and developed a "friendly" relationship with Khashoggi while they were both working in London.

Ignatius said other members of the 15-person team allegedly also had US training, without elaborating.

​
 
slick ... got the oil to fund it


www.vision2030.gov.sa

Saudi Vision 2030

Saudi Arabia's ambitious roadmap for economic diversification, global engagement, and enhanced quality of life.
www.vision2030.gov.sa www.vision2030.gov.sa
.
...
....“Mining was actually a sector where we decided a long time ago to keep it for later. And now, apparently, later has come,” Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar bin Ibrahim Alkhorayef told The Australian Financial Review on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“We are looking at Australia’s great experience in this area. It’s one of the models that has been able to actually create a mining sector that is both impactful on the economy and on society, yet also quite responsible.”
.
....
“One of the aims of the Vision 2030 is to improve the quality of life. So we have seen a lot of areas being opened up – tourism is one, entertainment, sports,” he said.

“How can we also create an environment where it is inviting, where it’s socially open? We have a great balance … between our heritage and our own culture, while blending in very well with international themes and people.”

And that includes Australian people, investors and businesses. “I have been to Sydney, and met a lot of people. I think we have a lot in common that we can build on, definitely.”
 
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