Saudis murder journalist in Turkey

It sucks he got killed but it was pretty smart to wear an Apple watch and record everything so everything which happened was recorded.

Assuming, as seems pretty likely, the Saudi government had him killed, why? How great a threat was he to them that this seemed the wise course of action? Especially given how likely, under the circumstances, that people would see through any denials?

@Beck agrees

New guy running the place likes to send messages. Kill this guy and it lets all other critics who are citizens of Saudi Arabia know that it can happen to them too.

It's the only thing that can explain the incompetence at running this mission. They all but showed up in Turkey with signs saying, "we're here to murder someone".

I don't think they expected the blowback though which makes them look even more stupid. They really upset a lot of people and they've put the United States in a bind.

Agreed except for the last paragraph. The American President has already said the US won't stand up to Saudi Arabia on this matter.

Yeah, it sounds like the new Crown Prince (or whatever his designation is) wants to "modernise", but only in a highly controlled fashion which ensures no challenge can emerge. I read a piece which interestingly stated that he's moving at least part of the ways from a fundamentalist theocracy to an Arab nationalist dictatorship.

Trump Jr is busy retweeting smear attempts that try to paint the dead guy as a jihadist, because there's a 1988 article showing him with Bin Laden and holding an RPG.

Ignoring the fact that in 1988 Bin Laden was backed by the US to fight the Commies and the journo was doing a piece about the heroic Mujahadeen. No-one has tried to smear Stallone or Timothy Dalton for making the Mujahadeen good guys in Rambo 3 or The Living Daylights.

Wonder why Mini-POTUS has a vested interest in making this guy look bad?

could be because their own citizens won't see through any denials (or admit that they do) so maybe they think the rest of the world won't see through it either.

Trump junior should have a vested interest in learning basic lifting mechanics before his spine explodes!

https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19542477/donald-trump-jr-deadlift-video-tips/

That's assuming he has a spine.

Is there any hope this assasination thing could collaterally take out twitler? Probably not. I suppose the secret service wouldn't let him go anywhere too dangerous.

This is not a fact.

The Arab group Bin Laden was part of not only didn't take American help, they didn't want it. If they received any benefit from the support we gave the Pakistani ISI (and Al Qaida themselves deny it), it was purely incidental and unintended by us.

Bin Laden was NEVER "our guy."

Wow that's actually my avatar at Landover Baptist.

Nothing is going to happen here. The Saudis have given and continue to give Trump lots of real estate business. Just expect more of this.

a 375 dead lift is pretty respectable. But if he doesn't get his form fixed, one tiny glitch in his attention span and momentum gets the best of him then POW! a lifetime of crippling pain could await him. He'll be in a youtube GYM FAIL compilation if he doesn't start dead lifting from scratch with a much lower weight.

No, the blowback is an important part of it. They're currently threatening $200 a barrel oil prices if America dares try to punish them or impose sanctions.

This is a conscious effort on the part of the Saudis not just to do awful things, but to openly intimidate the rest of the world into letting them do those things without consequence.

adding to blow back, how does Turkey feel about all this? Sure we don't want to piss off the Saudis, but Turkey is a NATO member - do we want to piss them off? Quite a dilemma really.

At least one person has decided that they no longer want Saudi money after this.

Apparently, the Saudis are going to go with "interrogation that went a little overboard."

Of course, I'd want to know why the team brought along empty luggage to pack out a dismembered body if that wasn't the plan from the get-go.

After your boy Trump tried suggesting it was "rogue killers."

Perhaps like Boy Scouts they wanted to be prepared.

"Listen, Aziz, we really need to bring the luggage. I know--insha'Allah--we're not planning on killing the man, cutting him into pieces, and sneaking him out of the consulate. I'm just saying 'what if?'"

Saudis Insist Missing Journalist Was Already Dismembered Before He Left Consulate

maybe the team members are ex Boy Scouts - "always be prepared" and all that!

"He was like that when we got here!"

"Remember, Billy: bring along an empty suitcase so you'll have something on hand if you need to transport a severed torso. Be prepared!"

It's pretty telling that the best excuse they have gone with is calling their interrogators incompetently violent.

"How can he be dead? I didn't garrote him that hard."