Saudi Crown Prince most hated in US?
America is sorely divided on the Jamal Khashoggi murder. The mainstream media is on a witch hunt. They want Mohammad bin Salman’s head on a platter.
Their joy will be immense if President Donald Trump abandons his main Middle Eastern ally in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia.
They would rather see Washington aligned with the Islamic triumvirate Turkey-Qatar-Iran. They are nostalgic of Barack Obama’s pro-Iran stance.
The killing of Khashoggi, a massive blunder by the Saudi Arabians, done in a Consulate in a country which is not friendly to the Saudis was stupid.
While it shows the desperation of the Saudis to get Khashoggi, it was too daring and miscalculated. Killing this Saudi dissident on Turkish land could only enrage President Recep Erdogan.
It gave the latter a powerful card. It became easier for the Turks to get cosy with the Americans. They hoped Washington would abandon the Saudi Crown Prince. But it did not happen. What will it take to get Trump on their side if such a murderous act did not?
The Turks are furious. The American MSM is furious too. But Trump is comfortable with the Saudi explanation of the death of Khashoggi.
The exasperated Turks want the Americans to get to the bottom of the true story. The true story is according to their version of facts.
The Turks had a better insight into the killing for obvious reasons. They were listening (secretly) while the dissident-cum-ex-intelligence-agent was being hacked to death. They did nothing to stop it, not that they could not intervene. The Consulate is on their soil, after all.
Nevertheless, MBS as the Saudi Crown Prince is called by the Americans is now the most hated man in America.
But not really in the whole of America. The media is venting their vengeance against the Saudi prince. Some business leaders decided to boycott the Saudis. But it is still business as usual for Saudi Arabia in the US.
What the media is not happy with is the close relationship the Saudi prince has with Trumps senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
But to get MBS into real trouble, the American media will have to see Trump, Krushner and the Republicans out of the White House.
The Washington Post had this to say on MBS: Trump’s first foreign visit as president was to Saudi Arabia.
In 2017, many in Washington, the American business community and the media fell in love with MBS.
His young and refreshing personal style was a radical departure from a history of geriatric Saudi leaders.
It says MBS wanted social liberalization for his nation, including cinemas (which had been banned), live entertainment such as concerts and, most of all, a policy that finally permitted women to drive cars, which he implemented in June.
His ambitious plans for economic transformation involved diversifying away from the kingdom’s dependence on oil; the Vision 2030 project was potentially lucrative for American businesses.
But Khashoggi came and died. This is not going to go away and the Saudi’s will have to learn to live with the American hatred once again.