Pompeo In Saudi discussing Khashoggi

guardian link

Mike Pompeo meets King Salman amid reports Riyadh may admit journalist was killed in Istanbul consulate

Told you this would turn out interesting

Pompeo landed in Riyadh on Tuesday morning and met the king immediately to discuss the crisis surrounding Khashoggi, who vanished two weeks ago during a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Speaking at the royal palace, where Salman greeted him, the US’s top diplomat thanked the king “for accepting my visit on behalf of President Trump” before going into a closed-door meeting. Pompeo will have dinner with the county’s powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, according to reporters travelling with him. He is then due to visit Istanbul, where a joint Turkish-Saudi investigation is under way.

It is indeed a crisis considering ...

In February 1945, King Abdul Aziz met President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal. A historic handshake agreeing on supplying oil to the United States in exchange for guaranteed protection to the Saudi regime is still in force today. It has survived seven Saudi Kings and twelve US presidents

(wiki)

Trump's take so far is like the Mayor making excuses for the mafia when the mafia has f-ed up .

So Pompeo is going to try and make a deal with the Turks

US media outlets reported late on Monday that Saudi Arabia was considering making a statement admitting that Khashoggi died inside the consulate building as the result of a botched rendition. Any such admission would be issued only after a deal was reached with Turkey on how the criminal investigation should proceed, the Washington Post reported, citing two US diplomatic sources.

Reminder : Diplomatic conventions allow the world's politicians considerable immunity , the consulate was only searched yesterday for example , two weeks after, and Pompeo can bargain with Turkey on behalf of the Saudis over a how criminal investigation should proceed . And then a false statement already being circulated can put a stop to the downward slide that the West and Saudi are experiencing .

While some of the American media can/will help this happen , the rest still want a piece of the action , especially while a lot of journalists get bumped off each year .

How can the Americans fulfill their long standing guarantee of protection to the Saudi regime (not exactly known for being nice or democratic) while keeping the president from suffering fallout when there's definitely evidence of murder ? That's a hard task for Americas top diplomat , could you do his job ?

Two places to focus :
1 The Washington Post - who immediately removed Kamal's content ' as a gesture of support' , are now circulating this 'un-named sources' report that they didn't mean to murder him . Do they have a price or are they being told what to do ?
2 The Turkish response - they possess a huge bargaining chip , a Dr.Bluechip of political capital - that they can raise against MBS Pompeo and Trump -
and they're using it to full effect -how are they going to proceed going forward ? If you were the Turks go to diplomat , what would you want from the US and Saudi to drop the inevitable murder charges ?

These are hard questions , I can;t answer them ! and what may Khashoggi necessarily have said about Trump when criticising the Saudis ? What we do know is you can;t find out easily now the content has been removed by the people he used to write for .

a reply to: DoctorBluechip

I say we cut ties with the Saudis and let them worry about their own security. Rumor has it they don't have that much oil left anyways.

Kind of hard for the world to take us seriously when we don't follow the international laws, nor do we expect our close allies to.

Trump can put his foot down, or he can just prove again he doesn't intend on changing the swamp past putting his people in it.

a reply to: DoctorBluechip

No worries. Pres trump has gotten the Saudis assurance that this was not a murder. Like he got a strong reassurance from Putin that they didnt meddle in our elections and like he got a strong reassurance from Roy Moore that he didnt meddle with young girls . Like he got from Rob Porter that he didnt beat his wives and like he got from Brett Kavanaugh that he didnt attempt to rape a fifteen year old girl. So of course we believe them because trump says they are trust worthy.

a reply to: DoctorBluechip

So they're going to say that it was a botched rendition that happened to see him just fall by accident onto that bone saw?
By the way, the Saudi King is alleged to have early stage dementia. Anything he says can be taken with an ocean of salt.
This whole thing stinks to high heaven but there's not a damn thing that Trump will do about it.

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

Or they might say that it was a violent interrogation that went wrong .

General : A question that needs answering is why did he go to Turkey in the first place ? To ask for a (marriage document?) he could have asked for in the US ? Why not send him to a more friendly country that wouldn't make a big deal out of it ?
Possible answer , it could be staged to draw out the many people inside the US and those inside and allied with Turkey who all want to see US ties with Saudi cut . You dont want to cut ties with them you'd give ground to Iran and pay more for oil losing influence in OPEC , and Israel would be in trouble from over exposure in the ME . It's vital enough that the debacle could form grounds for an ugly war at some point , so hunting the primary dissidents at home while at the same time heavily testing the resolve of the Turks might make sense

a reply to: DoctorBluechip

Thats the conspiracy I talked about in another thread.
He could have went to consulate here but he didn't.
Why?

Cause he was led there.
Why?
By who?

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: DoctorBluechip

I say we cut ties with the Saudis and let them worry about their own security. Rumor has it they don't have that much oil left anyways.

Kind of hard for the world to take us seriously when we don't follow the international laws, nor do we expect our close allies to.

Trump can put his foot down, or he can just prove again he doesn't intend on changing the swamp past putting his people in it.

Wow. I agree with you....

Our "relationship" with The House of Saud has been one of the most back assward policies evah!!

The sooner we cut them off the better.

I've been there. I've fought many of their proxy wars. They are penultimate a-holes.

Echoing Stinker

The Saudis have been a leech on America for far too long now. We should have cut ties with them in the mid 200s.

Not to mention that, if Cymraeg is correct, we would be buddy buddy with a dictatorship run by a madman which would not look good for "the greatest democracy in history".

originally posted by: TinySickTears
a reply to: DoctorBluechip

Thats the conspiracy I talked about in another thread.
He could have went to consulate here but he didn't.
Why?

Cause he was led there.
Why?
By who?

With most embassies and consulates, there's the slow way and there's the fast way of doing things. The slow way is that you send paperwork through the post. It takes weeks and might get lost or sent to the wrong address. The fast way is you book an appointment at the location and get it processed there and then.

So he wants to travel somewhere, so arranges an appointment to get the paperwork done. Someone in the Saudi high circles realizes that this might be the last chance to nab him, and arranges Team Surprise to be there for him.

He arrives at the embassy, they try and sedate him. Maybe the dosage was too strong, he had an allergic reaction, the shock gave him a heart attack. Now they have a stiff at the embassy and no way to dump the body since they are being
observed all the time. Diplomatic bags and a bone saw are the only option left.

a reply to: stormcell

Diplomatic bags and a bone saw are the only option left.

Saudis really think ahead. They just happened to have a bone saw for their innocent snatch and grab that went wrong.

It's almost like they're the victims.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: stormcell

Diplomatic bags and a bone saw are the only option left.

Saudis really think ahead. They just happened to have a bone saw for their innocent snatch and grab that went wrong.

It's almost like they're the victims.

Which fits the conspiracy that he was led there for that reason.
Possibly
By who

a reply to: TinySickTears

I think it was more of what another poster said, he made an appointment. They saw the window, poorly planned this, and took him out knowing the world wouldn't do a damn thing.

Just like Russia and the poisonings in England.

The easy thing, and the thing establishment Washington/west wants citizens to do is blame this on Trump.

Nations are starting to call the bluff on international courts. We routinely (not as much as years ago) rendition people with no charges and flimsy evidence to black sites for as long as years at a time and torture.

We passed a bill in 02' if any service member gets held for international war crimes we will not even stop short of invading the Netherlands to get them.

There are no rules and haven't been for the west, so people are calling the bluff and doing as they wish. I don't see that trend changing, and sanctions won't do a damn thing.

Imagine just for a second, if there had been a President Hillary Clinton, and this happened, and she refused to do anything about it and defended the Saudis because she had personal business interests with them?


The Republicans would rightly be tearing down the house about it.

a reply to: Painterz

Oh heavens no

Don't think even her supporters would be behind her if that were to happen

a reply to: Painterz

The Republicans would rightly be tearing down the house about it.

And the democrats would be defending it.

Hence why whataboutism doesn't do anything but make sitting on our hands possible.

originally posted by: Painterz
Imagine just for a second, if there had been a President Hillary Clinton, and this happened, and she refused to do anything about it and defended the Saudis because she had personal business interests with them?


The Republicans would rightly be tearing down the house about it.

Imagine? No thanks.

There is a multi-billion dollar arms deal and oil alliance at stake here. It would be risky to ruin it over some journalist.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Did he make an appointment though?
When?
How far in advance?

We all know he went in and didn't come out. So where is the body?

Then trump says it could have been rogue killers and the king firmlyvsaid they didn't do it.

Then they're going to release a statement saying otherwise.

Not saying blame trump but that does not mean we should believe him either.
He lies about everything.

He does cause he can. His minions eat it up.

Oh, trump said the king said he didn't do it.
Good enough for us

originally posted by: NiNjABackflip

originally posted by: Painterz
Imagine just for a second, if there had been a President Hillary Clinton, and this happened, and she refused to do anything about it and defended the Saudis because she had personal business interests with them?


The Republicans would rightly be tearing down the house about it.

Imagine? No thanks.

There is a multi-billion dollar arms deal and oil alliance at stake here. It would be risky to ruin it over some journalist.

Definition of morally corrupt ^^^

originally posted by: CriticalStinker

originally posted by: NiNjABackflip

originally posted by: Painterz
Imagine just for a second, if there had been a President Hillary Clinton, and this happened, and she refused to do anything about it and defended the Saudis because she had personal business interests with them?


The Republicans would rightly be tearing down the house about it.

Imagine? No thanks.

There is a multi-billion dollar arms deal and oil alliance at stake here. It would be risky to ruin it over some journalist.

Definition of morally corrupt ^^^

I wouldn’t trust middle-of-the-Road types to know anything about morals. We don’t know the facts of the case and any fire-breathing anger is born of wanton emotion.

a reply to: NiNjABackflip

You said we have billion dollar weapons deals. No we don't, corporations do, and they knew the risks of making them.

Oil deals, we don't need them, true capitalism isn't subsidizing industry with our military. Sink or swim, we have options aside from them.

Its not just the journalist, it's the fact they did it in someone elses country to a journalist who contributes to a US outlet.

There is however no excuse for the atrocities in Yemen.