Tag: Turkey

Most Dangerous Country

Closing Thought–01Feb19

Years ago GW Bush gave his “Axis of Evil” speech…..these countries were named as the most dangerous countries….to refresh your memory……

I throw this out there because of a poll taken in Turkey….

According to a recent survey conducted by Kadir Has University a whopping 81.9 percent of Turks consider the United States the most dangerous country for Turkey.

Israel follows the US with 63.3 percent, according to the survey, titled “Turkey Social and Political Trends Research,” published by Turkish media outlets on Wednesday.

The opinion poll was conducted on 1,000 people over the age of 18 in face-to-face interviews between Dec. 12 and Jan. 4 in 26 provinces. The results of the survey, which has been carried out annually since 2010, were announced at a press conference by the university on Wednesday.

https://theantimedia.com/80-percent-turks-us-dangerous/

And this from an “ally” of the US….

Interesting, yes?

Greco-Turkish Mindset

We near the start of a new year and there is an old situation that is about to come to a head…..that would be the animosities between Greece and Turkey.

This “hatred” goes back to the days of Greek dominance of the region….think B.C.

It began back when the Greeks were a power and the Persians had the region of Anatolia (Turkey)….but that is a lesson for your World Civilization class….I would like to write about a more modern “hatred” that centered arounf the island of Cyprus……

This will help set the stage…..

The last “war” was in 1974 and the island was divided along Greek/Turkish lines…..1074 was a major conflict that the world  tried to find peace for the two sides….

Another quick reference to this conflict…..

The reason I brought the fact that Greece and Turkey have come to blows over their disagreements is because there is more news…..this time Cyprus is not the center of the “hatred”….but the island is always part of the disagreements….

This time Greece is pissed that Turkey has “invaded” their airspace without proper clearances….

Greece’s top military brass have fired off a set of unusually stern warnings to Turkey, threatening to crush its troops if they dare to land on any disputed islet in the Aegean Sea – but Ankara didn’t mince its words either.
Reacting to violations of Greek airspace by Turkish jets over the Aegean, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos warned that Ankara would pay a price.
“If they make the slightest move, we will crush them,” Kammenos threatened. Athens wants peace and harmony, he said, but it won’t “concede a single centimeter” of its land.
This may seem a small thing but nothing is too small when these two countries threaten each other…..
And Cyprus braces for the future.

Are The Kurds Screwed Again?

In the “Way Back Machine” we travel to 1991……The dust from Desert Storm is beginning to settle…..Kuwait is back in the hands of a restrictive monarchy and their oil pumps are on and pleasing the West…..Saddam is still sitting on the power throne in Iraq…and the US takes its victory lap this time using a new resource…the 24 hour news cycle…..the Kurds are starting to flap their independence wings thinking the US has their backs….after all look what they did for the Kuwaiti royals.

Short synopsis…they were screwed by the US and paid a high price for lack of support.

2003 the Kurds were turned to to fight Saddam once again……and when he was killed they were used to fight s new enemy….ISIS…..

That was Iraq….how about Syria?

Northern Syria has a large Kurdish population along the border with Turkey…..and there is the problem….Turkey claims them as terrorists and has been trying to rid themselves of the Kurdish population….and now the war in Syria has given them the opportunity to do what they have been wanting to do for decades…..eliminate the Kurdish problem.

The Kurds in Syria as the Kurds in Iraq are US allies and have been helping with the fight against ISIS….the US has funded and armed these allies and by all accounts have been a huge asset in the fight.

By now most know that the president has stated that he will be pulling the troops out of Syria…..but why did he make this decision that seems like a knee jerk reaction?

This action will leave the Kurds in Syria vulnerable to the Turkish onslaught to come…..

Did Trump make his decision after a phone call to Erdogan?

According to US defense officials familiar with the situation, President Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from Syria was made following a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This talk came following Erdogan’s threat last week to invade Kurdish eastern Syria, where US forces are deployed. Officials say that Erdogan essentially warned the US forces to “get out of the way” of the invasion.

US officials had been warning Erdogan against the invasion before that call. Immediately following the call, Erdogan claimed to have been given Trump’s blessing to go ahead with the invasion. It’s not clear, but the implication seems to be that Trump has agreed to get out of the way.

Other reports indicate that there have been debates of US policy in Syria, with respect to Turkey, for awhile, with some arguing that the US alliance with the Syrian Kurds was always temporary, and that the US alliance with Turkey is a long-term priority.

Now, it seems the US is trying to finish withdrawing from Syria before Turkey gets there, while Turkey’s Defense Ministry says that they are “intensely preparing” for the invasion, which they view as a “counter-terror” operation against the Kurdish YPG.

(antiwar.com)

Are the Kurds screwed again?

Of course they are.

Turkey is calling for genocide after talking to Trump on the phone?

Turkey said Kurdish militants east of the Euphrates in Syria “will be buried in their ditches when the time comes”, after President Donald Trump began what will be a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.

Trump’s decision to pull out completely was confirmed by U.S. officials and is expected in the coming months. The move stunned U.S. lawmakers and allies and upends American policy in the Middle East. For NATO ally Turkey, however, the news is likely to be welcome.

(reuters.com)

“Now we have Manbij and the east of the Euphrates in front of us. We are working intensively on this subject,” state-owned Anadolu news agency on Thursday reported Defence Minister Hulusi Akar as saying during a visit to a Qatari-Turkish joint military base in Doha.

“Right now it is being said that some ditches, tunnels were dug in Manbij and to the east of the Euphrates. They can dig tunnels or ditches if they want, they can go underground if they want, when the time and place comes they will buried in the ditches they dug. No one should doubt this.”

This does not sound like Turkey intends on stopping with the elimination of ISIS…..to me sounds like an Ottoman Armenian solution.  (if you do not know what that means then read a damn book)

Hopefully it is a coincidence that the Turkish statement and the phone call were so close together….but I have NEVER believed in coincidence.

Are The Kurds Screwed Again?

Saudis Feed Manure To The World

And Our Dear Supreme Leader is eating it up…….

I see the Saudis have a hard time coming up with the story of the death of Jamal Khashoggi…..reminds me of the ever changing story when they killed a busload of school kids in Yemen….

Their story here is also ever changing…..most times to the point of stupid!

But never let it be said that I would not try to give all the story to date…..a recap……..

President Trump is criticizing Saudi Arabia’s version of Jamal Khashoggi’s death—that the late journalist died in a fistfight gone wrong. “Obviously there’s been deception, and there’s been lies,” he tells the Washington Post, but adds that “nobody has told me” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for the death: “We haven’t reached that point … I would love if he wasn’t responsible.” He also downplayed Jared Kushner’s relationship with Mohammed (“They’re two young guys. … They like each other, I believe”) and made clear his position on a pending $110 billion US arms sale to the kingdom. “It’s the largest order in history,” he says. “To give that up would hurt us far more than it hurts them. Then all they’ll do is go to Russia or go to China. … With that being said, something will take place.” For more:

  • The chokehold: An unidentified Saudi official tells Reuters that 15 Saudi nationals confronted Khashoggi to convince him to return to Saudi Arabia, but overstepped their bounds by threatening to drug and kidnap him. When Khashoggi raised his voice, he was put in a chokehold and died. “The intention was not to kill him,” the official says.
  • Why, why, why: Doubters are pointing out holes in the Saudi story, the New York Times reports. Why did the royal court take 18 days to admit Khashoggi had died, after saying for two weeks he had left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul intact? Why would 60-year-old Khashoggi get in a fight with security agents? Why did the Saudi detail include an autopsy specialist?
  • More skeptics: Britain is among those who don’t believe: “No, I don’t think it is credible,” says Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab of the fistfight story, per Al Jazeera. Germany, Canada, France, and of course Turkey are among the doubters. The European Union is demanding a “transparent investigation” into Khashoggi’s death, the AP reports.
  • The body: Amnesty International wants Saudi Arabia to turn over Khashoggi’s body for an autopsy. The fistfight story is “not trustworthy and marks an abysmal new low to Saudi Arabia’s human rights record,” says an Amnesty director in a statement.

No “nonsense”: Two Saudi royal family members tell the Wall Street Journal that Prince Khalid al Faisal, an envoy of Mohammed’s, went to Turkey last month and heard an audio recording of Khashoggi being drugged, killed, and cut up right after he entered the consulate. “The audio does not have this nonsense about a fight that broke after an argument,” says one.

  • Twitter army: Saudi Arabia uses an “army of Twitter trolls” to harass critics of the kingdom—and Khashoggi was among their targets, the New York Times reports. Sometimes he took the attacks to heart: “The mornings were the worst for him because he would wake up to the equivalent of sustained gunfire online,” says a friend.
  • Saudi supporters: Saudi Arabia’s Middle East allies are praising Mohammed’s handling of the story, per Al Jazeera. Egypt commends his “brave and decisive actions” while state-run media in the United Arab Emirates praises his “directives and decisions … on the issue of Khashoggi.”
  • Times editorial: “Trump has been longing for some way to hang on to his soul mate Prince Mohammed and lucrative Saudi arms deals from day one, and he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief over the story the Saudis concocted after more than two weeks of lies and evasions,” per a New York Times editorial about the fistfight story.

According to one report, Khashoggi’s fingers were removed first—then his head.

The story they are trying to sell the hardest is that Khashoggi’s death was an accident……sorry guys but you do not bring a bone saw to an accident.

What should we expect from a barbarous nation like KSA….they behead bloggers for God sake…..this act of extreme cruelty is nothing new when writing about KSA.

Will we ever know the truth?  Doubtful.  Will the Trump gang of thugs accept the explanation?  That is once the Saudis settle on their story and stick to it.  Probably.

Khashoggi–The Story That Will Not Go Away

That is what the Saudis are thinking…..and guess what…it should not go away!

***This is a lot to read but please give it some time for there is much to be learned***

Our Dear Supreme Leader is acting as the front man the PR agent for the Saudis…..

President Trump Tuesday criticized rapidly mounting global condemnation of Saudi Arabia over the case of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, warning of a rush to judgment. In an interview with the AP, Trump compared the situation to the allegations of sexual assault leveled against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing. “I think we have to find out what happened first,” he said. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned.” Trump spoke Tuesday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Monday with King Salman. He said both deny any knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi, who entered their country’s consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago and hasn’t been seen since.

In Turkey earlier Tuesday, a high-level Turkish official told the AP that police investigators searching the Saudi Consulate had found evidence that Khashoggi was killed there. Also Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the king and crown prince in Riyadh and said later the kingdom had made a “serious commitment” to hold senior leaders and officials accountable if implicated in Khashoggi’s death. Trump said he hopes the Saudis’ own investigation of Khashoggi’s disappearance will be concluded in “less than a week.” Trump said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s trip to attend a Saudi investment conference is still on, but that it could be canceled by Friday depending on what the investigation finds. (Inside the Saudi consulate, suspicious new paint.)

I see his dumb fumbling supporters are on the same page as their Supreme Leader……..

Now to be honest…I think Turkey is up to something behind the scenes….I would not put it past them to cut a deal with the Saudis and the evidence they have collected.

President Trump has mused it might have been “rogue killers” who murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, while other sources are buzzing that Saudi Arabia plans to admit Khashoggi was accidentally killed during an interrogation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo got directly on the case Tuesday in Riyadh, where he was sent by Trump to meet with King Salman and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Reuters and CBS News report. After that sit-down, Pompeo was expected to dine later Monday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (aka MBS), who’s been linked to an order to abduct Khashoggi, an ex-senior US official tells the New York Times. Pompeo’s meeting with the king was “hastily arranged” and “short”; CNN estimates it lasted just 15 minutes, based on motorcade arrival and departure times.

State Department rep Heather Nauert didn’t reveal much about the meeting, other than Pompeo thanking the king “for his commitment to supporting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation.” Meanwhile, witnesses tell Reuters that Turkish crime scene officials scoured the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was last seen, for more than nine hours Monday, and a Turkish government rep says police are expected to go back Tuesday. CNN reporters noted that before investigators descended upon the consulate, they’d seen a cleaning crew head inside. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered a bit of eyebrow-raising insight into what authorities are focusing on. “The investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over.”

MbS is behind this and he has a dark side (go figure)…….

The disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has put the spotlight on Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS.

Since he outmanoeuvred his rivals to become Saudi Arabia’s de-facto leader in 2015, the 33-year-old has received favourable coverage in international media, with a multitude of reports focused on his economic and social reforms in the conservative kingdom.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/mohammed-bin-salman-dark-side-saudi-arabia-crown-prince-181015123719153.html

The Saudis probably spend more cash on lobbying than any other country…..and the firms that represent the Saudis are bailing from them…..

A Washington lobbying firm has told Saudi Arabia it will no longer represent the kingdom, as international furor builds over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A person familiar with the move says The Glover Park Group informed the Saudis on Monday of the decision. The person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Disclosure records filed with the Justice Department show the firm has been providing the Saudi Embassy with “government relations and communications counsel” for $150,000 a month.

The decision underscores the growing pressure facing Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi hasn’t been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago. He wrote columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Another lobbying firm, The Harbour Group, severed its contract with the Saudi government late last week.

(yahoo.com)

And the list keeps expanding…..hit where it hurts….in the PR bread box….

As I keep saying this story is far from over…..no amount of false starts will change the outcome…..

Would you like to know what the rest of the Arab world is saying?  Of course you would.  I would like to be fair so I have found what others are saying outside the realm of the Western Powers.

Palestine

On Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he offered his “full confidence” to the kingdom and thanked its leaders for their support of the Palestinians.

“Palestine was – and shall remain – on the side of Saudi Arabia,” Abbas said in a statement.

Palestinian sources told the Jerusalem Post they believed that the statement was issued at the request of the Saudi leadership.

Lebanon

Lebanese Minister Saad Hariri said in a statement also on Sunday that he stood in solidarity with Saudi Arabia “in the face of the campaigns targeting it”.

“The status of Saudi Arabia in the Arab and international communities places it among the central countries entrusted with the stability of the region and the support of the Arab causes,” he said.

“The campaigns against it constitute a violation of this stability and an unacceptable call to drag the region towards further negative developments.”

Last November, Hariri announced in a televised address from Riyadh that he was stepping down as prime minister of Lebanon, sparking concerns that he was being detained against his will.

After France intervened, Hariri was freed and rescinded his resignation the following month. He was named premier for a third term earlier this year after Lebanon’s first parliamentary polls in nine years.

Egypt

Ahmed Hafidh, Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesman, said on Sunday that the country was following the repercussions of Khashoggi’s disappearance with great “concern” and warned against using his case politically against Saudi Arabia.

“Egypt reaffirms its support for the kingdom in its efforts and positions dealing with this event,” he said.

Bahrain

Bahrain’s foreign ministry released a statement on Sunday emphasising the country’s support for Saudi Arabia in the face of those trying to harm the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is “the essential foundation for the security and stability of the Arab and Islamic worlds and the solid foundation and strong pillar of stability in the region,” the statement said, adding that Bahrain “rejects” the attempts to infringe on the “sovereignty, policies and prestige” of the kingdom.

Yemen

Yemen’s president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi – who has been living in exile in Riyadh since 2015, after the Houthi movement captured significant territory in the country – affirmed its “full solidarity” with the kingdom.

“The cheap political and media targeting of Saudi Arabia will not deter it from continuing its leading role in the Arab and Islamic worlds,” the president said in a statement reported in Saudi media.

Arab League

The Arab League affirmed on Sunday its rejection of any political pressure applied on Saudi Arabia in relation to the Khashoggi affair.

“It is totally unacceptable, in the context of relations between countries, to wave economic sanctions as a policy or tool to achieve political goals,” an Arab League official told Wafa agency.

“Concerning the disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi authorities have clearly stated their cooperation in ongoing investigations.”

Iran

Saudi arch-rival Iran said on Monday it would adopt a wait-and-see approach to Khashoggi’s disappearance.

“We prefer to wait until more details and facts are revealed … It is too early to comment,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told a news conference, broadcast live on state TV.

Most of these testimonials are disingenuous at best….they are protecting their butts by all this fake acceptance.  The one statement that got my attention was that the Saudis were an anchor for the stability of the region….truth is anyone that knows the Middle East should get a good chuckle out of the statement.

I will be watching and writing…..

I did not have to wait long for the BS from Our Dear Supreme Leader……he casts doubt on anything happening……his ass scratching supporters to follow suit….

With Saudi Arabia working on the exact language of their admission that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in their consulate in Istanbul, President Trump is shifting his policy toward increasingly vocal defense of the Saudis, and blanket denials that the Saudis are doing anything wrong.

Talk of punishment if found guilty is drying up, and now President Trump is complaining that the media is treating the Saudis as “guilty until proven innocent,” despite having admitted himself that he’d also heard the Saudis are working on an admission that they in fact killed Khashoggi during a “botched interrogation.”

Trump appears content to take the word of Saudi officials as absolute insisting that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied any knowledge of what happened in the consulate, and citing the king’s promise of a full investigation.

(antiwar.com)

Then there is graphic recordings…..

A pro-government Turkish newspaper published a gruesome recounting Wednesday of the alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, just as America’s top diplomat arrived in the country for talks over the Washington Post columnist’s disappearance, the AP reports. The Yeni Safak report cited what it described as an audio recording of Khashoggi’s slaying, which it said showed the writer was tortured. The newspaper said Saudi Consul General Mohammed al-Otaibi could be heard on the tape, telling those allegedly torturing Khashoggi: “Do this outside; you’re going to get me in trouble.” The newspaper said one of the Saudis torturing Khashoggi replied: “Shut up if you want to live when you return to (Saudi) Arabia.”

The report adds to the ever-increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Khashoggi, who vanished Oct. 2 while visiting the consulate to pick up paperwork he needed to get married. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held separate meetings with Turkey’s president and foreign minister for around 40 minutes each on Wednesday in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Pompeo met with Saudi King Salman and his son, the 33-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on Tuesday. Before leaving Riyadh, Pompeo told reporters that the Saudi leaders “made no exceptions on who they would hold accountable.”

Does anyone out there believe the words of a lying d/bag like Pompeo?

There’s a bit more…….

…….an audio recording of the slaying. Khashoggi—who was also drugged, per the Wall Street Journal—was dead within minutes, but not before his fingers were cut off, the official said.

Khashoggi was beheaded, then his body dismembered, the official told the Times. Putting on headphones, a doctor of forensics advised others to do the same, claiming music made the work easier, the official said. Like the Yeni Safak report, the official cited audio recordings said to have been obtained by Turkey. After noting Tuesday that the US should “be smart” to avoid losing a “$110 billion order” for arms from Saudi Arabia, per the Journal, President Trump said Wednesday he had requested access to the audio. But as Turkish police searched al-Otaibi’s residence in Istanbul, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he’d be patient. It’s “reasonable to give [the Saudis] a handful of days more to complete [their investigation] so they get it right,” he said, per CBS News.

So I Have Written!

Khashoggi: Then And The Future

This is a lot to read….but this situation needs to be understood…..please try to keep up.

Interesting turns around the Khashoggi assassination…..our Dear Supreme Leader has issued his warning to the Saudis and it is about as limp dick as he could possibly be…..

President Trump continues to grapple with the uncomfortable situation surrounding the disappearance and likely murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, promising “severe punishment” if the Saudis are to blame, but also making a series of comments that show a reluctance to threaten traditional US-Saudi ties, and business relationships.

The $110 billion in arms deal with the Saudi kingdom are a big reason why Trump is so close to them, as selling arms has been a top administration priority. It is also the obvious place to cut amid a diplomatic crisis, though Trump has consistently opposed that idea.

Trump argues the US would “be punishing ourselves” if they lost the $110 billion deal, saying it would be “very foolish” to lose all that. He claims there are other options for punishing the Saudis, but is mum on what those are.

Analysts say that while this may further harm Saudi support in Congress, the administration is content to “sweep it under the rug,” so long as the Saudis continue to compensate them in the form of lucrative arms deals for politically well-connected US companies.

(antiwar.com)

Trump’s envy…the boy king to be of Saudi Arabia is just silly……he, Trump, tries to hold their dicks while sounding like he expects some sort of result from the Saudis….

What were Jamal Khashoggi’s last thoughts, as he was being dragged out of the Saudi consulate general’s office in Istanbul by two men and realised that he had walked straight into a trap?

Khashoggi was no newcomer. He knew how Saudi consuls and embassies worked. He himself had worked in two of them: Washington and London. He knew the beast, the way it thought, the way it acted, the way it smelt.

He also thought he knew the rules. He had worked for Turki bin Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief. The rules of the game were brutal, but they were rational. There were clear red lines. If you knew about them, you could calculate the risks you were taking.

https://theantimedia.com/trump-boy-king-mohammed-bin-salman/

The Saudis have bowed up and planted a flag that they will be bend……at least the EU is acting like a world leader while the American bites his lower lip in anticipation……

Saudi Arabia says it rejects any “threats” of economic sanctions or political pressure regarding the disappearance of a Saudi writer—and European nations are calling for an investigation, the AP reports. In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency on Sunday, the Saudi government said it will respond to any steps taken against it over the vanishing of Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi stocks plunged nearly 7% Sunday after President Trump went on 60 Minutes and said that “we’re going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment” if US officials find that Riyadh ordered Khashoggi’s murder. Khashoggi went missing when he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials fear Khashoggi was killed and dismembered, allegations rejected by Saudi officials.

Meanwhile, Germany, France, and Britain are calling for a “credible investigation” to establish what happened to Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi and seek a “complete and detailed” Saudi response. The German, French, and British foreign ministers said in a joint statement Sunday that defending freedom of expression and ensuring protection for journalists are key priorities and that they are “treating this incident with the utmost seriousness.” They said there must be a credible investigation to establish the truth and “if relevant” identify those responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance. “We encourage joint Saudi-Turkish efforts in that regard, and expect the Saudi government to provide a complete and detailed response,” they added.

These power crazed Saudis have started beating their chest like sex crazed gorillas in response to possible sanctions…….

Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange plummeted on Sunday, with the index down some 7 percent in early trading on fears of international sanctions over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In comments likely intended to address the domestic investors’ concerns, Saudi officials issued a statement threatening “greater action” against the US and other Western nations for any actions taken related to Khashoggi’s disappearance and presumed murder.

Saudi state media published an opinion piece from one of their managers saying the kingdom is ready to implement measures against the US economy that would result in oil prices skyrocketing. He added that “if Washington imposes sanctions on Riyadh, it will stab its own economy to death.” The same piece also suggested an end to US-Saudi intelligence sharing, and a Saudi-Russian alliance.

The threats are a similar tack to the Saudi threats in 2016 surrounding the US Congress planning to strip them of sovereign immunity over their role in 9/11. In that case, Saudi officials also openly threatened to destroy the value of the US dollar by flooding the debt market.

While historically the combination of economic threats and juicy military contracts have been enough for the Saudis to get their way in almost all things, and that’s clearly the message officials are attempting to send to investors, there is a risk that such overt threats are going to further rile a US Congress that is already furious about the Khashoggi affair, and speed up the path to measures like arms sales restrictions.

(antiwar.com)

Seriously?  Does anyone believe the Saudis will make good on the oil threat?  Okay if you think they have the cajones to do so then I also have a plot of land in Florida that I will sell be the gallon.

These spineless Saudis are threatening the EU not the US for they know that they are protected here by of so many of our politicians.

After thumping their chests in a macho fever they then had a coffee and decided that they need to look as if they would cooperate…….

With international pressure on Saudi Arabia seeming to intensify by the day, the Saudis have agreed to a joint inspection of their consulate in Istanbul with Turkish officials. The inspection will take place Monday, almost two weeks after journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering the facility, reports the AP. The Turks say that a Saudi hit team murdered and dismembered the frequent critic of the regime inside the consulate, while the Saudis say he left unharmed. Over the weekend, President Trump warned of “severe punishment” if the Turkish allegations are true, while the Saudis suggested that they could torpedo the world economy in response to any penalties.

In another sign of the pressure building on Saudi Arabia, JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon announced that he would not attend the marquis Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. Other business execs had previously announced they would skip as well, but Dimon is the biggest world financier to pull out, reports the Wall Street Journal. He had been scheduled as a featured speaker. JPMorgan has ties with Saudi Arabia that go back to the 1930s, notes the newspaper.

The list keeps growing of companies pulling out of the “Davos of the Desert” in Saudi Arabia…..https://www.businessinsider.com/businesses-cutting-ties-with-saudi-arabia-over-jamal-khashoggi-disappearance-2018-10

Finally an article entitled “The Saudi Collapse”…..an interesting read indeed….

The Saudis are doubling down on their denial that they had anything to do with the disappearance of Washington Post journalist and sometime Saudi insider Jamal Khashoggi: “enemies of the Kingdom,” they say are responsible. Nowadays that includes an awful lot of people, as the Washington cognoscenti rush to distance themselves from a regime once hailed as an exemplar of “reform.” It’s a stampede for the door, and soon there will be no on left standing: one rarely sees a collapse like this, at least when it comes to entire countries. One minute they’re on top of the world with Donald Trump, playing with swords and getting away with murder: the next minute they’re international pariahs.

https://original.antiwar.com/justin/2018/10/14/the-saudi-collapse/

This situation is no done……but Our Dear Supreme Leader to generate something that can replace the focus of the media.

What will it be?

After writing draft more news has come out…..this is for all those naysayers that doubt the news…..the Saudis have given confirmation (sort of)……

Saudi Arabia is preparing to say that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed by mistake during an interrogation that went too far, CNN reports. According to two unidentified sources, the Saudis will claim that Khashoggi was interrogated without clearance, and those behind it will be held responsible. But one source says the Saudi report is still in progress and might change. CNN’s story adds to an earlier New York Times report that Saudi Arabia plans to blame Khashoggi’s death on a “tragically incompetent” intelligence official. That official wasn’t identified but is apparently a friend of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  (There goes another head!)

“We are hearing from the sources at this stage that [the operation] was not carried out with the proper clearance,” says CNN’s Clarissa Ward on the air, per the Hill. “There will be plenty of people who will have difficulty swallowing that narrative, [saying] it’s hard to believe anything of this nature, of this sensitivity, could possibly take place without those in power in Saudi Arabia … being privy to it on some level.” Trump said earlier Monday that “rogue killers” may have murdered the journalist, whose death was apparently recorded on his Apple watch.

Kinda sounds like their excuses for killing children in a bus in Yemen…..total bullshit and waffling…..typical of the cowards we now embrace.

I will agree on one part….if the world is going to make this an important news item then so should the deaths caused by the Israelis…..and the Apartheid State they have created.

I have Written!

The Saudi Connection

There is a lot of info in this post and will take time to take it all in but it is a subject that deserves your attention…..the murder of a journalist for doing his duty has to be a crime against freedom and humanity.

I have been following and writing about the plight of WaPo journalist Khashoggi…….https://lobotero.com/2018/10/10/a-price-to-pay-to-criticize-the-saudis/

In the days since I wrote my piece more has come to light….

Turkish officials have stepped up accusations against Saudi Arabia over the apparent assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, saying that the order to assassinate him came from the “highest” levels of the Saudi royal court.

On top of this, Turkish officials named 15 Saudi men that they have identified as “operatives” involved in the assassination of Khashoggi. The group included a Saudi special forces member, two royal guards, and a chief in the internal security agency.

Saudi officials have denied that anything at all happened to Khashoggi, saying he entered the consulate on October 2 and left unharmed. Turkish officials claimed unspecified confidential intelligence that he is dead. His body has not been found, but there has been no sign of him since this visit.

Turkey even his video of this putative assassination team, who all arrived in Turkey on two Gulfstream jets. That Turkey was so easily able to identify this group, and that they arrived in such a conspicuous manner suggests that the Saudis did little to cover their actions, and may even have figured being implicated would intimidate other dissidents.

(antiwar.com)

Even Trump has weighed in but his words are hollow knowing the relationship his family has with the Saudis…..

President Trump has confirmed that he has talked to officials at the highest levels of the Saudi government as well about the matter.

Trump says he want the US to get to the bottom of the incident. He told reporters that the US is “demanding everything” and considers the matter a very serious situation, adding the US is working closely with Turkey.

(antiwar.com)

Our Congressional entities have demanded also……

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke to reporters Wednesday, reporting that it would be a “game changer” if the Saudis had in any way mistreated Khashoggi. Since early indications are that the Saudis had him killed and chopped into bits, that’s going to be tough for Graham to back away from if this turns out to be the case.

Sen. Graham and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) both warned there’d be “hell to pay” if the Saudis were behind the journalist’s disappearance. It seems that’s an even safer bet, and while Graham didn’t want to elaborate on what that meant, he did say he thinks the Saudis “know what it means.”

(antiwar.com)

A game changer?  Seriously?  Why do I not believe a damn word these tools say?

Then there is a piece that says that US intel could have warned the journalist of his impending fate…..

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/10/us-intelligence-had-a-duty-to-warn-khashoggi-why-didnt-that-happen.html

I shall continue to watch this story and ask those questions that need answering…..

And this is the bullshit that I was talking about….this from Our Dear Leader……..

A new twist in the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi: American officials knew months ago that Saudi Arabia was plotting against the journalist, sources tell the Washington Post. The sources say US intelligence intercepts discovered a plan to lure Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi monarchy, back to the kingdom from him home in Virginia and detain him. The operation was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the sources say. Several of Khashoggi’s friends tell the Post that Saudi officials had called him repeatedly in recent months to offer him protection—and a government job—if he returned to his homeland, but he said he “didn’t trust them one bit.” Turkish authorities believe Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi agents during a visit to the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate on Oct. 2.

President Trump vowed Wednesday that he would “get to the bottom” of the case, the BBC reports. “We cannot let this happen to reporters, to anybody,” he said. But he said blocking US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, a move some lawmakers are calling for, could be a step too far, the AP reports. “I think that would be hurting us,” Trump said. “We have jobs, we have a lot of things happening in this country … and frankly I think that that would be a very, very tough pill to swallow for our country.” A bipartisan group of senators urged Trump to impose sanctions on anybody found responsible for the disappearance. GOP Sen. Bob Corker, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said “everything points to” Saudi involvement. (An Apple Watch could reveal what happened to Khashoggi.)

What kind of person authorizes the dismemberment of another human being?

Further news as of the draft date…..

I wasn’t planning to write about the barbaric murder of my friend, Jamal Khashoggi. We were supposed to be sharing a panel at a conference two weeks from now.

The Saudi journalist, who disappeared a week ago while inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, has been executed by a Saudi hit squad with Islamic State-like barbarity.

Some may think that a murder at the Saudi consulate, which – according to the rules of diplomacy – is considered Saudi territory, is merely a Saudi problem. However, this incident may create the perception that any Saudi diplomatic mission could be a potential crime scene.

https://theantimedia.com/barbaric-murder-jamal-khashoggi/

Time for these Saudis to act like a civilized country or turn them into an international outcast they should be….

Politico ask a question that we all should be asking…….

President Donald Trump’s desire to maintain strong ties to Saudi Arabia is facing its biggest test yet: allegations that Riyadh ordered the killing of a dissident Saudi journalist who had been living in the United States.

Calls are mounting for the Trump administration to find out what happened to Jamal Khashoggi. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have taken steps to force a government investigation. Khashoggi’s fiancée has pleaded for Trump to “help shed light on Jamal’s disappearance.” The fury has grown after a Washington Postreport that U.S. intelligence knew of Saudi plans to abduct Khashoggi, raising questions about whether the administration failed to warn the journalist.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/10/trump-saudis-journalist-disappearance-890411

My guess that he will get some vague crap from the lips of these murdering swine and say that he accepts their lies.

The American Conservative sees it differently……

There has already been a significant response from members of Congress to reports of the Saudi government’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Sen. Rand Paul is proposing to force a vote to halt all military assistance and ties to the Saudi military:

This week, I intend to introduce another measure to cut all funding, training, advising, and any other coordination to and with the military of Saudi Arabia until the journalist Jamal Khashoggi is returned alive.

Sen. Paul’s proposal is consistent with the “fundamental break” with Saudi Arabia that Sen. Chris Murphy spoke about a few days ago. It is a break that has needed to happen for many years, and the Saudis’ latest crime may prove to be the last straw for many people in Congress.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-overdue-backlash-against-saudi-arabia-has-started/

All I can say in closing is…..do not trust Rand Paul to do the right thing….he has failed to do so time after time.

Leave it to Our Dear Supreme Leader to put a price on a human life…..an arms deal is the price.

This is so sad that this asshole could be the president of my country!

Turn The Page!

Updated 12Oct18 0625hrs…..

Turkish officials say they have audio and video evidence proving that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and murdered inside Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate. The officials, speaking under condition of anonymity, tell the Washington Post that the audio evidence is extremely graphic. “The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered,” one source says. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured, and then murdered.” Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that Turkish officials have shared the evidence with their American counterparts and are discussing how and when it should be publicly released. The Post‘s sources say officials are worried that releasing the recording will reveal that they spy on foreign consulates.

President Trump confirmed Thursday that investigators are looking into the disappearance of Khashoggi, who was a US resident, but he rejected suggestions US arms sales to Saudi Arabia should be cut off, the Guardian reports. “I don’t like stopping massive amounts of money that’s being poured into our country,” he said. “They are spending $110 billion on military equipment and on things that create jobs for this country.” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the Saudi ambassador to the US, Khalid bin Salman, returned to his homeland Thursday and the US will expect information from him when he returns. The ambassador is the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who allegedly ordered a plot to lure Khashoggi from Virginia back to Saudi Arabia.

A Price To Pay To Criticize The Saudis!

The big international story right now is the possible assassination of a WaPo journalist, Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey…..

Missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey by a 15-member team dispatched by Riyadh specifically to murder him, two Turkish officials tell the Washington Post. “It was a preplanned murder,” one says. A third backs up that account. “The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Mr. Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul,” the official tells the AP. “We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate.” Khashoggi friend Turan Kislakci told the AP on Sunday that officials told him, “He was killed, make your funeral preparations. We called a few other places, these are lower officials, but they said: ‘We have evidence he was killed in a barbaric way.'” Khashoggi was made to “faint,” then dismembered, officials told him.

Khashoggi, who wrote for the Post and often critically of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was at the consulate to complete paperwork so that he could marry his Turkish fiance. Saudi Arabia, which contends that Khashoggi left the consulate without incident, pushed back on the report, saying that an official at the consulate “expressed doubt that they came from Turkish officials that are informed of the investigation or are authorized to comment on the issue.”

Further incidents keep pointing to some sort of wrong doing by the Saudis…..security film has gone “missing”……

Security camera footage was removed from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and Turkish staff were abruptly told to take a holiday on the day the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared while inside the building, Turkish authorities have claimed.

A week after Khashoggi vanished in the heart of Turkey’s biggest city, details of the investigation into his disappearance continued to point towards Riyadh having ordered Khashoggi’s seizure.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/09/khashoggi-case-cctv-disappears-from-saudi-consulate-in-turkey

At late events are changing almost momentarily…….Turkey will be given access to the Saudi consulate….but any evidence will be long gone, IMO……

Turkey said Tuesday it will search the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul as it investigates why journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished there a week ago, an extraordinary probe of a diplomatic post amid Turkish officials’ fears the writer had been killed inside the building. That Saudi Arabia would allow foreigners to enter a consulate and search it shows the growing international pressure the kingdom faces over the disappearance of Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post who has criticized the Saudi government. The Saudis have called allegations of any involvement in his disappearance “baseless,” but had no immediate comment on Turkey’s announcement. It remained unclear when the search would take place, reports the AP.

So far, the kingdom has offered no evidence in the past seven days to show the 59-year-old ever left the building, as a new surveillance photo surfaced that showed him walking in on Oct. 2 to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancée. The door Khashoggi used appeared to be the main entrance of the consulate in Istanbul’s 4th Levent neighborhood, a leafy, upscale district that’s home to several other consulates. The consulate has other entrances and exits as well, and Saudi officials insist he left through one of them, though they have offered no surveillance footage or evidence to corroborate their claims. Two Turkish officials previously told the Post they believe a 15-person team killed him within the consulate and possibly dismembered him, though Turkey has provided no evidence to that end. Read more on their claims here.

I have been waiting for someone in our government to do more than shake their head and say “those darn Saudis” under their breath…..Rand Paul steps up……

The latest fallout from the disappearance and presumptive murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi could see the Saudis losing their main source of arms. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says he intends to force a vote on blocking further US arms sales to the Saudi kingdom.

Sen. Paul announced the plan on a local radio show, saying he hopes to force a vote in the Senate by the end of the week which would force a full halt to US arms shipments if there is “any indication” the Saudis are behind killing Khashoggi.

(antiwar.com)

I would like to see this criticism go deeper than Paul for he has proven to be a media whore looking for headlines more than change.

The more we see of this crown prince ,MbS, the more savagery we see around him….is this the ally we want in an unstable region?

On This Day In The Middle East

You guys know how I like to drop some history some of the time…well today in 1974 was a memorable day in Middle East history……Turkey invades Cyprus……Greece and Turkey fight to a stalemate…..

In July 1974 a chain of events resulted in Turkey invading Cyprus under the pretext that it was a peace operation to bring back peace and stability to the island. The outcome of this invasion has been far reach and still impacts the island and its inhabitants today; it also impacts Turkey and the wider global powers too.

The outcome of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus has resulted in Turkey recognising the independence of the north of Cyprus from the south, but no other country doing so. To find out more about this Turkish invasion of Cyprus read on.

http://www.thefinertimes.com/War-in-The-Middle-East/the-turkish-invasion-of-cyprus.html

The island is still divided between Greek and Turkish interests…..but there is some movement to a peaceful end…..

https://legationes.wordpress.com/2016/01/08/the-greco-turkish-animosities/

https://lobotero.com/2018/02/21/turkey-gets-cocky/

Your history lesson is done for the day…now that did not hurt right?

Syria’s “Manbij Model”

There seems to be a deal brewing for some sort of ceasefire for Northeastern Syria between the US and Turkey……it is being called the “Manbij Model”….

The US and Turkey finally reached a deal to jointly administer the strategic city of Manbij following the YPG’s withdrawal from it, and this promising agreement is being touted as a model for Ayn al-Arab (more popularly known in the Mainstream Media by its Kurdish name “Kobani”), Raqqa, and other population centers in the northeastern agriculturally and energy-rich one-third of Syria under American-Kurdish SDF occupation. The working concept as articulated by Turkey at the moment but importantly unconfirmed by the US is to gradually return to the pre-war ethnic status quo in the region either by physically reversing the effects of anti-Arab and –“Turkmen” ethnic cleansing (which is unlikely) or at the very least not recognizing its political consequences in the sense of refusing to allow the minority Kurds to be the majority stakeholders in each city that they’ve conquered.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-manbij-model-turkey-us-deal-for-northeastern-syria/5643287

A ceasefire is always more preferable than the shooting and killing however in this case I want to know where the Syrian input is……US and Turkey are invaders and now occupiers and last I looked Syria was a sovereign nation whether the like the leadership or not…it still is a nation and we should have no say on the control of its territory or its people.