Speaking to reporters on Friday, President Trump confirmed that he has not yet spoken to Saudi King Salman about the missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was believed killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Trump told the reporters that he will be calling the king “at some point” and speaking to him, saying only that “we’ll see what happens.” President Trump has expressed opposition to letting the death of Khashoggi impact US arms sales to the Saudis.
Khashoggi was a US permanent resident and a critic of the Saudi crown prince. The US has intercepts showing the kingdom was plotting to lure him into a situation where they might capture him. Turkish officials indicated that they have evidence he was killed and dismembered in the consulate earlier this month.
Trump had indicated his intention to take the matter to the “highest levels” of the Saudi government. It is not clear who, if anybody, he has spoken to about the matter yet.
Trump: Did you do it?
King: No, Iran did it.
Trump: Ok, thought so.
Result: More sanctions on Iran and more arms sales to the King.
Honestly I was surprised they didn’t already try that line…
King: Your boys hunt leopards; my boys hunt infidel journalists.
Trump: Fair point, but this bad publicity means I want a better deal on that swath of beachfront property in Yemen.
Let me share something. Beachfront property anywhere in the Red Sea comes with the boiling hit temperatures. On the entire coast if North Yemen, there is one town with one traffic light (Hodeidah), and a host of small, historic towns like Micha and Beith Al Faqih, both plundered by various European explorers of their historic heretage.
Joining Israel, Saudi Arabia will be the next nuclear power in the Middle East. So far it has worked well for them, focusing the world’s eyes on Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons program, while laying the groundwork and beginning the opening construction of their own, deep in the desert.
And who will provide the technology? They do not have scientific programs to pull it if on their own. I think they will go nyclear power plant route as Iran, to start hedging for future loss of reserves. They could continue selling more energy, provided they spend less domestically — hence nuclear. They will need it to keep on desalinuzation plants going.
Another reason that Iran and Saudi are looking at nuclear power is because they provide highly subsidized electricity to their citizens and don’t want the political upheaval that would come with stopping the subsidies. They want to produce that electricity with nuclear power instead of burning oil to produce it, so that the oil is available for sale on the foreign market.
Since Saudi Arabia has no plutonium it will probably need enriched U235 for its reactors. Iran already has/ can produce its own. Saudi Arabia cannot until they start an enrichment facility of their own. Would it not be something if they invited Iranian engineers to design and start their own enrichment facility? Of course they can find them also in Europe and here.
There is also a quantitative difference. SA has 32 million while Iran has 80 million citizens.
Safe storage of the radioactive products might be easier in mountainous Iran than in desert Saudi Arabia.
I expect the Saudis would just dig a big pit in the Empty Quarter and run a rail line out to it.
SA financed Pakistan’s nuclear program!!!
That I seriously doubt. However, it is little known how SA most likely helped Pakistan to get a nuclear arsenal. During the early 1960’s when a Dutch research laboratory was developing centrifuges for the enrichment of U235 the South Africans asked the Dutch government to allow a young SA engineer named Imo Bock to work at that laboratory. The Dutch government said yes but Imo cannot even get close to the development part of that lab. He never got any useful information for SA.
Fast forward to how the Pakistani Mr. Khan did steal the centrifuge secrets. He was employed by what was now Eurenco on exactly the same sort of request: can this young and promising engineer work for a while at your operating enrichment facilities? The stupid answer was yes (1) and the result was different. Khan did steal the secrets and got away with it.
I am fairly sure that this was not a coincidence. The SA’s advised the Pakistanis how to get him in.
(1) Apparently the advice of the Dutch government was not solicited. I am not aware whether the German government was consulted. Khan worked both in the Netherlands and in Germany.
“That I seriously doubt.”
Google, “A.Q. Khan, Saudia Arabia”, for starters!!!
Some of them are fine people…
Maybe they could get together again and stroke his orb. That would make all things clear… billions and billions flowing into someone’s coffers. That’s what Moon of Alabama thinks, anyway…
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/10/khashoggi-burial-negotiations-commence-saudis-will-cough-up-billions-to-settle-the-case.html#more
The title of the article does not match the content. No “questioning” is suggested. At some point — no rush — they will talk.
This looks more and more like Saudi Arabia is trying to provoke, and cause blood preassure to rise in Washington. Getting back to Washington over public humiliation of the Kingdom as the doormat that will not survive two weeks without US protection. So, now — whether the journalist is dead or not, there is obvious effort under way to calm the sutuation, niw not working in US favor. Which does not mean Saudi Arabia will accept this non-appology appology.
Trump has declared that he favors torture, and he (like other presidents) is heavily engaged in killing foreign innocents, so what’s the problem with one man from his favorite ally he will conclude, especially when so many US jobs are at stake.