And I’m quite sure the Saudis claim that “they usually try to target only those who are either armed, or in a command and control situation.” The problem is that, every now and again, they make a “mistake”. Very similar logic and excuses as those used by the United States military when they kill a whole village or a mosque or even journalists.
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According to one high-ranking Arab source with access to intelligence and links to members of Saudi Arabia’s royal court, Qahtani was beamed into a room of the Saudi consulate via Skype.
He began to hurl insults at Khashoggi over the phone. According to the Arab and Turkish sources, Khashoggi answered Qahtani’s insults with his own. But he was no match for the squad, which included top security and intelligence operatives, some with direct links to the royal court.
A Turkish intelligence source relayed that at one point Qahtani told his men to dispose of Khashoggi. “Bring me the head of the dog”, the Turkish intelligence source says Qahtani instructed.
Skype is literally a killer app.
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I would say no, in this case you don’t give credit to AP, because the entire video was produced by Global News, intro and outro, the video feed did not specify AP, and/or they may not have an agreement or requirement to show such a logo in the Canadian market where it was produced. Print is different - it is standard convention to lead a newswire story with the source, unless the copy is integrated into another story by a writer or reporter. If this is your pet peeve, I suggest you get another pet.
Almost, but not quite.
The Saudis did have the expectation that they could make him disappear without it being quite this obvious how it was done. They attempted to manufacture evidence of Khashoggi leaving the embassy by stealing his clothes and having someone walk out past the security cameras while wearing them.
But they hadn’t counted on his wife being outside, or the Turks’ willingness to reveal the bugging of the embassy. The publication of the dismemberment details was not intended; Saudi espionage is not hugely competent.
They did intend for his disappearance to intimidate, but not quite in the way it has. And it wasn’t targeted at journalists per se; it was aimed more at the supporters of non-MBS factions within the Saudi aristocracy.
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Welcome to the world of Trump’s America. What some might consider an act of war, is now just a misunderstanding among close friends.
Make America Great Again, one murdered journalist at a time.
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One has to wonder what the hell kind of idiot covert operation voluntarily uses a service known for cooperating with at least one nation state intelligence apparatus that isn’t yours for a dramatic video call.
Even when nothing exciting is expected it’s a safe assumption that embassy internet is a bit of a party line; which makes using a mechanism whose integrity you can’t sensibly rely on a strange choice.
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The whole consulate internet should be forced through through a VPN, never mind only Skype. That’s base level stuff that they can hire reliable* people for if they don’t have the talent in house.
So, Turkey would have to have at least one of:
- Penetration of VPN security.
- A channel into Skype. (And how would US intelligence not have that?)
- A compromise of the consulate LAN security.
* Geek Squad isn’t reliable, just saying.
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Yeah I think we have found a candidate for the source of audio and video of the murder.
Plus the computer they used (was a it a normal laptop used around the office?)
And while we are on the subject:
Truly amateur hour.
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Oh interesting, I didn’t even watch the video. My concern was more with how BB used the two-paragraph quote and credited it to Global News, when the original piece was reported and authored by the AP and republished with permission by Global News.
So now I have the question of how does one properly credit a news article where the text was authored by one outlet and the embedded video produced by another.
In any case, now that you know I’m talking about BB’s quote, I don’t think there’s a need for the “I suggest you get another pet” snark.
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Haha, fair enough!
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