Wow… is that really what you think is happening?
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When Putin does that he’s making a statement. This is why the disinfo campaigns are such a key element, to throw off the rubes and provide cover for his apologists while the people in the know (esp. those with the potential to be targets) hear the real message loud and clear.
These Saudi clowns, on the other hand, are just settling a personal score because they crown prince happened to be constipated the same day he got word Khashoggi might be visiting the consulate. “Get out the bonesaw, boys!”
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I’m trying to imagine, and then trying not to imagine, how a bonesaw would help with constipation.
/s
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A sharp-edged implement seems to be second only to money as the answer to any problem for the House of Saud, so I’m sure they get creative.
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Yes, I’m sure they always find some way to work it out.
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Gotta disagree with you there. Sometimes people die a lot faster than you planned.
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I’m got a strong stomach. Watched my twin daughters delivered by C-section. Even offered to help.
But my stomach did a weird back-flip when I heard that, and again reading it here.
Off point, but on topic: I want to yell at every journalist in the world to NOT attend the upcoming “Davos in the Desert” Or attend, but only report on other events. But the conference would just get cancelled to avoid embarrassment.
Also: I wish the Turkish intel or government would make an official statement. Another fantasy, I suppose.
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Did anyone else read this The Onion story? I had to read it 3 times, reallll sllloowww to understand the joke. Or the sarcasm. Or irony. I never passed grade 12 English! Blech!!
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They beheaded him a bit too much.
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…studied at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Melbourne. The institute confirmed that he didn’t cut anybody up (alive or dead) during his time here.
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via Twitter my u derstanding was they originally claimed it was via his Apple Watch, which recorded some things, then the Saudis unlocked it with his finger and deleted some stuff but not al stuff.
There were many issues with this - no finger print scanner on the watch being the first. Then, no LTE watch network access in Turkey apparently (I guess no telecoms doing virtual sims yet), leaving wifi connection, which he’d only get if his watch picked up the details from his phone, but apparently (again, all from Twitter) the Saudis don’t let phones in, and he left his phone with his partner, so unless she was sitting very close to the wall of the embassy, and his watch has better range than mine does, it’s almost a given the recordings came from bugs, and the Turks are trying to find a way to release them without exposing that they’ve compromised the embassy. Which given they’ve now just released them, I guess they’ve decided doesn’t matter any more.
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My guess would be that being a journalist in what turns out to have been perfectly justified fear of the government into whose stronghold he was about to go, Kashoggi took some sort of fairly covert recording & uploading device in with him.
It wouldn’t be too hard to smuggle that sort of thing past the security at the embassy. That just tends to consist of a couple of bored guys with one of those security arches and maybe a scanner for bags.
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Also in the onion: Trump: ‘The Only Way To Find Out What Happened At The Saudi Consulate Is To Send In More Journalists One At A Time’
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Not sure how much I agree with the Turkish claim, but I have no doubt it’s mostly correct. The Saudis had Khashoggi whacked. That’s how a barbaric regime rolls.
And it’s lovely how everyone has their undergarments all knotted up over it. Really!
But what about all the Yemeni civilians killed by the Saudis with America’s essential assistance?
And the way to reduce Saudi control over the west is by reducing the use of oil. Oil’s nasty shit wherever it’s from, but the Saudis obviously abuse the leverage most because of the quantity and quality of their oil. Our officials, elected or otherwise will never do what they should; vested interests have all the say on the issue. But we’re free to reduce our use of oil. The (actually) free market enables us to vote against the Saudis.
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I’m sort of with Avyctes on this one…
My thoughts, in order were…
(1) This is horrible. What sort of person does this?
(2) Someone recorded it on their phone. Someone else recorded the sound. Why?
(3) These recordings have got out. How? Why?
…and finally…
(4) None of this makes any sense. This is The Joker comic-strip level evil. If you want to make someone disappear, there are simpler and more reliable ways and means. Even the madder Ronam emperors understood that.
Yes, perhaps I am blanking out the live dissection of a rival for amusement only, because I can’t begin to process that. Perhaps I am more puzzled by the stupid risks and inefficiencies because that is something I can comprehend.
Brrrrrh…
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One factor in “incompetent” state assassinations might be an assumption on the part of the assassins that they are operating in friendly territory and the government (or elements in it) will help to cover things up.
For instance, the North Korean regime killed Kim Jong Nam in Malaysia, even though – or because – North Korea had business interests in Malaysia, which its spies could use for cover, and some members of the then-governing party were notably friendly to North Korea. The plan seems to have relied on the fact that Kim Jong Nam was travelling on a diplomatic passport under a false name, because North Korean diplomats protested that the body of “Kim Chol” was not handed over immediately and an autopsy was carried out without their permission.
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I don’t know, I think they need help at times. Remember the guy who “died after falling in his hotel room?” Falling multiple times, fracturing his skull in multiple places. Like the line from “Chicago,” “He fell on my knife. He fell on my knife 18 times.”
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Don’t know if it is accurate, but a reported quote from the recording of the assassination has the doctor advising them to “do this elsewhere” and being told by one of the others, “If you want to live when we return to SA, shut up.” Nice guys.
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