Khashoggi, who comes from a very rich family<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, has long served the Saudi regime in editorial positions and was the media adviser to Prince Turki al-Faisal during his tenure as ambassador in London and Washington. He left Saudi Arabia last year out of fear of being targeted in the ongoing crackdown by clown prince Mohammad bin Salman. He ended up writing mildly critical columns<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for the Washington Post<\/em>. Khashoggi is no liberal but a staunch supporter of the Saudi system and its brutality. He had praised<\/a><\/strong><\/span> the beheading of Syrian soldiers by ISIS as an “effective psychological military tactic” and supported the abhorrent Saudi war on Yemen.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the Turkish police, Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 at 13:12 to receive his divorce documents and never came out. On the same day, 15 Saudi citizens had come to Istanbul on two planes and were in the consulate building when Khashoggi was there. They later left Turkey. Anonymous Turkish police sources claimed that the team of Saudi agents killed Khashoggi after he entered the consulate, hacked up his body and took the remains with them. That horror story is unlikely to be true. Turkey, itself the biggest jailer of journalists, has bad relations with Saudi Arabia and supports its arch-rival Qatar. The Saudi government has a long record<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of kidnapping<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and bringing back<\/a><\/strong><\/span> prominent Saudis who fled the country. It does not off these people in foreign places.<\/span><\/p>\n The bootlicking ‘premier’ western publications<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, especially<\/a><\/strong><\/span> the Washington Post<\/em>, lauded Mohammad bin Salman as a reformer. He never was one. He said so himself in a recent Bloomberg<\/em> interview<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. Nor did any of his predecessor, who were all lauded as reformers<\/a><\/strong><\/span> by the mainstream media, ever really change the archaic Saudi system. But when MbS visited the United States this spring every Silicon Valley billionaire, including Washington Post<\/em> owner Jeff Bezos, was happy to have his picture taken with him<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n But no one kissed bin Salman’s ass as affectionate as Tom Friedman. Take this from last years most embarrassing<\/a> fanfiction<\/a><\/strong><\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n We met at night at his family\u2019s ornate adobe-walled palace in Ouja, north of Riyadh. M.B.S. spoke in English, while his brother, Prince Khalid, the new Saudi ambassador to the U.S., and several senior ministers shared different lamb dishes and spiced the conversation. After nearly four hours together, I surrendered at 1:15 a.m. to M.B.S.\u2019s youth, pointing out that I was exactly twice his age. It\u2019s been a long, long time, though, since any Arab leader wore me out with a fire hose<\/strong> of new ideas about transforming his country.<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"friedman](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/friedman-artist-conception.jpg\")
<\/a>