Assassins and Murderers Without Borders: The Case of Jamal Khashoggi

2nd October, 2018 was a normal day in Istanbul and business activities were going on as usual. The world was about to witness a macabre incident which would shock everyone anywhere on this earth to the bone. He was just going for papers from the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul so that he will be able to marry his girlfriend, and also finalise his divorce with his first wife. But this man entered the consulate and never came out. His life ended once he entered the consulate. Little did he know that 15 assassins were waiting  to snuff the life out of him. Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who was once close to the Saudi ruling house but turned an avowed critic a year ago, had to leave Saudi Arabia because he felt his life was in danger. Reports suggest that before he entered the consulate, he gave his phones to his girlfriend who was waiting for him outside and told her to make a call if he does not come out after some time. She did exactly that when Khashoggi failed to come out of the consulate. Here comes the interesting part.
The Turkish authorities then told the whole world that they had evidence to back their claims of the journalist being killed inside the consulate. This was denied vehemently by the Saudi authorities claiming that Khashoggi left the consulate through the backdoor. After 17 days, the narrative from the Saudi authorities started to change. They were also not good at telling lies. They then with the palpable support of the Yankee president, Donald Trump fabricated the Rogue Theory, blaming Khashoggis death on some rogue elements within the Saudi Intelligence. Turkey then released pictures of 15 men with some being Saudi intelligence officers, a forensic expert and special forces flying in two separate private jets into Istanbul on the same day Khashoggi disappeared inside the Saudi consulate. Fast forward to the present day, gory details have emerged from the Turkish intelligence agency through the Turkish media of how Jamal Khashoggi was killed. The Saudis then threw in another lie by saying that the journalist died in a fist fight when he entered the consulate. They also told us that he died in a choke hold.
In my opinion, I hope the Turkish authorities release the full details of what actually happened to Jamal Khashoggi on that fateful day. Also, who will enter a consulate and fight with 15 trained assassins, knowing Khashoggi not to be a martial art expert? Why will 15 men be assigned to kill one man who is very harmless and cant even kill a fly? What happened to his body? Was this hit sanctioned by the Saudi authorities with Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman (MBS) being in the full knowledge of what went on in the consulate? Will these assassins ever be brought to justice?  Were the Turks spying on the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul all this while? How did they get to record what happened in there? I hope to get some answers to these questions. I am no security expert but just a harmless blogger who is so much concerned about what happens on the international scene.
From what we are hearing and watching in the media, it seems these assassins are without borders, meaning, when you are a critic of their government and you are on any part of the earth, you could be killed by them whenever they want to. This I find so disturbing and a very cowardly act because, the most feared intelligence agencies in the world such as Russias KGB/FSB, Americas CIA, Israels Shin Bet/MOSSAD and the British Mi6 will not even go this far, despite they also having their own methods of killing their enemies around the world. It seems the Saudis have upstaged these intelligence agencies with this new method and I know by now they will be scratching their heads as to how this happened. Hell would have broken loose if this brazen and dastardly act had been committed by the Russians or the Iranians, but the hypocrisy goes on as the world leaders are well measured in their condemnation of this heinous crime.

Stoking The Fires In The Middle East (Is Saudi Arabia Bullying Qatar?)

Once again the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf area is boiling as usual and several countries are involved in the proxy wars going on in the region. The Syrian civil war has been dragging on for about six years with no signs of an end to the conflict. Thousands of innocent civilians both women and children have been killed as a result of the various factions inability to resolve their differences. Then to add more fuel to the tension in the Middle East and the Gulf region, the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and Bahrainis are accusing Qatar of sponsoring terrorism in the region. Most of the trumped up charges against Qatar are either demonstrably thin, false or totally fake.

Are the Americans not aware they asked the Qataris to open an office for the Taliban in Doha so as to facilitate peace talks? Qatar has also been accused of supporting some of the rebel groups in Syria, but a number of the Gulf States are equally guilty of this. Qatar is also being accused of allowing Hamas a political presence in the capital, Doha. Qatar is also being accused of punching above her weight, that’s politically. The last accusation is that, Qatar has been financing the Aljazeera News network and providing platforms for persons and groups hostile to the US and Israel, and at the same time hosting the biggest US military base in the region. All these allegations being leveled against Qatar are the most ridiculous allegations being leveled against another sovereign country by a group of so called spotless countries. The most interesting thing about this whole saga is that, these allegations surfaced just after the visit of the US President, Donald John Trump to the region. I hope you are reading some meanings into this. Was he bribed by the Saudis with the billions of dollars which were exchanged for arms and military hardware? Who does not know that Saudi Arabia is one of the worst abusers of human rights in the Middle East and the world? The world is mute about that, and have even allowed the Saudis to chair the Human Rights Council at the United Nations.

The whole world knows that the Egyptians clandestinely supported Hamas, but Israel did nothing to counter that. Saudi Arabia has also been supporting so called moderate opposition elements in the Syrian civil war and have also been conducting a series of bombings in Yemen against the Houthi rebels and this has led to the death of many innocent civilians with women and children being the worst affected. As usual, the Qataris have refused to kowtow to the demands of the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia. Turkey has deployed thousands of troops and military hardware in Qatar to shore up the confidence and the strength of the Qataris. The Iranians are also sending food supplies and military hardware to support Doha. The Qataris have been given an ultimatum to stop supporting terrorists, to shut down the AlJazeera News network, close down the Turkish military base and other demands from Saudi Arabia and her allies made up of Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE. We all know that it is just a matter of time for the Russians and the Chinese to jump in. Saudi Arabia and her allies should not think of attacking Qatar, because they will forever regret doing that. There is too much hypocrisy being perpetuated in the region. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.”