Khashoggi's death is a tragedy. But its tragedy mustn't lead to confusion over its cause. Khashoggi was banned from Saudi media in 2016 for criticizing President-elect Trump—specifically the Crown Prince's (pre-election) plan to enter into a Mideast Marshall Plan with the Trumps.
2/ Based upon their public statements and actions, Donald Trump, Kushner and Mohammed bin Salman consider a free press a danger to their interests. But Khashoggi's belief in a free press was *not* the proximate cause of his murder; what he *did*—and *said*—with his freedom *was*.
3/ Nor can we ignore that in late '17 Kushner fed classified US intel—which could only have been secretly unclassified by Trump—to Mohammed bin Salman, thus allowing him to round up and in some cases kill his critics. Khashoggi's murder was encouraged by Trump policy and actions.
4/ Saying that Khashoggi died because of his belief in a free press is like George Bush saying that certain radical militants in the Middle East "hate our freedoms"—there may well be some truth to it, but the important stories are those that lie well beneath that simple rhetoric.
5/ Trump's decision to assist Mohammed bin Salman in covering up a gruesome murder makes no sense if we consider Khashoggi to have died merely because he supported a free press; if we understand that he posed a threat to bin Salman *and* Trump, things get much clearer—and *fast*.
PS/ "Mideast Marshall Plan" is how some have styled what I here have called the "six-nation grand bargain." I prefer my construction because the goal of the bargain was money for Trumps—using Qatar as a patsy—money for Russia, and "security" for Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel.
PS2/ That "security" is to be secured by Saudia Arabia and UAE gaining access to first nuclear power and then nuclear weapons—as Russia stands aside in the Middle East, at least with respect to its support for Saudia Arabia/the UAE's chief enemy, Iran.
That's no "Marshall Plan."
That's no "Marshall Plan."
