The Saudi doctrine of suppressing dissent has a ruffian quality to its harshness. The silencing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by killing him in the kingdom's diplomatic post in a major world city raises new questions about the nature of Saudi authoritarianism under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Do they believe in any rules at all? This question must be asked.
Khashoggi fled the Saudi kingdom because he wanted to pose serious questions about the policy direction under MBS, the de facto ruler widely known by his initials. He knew the dangers of asking those questions in the new environment of fear in which you no longer had the option of merely obeying the ruler. Everyone was required to loudly cheer the new boss.
So much has been written about the savagery Khashoggi was subjected to inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. We have learned a great deal about his political ideas, his intellectual standing in Arabia, his proximity to power, his pleasant nature as an individual and to what extent the regime viewed him as a threat that someone at the highest level of the Saudi leadership had to order his murder.
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