Comments on Chicoms, Obama, Khashoggi, Saudis, Marine reservists, Antifa, allies and the media

More from commenters at the Ace of Spades blog.
Circa (insert year here) commented,

How many people do the Chicoms disappear on a daily basis?

Blago commented,

...I honestly see more outrage over this from the media than all the people from Saudi Arabia that perpetrated 9/11,

x commented,

if you're a mouthpiece for al quada I'm not going to give two shits if someone cuts lips off and dices you into insinkerator size chunks

Jane D'oh commented,

Marine reservists were maced and attacked by Antifa activists in Philly. Caught on video. Jane also wonders if Khashoggi's name is on the White House logs when Barry was president. Another comment from Jane: Remember Barry bowing (deeply) to the Saudi's? I do.

Boswell commented,

The media are every bit as cold and hard bitten as the house of Saud - and every bit as conniving.

TexasDan commented,

...If you want any leverage at all with your marriage of convenience ally, you absolutely keep your mouth shut.

citizen cake commented,

The Saudis are not our friends, and a lot of the modern strain of Islamic radicalism can be directly traced back to them.

BUT...

They're our allies because there's a bigger menace than the Islamists right now - a nuclear Iran running unfettered in the Gulf.

Pretending to care

Are you, like me, totally ignorant about the Katyn Forest massacre in World War II? Ace of Spades gives us a thorough explanation here.The US and Britain had evidence that the Soviets carried out the murders of Polish citizens at Katyn, but said nothing about it during the time when the Soviets were fighting the Nazis, our enemy in World War II.

Ace then goes on to elaborate about the killing of Khasshoggi, a Washington Post "journalist" with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda, enemies of the United States and its allies.

As Ace points out,

Sometimes in war you excuse war crimes by your allies.

There is a war going on, with the Islamist dictatorship Turkey, the deep-pocketed, Western-media-purchasing Qataris, and the Islamist terror state of Iran on one side, and the Saudis, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt (post-Muslim Brotherhood, of course!) and Israel on the other.

And suddenly, the media is covering Yemeni civilian deaths -- something they never covered at all when it was a president they helped elect, Barack Obama, who would be harmed by exposing the civilian deaths and questioning the US' involvement in the war.

Odd, isn't it?

I've said this before myself, but Dave Reaboi said it on twitter recently: The Democrat Party is dedicated to the idea that there are no External Enemies, no foreign enemies. They think this makes them elevated and peaceful.

But they do have enemies -- and their enemies are Internal Enemies, also known as "other American citizens."

And the only time the Democrats or their media Broadcast Communication Shops start pretending they've discovered a new External Enemy, it's really all just kabuki to fight the only war they care about, the war against their internal enemies, their domestic opponents.

The media did not care about Yemeni casualties in 2016 and it does not care about them now. This is about taking down a hated domestic enemy -- Trump -- and rewarding their fellow partisans in the leftwing army by improving Iran's position.

The media did not care about all the actual US citizens Iran killed in terror attacks, both soldiers and civilians on cruise ships, and never for one second thought such piddling concerns ought to stand in the way of Ben Rhodes' and Barack Obama's diplomatic efforts to give Iran the nuclear bomb.

And it also does not care that Saudi Arabia killed a "reporter" who was, as some reporters are (especially in this area of the world), actually a partisan for an enemy faction.

But they'll pretend they care -- again, to get Trump, and to prop up Rhodes' and Obama's Iran Initiative.

The media and Democrats have no enemy but one: you, and all normal, non-leftist Americans.

And if you see them ginning up a moral panic about a supposed foreign enemy, you better take great heed, because what they're really doing is mounting an offensive against you.

Brawl, fistfight, death

Mark Tapscott reports in Lifezette,

Jamal Khashoggi was killed by an unknown person when an argument became physical, and blows were exchanged in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, according to a state media report late Friday.

“Discussions between citizen Jamal Khashoggi and those who met him while he was in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul led to a brawl and a fistfight, which led to his death,” the report said, according to multiple U.S. media outlets.

The Saudi state media said the government’s investigation of Khashoggi’s death has resulted in the detention of 18 individuals who apparently had some role in the October 2 incident. The government’s investigation is not yet complete, so some or all of those detained could be released or charged.

Read more here.

How they do it

John Hudson reports in the Washington Post,

The United States received a payment of $100 million from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the same day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh to discuss the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a State Department official confirmed Wednesday amid global calls for answers in the case.

Read more here.

Khashoggi's connections

JJ Sefton wrote yesterday in the of Ace of Spades blog,

The other big story continues to be the fallout with this Jamal Khashoggi Washington Post correspondent who went missing in Istanbul and has been presumed to have been assassinated by the Saudis. While the media here and abroad is desperate to use this as some sort of cudgel to beat the President with and perhaps split our alliance with the KSA, some interesting developments have come to light. It turns out that Khashoggi is not only vehemently opposed to the reform-minded young Saudi Prince and his agenda, he is/was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, has a connection to Osama Bin Laden and, surprise-surprise! the mullahs in Iran.

Questions about the Khashoggi affair

In The Federalist, Lee Smith has ten questions that need to be answered before buying the press narrative on the disappearance of Khashoggi.

. Is There Evidence Khashoggi Was Murdered?
...In one of the few leaks from the U.S. government, an intelligence official told CNN there is no hard evidence as to whether Khashoggi is dead or alive.

Why Has Turkey Asked Saudi Arabia to Join Its Khashoggi Investigative Team? ...This makes no sense. If Saudi Arabia is suspected of abducting or killing Khashoggi, its involvement in the investigation would compromise the probe, even giving a potential suspect opportunity to tamper with evidence. Further, if there is audio and video evidence that a Saudi team killed Khashoggi, as Turkish and U.S. media report, there is no need for an investigation—the case has already been solved.

Are Internal Turkish Issues a Factor in the Khashoggi Affair? ...The discipline shown in the messaging campaign—accuse Riyadh through leaks and reveal nothing in public—suggests Erdogan is managing the Khashoggi file directly.

What Does the Khashoggi Affair Have to Do with the Gulf Cooperation Council Cold War? ...it’s clear that Erdogan sees the Khashoggi affair as an opportunity to advance Turkish interests against Qatar’s rivals.

Is the Release of Pastor Brunson Related to the Khashoggi Affair? ...There were rumors in July of a deal to free Brunson. The United States helped win the release of a Turkish terror suspect held by Israel, but instead of releasing Brunson, Ankara put him under house arrest. The Trump administration sanctioned Turkish officials, and warned that an already damaged Turkish economy was vulnerable to more sanctions. ...The fact that Ankara is bargaining with Riyadh suggests that the Turks were looking to improve their position by giving the Trump administration something it wanted. Thus the release of Brunson is almost certainly related to the Khashoggi affair.

Did U.S. Intelligence Know the Saudis Were Planning an Operation Targeting Khashoggi?

How Did a Man with Extensive Ties to Intelligence Services as Well as Extremist Groups Get a Green Card?...Khashoggi was an adviser to former Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal when he was ambassador to London, then Washington. Khashoggi reportedly joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970s and continues to advocate for political Islam. He called the late Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden a friend and mourned his death. It appears that Khasshogi may have been something like Riyadh’s back channel to al-Qaeda, at least prior to 9/11. ...So how did a former Saudi official with ties to intelligence services, connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, and a long history with a terrorist responsible for nearly 3,000 deaths on U.S. soil obtain permanent resident status?

Khashoggi must have important American patrons, because even though he reportedly moved to the United States in 2017, he already had a green card. According to the Washington Post’s David Ignatius: “Friends helped Khashoggi obtain a visa that allowed him to stay in the United States as a permanent resident.” So who vouched for him and why? ...It might be useful to put these questions to former CIA director John Brennan. He was station chief in Riyadh from 1996-1999, when Khashoggi’s patron Turki al-Faisal was head of Saudi’s general intelligence directorate.

How Much of U.S. Press Coverage and Expert Opinion Is Shaped by the Pro-Iran ‘Echo Chamber’? ...Obama’s signature foreign policy initiative was not only or even primarily an arms control deal. Rather, the JCPOA was purposed to realign U.S. interests in the Middle East, with Iran as the favored partner and traditional American allies, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia, downgraded.

Obama-era officials rightly saw the Trump administration as a threat to undo Obama’s policies. Trump not only got out of the Iran deal but also underscored the centrality of America’s traditional alliances. He made his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia and moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. ...How much is U.S. reporting and opinion regarding the Khashoggi affair shaped by the pro-Iran echo chamber? Nearly all of it.

Why Are Some DC Public Relations Firms Now Worried about Representing the Saudis? ...Since Trump looks with favor on Saudi and the UAE, the media considers them enemies, too.

Why Are Conservative Policy Analysts and Journalists Advising Trump to Go Hard on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman? ...A meltdown in the Persian Gulf may affect global stability in ways that no one can fathom—including the experts, analysts, and pundits who now counsel punishing MBS, even though they, like virtually everyone else, have no idea what is at the bottom of the Khashoggi affair....

Read more here.

"They flew in an expert in bone-sawing!"

Mark Steyn: Saudi Arabia is basically ISIS with diplomatic recognition! There are no good guys in this (Khashoggi) story.

"Manufactured geopolitical propaganda"?

Sundance writes in the Conservative Treehouse,

Everything surrounding the “disappearance”, perhaps “murder”, of Saudi critic/journalist Jamal Khashoggi screams manufactured geopolitical propaganda. All current narrative indications are pushing in one direction. Here are the warning flags:
♦Flag #1 – Jamal Khashoggi in self-exile, worked for The Washington Post, and was hiding behind ‘residency’ in the U.S. WaPo is a notorious left-wing intelligence propaganda outlet for the most politicized elements within the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

♦Flag #2 – Turkey (Recep Erdogan) pushing the narrative. Erdogan is a notorious liar when it comes to his interests, and a master manipulator. Turkey/Erdogan is the most openly staunch supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and has a self-interest in distracting/deflecting U.S. economic pressure from their ongoing relationship with Iran.

♦Flag #3 – Saudi Arabia [Mohamed Bin Salman (MbS)] has been instituting political and cultural reforms that are antithetical to the advanced objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood, Recep Erdogan (wants new Ottoman Empire), and extreme Islam.


♦Flag #4 – The voices behind the U.S. push to promote the Jamal Khashoggi story are all aligned in one purposeful and ideological direction. Former Obama officials including: John Brennan, Samantha Power, Valerie Jarrett et al, are all pushing the story in a transparent effort to create division between the U.S. and KSA and by extension benefit their Muslim Brotherhood and Iranian allies.

♦Flag #5 – The left-wing, highly political, intelligence apparatus – and all DC interests are joined by the notorious right-wing members of the UniParty war machine. [Rubio, Sasse, Flake, Schumer, Menendez, et al] Together with the exact same left-wing media voices (right and left), and all the political ‘think-tanks’, who advance the DC drumbeat. Yes, the gang is all back together again in their high-brow pontification of ‘muh values‘.

♦Flag #6 – The story is being pushed into U.S. media outlets by a notorious Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece, Khaled Saffuri:

[I]n the past 24 hours we now have a glimpse of exactly who is feeding the establishment media reporting on the Khashoggi matter — including at least one source who was tied to a joint Libyan intelligence and al-Qaeda plot to assassinate the Saudi crown prince.

Khaled Saffuri is the protege of al-Qaeda fundraiser Abdurahman Alamoudi, who is currently serving a 17-year sentence in federal prison for his role as bagman for the Libyan/Al-Qaeda assassination plot.

Those last two paragraphs are from Patrick Poole, writing in PJ Media.