Saudi Arabia: seeking security (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

Today I have renamed this thread, it was 'Failed Attack in Saudi Arabia' and after that attack had moved along to other internal issues of terrorism.

There is a parallel thread 'US policy with an ally like the Saudis...', it appears not to cover acts of terrorism and the Saudi response. It is at:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=2119

[davidbfpo]

Recent disorder in the Eastern Province received some coverage here and then faded away:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16543013

This link is to a background comment, although the author is Washington-based let's say his viewpoint is slanted:http://www.opendemocracy.net/joshua-...n-saudi-arabia

I know disorder in this reportedly mainly Shia minority dominated province has long been feared by outsiders, being adjacent to the oilfields.

[davidbfpo]

An odd IMO BBC World Service interview with a Saudi Princess in exile in Acton, West London:

... there are many changes she would like to see in Saudi Arabia - but that now is not the time for women to be allowed to drive.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17446831

If you Google Princess Basma Bint Saud Bin Abdulaziz there are similar intervews.

[BenR]

In my research in the topic of radicalism in Saudi Arabia I believe I have identified one of the primary underlying issues that drive this matter. This concerns the inability for the regime to create a reconciliation between modernity and the foundational elements of the Saudi state.

By this I refer to Abdul Aziz's utilization of the ultraconservative branch of Sunni Islam to unifying the tribes in place of what we in the west would view as nationalism. The very nature of Ibn Tamiyah's critique of progress that is latent within the doctrinal facets of Wahhabism leads to an underlying tension between material security (economy, military etc) and metaphysical security (narrative, norms, culture) within the modern Saudi state.

The overflow effect of this, of course, is a predilection towards violent offensive Jihad within a minority of the population who seem to find their underlying ontological outlook compromised by such a pervasive paradox.

[AdamG]

PARIS: Saudi Arabia has threatened military action against Qatar if it goes ahead and acquires Russia's top of the range S-400 air defence missile system, Le Monde daily reported. Citing information it had obtained, Le Monde said Friday that Riyadh had written to French President Emmanuel Macron asking him to intervene to prevent the deal going ahead and to help preserve regional stability.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/64427860.cms

[AdamG]

A year-long political conflict between the tiny, wealthy state of Qatar and its larger neighbours - including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - has been fought with a new arsenal of weapons: bots, fake news and hacking.

In the early hours of 24 May 2017, a news story appeared on the website of Qatar's official news agency, QNA, reporting that the country's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, had made an astonishing speech.

The quotes then appeared on the QNA's social media accounts and on the news ticker running along the bottom of the screen on videos uploaded to the agency's YouTube channel.

The emir was quoted praising Islamist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood. And perhaps most controversially of all, Iran, Saudi Arabia's arch-rival.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44294826

[davidbfpo]

Noticed this film is on release in the UK & USA and their website describes the film as:

PATH OF BLOOD depicts Islamist terrorism, as it has never been seen before. Drawn from a hoard of jihadi home-movie footage that was captured by Saudi security services, this is the story of Muslim terrorists targeting Muslim civilians and brought to justice by Muslim security agents. It is a stark reminder that all who are touched by terrorism are victimized by it. A powerful and sometimes shocking cinematic experience, PATH OF BLOOD reveals how brainwashed youths, fuelled by idealism and the misguided pursuit of adventure, can descend into madness and carnage. The raw, unvarnished footage, to which the filmmakers negotiated exclusive access, captures young thrill-seekers at a jihadi “boot camp” deep in the Saudi desert, having signed on to overthrow the Saudi government. They plot to detonate car bombs in downtown Riyadh, become embroiled in a game of cat and-mouse with government forces and, as their plans unravel, resort to ever more brutal tactics. Adopting a strictly objective approach, the film doesn’t editorialize and contains no interviews or “talking heads” commentary. The home video footage was shot by the terrorists themselves, allowing viewers to see them in all their complexity, while compelling audiences to draw their own conclusions.

Their website refers to a book:

It is co-authored by PATH OF BLOOD co-producer Thomas Small and director/producer Jonathan Hacker. Building upon the two years of research, the book draws on interviews conducted with members of the Saudi security forces, Western diplomatic and security officials, on- and off-the-record briefings from the Ministry of Interior and captured Al Qaeda terrorists. This access allows the authors to tell in detail the full story of a single Al Qaeda campaign and its defeat by the country’s internal security services. The Literary Review described the book as “A genuine page turner that offers some real insights…a fascinating piece of work... a grimly fascinating read...highly recommended.”

Link:http://www.pathofbloodfilm.com/

I have not seen the film, but is was shown this week in London.

[AdamG]

Prominent journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi was reportedly killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in what the paper's sources are calling "a preplanned murder." The Post said that neither source provided evidence to support this claim. Khashoggi, 59, was reported missing on Tuesday while visiting the consulate for paperwork needed to marry his Turkish fiancée. He was living in the U.S. for the past year in self-imposed exile following the ascension of Prince Mohammed

https://www.foxnews.com/world/washin...der-paper-says

Jamal Khashoggi was dragged from the consul general's office inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last Tuesday before he was brutally murdered by two men who cut up his body, sources close to the investigation have told Middle East Eye.

Turkish officials say they know when and where in the building the veteran Saudi journalist was killed and are considering whether to dig up the consul-general's garden to see whether his remains are buried there.

Khashoggi, 59, has been missing since last Tuesday when he entered the consulate to obtain paperwork so he could remarry, and has not been seen since.

Saudi officials have strongly denied any involvement in his disappearance and say that he left the consulate soon after arriving. However they have not presented any evidence to corroborate their claim and say that video cameras at the consolate were not recording at the time.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-1433170798

[AdamG]

It took seven minutes for Jamal Khashoggi to die, a Turkish source who has listened in full to an audio recording of the Saudi journalist's last moments told Middle East Eye. Khashoggi was dragged from the Consul General’s office at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and onto the table of his study next door, the Turkish source said. Horrendous screams were then heard by a witness downstairs, the source said.

"The consul himself was taken out of the room. There was no attempt to interrogate him. They had come to kill him,” the source told MEE.

The screaming stopped when Khashoggi - who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate on 2 October - was injected with an as yet unknown substance.

Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, who has been identified as the head of forensic evidence in the Saudi general security department, was one of the 15-member squad who arrived in Ankara earlier that day on a private jet. Tubaigy began to cut Khashoggi’s body up on a table in the study while he was still alive, the Turkish source said. The killing took seven minutes, the source said.

As he started to dismember the body, Tubaigy put on earphones and listened to music. He advised other members of the squad to do the same. “When I do this job, I listen to music. You should do [that] too,” Tubaigy was recorded as saying, the source told MEE.

A three-minute version of the audio tape has been given to Turkish newspaper Sabah, but they have yet to release it.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/e...oggi-829291552

[davidbfpo]

The current media and political furore over the suspected murder of Jamal Khashoggi inside Saudi diplomatic premises has taken on many dimensions, whilst ignoring many others. Notably the famine and deaths in the Yemen. Plus the actions of the Turkish government towards their own journalists.

Might the murder actually have an impact on the Saudis and their waging war in the Yemen?