Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who had Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi murdered, chopped up and dissolved in acid, is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden. Biden is visiting the Middle East in order to ask Saudi Arabia to ramp up oil production to make up for the shortage of Russian oil created by his sanctions. If I were the president, I would be nervous—especially since he just published an op-ed justifying the trip in the Washington Post.
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Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Presumably President Dirty Harry will be getting some tips from MbS on how to deal with Julian Assange when his extradition lands him on US soil.
Khashoggi has been, and continues to be, a quintessential, cynical media tool and distraction. I am not disparaging his writing decrying the repression of the Saudi regime but he fact that his former readers (and newly manufactured fans who have never read a single word he wrote) are/were supposed to revere his work to the total exclusion of that of alive, barely alive (e.g., J.A., above) and dead (i.e., “cleanly” assassinated) US/Western journalists who have revealed worse repression by their own governments. (Anyone with an example of a US journalist writing about US repression in the Washington Post is cordially invited to provide relevant links.)
The US is the worst in this regard because its repression affects many more people and blatantly contradicts the “values” of founding documents, the alleged absence of which “values” in other countries, is used to justify perpetual political, economic and military intervention to restore or establish said values … while co-incidentally/conveniently gaining control of interesting assets and resources and maintaining its global hegemony.
To be clear, US media has no more genuine concern for Khashoggi nor his demise that it does for Ukraine. (Certainly, however, the meticulously detailed method of his demise is an important tool in its constant domestic terrorization … as were the recent spate of ISIS beheading videos.)
Re the apparent point of the cartoon: it should be clear that Saudi Arabia, having been called a “pariah” by Pres Dirty Harry in Khashoggi’s former outlet, will obey US demands as readily and completely as did Russia after Joe (both his feet, and few feet of advisers, -in-mouth) Biden called Putin a Godless murder … thug … bloody dictator … war criminal, etc.
Ted. You have a typo in you paragraph about the illustrated laughing square. You state that Biden will “ask.” Biden will either “cut a deal that gives him a portion of the loot” (i.e., a kick back), or Biden will “beg on his knees.” The premise that Biden has any leverage of any kind to approach this on equal footing in a legitimate fashion (i.e., not a scheme both sides are in on) is not supported by the facts. Further, the reality is that, despite what the Fox News types think, you can’t scale oil production. This isn’t like adding some water to the soup if an extra guest shows up. Even if the Saudis want to help Biden (and why the hell would they?) it will take time, and a lot longer than the midterm elections date.