Can someone explain why MBS had Jamal Khashoggi killed?

[MicaelS]

I thought MBS was a big economic and social reformer, yet he has Khashoggi killed in such a brutal fashion?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Khashoggi was critical of the Saudi government.

[raccoon]

3. Right, and I think MBS wanted to make an example of him. Nt

[Cold War Spook]

4. That's pretty much it.

Trump thinks that this is a great thing.

[LakeSuperiorView]

8. Khashoggi was far more critical of the tRump misadminstration.

[brush]

20. His name was on the Saudi enemies list given to him that Kushner...

purloined from US intel. I doubt if it was a coincidence that one of the other names on the list was the rival Saudi royal who was imprisoned in a hotel in Riyahd and not released until he coughed up 1.2B, the amount Kushner needed to pay his debt on 666 5th Ave.

The trump clan are all grifters and crooks and use their positions in government to enrich themselves.

Khashoggi was just a journalist, no billions to his name.

[HipChick]

2. Because he knew the US is being led by a dumb dumb coward..

Who won't say a peep about it...

[WhiteTara]

5. Also critical of trump

Remember when Putin told trump to point out the troublesome press to him? Well, MBS took it one step further; it was nothing to him. MBS wants nukes.

[Me.]

6. He Wrote Critically About The Orange Lump

[shanny]

7. Reformer? um, no:

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/middle-east/2018/10/jamal-khashoggi-mbs-and-myth-youthful-reformer

[MicaelS]

13. Great link. Thanks n/t

[pecosbob]

9. Some say he was not the advocate of reform others would make him out to be

https://opensociet.org/2018/11/23/what-information-did-jamal-khashoggi-know-that-got-him-killed/

George Soros is the founder of this group, so take it for what you will...

In this context, Khashoggi’s vocal stance against MBS was deeply political. Khashoggi was an insider whose criticisms channelled the perceptions of others inside the monarchy. The assassination of Khashoggi must be understood, then, not as the Kingdom seeking to crush the dissent of a strident independent journalist – but rather to extinguish somebody who was once an integral part of the Saudi royal establishment, but who was now challenging the authority and integrity of the Crown Prince.

In other words, Khashoggi was the casualty of a wider war inside the Saudi Kingdom between different factions of the ruling elite.

The gist is that he was critical of MSB's arresting half the royal family to consolidate power.

[MicaelS]

12. That is what I was looking for. Thanks! n/t

[Xipe Totec]

10. Yes, the CIA director, Gina Cheri Haspel. nt

[Sneederbunk]

11. In addition, MBS is dumber than he looks.

[RockRaven]

14. If you thought MBS was a social reformer, you bought hook, line, and sinker the PR spin

which the corporate media unthinkingly repeated and delivered into your news diet. Just like every other Saudi Crown Prince and King of the past few decades -- go back and look, they're always presented as reformers and modernizers. At the same time the Saudis started to officially allow women to drive, they were jailing and killing the people who had agitated for that exact change.

MBS is just another vicious and violent authoritarian ladder-climber.

[MicaelS]

15. Looks like you are right. Thanks n/t

[smirkymonkey]

16. Thanks for the question.

I was looking for more of an explanation as well.

[MicaelS]

19. You are quite welcome. n/t

[NotASurfer]

17. Think of Saudi Arabia as a 15th century feudal kingdom

navigating the 21st century, with the added influence of protecting and preserving the most sacred sites in one of the world's major religions as a layer justifying the overt actions of a king suppressing voices of dissent

[struggle4progress]

18. "We Saudis can do whatever we want, and I wanted to kill him"

[Cicada]

21. He came out against the war in Yemen

[Iggo]

22. First and foremost, he's a killer.

He's a gangster who is also a royal with political power, and he thought he could get away with it.

And so far it looks like he was right.

[Hekate]

23. To make an example of hm to any other journalists who dare criticize the Saudi royals. nt