A TALE OF TWO CITIES, A TALE OF TWO MURDERS: Reflections on, and Ramifications of, the Khashoqji Affair.

The first city, obviously is Istanbul, and the “murder,” if that is what is really was, was that of Jamal Khashoqji.

The second city is Buenos Aires, and that murder will be exposed later in this essay.

The purpose of this essay will not be to determine the right or wrong of what happened in Istanbul in October of 2018, nor is it to justify murder and assassinations of any sort–especially not those conducted in an embassy or consulate which should be considered sanctified places of safety for all citizens of the country that owns the facility.

Rather, the purpose of his essay is to examine motivations and point out winners and losers from this event so that readers may better understand the large-scale geostrategic ramifications of the Khashoqji affair.

WHERE’S THE BEEF?

Remember that old burger ad where the old lady asks “where’s the beef?”  Well, in the Khashoqji case we all have to ask “where’s the beef, or body?”

Y’know, when you sit down to read a murder mystery novel, the first thing you see (read about) is a dead body.  Then you spend the rest of the novel trying to figure out “who dun it” as you pick up clues along the way.  Real murders are solved in much the same way.

But, in the Khoshoqji case everything is turned on its head.  We had the crime (murder) identified, and the perp (Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman) identified from the very first day–without there being any actual evidence of a crime.  There was no body, and there still isn’t any body.  Yet, we know who “did” it.  Now isn’t that funny?

THERE WAS JUST TOO MUCH THAT DID NOT ADD UP

One thing that made me very, very suspicious from the very beginning about this whole affair was that everything we learned about the case, every shred of intelligence, was provided by Turkish intelligence and police entities.

Since Turkey is a “loyal” NATO “ally,” everyone in Washington from our senators down to the dregs inhabiting the Washington Post building believed every word that the Turks said.  However, those who are familiar with the history and the current events of the Middle East (in terms of who hates whom, who is allied to whom) had to take every word coming out of Turkey with a huge train load of salt.

Not that the Saudis are all that trustworthy.  I ordinarily wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them–but I trust the Turks far less.  Not only has loyal NATO ally Turkey become the planet’s #1 state sponsor of terrorism (sorry Iran, you’ve been demoted), which renders everything they say or do suspect, but, you see, there is an historical enmity between Saudi Arabia and the Turks that goes back centuries which plays a role in their current actions and opinions of each other.  Unfortunately all of our policy makers, and opinion makers (the media), seem to be ignorant of that history, which in turn leads to misjudgments on far too many critical issues.

TOO MUCH HULLABALOO

Another thing that made me very suspicious about this whole issue was the excessive hullabaloo over it.  I’m not saying that killing people is a nice thing to do, but dictators snuff out journalists all the time with nary a whimper of protest from the media figures making such a fuss like they did over this one.  This essay, by design, is more about double standards than it is about the rights or wrongs of assassinations.

Considering that all of the fuss was being generated by Erdogan’s Turkey made me doubly suspicious.  No one on the planet has been as abusive of journalist than has NATO “ally” Erdogan.  For example Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent who had been very critical of Erdogan was gunned down in a drive by shooting as he left his place of employment on 19 January 2007.  Of course, Turkish authorities were able to determine years later that the perp was . . . (drum roll, please) . . . one of those dastardly Kurds.  Since then Erdogan has had hundreds of journalists jailed, tortured, and probably worse–without the slightest whimper of protest from the same media entities making such a big deal about the Khashoqji affair.  Funny, huh?

As if all of that wasn’t enough, the Arabic language satellite TV channel al-Jazeera was devoting nearly all of their programming to the Khashoqji affair 24/7 regurgitating every single word coming out of Turkey as gospel, while adding much of their own anti-Saudi propaganda to sweeten the pie.  Why?

Why in the H%$# does al-Jazeera care so much about a controversial Saudi Journalist who went missing in Istanbul?  Because al-Jazeera is based in Qatar, and Qatar has been declared a supporter and a financier of terrorism by Saudi Arabia who had Qatar kicked out of the Gulf Cooperation Council based on those charges.  Because, in fact, Qatar does support terrorism in Libya and elsewhere, and supports and hosts the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the fountainhead of all Sunni terrorism–and Khashoqji was a key member of the Muslim Brotherhood.  And, al-Jazeera is a pro-Brotherhood channel.

Erdogan’s ruling AKP is a clone of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Turkey supports the Brotherhood’s efforts worldwide, including 24/7 efforts to topple Egypt, a key ally of Saudi Arabia.  And, oh, BTW, as soon as the Kingedom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and its allies kicked Qatar out of the GCC, Qatar alligned itself with Iran and fellow MB supporter Turkey.  Turkey now has military bases in Qatar with about 10,000 troops.

KHASHOQHI’S SHADY PAST

Before we get into Khashoqji’s relationship with the Washington Post, and why U.S. politicians are so obsessed with punishing the alleged perp Muhammad bin Salman (MBS), we should take a quick look at Khashoqji’s profile.

Khashoqji was a high school buddy of Usama bin Laden.  They both joined the Muslim Brotherhood together and had the same goals of establishing a “true” Islamic State as a prelude to reviving the Caliphate.  However, they took different pathways to accomplish those goals.  Khashoqji thought he could help bring it about through subterfuge, via the pen and “bait and switch” techniques.  Usama bin Laden was more honest.  He believed that revolution and violence was best and quickest way.  In fact, before pulling the 9/11 incident, he openly declared war on the United States not once, but twice.

Khashoqji, BTW, blamed the Jews for 9/11 so as to deflect blame from his old buddy, then he admitted to crying when bin Laden was finally killed.

(The above section taken from The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright which in turn was based on the author’s interviews with Khashoqji himself).

THE TURKEY CONNECTION

American media made much hay about Khashoqji being a journalist for the Washington Post.  In fact, he was only a stringer, contributing an occasional Muslim Brotherhood propaganda piece disguised as journalism.  He spent as much, or more, of his time in Istanbul where he contributed articles to several Turkish news entities.  Turkey, remember, is essentially a Muslim Brotherhood-run country that helped ISIS get started, and continued to finance them during their rampages across Syria and Iraq.  Turkey, of course, continues to finance and supply arms for terror groups across the Middle East as well as conducting its own “ethnic cleansing” operations in Iraq and Syria.

This puts the lie to the American media and politicians eulogizing this individual as some great champion of free speech and a free press.  He was no such thing.

Yes, I know, the media will defend their position by saying that Khashoqji founded an organization called DAWN (Democracy for the Arab World Now), which sounds to touchy-feely sweet to naïve western ears (because they think that it proves that he was a champion of Democracy and the free press and freedom of speech that the moniker   implies).  Problem is, to the MB “Democracy” is just a tool that they can use to gain power, after which they can jettison it like the Mursi regime was doing in Egypt before they were deposed.

Khashoqji’s hero, Turkey’s president Erdogan, once said that “Democracy is a train.  We will ride that train until it takes us to where we want to go, then we’ll get off that train.”

It would be foolish to think that Khashoqji’s world view was any different.

THE FIANCE

Another element of this affair that did not add up was the Fiance Khashoqji was supposed to marry.  The Arabic website www.alarabiya.net posted a picture of Khashoqji’s wife in Saudi Arabia whom he was dumping so he could marry the Turkish Khadija.  The Saudi wife not only had born him two sons, but she holds a PhD and is beautiful to look at.

As for the Turkish fiance, the kindest thing one could say about her is that Islamic clothing becomes her.  As a guy, I can say that there is no way he is dumping this Saudi woman for that Turkish woman . . . unless . . .

What the Turkish “fiance” does have is connections.  She is part of Erdogan’s inner circle.  Some say she was a high-level intelligence figure.

THE QATAR CONNECTION

Now we get to answer the question as to why Qatar and its satellite TV channel were so interested in the alleged assassination of an individual who was not a Qatari citizen and who (on the surface), did not work for any Qatari entity.

We mentioned before Khashoqji’s association with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB).  By default he had essentially become the head of the Saudi branch of the MB.

Qatar is the major financier of the Brotherhood, with Turkey being #two.  The Saudi Crown Prince’s alleged assassination of the head of the Saudi branch of the MB was a huge blow to both Qatar’s and Turkey’s geostrategic plans for the Middle East.

In addition, there was current hostility between Qatar and Saudi Arabia over Qatar’s being evicted from the Gulf Cooperation Council, as mentioned above.

But the connection goes even deeper.

Maggi Salem of the Qatar Foundation International (a Clone of the Clinton Foundation with close connections to the Qatari government) wrote the guidelines for Khashoqji’s Washington Post articles.  Translation:  The Qatari government was essentially dictating to Khashiqji what he should write.  He was essentially an agent for the Qatari government, in addition to being an agent for the Muslim Brotherhood.  Through his Turkish “fiance” he was also likely an agent for Turkey’s intelligence unit MIT, and there is speculation that he was not just a “double” agent, or a “triple” agent, but that he was a “quadruple” agent working on behalf of elements within America’s CIA.  These would be “Deep State” Obama holdovers who hold the same world view as the Obama administration and its clients in Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood.

THE AL-JAZEERA-WASHINGTON POST LOVE FEST

One of the things that struck me early on, and raised my “suspicions” antenna was the way the U.S. media was regurgitating al-Jazeera’s propaganda almost word for word (after translation from the Arabic).  It was as if the Washington Post, CNN, and the others were taking dictation from Qatar in their reporting on the Khashoqji affair.

A prime example of this occurred the day after the alleged event.  A Mr. Fuqara’, who is the head of the al-Jazeera Washington office held a “love-fest” with the “journalists” from the Washington Post, allowing them to vent their anger over the dastardliness of the Saudi Regime, and MBS in particular, for this gruesome murder.  This event was not held in al-Jazeera’s DC offices, nor was it held inside the WAPO building.  No, they staged it (and I mean staged) directly in front of the WAPO building so that the Washington Post signage on the building above the entrance would be the backdrop for these champions of Democracy journalists–thus ensuring that it would be blasted to the world via al-Jazeera’s satellite technology so as to lend the full “authority” of the Post to Post to al-Jazeera’s propaganda.

Oh, there is one more link between this case and American media.  CNN has a franchise in Turkey:  CNN Turk.  So, all the Turkish propaganda could be funneled through that franchise to CNN America and broadcast to the American public and politicians, while WAPO and its other allies in America’s leftist media were doing the same with Qatari propaganda.

ONE MORE THING THAT DID NOT ADD UP

If you want to assassinate someone, say a pesky journalist . . . there are a number of ways to do it.  You can have a single agent follow them into a restaurant, pretend to be a regular customer, then when the target is not looking drop certain biological or chemical properties into their soup, or drink.  Or, you have an agent run them over with a vehicle, or you arrange for an auto accident.  All of these methods require only one agent to do the job.  A simple drive by shooting requires only two people, a driver and one agent to do the shooting.

The one thing you don’t want to do is to send in 15 guys who all fly in on only two jets (charter jets at that), and who all arrive on the same day into the major city of a country that has hated your guts for hundreds of years.  Then they all 15 stay at the same hotel, and they all leave on the same day after the alleged killing.  That is so obvious it is like hiring a skywriter to blazen across the sky “we did it.”

So, either the Saudis were extremely stupid, or MBS wanted the world to know so as to send a message to other dissidents, or something else is going on.

True, the Israelis sent 26 agents into the U.A.E. in 2010 to take out Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, leader of a Hamas military cell–but, not all of these people were killers.  Some were just trackers, others to provide intel, and yet others just to act as decoys.  The main point, however, is that all 26 arrived at different times on different regular civilian airlines, and from numerous different countries and carried passports from all the different countries.  And, they all departed at different times, on different airlines, heading for different countries.  Everybody “knows” that the Mossad did it, but there is no “proof” because the Israelis left no trail.

DID MBS REALLY DO IT?

Now we need to discuss the issue of whether or not Khashoqji was actually murdered, and if so, whether or not MBS is the culprit.

First we’ll discuss the possibility of whether or not this might have been a “false flag” operation aimed at discrediting MBS, or to even bring him down.  So, let’s look at the facts, that is, what do we actually know for sure.

As for the tapes that the Turks claim they have recording Khashoqji being killed, they would have been credible had the Turks presented them right away.  But, since they did not come to light for a full month, or more, this certainly gave the Turks plenty of time to manufacture anything they wanted to.  With today’s technologies it is not too difficult to make an audio tape, or a video recording, do what ever you want it to do.  Just ask the two rogue Russian cyber geeks who manufactured the salacious tapes that went into the Trump dossier.   Had the Turks loaned these tapes to America’s NSA the geeks there could have determined whether or not they were legit, or had been tampered with.  Instead, the Turks refused to hand over the tapes to anybody’s intelligence agency for examination.

There is video evidence of Khashoqji entering the Saudi consulate 02 October 2018 via the front entrance.  These videos are likely legit because they were presented the very day of Khashoqji’s disappearance.   There is no video evidence of him leaving the consulate.

Of course, any competent intelligence agency could easily hack into the consulate’s systems and turn off the cameras.  So, that was a ho hum.

Based on this flimsy evidence, Turkish authorities immediately began their propaganda campaign that Khashoqji had been murdered inside the consulate.  Turkey’s allies in Qatar immediately began regurgitating the Turkish propaganda without any expressions of doubt 24/7.  U.S. media followed suit.

The Turks invented all sorts of scenarios to explain what happened:  Khashoqji was strangled.  Then he was sawed up into little pieces and hidden somewhere.  They were just sure that his body, or parts of it, were in a wooded area some distance away from the consulate.  So they sent sniffer dogs there along with crew to dig the place up–and a camera crew to take the pictures of them “trying” to find Khashoqji.  Or, at least, made a big scene of doing so.  Of course, nothing.  Then they said they were sure that the body was in the trunk of a car parked in an Istanbul parking garage.  Again, a big scene on al-Jazeera of Turkish officers opening up car trunks.  Nope.  Nothing there.  Oh, then the body, or pieces of it, must be buried either on the Consulate grounds somewhere, or in the yard of the Saudi Consul’s home.  Nope, not there either.

Then the Turks came up with the fanciful idea that the 15-member MBS team used some sort of acid to completely dissolve Khashoqji’s body.  They finally ended up with the theory that the body was cut up into pieces, then transported in suitcases to the airport where it was taken out of the country.  This forces the Turks to then claim that while they inspected one of the Saudi chartered aircraft, they had failed to check the other one.  So all the evidence must have been on that other aircraft.

Okay.  Perhaps.  Maybe the Saudis are hiding the body fragments somewhere in the Rub’ al-Khali (the great Empty Quarter).

As I review this section on 04 March, I see on al-Jazeera TV that the Turks now claim that they have found an “oven” on the property of the Saudi Consul’s home in Istanbul.  This “oven” is fairly large.  It is of the type that potters use to fire their pots.  It is basically a kiln, based on the photos shown on al-Jazeera.  But, of course, there is no evidence from these photos of the “oven” being on the property of anyone, much less the Saudi consul.  Turkish authorities had searched the property of the consul’s home twice previously, including once shortly after the alleged murder.  Funny that it took them six months to discover this oven.

But there is one other little tidbit that came up early, and that has been completely forgotten.

THE DOUBLE?

Several news entities reported that the day of Khashoqji’s alleged murder, a “double” wearing Khashoqji’s clothes was seen exiting the rear of the consulate.  People in nearby buildings had apparently witnessed this.  This alleged “double” was also reportedly seen at various places around Istanbul–then inexplicably “disappeared.”

Turkey and Qatar’s al-Jazeera dismissed this as a ruse pulled by the Saudis so as to make people think that Khashoqji was still alive and well somewhere in Istanbul.  Perhaps it was.  But, what if?  What if that really was Khashoqji?  That would certainly explain why  no evidence of a body has ever been found.

However, the Saudis later, under a great deal of pressure from the international community (thanks to Turkish and Qatari constant propaganda), admitted that Khashoqji was killed inside the consulate, however they don’t know where the body is.

SO WHO DID IT

The allegations are that certain individuals close to MBS were the ones who carried out the operation.  However, the video evidence that the Turks provided of the alleged suspects entering and departing the airport was so blurry that you could not make out any of their features.  But, even if so, there are still valid doubts that MBS is responsible.

When Anwar as-Sadat, a former president of Egypt, was assassinated in 1981, he was assassinated by members of his own military.  The moral to that is that just because individuals close to a world leader commit a crime, does not mean that the leader is responsible.  Sadat most certainly did not order his own soldiers to execute him.

If this were true, this begs the question of why?  Why would security officials close to MBS commit a crime that would make their boss look real bad and possibly lead to his dismissal?

MBS has made a lot of enemies with his reforms.  Granting women the right to drive did not sit very well with a lot of the fundamentalists in the magic kingdom.  Nor did his partial opening of the country to kafir tourism.  His hinting that someday Christian churches could be built in Saudi Arabia had to give the Wahhabis heart attacks.  But it was something else that may have set off a plot against MBS.

Why was Anwar as-Sadat killed?  Because he visited Israel and gave a speech before the Israeli Knesset.  In the fall of 2017 MBS made a secret visit to Israel.  True, it was secret and he did not speak before the Knesset, but al-Jazeera found out about it and broadcast it to Arabic speakers everywhere.

So, why not just assassinate MBS, instead of some journalist who is on the side of the radicals anyway?  Perhaps MBS was too well guarded.  So, they chose an action that would embarrass him and perhaps bring him down.  Perhaps.  But that does not make a lot of sense.  Why would the fundamentalists kill not just one of their own, but one of the important cogs in their plan to recreate the real Caliphate.  Which takes us once again back to:

THE DOUBLE ONCE AGAIN

Assuming that the “double” was not a double, but Khashoqji himself pulling a fast one so as to create a “false flag” operation, he would have needed a support group of some sort in order to spirit him away and keep him hidden for a while.  That support group could have come from the Muslim Brotherhood who had every reason in the world to want to harm MBS.  Or, the support could have come from Turkish intelligence itself.

If this seems far-fetched, and into political thriller territory, let us remember that this is the Middle East.  And, all factions, Iranians, Turks, Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS, al-Qaeda, etc., are operating on the assumption that we are living in the last days.

The Iranians believe that they have been selected by Allah to lead the Muslims, Sunni and Shi’a alike, in that prophesied great war against rum (Western Civilization) in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ and the final judgment day.  The Palestinians believe that they have been selected by Allah to be the spearhead of that great army from Khorasan that is to retake Jerusalem in the Latter Days.

And, Turkey’s Erdogan believes that he has been selected by Allah to recreate the Ottoman Empire Caliphate in preparation for that great last war against Western Civilization.  One of the goals of Erdogan’s policies to achieve this reunited Caliphate is to dethrone all of the existing secular Arab governments and replace them with MB governments which would then join with Turkey (whose ruling AKP party is a clone of the MB) in reconstituting the real Caliphate.  This is why Turkey has been supporting terrorism throughout the Arab Middle East.

Coincidentally, the Muslim Brotherhood is more than willing to “give its power unto the beast.”  MB spiritual leader, the Qatar-based Yusuf al-Qaradhawi has stated that Erdogan is the “Muslim’s best hope,” and has done everything except publically declare him to be the Caliph.

SO WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH KHASHOQJI

The Shi’a have a prophecy about the return of the “hidden Imam.”  The Sunni have prophecies about the appearance of a figure called the mahdi, or, “the guided one.”

So, what if Khashoqji was just spirited away somewhere to be “resurrected” at some critical point in the future as both “the hidden Imam,” and the mahdi? 

Can you imagine what a tool that would be for Erdogan to unite the entire Islamic world into a new, gigantic Caliphate with him as its Caliph?  Erdogan, BTW, possesses exactly that fantasy.

Far fetched?  Unlikely.  Maybe.  But I will bet you that MBS thought that something of the sort was in the works.  Here is why:

All together six countries in the world have declared the MB to be a terrorist organization: Russia, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Bahrain, Egypt, and Israel, with the KSA doing so in 2010.  This made Khashoqji, automatically, an enemy of the state of the KSA.  Nonetheless, they tolerated him for awhile–until MBS’s crackdowns in 2017.

Jamal Khashoqji then became essentially the de-facto leader of the Saudi branch of the MB (after most of the others had been jailed or killed). His proposed marriage to a high-level Turkish intelligence figure, and part of Erdogan’s inner circle (which made no sense for any other reason) would represent a symbolic wedding of the Muslim Brotherhood with Turkey.  And, in the Middle East symbolism is everything.

So, if Khashoqji really was killed, and if MBS really was the instigator, he certainly had good reason to fear what Khashoqji and the Turks were up to.

Let me finish this portion of the essay with several quotes from a Middle East-based female reformer:

“There is an increased fear, and rightly so, about the free expression of extreme religious ideas and opinions that are polluting our social, cultural, economic, and political orders in the Arab world, which is why Jamal Khashoqji stands as an enemy to free thinkers–Muslims and (regional) states that turned against politics disguised as religion.

“Khashoqji’s assassination was not an attack on Western values . . . His first loyalty was not to American citizens, but . . . to spread the ideas of his Muslim Brotherhood” (Aliya al-Ganis, A War to Achieve Modernity, posted on www.gatestoneinstitute.org on 18 January 2019).

“There can be no political reform and democracy in any Arab country without accepting that political Islam is a part of it” (Khashoqhi, as quoted by Aliya al-Ganis above).

“Because Khashoqji wanted an uprising against the Saudi royal family, the Prince was facing fears and possibly the threats of being assassinated by those opposing his reforms. (Alia al-Ganis).

“Therefore, when a religious extremist such as Khashoqji is lost on the front line, my thought to him is:  You got what you deserved” (Alia Ganis, A War to Achieve Modernity, posted on www.gatestoneinstitute.org on 19 January 2019).

So, this is the great champion of “democracy” that our media and politicians have gushed their false sympathy for, and virtually deified.  Time’s “man of the year.”

And, this is the man whose “disappearance” the Democrats are using as a bludgeon with which to beat Trump, since their “Russia, Russia” hoax has petered out.

Keep this hypocrisy in mind as we turn now to that other murder in that other city.

BUENOS AIRES

The pertinent murder here was that of Argentine public prosecutor Alberto Nisman.  Following is the background to the case.

In 1992 a suicide bomber in a pick-up blew up the Israeli embassy with collateral damage to a nearby Catholic church.  29 civilians were killed, and 242 wounded (most of them Argentine citizens, including some children).  A group calling itself “The Islamic Jihad” claimed responsibility.  The group came out of the terrorist triangle of the tri-border area and was linked to Hezbollah and Iran.  NSA intercepts proved that Iran had prior knowledge of the attack.  This attack occurred in the midst of negotiations between Iran and Argentina for the purpose of the former purchasing nuclear fuel from the latter, which consequently fell through.

In 1994 an Iranian-linked terrorist from the terrorism triangle blew up a Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires killing 85 people and wounding dozens more.

In 2003 Israeli intelligence discovered that one Ibrahim Hussein Berro has an honorary plaque in Hezbollah-held territory in Lebanon for driving the explosives laden van into the Jewish center.

After years of foot dragging and cover-ups so blatant, obvious, and corrupt that they’d make an Obama administration blush . . . just kidding (actually they would, and did, applaud the cover-up efforts as we shall see), the Argentine government finally got around to appointing Alberto Nisman in 2006 to investigate not only Iran’s role in the operation, but the cover-up.  This appointment was made only after tremendous public pressure was applied.

Mr. Nisman, who was Jewish by the way, went right to work . . . and ran dab smack into one brick wall after another.  Argentine government and security authorities erected every road bock in front of him that they could think of.

THE OBAMA CONNECTION

When Obama began running for president in 2008, he began colluding and collaborating with the Iranians (a declared enemy of the United States).  He let them know that he was most eager to obtain a nuclear agreement from them.  The Iranians responded by saying that they would consider some sort of a deal–providing a third party could provide them with nuclear fuel for their “peaceful” reactors.

In  2010 Argentine President Kirchner, in a speech before the UN, claimed that in 2010 Obama official Gary Simone ordered her to provide nuclear fuel to Iran in turn for oil.

Other sources have claimed that Argentina was also supposed to provide grain to Iran for the oil.

Another of Iran’s first demands to Obama was that the Nisman investigation had to be dropped.  Otherwise, no deal.

Western diplomatic sources have claimed that the Obama administration, on several occasions, did urge Argentina to halt, or limit, Nisman’s investigation.

However, in spite of the pressure, Alberto Nisman plugged on, and after years of hard work, harassment, and death threats, he finally was able to begin to compile a portfolio of evidence linking, not only just Hezbollah, but Iran to the 1994 bombing.

As the nuclear negotiations with Iran dragged on, and the Obama administration got increasingly desperate to obtain some sort of deal, any deal, with the Iranians before his administration was over, the Iranians, smelling the weakness, applied increasing pressure on Obama to get the Nisman investigation halted, and to get Argentina to supply grain and nuclear fuel to Iran in turn for oil.  Do that, or no deal.

In late 2014 rumors swirled that Nisman had nearly concluded his investigations.  He was thus scheduled to testify before the Argentine Congress on 19 January 2015.

In December of 2014 an Obama administration official visited Argentina.  An unofficial report has Obama basically ordering Argentina to halt the Nisman investigation.

On 18 January 2019, one day before he was to testify before the Argentine Congress, Alberto Nisman’s mother found him dead in his apartment.

A pistol owned by Nisman was found beside him.  Argentine security personnel declared the death to be suicide.  But the Argentine public would not have it.  They demanded a full investigation into Nisman’s death, because Nisman had purchased the pistol out of fear that his life was in danger.

Due to the corruption of Argentine’s security services the public, and the Argentine Congress, demanded that the investigation be turned over to another entity not associated with Buenos Aires politics and corruption.  So the Argentine border security forces were enlisted.  Their investigation has recently (2018) determined that Nisman’s death, was, in fact a murder and not a suicide as originally reported.

So, who did it?  Was it the Iranians, in order to ensure that the Nuclear deal (that they were to benefit from immensely) went through?  Was it the Obama administration, so desperate for some sort of legacy, any legacy, that they would do anything to obtain it?  Or, was it the Kirchner government hoping to hide their role in the cover-ups?

All three of these entities profited from the Iranian nuclear deal.

SO WHERE WAS THE UPROAR OVER THIS MURDER?

Even if  Obama was not directly involved in Nisman’s murder, he certainly had to be pleased by it, because now the nuc deal could go through.  Yet, our media has been virtually silent about this murder, and the resultant investigation.

The media, of course, are expected to be dishonest and guided by double standards.  But where were our Republican senators and Congresspersons?  These swamp critters who are weeping and moaning the loudest over the death of a Muslim Brotherhood propagandist, each trying to outdo the other in showing their false outrage, are shamefully silent about the entire Nisman cause.

So, let’s keep these double standards in mind as we now turn to the:

RAMIFICATIONS OF THE KHASHOQJI AFFAIR

Who were the winners?  And who were the losers?

The winners, are Iran, Turkey, Qatar, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The losers are Saudi Arabia, MBS in particular, Israel, Egypt, and the Trump Administration

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The fact that Trump was rightfully hesitant to excommunicate Saudi Arabia from the community of nations, has given the Democrats a tool with which to beat him.  The Democrats have been able to exploit the bi-partisan fake revulsion over the murder of a Muslim Brotherhood propagandist to paint a picture of Trump as being “too friendly to tyrants.”  The hypocrisy of that effort is farcical coming from the political party that strove to empower the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran (both of whom are declared enemies of the United States, and are totalitarian systems) when they were in power.

Does Saudi Arabia have an atrocious human rights record over all?  Of course, but their critics in that area give Turkey and Iran a free pass though their human rights records are equally repugnant.

Saudi Arabia was also to play a key role in the Trump administration’s “Deal of the Century” to solve the Israeli-Palestinian deal.  Excommunicating the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) effectively kills those efforts.

IRAN

Iran is a winner because ostracizing Saudi Arabia removes from the table any chance of a serious U.S. attempt at regime change.  Were the U.S. to launch a serious effort to bring down the Iranian regime, they would need the KSA as an ally, and as the launching pad for assembling forces.

Iran is a winner because the Khashoqji affair has given impetus to international pressure, including in the U.S., to halt all arms shipments to Saudi Arabia over its alleged human rights abuses in Yemen.  If the Saudis are forced to abandon their war against the Iranian-supported Houthi rebellion in neighboring Yemen, then Shi’a Iran gets a client state on Sunni Saudi Arabia’s doorstep.  Even if Saudi Arabia somehow continues the war, but with fewer resources, that will only prolong the suffering of the Yemeni people.

Iran is also using this crisis to drum up support for the fake Nuclear deal among the Europeans and Trump’s political enemies in the U.S.

TURKEY

Turkey is a winner because while it is directing the world’s attention to the alleged Saudi complicity in the Khashoqji murder, no one is looking at their wholesale extermination of Christians, Kurds, and Yazidis in Northern Syria.

Turkey can also use this crisis to gain standing in the Islamic world at Saudi Arabia’s expense, and to further its goal of establishing a renewed Caliphate under its leadership.

ISRAEL AND EGYPT

Israel and Egypt lose whenever Saudi Arabia is weakened.  They both also lose anytime the positions of Iran and/or Turkey are strengthened, and they lose when hopes of an Israeli/Palestinian deal fade.

SAUDI ARABIA TURNS EAST

Just as the western powers are excommunicating Saudi Arabia, ostracizing MBS, and banning arms sales to KSA, along with other goods, MBS was making a trip east with stops in Pakistan, India, and China.  He signed some massive economic deals with these Asian giants, and, it is rumored, secured a promise from Pakistan to station thousands of troops in KSA as a deterrent to Iranian ambitions.  There are rumors that the deals with Pakistan also include help in developing a KSA nuclear program.  As an historical note, there have always been rumors of a secret Saudi site (manned by Pakistani scientists) underground near the remote southern city of as-Sulayyil

MBS’s deals with China included, for the first time, a program for the teaching of the Chinese language in Saudi schools.  Think about that for a moment.  For the past 150 years English has been the primary foreign language taught in Saudi schools, and the KSA’s foreign policy has always been tied more closely to England and America than any other countries.  What if that umbilical chord is cut by those wanting to exploit the Khashoqji affair for cheap political gains, and the result is that the KSA turns to sucking at the Chinese teat, instead of the Western one?  Think in terms of seismic shifts in the geostrategic balances of power in the Middle East-Far East region.

Perhaps some of our Politicians really do understand some of these issues, but feel that the greater good is that they have to make some sort of a strong statement about the importance of human rights.  However, given their double standards and hypocrisies over similar political murders as discussed in this essay, that line of reasoning holds no water.  Before our illustrious senators and congresspersons talk them selves into a frenzy of doing something really stupid that will not only destroy America’s geostrategic interests in the Middle East, but set human rights performances in the KSA back decades, if not centuries . . . I ask them to think . . .

Whatever minuscule advances in human rights Saudi Arabia has made at whatever glacial pace over the past half century or so, has been entirely because of the effects of western influence on it.  So, stop and think for a moment what is going to happen to those human rights advances already achieved, much less that impetus for moving forward on more human rights if the KSA is forced to hook up with countries that have zero interests in human rights?

China has been making great inroads into Africa and the Middle East by telling countries “We don’t care what religion you are, we don’t care what your state ideology is, we don’t care what your human rights record is, all we want is to do business with you–no strings attached.”

Thus, it is extremely painful to watch on TV as our senators and congresspersons of both parties insist upon prostrating themselves in abject submission before the dictates of

al-Jazeera, the MB, and terror sponsor Turkey, as they quake in fear over what the Washington Post might say about them if they don’t.

IT NEVER HAD TO HAPPEN

All of this could have been avoided had the Trump administration declared the Muslim Brotherhood to be a terrorist organization the very first day that the Republicans had control of the House, Senate, and the White House.

Had that been done, Khashoqji would have never been allowed inside the United States when he declared asylum status in the summer of 2017.  Banning Khashoqji for terrorist MB connections would have forced him to seek residency elsewhere, in a Muslim Brotherhood-friendly country like Turkey or Qatar.  His murder would then not have been an American issue, the media and Democrats would have been less likely to pick it up and run with it as a political tool–for fear it could backfire on them for being supporters of terrorism.

American failure to declare the MB to be a terrorist organization has not only damaged the Trump administration on this issue, but has also allowed two MB sympathizers to be admitted to Congress.  This issue will lead to many more American tragedies as long as the MB and its affiliates are allowed to operate freely in the United States.