The floated story will of course not be believed. A forceful interrogation in a consulate going wrong is not plausible. One does not need to fly in 15 operators, including a specialist for autopsies, just to ask a few questions. The intent was either to kidnap the guy or to outright kill him. The trial ballon seems to come from U.S. sources, not from the Saudis. Trump yesterday spoke of a ‘rogue element’ who may have caused the incident. U.S. intelligence services seem to believe that Khashoggi was indeed killed. The Wall Street Journal reports that Turkey provided its evidence: The Turkish government has shared with U.S. officials what it describes as audio and video recordings purporting to show that Mr. Khashoggi was killed in the building, people familiar with the matter said.
VASSAL STATES
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ERIC ZUESSE—The US and its allies have routinely committed aggression, in places such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. A particular instance of it, to be discussed here, could be especially prosecutable, because the alleged ‘cause’ for the invasion could turn out to have been a provable lie, an intentional fabrication which had been concocted by the perpetrators so as to ‘justify’ their invasion. This particular instance was the US-and-allied bombing of Syria, by over a hundred missiles, on April 14th.
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October 3-4 marks the anniversary of the heroic uprising against Boris Yeltsin’s imperialist-backed attack on the Supreme Soviet in Moscow. The uprising’s defeat represented the final overturn of socialist relations and the restoration of capitalism in the USSR. Several years of counter-revolutionary developments within and without had seriously demoralized the Soviet working class. Generations of non-combative, revisionist leadership left the Soviet people unprepared to fight back to defend socialism.
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The disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the hypocrisy of the New York Times
12 minutes readJORDAN SHILTON—The Saudi regime, which serves as a key strategic ally of US imperialism in the Middle East, is notorious around the world for its ruthless repression against its own population. Saudi authorities beheaded almost 150 people by sword in 2017. In the first four months of 2018, the regime put 48 people to death in the same way, including half for non-violent crimes.
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GHASSAN KADI—In brief, the Decree does not separate the State from the Sunni Muslim institution, this is true. However, it puts the religious institution under the hand and authority of the Civil Government. This, in my humble view, is a bold Presidential step towards full secularism. The Decree imposes regulations on religious activities, teaching, preaching and other related matters, to ensure that extremism namely Wahhabism and the Muslim Brotherhood are kept out and that Muslims are taught that they can be good Muslims and good Syrian citizens at the same time.