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Trump threw Saudi Arabia a lifeline after Khashoggi's death. Two years later, he has gotten little i
Source: Washington Post
Trump threw Saudi Arabia a lifeline after Khashoggi’s death. Two years later, he has gotten little in return.
By John Hudson
10/2/2020, 7:18:30 p.m.
No single event has threatened the rule of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman more than the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate two years ago this week.
The grisly episode turned the leader, now 35, into a pariah as top political figures and business executives canceled and postponed meetings, the U.N. rights investigator declared the killing an “international crime,” and news media scrutinized the Saudi government’s shifting array of explanations and retractions related to the killing.
The decision by President Trump to back the young leader in the weeks and months after Khashoggi’s death proved critical to restoring the crown prince’s standing and propping up the Saudi kingdom’s tarnished image. “I saved his ass,” Trump said of Mohammed, according to a new book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward. “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone.”
The payoff for the crown prince is evident: The outrage has largely subsided, and he now regularly engages with the world’s political and financial elite. But the benefits for the Trump administration are far from clear, as the two governments remain at loggerheads over a range of economic, security and political issues on the second anniversary of Khashoggi’s death.
“The Saudis have mostly been a headache for this administration, despite its support for MBS,” said David Ottaway, a Saudi expert at the Wilson Center in Washington, using the initials of the crown prince. “Unless you’re an arms manufacturer, this relationship has offered minuses, not pluses.”
-snip-
By John Hudson
10/2/2020, 7:18:30 p.m.
No single event has threatened the rule of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman more than the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate two years ago this week.
The grisly episode turned the leader, now 35, into a pariah as top political figures and business executives canceled and postponed meetings, the U.N. rights investigator declared the killing an “international crime,” and news media scrutinized the Saudi government’s shifting array of explanations and retractions related to the killing.
The decision by President Trump to back the young leader in the weeks and months after Khashoggi’s death proved critical to restoring the crown prince’s standing and propping up the Saudi kingdom’s tarnished image. “I saved his ass,” Trump said of Mohammed, according to a new book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward. “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone.”
The payoff for the crown prince is evident: The outrage has largely subsided, and he now regularly engages with the world’s political and financial elite. But the benefits for the Trump administration are far from clear, as the two governments remain at loggerheads over a range of economic, security and political issues on the second anniversary of Khashoggi’s death.
“The Saudis have mostly been a headache for this administration, despite its support for MBS,” said David Ottaway, a Saudi expert at the Wilson Center in Washington, using the initials of the crown prince. “Unless you’re an arms manufacturer, this relationship has offered minuses, not pluses.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-threw-saudi-arabia-a-lifeline-after-khashoggis-death-two-years-later-he-has-gotten-little-in-return/2020/10/02/699af7f6-04d5-11eb-8879-7663b816bfa5_story.html
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