Seen in Dupont again recently

Anonymous wrote:Yeah,. khashoggi was pretty much actively conspiring against the regime ( and if you want to make any kind of political movement there you have to conspire - there's no free speech) but to what end? The fact that he supported Islamic brotherhood, has a fan in Erdogan who has set turkey back to pre Atatürk days etc doesn't make me think he was a democratic visionary. MBS needs to go, we need a partner in SA, who continues their slow plodding and cynical reforms without butchering people, what happened to Khashoggi was deeply wrong, it did call attention to some things that may gain traction in a favourable way, but we do not need a street named after him.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/10/19/on-jamal-khashoggi-the-muslim-brotherhood-and-saudi-arabia/

In recent days, stories have appeared highlighting Jamal Khashoggi’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and arguing, as one put it, that “in truth, Khashoggi never had much time for western-style pluralistic democracy…for Khashoggi, secularism was the enemy.” Amplified by pro-Saudi social media and echoed by right-wing commentators in the United States, the subtext of these stories seems to be that the United States should be cautious in championing Khashoggi’s cause, because he was less of a liberal voice than he seemed. At the more extreme edge of this media campaign, there’s the implication that Khashoggi was an extremist and that those who condemn his apparent murder are serving an Iranian agenda to break up the U.S.-Saudi alliance.

I won’t address such conspiracy theories...

I grow tired of online propaganda

Yeah,. khashoggi was pretty much actively conspiring against the regime ( and if you want to make any kind of political movement there you have to conspire - there's no free speech) but to what end? The fact that he supported Islamic brotherhood, has a fan in Erdogan who has set turkey back to pre Atatürk days etc doesn't make me think he was a democratic visionary. MBS needs to go, we need a partner in SA, who continues their slow plodding and cynical reforms without butchering people, what happened to Khashoggi was deeply wrong, it did call attention to some things that may gain traction in a favourable way, but we do not need a street named after him.

The peculiarity is that Kashoggi was no innocent himself. It's clear to me he's been made into a martyr not because of who he is but because certain parties are (justifiably) upset with Saudi Arabia. I am sorry that the man met his fate the way it happened but from the way some people are speaking you'd have thought he was the second coming of Mother Theresa rather than another politically connected Middle Eastern hack who was perhaps a bit two-faced himself.

The Middle East has always been a case of you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. And as awful as the House of Saud may be and they are certainly tyrants, the unfortunate reality is that they are probably much more preferable than any of the realistic alternatives. The idea that there can ever be a "good" government for Saudi that will lead its people to the enlightened land of liberal and progressive milk and honey (organic and fat free for preference) is laughable. So what to do? Oh well.

Anonymous wrote:What exactly do you want the US to do? Go to war with Saudi Arabia? Lose an ally and put the Middle East in a worse position than it is now? Sure, we could sanction them, but is that in the world's best interests? Probably not.

These are pigs who cut off heads and dismember journalists.. And most of the 9-11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabiia. They blaspheme humanity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:strange to do this for a non citizen

you must not be from around here. plenty of non-citizens honored in prominent places (think about that the next time you go to Lafayette Square or L'enfant Plaza)

Also, he was a green card holder. Not exactly short on connectedness to the country.

Anonymous wrote:What exactly do you want the US to do? Go to war with Saudi Arabia? Lose an ally and put the Middle East in a worse position than it is now? Sure, we could sanction them, but is that in the world's best interests? Probably not.

How's about a statement to start with? Even if delegated to the SOS or UN rep (who's at the UN now?). On the order of "The United States deeply condemns the murder of Jamal Kashoggi carried out by representatives of Saudi Arabian leadership in a Saudi Arabian consulate. Mr. Kashoggi was a journalist for a US newspaper and the father of US citizens. The United States will continue to review this horrific event to determine its response."

Or, you know, you can go with things like "heck, who knows?" which is akin to "very fine people on both sides"

The irony in your statement is that leaders can never say with full confidence what the long term result of actions will be, as witnessed for well over a century. We aren't even that great at short term results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did khashoggi do for America? Non-issue with applying Maginstsky Act (may he rest in peace) but renaming streets is absurd.

By exposing MBS as a murderous tyrant Khasoggi is a martyr to the cause of good governance in Saudi Arabia...and hopefully his death will catalyze some action to end the conflict in Yemen. There’s a statue of Gandhi near DuPont circle. We are capable of honoring people who do good for other countries.

What governance did khashoggi propose for SA?

Why don't you try reading? Here's the last one he wrote on the importance of free expression in the Arab world.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/jamal-khashoggi-what-the-arab-world-needs-most-is-free-expression/2018/10/17/adfc8c44-d21d-11e8

And here's a compilation of his other writings.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/10/06/read-jamal-khashoggis-columns-for-the-washington-post/?utm_term=.055c616508b5