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Exclusive: After Khashoggi murder, some Saudi royals turn against king's favorite son
Amid international uproar over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, some members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family are agitating to prevent Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from becoming king, three sources close to the royal court said.
Dozens of princes and cousins from powerful branches of the Al Saud family want to see a change in the line of succession but would not act while King Salman - the crown prince's 82-year-old father - is still alive, the sources said. They recognize that the king is unlikely to turn against his favorite son, known in the West as MbS.
Rather, they are discussing the possibility with other family members that after the king's death, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, 76, a younger full brother of King Salman and uncle of the crown prince, could take the throne, according to the sources.
Prince Ahmed, King Salman's only surviving full brother, would have the support of family members, the security apparatus and some Western powers, one of the Saudi sources said.
Prince Ahmed returned to Riyadh in October after 2-1/2 months abroad. During the trip, he appeared to criticize the Saudi leadership while responding to protesters outside a London residence chanting for the downfall of the Al Saud dynasty. He was one of only three people on the Allegiance Council, made up of the ruling family's senior members, who opposed MbS becoming crown prince in 2017, two Saudi sources said at the time.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration's continued support of Saudi Arabia has been denounced by several U.S. Senators:
The White House's pledge to maintain its strong military and economic alliance with Saudi Arabia amid reports that U.S. intelligence has assessed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the gruesome murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has ignited a flurry of bipartisan condemnation in Washington.
After President Trump issued a remarkable statement on Tuesday in which he acknowledged that the heir apparent to the Saudi throne may have known about the "tragic event," but that his administration nevertheless "intended to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia," several Republican and Democratic members of Congress denounced the White House's position.
Previously: Turkey Says that a Missing Critic of the Saudi Government was Killed in Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
Saudi Arabia Reportedly Prepared to Admit Involvement in Journalist's Death
CIA Concludes That Saudi Crown Prince Ordered Khashoggi Killed
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21 2018, @03:36PM (4 children)
Our police forces routinely kill citizens without repercussions. Do I hear any government consider sanctioning the US in response to reporting about that? Of course not. As already mentioned above, the business of a country is to try to sell its output of labor to whomever wants to buy.
We all know Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian shithole. It's up to the Saudi people to fix their own country.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21 2018, @04:06PM
Let's just suppose we don't need their oil anymore, Israel has teamed up with Saudi Arabia, which means the United States must keep supporting both.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21 2018, @08:49PM (2 children)
Then the United States should stop going to war with countries that didn't attack it and using the excuse that it's 'spreading democracy'. You can't claim that we need to attack Syria because 'Oh no, they're gassing children!' but then turn around and ignore Saudi Arabia's atrocities. Or, at least, you can't do that without being a massive hypocrite.
I think it would be justifiable to at least not financially support dictatorships, though.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 22 2018, @12:18AM (1 child)
So the US is a hypocrite. What are you and your country going to do about it?
We fuck with Syria because it won't hurt us except for some flyover country recruits that get wasted over there. Russia is able to check our plans there, but can't make things hurt for us in other places in the world.
The Saudis are a completely different ballgame. Them hating Iran helps us because we hate Iran too. But they can fuck with us so much, that they can fund and send over a team of their citizens to destroy part of New York City, and all we can do in response is get mired in Afghanistan for 17 years.
And with their alliance with Israel, criticizing them now would be anti-semitic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 22 2018, @07:11PM
I live in the US. So, "my" country (really, the country of warmongering, authoritarian elites) will continue waging unconstitutional wars overseas with countries that did not attack us.