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Best of the Web: British intelligence community says it knew about Saudi plan to get Khashoggi THREE WEEKS beforehand

khashoggi protest
© Jack Taylor/Getty ImagesProtesters holding placards demonstrate outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London on October 26
Murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi was about to disclose details of Saudi Arabia's use of chemical weapons in Yemen, sources close to him said last night. The revelations come as separate intelligence sources disclosed that Britain had first been made aware of a plot a full three weeks before he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Intercepts by GCHQ of internal communications by the kingdom's General Intelligence Directorate revealed orders by a "member of the royal circle" to abduct the troublesome journalist and take him back to Saudi Arabia.

The orders, intelligence sources say, did not emanate directly from de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and it is not known if he was aware of them.

Though they commanded that Khashoggi should be abducted and taken back to Riyadh, they "left the door open" for other actions should the journalist prove to be troublesome, sources said.


Comment: Is this the British running interference, after-the-fact, to protect MBS? Or, if they did know what was about to happen, are the British culpable in his murder?


Last week Saudi Arabia's Attorney General confirmed that the murder had been premeditated - in contrast to initial official explanations that Khashoggi had been killed after a fight broke out.

Comment: Maybe, in the sense of being 'the straw that broke the camel's back', but Saudi Arabia is already known to have provided ISIS and affiliated terrorists in Syria with chemical weapons. Also, the kingdom's 'big brothers' - the US and UK - use WP and other chemical agents in their wars as a matter of course.

Whatever their reason for sending 15 assassins with bone saws and black bags to butcher Khasoggi, the real bombshell here is that the British were so familiar with the Saudis' plan to 'abduct' Khashoggi that they warned them to not proceed because of the bad press they knew would follow...

Some psychopaths are evidently smarter than others.


Jet1

Best of the Web: So many people are employed selling arms to the Saudis, it would be unfair to kick them out of a job

Saudi arms deal cartoon
© Peter Brookes

This is a different situation to Iraq, because the arms we sell to Saudi Arabia are real, and therefore fairly harmless, whereas Saddam had those non-existent ones, and those things are lethal


It's clear now that what Jeremy Corbyn should have done every time he met a Middle Eastern politician "linked to violence". Instead of speaking in a meeting with them and shaking their hand, he should have behaved responsibly, and sold them ยฃ4.7bn worth of weapons like we do with Saudi Arabia.

Even the CIA now seems to accept the Saudis murdered their opponent by dismembering him and disposing of him in boxes. This is why it's alright to continue selling them arms, because at least they're tidy.

It's the tyrants who leave bits everywhere we should be tough with, because it would be immoral to sell Tornado fighter planes to a regime that left it to the cleaners to clear up after they'd murdered someone.

Comment: He was doing so well until that last bit.

Trump has unequivocally condemned the 'mail-bomb attacks'. And while Democrat public figures may not have themselves concocted this pre-election scheme, the deep state interests in 'the intelligence community' who pull their strings almost certainly did.

Anyway, on Saudi Arabia, it's great to see MSM reporters finally engage a bit of dark humor when commenting on the absurdity of it all.


Bomb

Best of the Web: October surprise: Mail bombs target Soros, Clintons, Obama, CNN, Wasserman Schultz, Holder (UPDATES)

Clintons/Obama
© Kena Betancur/AFPFormer Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton
Mail bombs intercepted at ex-president Barack Obama's office and home of former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. A similar device was sent to billionaire George Soros earlier.

The Secret Service said bombs sent to the Clintons in Westchester County, New York and Obama in Washington, DC were intercepted during a routine mail check.
"The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such," the Secret Service said in a statement Wednesday. "The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them."
Earlier, US media reports said a bomb was found in mail delivered to the house of Bill and Hillary Clinton in Chappaqua, upstate New York. The device was reportedly similar to the one sent to billionaire George Soros' home in the same county, which was found on Monday. Nick Merrill, Hillary Clinton's Communications Director, tweeted that "nothing got to any home", which apparently explains the contradicting reports about where the package intended for the Clinton's home was stopped.

Comment: The bomb threats are not isolated incidences. See the following:

10/24/18: More from RT regarding CNN newsroom evacuation:
Time Warner Center in New York, which hosts CNN offices, has been evacuated over a suspicious package report. This comes a few hours after mail bombs were intercepted at Barack Obama's office and the Clintons' home.

The NYPD is investigating the package found at the Time Warner Center, CNN said, citing sources within law enforcement. The network added that it evacuated its newsroom "as a precaution." The Time Warner Center is located at Columbus Circle in Manhattan near Central Park. Police have cordoned off the area around the building.



The device found in the Time Warner Center was allegedly constructed with a pipe and wires, CNN reports, citing police sources and adding that law enforcement is treating it as a "real explosive."



According to CNN, the device was discovered in the mailroom of the Time Warner Center. A bomb squad was deployed to the scene to remove the package, which was placed in a bomb containment unit on a truck.

The package was allegedly sent to 10 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019, USA, where the Time Warner Center is located, CNN reported, citing police sources. Later, CNN said that the package was addressed to former CIA director John Brennan via the news network.

US Vice President Mike Pence condemned the "attempted attacks" against CNN, Obama and the Clintons, calling them "cowardly" and "despicable" actions. Later, US President Donald Trump said he "wholeheartedly" agreed with Pence's condemnation of the incidents.
10/24/18, RT reports: Wasserman Schultz's office is investigated for suspicious package:
A Broward Sheriff's Office bomb squad was called to the Florida building where the office of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz is located to investigate a suspicious mail package.


The building, which is located in the Miami metropolitan area, was evacuated. There was no immediate confirmation that an explosive device was found or that the incident was linked to several others in the US on Wednesday. While there was no confirmed connection reported in the four incidents, all devices involved were said to be rudimentary pipe bombs.


10/24/18 RT reports: Sen. Kamala Harris' office evacuation and TV station in Fresno, CA
The building that hosts offices of Democratic Senator Kamala Harris and San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper has been evacuated over suspicious package.


In addition:

A TV station in Fresno, California was also on lockdown after the discovery of another the suspicious object. The bomb squad employed an anti-mine robot to examine what looked like an unattended Apple Mac computer package left at a parking lot.
This one turned out to be a false alarm:
The police later said the inquiry revealed that it was "a false alarm" and that the packages were "abandoned property."
10/24/18 RT reports Breaking news: Eric Holder is also an 'intended recipient' of a suspicious package
Eric Holder, the former US Attorney General under the Obama administration, is the latest name on the list of officials targeted with mail bombs on Wednesday.

The package addressed to the former AG was intercepted at a postal sorting facility, MSNBC reported.
UPDATE: 10/24/18 RT The latest scare includes New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's office and Congresswoman Maxine Waters to the list of intended recipients:
In the latest reported scare, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that a suspicious device was also sent to his office in Manhattan and was "being handled" by the NYPD, but it was later confirmed that the package was not a bomb and was unrelated to the other incidents.

Capitol Police have also confirmed another suspicious device was intercepted at the Congressional Mail facility in Maryland, saying that it was addressed to Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
[AND] A suspicious package has triggered evacuation at a mail facility in south Los Angeles, according to media citing local police. The package was reportedly addressed to Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters. A bomb squad, as well as the Los Angeles Police Department and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were dispatched to the scene to investigate the package.

The bomb was discovered as Trump has been calling for the bomber to be brought to justice, assuring "the full weight of our government" is behind the investigation. "Acts or threats of political violence have no place of any kind in the United States of America," he announced after meeting with the FBI, Justice Department, and DHS.

Democrats blamed Trump, pointing out that every package recipient - Waters, Soros, Clinton, Obama, Holder, Wasserman-Schultz, and Brennan - was on the president's unofficial "enemies list," regularly coming in for criticism at rallies and on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Republicans brought up the fact that the bombs had all been safely discovered before doing any damage, suggesting the "attacks" might have been a ploy to garner sympathy (and votes) for the Democrats ahead of the election.
UPDATE: 10/24/2018 RT: Pictures of the bomb sent to CNN, Twitter points to ISIS flag on it.
Pipe bomb
© AFP/CNNDevice sent to CNN studios, NYC.
CNN's Jim Acosta has shared images of a crude pipe bomb mailed to the network's New York studio. Twitter users have zoomed in the image and said they appear to show an ISIS flag. Zoomed in close, some observers noticed a sticker on the device resembling the black flag of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS or ISIL) terrorist organization. IS has not claimed any responsibility for the attack, nor has the flag's authenticity been confirmed.

The pipe bomb seen in Acosta's photographs is similar to others sent to Former President Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton earlier. Both of these packages were intercepted by US Secret Service agents before they could reach their intended recipients, and have been described as "rudimentary, but functional." None of the bombs actually exploded, and nobody has yet been harmed.
See also: Warning? Police destroy suspected explosive device found at New York home of Soros

Update: 10/25/2018 RT: 'Git 'er done' meme, not ISIS flag determination.
In a bizarre twist in the mail-bomb plot gripping the US in recent days, it now appears that an internet meme, and not the ISIS flag, as originally speculated, is emblazoned upon the suspicious packages.

The parody of the ISIS flag features suggestive silhouettes of women in place of the Arabic characters on the flag with a middle inscription that reads: "Get 'Er Done," the catchphrase of American comedian Daniel Lawrence Whitney AKA Larry the Cable Guy, an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer and country music artist and author of the book named after his catchphrase 'Git-R-Done!'



The 'Get 'er done' flag was originally created by the right-wing parody news site World News Bureau and has since been distributed far and wide on right-wing websites and online forums. World News Bureau is reportedly run by a man named Scooter Van Neuter, who also runs BigHairyNews.com. His account was permanently suspended from Twitter in 2017.

The identity of the person whose face appears alongside the 'Git 'er done' flag remains unknown at this time, as does the identity of the bomber.
UPDATE: 10/25/18 from RT: NYPD bomb squad removes suspicious package found near Robert De Niro's restaurant
A suspicious package has been found at a New York restaurant owned by Robert De Niro, according to local media. The package was discovered sometime early Thursday. The parcel has markings similar to the pipe bomb packages recently mailed to top Democrats across the country [and] like some of the other parcels, the return address was that of Democratic US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. De Niro is an outspoken Democrat and opponent of Donald Trump.


UPDATE: 10/25/2018 from RT: FBI finds 'missing' Biden 'bomb' in Delaware P.O.
FBI agents say they have intercepted a suspicious package intended for former Vice President Joe Biden, after a morning raid on a post office in New Castle, Delaware. Agents had been searching for the package since Wednesday. The package was misaddressed, and images show it marked "postage due."

A heavy police presence converged on the New Castle post office early Thursday morning, including police and federal vehicles, and a bomb squad truck. The post office was evacuated, and incoming mail trucks diverted. Biden's home was also searched for explosives. The agents were reportedly tipped off that the package had been sent to Biden, but was sent back to its return address.



President Trump promised a "major federal investigation" into the incidents on Wednesday, and told the crowd at a campaign-style rally later that night that "any acts or threats of political violence are an attack on our democracy itself," adding "we want all sides to come together in peace and harmony."
UPDATE: 10/25/18 from RT: Trump blames media for bomb blitz, demands journalists to 'clean up' their act
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at the media in the wake of suspicious packages being sent to CNN's New York office and a number of high-profile Democrats, saying that "fake news" was partly to blame. "It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!"



Reaction to the incidents has varied online, with some Americans believing that the bombs were sent by a crazed Trump supporter, while others argued that the timing suggests the mailings could be part of a 'false flag' operation to benefit Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.
UPDATE: 10/24/18 from RT: Suspicious package addressed to Former Attorney General Eric Holder has been intercepted
Eric Holder, the former US Attorney General under the Obama administration, is the latest name on the list of officials targeted with mail bombs on Wednesday.

The parcel intended to Holder had the wrong address and was returned to the Florida office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz because the premises were listed as the return address, according to CNN.

A bomb disposal team was earlier called to the building located in the Miami metropolitan area. The FBI later confirmed that the package found at Schultz' office in Sunrise contained an explosive device.
UPDATE: 10/25/18 From RT: Washington, DC conservative radio station WMAL evacuated over suspicious package
WMAL, a conservative talk radio station in the US capital, was evacuated over after receiving a suspicious package.

Larry O'Connor, one of the hosts at the station, tweeted that "there were some similarities" between the package and those received by CNN and several prominent Democrats over the past two days, though "it does not look" like them.

Police ordered a full evacuation after examining the package, he said.

"Could be a bad copy cat or could be something more," O'Connor tweeted. "We will return to the air as soon as we can."


UPDATE: 10/26/2018 from RT: Florida courthouse is evacuated due to suspicious 'device with wires'
Authorities report that the Polk County courthouse in Bartow, FL has been evacuated after officials found a suspicious device with wires coming out of it in three canisters.

About a dozen inmates were transported out of the jail, but no one else was allowed in or out of the building. Bomb dogs are reported to be searching the courthouse and the State Fire Marshall has been called to the scene.

Federal investigators currently suspect the 10 bombs mailed to prominent Democrats and other public figures in the past few days originated in south Florida, where the courthouse is located. Sources cited by various media are now saying all 10 devices were delivered through the US postal system.

The packages are currently being analyzed at FBI labs in Quantico, VA. Law enforcement is beefing up its presence in south Florida in an effort to apprehend the culprit(s), but the investigation continues nationwide. FBI, ATF, and Secret Service agents are attempting to track down where the bomb components were purchased.
UPDATE: 10/26/18 from RT: New evacuation at Time Warner Center, home of CNN HQ, over 'suspicious package'
Police briefly evacuated the Time Warner Center in New York for a second time in two days as a precaution after finding two unattended packages in the mall located in the building.

Police evacuated the first, second, and third floors of the shopping center "out of an abundance of caution" as they investigated the suspicious items. CNN offices do not appear to have been affected.

NYPD gave the all-clear about an hour after the evacuation, after investigating the packages and determining they were not a threat.
UPDATE: 10/26/2018 from RT: NYC: Suspicious package addressed to former US intelligence director James Clapper
NYPD bomb squad
© Reuters/Mike SegarNYPD bomb squad deployed.
A suspicious package allegedly addressed to the former head of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has been intercepted in Manhattan, prompting the closure of several streets in New York City.

The package was found in Midtown Manhattan. Following its discovery, police cordoned off 8th Avenue between West 42nd Street and 56th Street, as well as West 51st Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.

The parcel was allegedly addressed to Clapper, MCNBC reported. According to some other reports citing FBI, another suspicious package found at a mail sorting facility in the New York City was addressed to CNN. It is, however, unclear, whether the reports refer to one and the same parcel that is addressed both to Clapper and the news network.

Clapper wasted little time to declare that the incident was "definitely domestic terrorism." He did not openly lay the blame for the situation on President Donald Trump but could not help but say that Trump does bear some responsibility for it anyway.

"I am not suggesting any direct or close relationship between anything that he [Trump] said or [had] done and the distribution of these explosives, but I do think that he bears some responsibility for the coarseness and the instability of the dialog in this country," he told CNN.
UPDATE: 10/26/2018 from RT: FBI confirms suspicious packaged addressed to Senator Cory Booker, recovered in Florida
The FBI has confirmed an 11th package has been recovered in Florida, similar in appearance to the others, addressed to Sen. Cory Booker. While the package was intercepted in Florida, it is believed to have been addressed to Booker's New Jersey office. The FBI has confirmed that the package is similar in appearance to a series of suspicious packages mailed to top Democratic and left-wing figures over the past two days.

Law enforcement first treated the devices as "rudimentary, yet functional" explosives, but later discovered that many were poorly constructed, and may not have been capable of exploding. Among the flaws discovered by investigators were non-functioning timers, low-grade explosive powder - possibly from garden fireworks - and a lack of power sources to detonate that powder.

A federal official told Reuters that the would-be bomber may have copied instructions from one of several widely-available online manuals, like 'The Anarchist Cookbook', a 1970s-era bombmaking and hacking manual.

The FBI's investigation into the devices is not yet complete, and not all have been declared duds.
UPDATE: 10/26/2018 from RT: Mail bomb suspect has been detained, in FBI custody
Federal agents have arrested and detained a suspect in connection with a string of suspicious packages sent to prominent Democratic and left-wing figures over the last week.

"We can confirm one person is in custody," a Justice Department Spokeswoman tweeted on Friday. A law enforcement official told Reuters that other potential suspects are also being looked at.


NBC News' Tom Winter has reported that the suspect in custody is a male in his 50s, although this has not yet been confirmed. The man was arrested in Plantation, Florida, and according to CNN, has a criminal history. It is not yet known whether the suspect intended for them to detonate, or to incite fear.



USA

Best of the Web: NBC host Megyn Kelly could be fired for saying 'blackface' costume isn't necessarily 'racist' - UPDATE: Annnnnd... she's gone


Comment: Update 26 Oct 2018

They've fired her. And that was despite apologizing. Which never works anyway...
The news host did not appear on her morning show, 'Megyn Kelly Today,' on Thursday, and multiple outlets have reported that Kelly is currently negotiating an exit from NBC, citing sources familiar with the matter. She has already parted ways with her talent agency, CAA, and hired a glitzy Hollywood litigator for what could become a long, contentious negotiation over her exit. Kelly, 47, inked a three-year $69-million contract with NBC in January 2017.

Megyn Kelly
© Reuters / Mike SegarNBC host Megyn Kelly
NBC host Megyn Kelly prompted racial controversy when she claimed that dressing up in 'blackface' for Halloween is no big deal, as long as you're playing a character.

In a discussion that started out on universities pressuring students into wearing 'culturally appropriate' Halloween costumes, Kelly quickly transitioned into defending blackface - minstrel-style makeup widely considered offensive and racist.

"What is racist?" Kelly wondered aloud. "You truly do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween."

Comment: Identity politics continues devouring its own.


Snowman

Best of the Web: Meet the black American teenager who believes she's actually white, and thus has every right to be racist towards black people

treasure black teen
Yes, her name is 'Treasure'
In a bizarre clip now going viral on social media, a black teen who has had the KKK on speed-dial "since, like, middle school" is shown insulting her own race and insisting she's white.

The 16-year old, identified only by her first name, Treasure, comes off chillingly sincere when she calls her black peers "hood rats" and "monkeys."

"It made me feel good to put down an African American person because it helps them stay in their place," she tells the camera with no visible trace of humor or trolling.


Comment: Notice that, when Dr Phil attempts to make a distinction between biological race and ethnic identity, Treasure insists that there's no distinction to make: she wakes up in the morning and sees a white person in the mirror, and "feels white blood running through my veins..."

This is the 'natural' end result of raising generations of increasingly speshul snowflakes in the narcissistic melting pot that is the United States of America: a complete break with objective reality.

And she'll probably get away with it too, earning speshul dispensation for being explicitly racist towards fellow blacks because it's her speshul right to be so because of her speshul, individual, unique and God-given identity....


Red Flag

Best of the Web: Democratic Mail-bombs: Raising a False-flag

The envelope bombs sent to select Democrats are an obvious false flag.

Aside from their propaganda megaphone, CNN, everyone who received a package deserves prison time. Brennan, Hillary, Obama, Holder, etc, all are searching for sympathy because they know they are guilty of high treason.

The Deep State is pulling out all stops to gain sympathy and votes for their team. This is a pathetic means of doing it. The envelopes didn't seem to have postmarks. If they were hand-delivered, then there should be video of the perpetrators. Especially on Hillary's property. She has more video surveillance than a drug lord.

The bombs came with digital clocks serving as timed detonation devices that make no sense. The clocks had no countdown function and were added as "bomb props".

garrison mail bombs democrats
© Ben Garrison / grrrgraphics.com

Russian Flag

Best of the Web: Merkel and Macron's presence at Syria talks will seal Putin's diplomatic triumph - on one condition

merkel macron putin
By coming to Saturday's summit in Istanbul, European leaders are admitting that Russia is now dictating the terms on Syria. But Vladimir Putin's 3-year gambit won't be vindicated until a resolution comes in Idlib and beyond.

While all parties in the so-called quadrilateral talks have been given equal billing, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron's role will be to salvage the best deal for Europe from the accord that was struck without them by Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month.

In 2018, sitting at the table headed by the Russian and Turkish presidents seems like pragmatism, as Europe outspokenly quakes in fear of a new wave of refugees in the aftermath of the inevitable government assault on Idlib, the last substantial rebel stronghold in Syria.

But did such a scenario seem plausible after the Syrian conflict broke out in 2011, and the West demanded nothing but Bashar Assad's removal, in the summer of 2015 when the Syrian president's forces reached a point of depletion, or November the same year, when Turkish forces shot down a Russian Su-24, setting off a 9-month diplomatic rift between the countries?

Comment: Vladimir Putin always seems to be able to 'work with what he's got' in a positive-guiding manner. Achieving resolution and a way forward for Syria is paramount, but until then it's worth noting the historic magnitude of the moment: the Anglo-Americans are not involved in a major meeting about the Middle East mess, which they themselves created.


Books

Best of the Web: Identity politics is devouring itself: The Harvard admissions process

The Harvard University admissions office.
© GRETCHEN ERTL/THE NEW YORK TIMESThe Harvard University admissions office.
It was the week we learned that US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is between 1/1,024th and 1/64th Native American Indian. It was also the week that Harvard University - universally acknowledged as a bastion of American liberalism - was taken to court for discriminating against Asian-American applicants.

Savor last week. It may mean that we have reached a long overdue turning point.

Looking back, you can see why Warren was tempted to turn the family lore that her great-great-great-grandmother was part Native American into a full-blown claim to minority status. She built her career as a law professor during the 1980s and 1990s, when the first great wave of political correctness was sweeping American campuses. At that time, as liberal academia scrambled to appear more "diverse," being both a woman and a Native American suddenly became the opposite of disadvantageous.

Comment: See also:


Info

Best of the Web: Individuals and symbols: Mob mentality versus the individual as sacrosanct

Brett Kavanaugh family
In the past few weeks, we have been watching the fall out of what has been dubbed Sokal Squared, the effort by James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, and Peter Boghossian to expose the low standards and hateful ideology to which much of the humanities have been in thrall in recent decades. In my response, I highlighted the postmodern assault on epistemology. I said, it has been "the explicit goal of post-modernity to reject reason and evidence: they want a 'new paradigm' of knowledge." During this same period, we also saw a sad episode in US history, in which this rejection of reason and evidence arrested the Democratic Party, as well as the media, academia, Hollywood, and several notable legal institutions, who each marched in quasi-fascistic lock-step in their attempt to eviscerate Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court Justice. It has been notable after the confirmation how quickly the media-who were nothing less than Orwellian in their complicity-have sought to move on from this ugly affair. They lost, but the toll that the nation had to pay for their struggle, was severe.

Laptop

Best of the Web: The Mecca bots: Inside Saudi Arabia's troll army

mbs saudi arabia
© Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty ImagesOnline attackers who targeted Jamal Khashoggi were part of a broad effort ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his close advisers to silence Saudi critics.
Each morning, Jamal Khashoggi would check his phone to discover what fresh hell had been unleashed while he was sleeping.

He would see the work of an army of Twitter trolls, ordered to attack him and other influential Saudis who had criticized the kingdom's leaders. He sometimes took the attacks personally, so friends made a point of calling frequently to check on his mental state.

"The mornings were the worst for him because he would wake up to the equivalent of sustained gunfire online," said Maggie Mitchell Salem, a friend of Mr. Khashoggi's for more than 15 years.

Mr. Khashoggi's online attackers were part of a broad effort dictated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his close advisers to silence critics both inside Saudi Arabia and abroad. Hundreds of people work at a so-called troll farm in Riyadh to smother the voices of dissidents like Mr. Khashoggi. The vigorous push also appears to include the grooming - not previously reported - of a Saudi employee at Twitter whom Western intelligence officials suspected of spying on user accounts to help the Saudi leadership.

The killing by Saudi agents of Mr. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, has focused the world's attention on the kingdom's intimidation campaign against influential voices raising questions about the darker side of the crown prince. The young royal has tightened his grip on the kingdom while presenting himself in Western capitals as the man to reform the hidebound Saudi state.

Comment: The knives are out for the Saudis. Of course, there are agendas within agendas behind this sudden change in media sentiment, but really, it's Saudi Arabia. They had it coming.