TKC QUESTION: SHOULD KANSAS CITY CARE ABOUT KHASHOGGI?!?!



It's the holidays and I want to be a good person.

I want to believe that we're all connected and standing up for human rights, social justice, liberty and freedom in one part of the world will impact the entire planet.

Then again, and only when I'm in a mad rush for an afternoon bloggy update, I also scream at limping hobos if they walk too slowly in traffic.

The inherent contradictions of American life are becoming more apparent in a recent hot mess over the death of some newsie in a faraway land.

Reality check: Nobody is allowed to mention this on TV but the reality is that a lot of innocent people in the 3rd world have to die in order to secure cheap and plentiful gas. Think about that whilst getting nice and cozy this holiday season. And the thank God the ghost of Osama never had access to Predator drones.

All of this only deserves mention because of some important local journalism that offered a perspective on the topic that other newsies have heretofore overlooked -- Word to local talker Pete Mundo . . . Most of the time, we try to ignore most of the world outside of midtown.

However . . . Here's the word from a Kansas politico now in the big time and talking international issues with local newsies who are mostly out of their depth.

The quote:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has noted that the U.S. has imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials suspected of involvement in the killing.

"We've sanctioned 17 people — some of them very senior in the Saudi government," Pompeo said Wednesday in a radio interview with KCMO in Kansas City, Missouri. "We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights."

More of the news we want to share on the topic:

Fox News: Trump contradicts CIA assessment on Khashoggi killing

Indie UK: To unlock the diplomatic mysteries behind the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, take a look at Syria

CNBC: The Khashoggi fallout: A timeline of events

And so . . .

Yes, this stuff might be very well be important but then again there have been about 120 dead bodies dropped by criminals on Kansas City streets and about half of those cases are unsolved . . . So forgive us if journalism isn't the top concern on the mind of Kansas City locals.

Still, we ask some of our smarter readers who follow international politics more closely and thoughtfully . . . Is this something that should concern Kansas City???

You decide . . .

Comments

  1. It's a major issue for the President. OF COURSE we should care.

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  2. Nope, you don’t go to the Middle East and start a bunch of sh@t with people who at the least will cut your hands off for stealing let alone scream human rights violations to their face, not a good idea as he and his family found out

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  3. Don't worry, Trumps sons won't be fighting in the Middle East.

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  4. 5:12 The Middle East loves gays like you, they’ll have a blast with you and your kind, stick to what you know best, getting it up your arse. Maybe you should sit this one out and leave it to the real men, k?

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  5. You never served 5:36. Who ya kidding? And he's right, Trumps boys never served either. A bunch of chickenhawk.

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  6. WE NEED TO WORRY ABOUT OUR OWN MURDERS CHICAGO 400 to 500 DETROIT ST LOUIS BALTIMORE KANSAS CITY ALL CRIME RIDDEN DUMPS HOW BOUT OUR GOVERNMENTS CRIMES URANIUM ONE PHONY DOSSIERS AND SUCH WE ALL KNOW THE REAL COLLUDERS

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  7. Khashoggi wasn't a journalist; he was just a guy that occasionally got a column in the Washington Post for PR purposes (and a big supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood . . . who are just about as bad as the Saudi royal family).

    But sanctions? No way. if we were to completely break ties with Saudi, we would also have to stop doing business with damned near every country in the world. China alone kills a bunch of dissidents every day . . . the only difference is that those individuals aren't championed by a major, US press outlet out to smear a president they detest.

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  8. Khashoggi was a Saudi intelligence officer and propagandist. To try and pretend his is a journalist is absurd. The fact that the Washington Post published his columns is proof that Jeff Bezos will do anything to impede President Trump.

    I can understand Turkey being upset about Khashoggi's killing, but not the US.
    Let us put this into perspective. Obama killed a US citizen in Yemen with a drone strike. This was a civilian. Not an intelligence operative that committed treason against his country like Khashoggi. This is no choirboy. Khashoggi's uncle was the biggest arms dealer in the world, and I am sure he has his hands dirty in dozens of ways. The US has executed spies in the past, too.

    Most people are ignorant of the larger geopolitical maneuverings here. The big conflict in the Middle East is Iran vs. Saudi Arabia. Shi'ite vs Sunni. Proxy wars at the periphery. The Obama administration leaned toward Iran. Valerie Jarrett was one of Obama's closest advisers going back to the Chicago days, and she was born in Iran. Kerry got played by Iranian diplomats and accepted an agreement on nukes flew in pallets of cash to the mullahs. Kerry should be prosecuted for violating the Hatch Act because he is continuing to meet with the Iranians in an attempt to undermine the President.

    Most Presidents since WWII have been pro Saudi. And most have been anti Iran since the Revolution in 1979. Trump is merely swinging the pendulum back to its traditional place. Since US oil output is so high, and we have nearly achieved energy independence, the US currently has the upper hand in negotiations. Saudi Arabia is also in a period of leadership transition. Trump and his son in law, Jared Kushner, have been using this opportunity to try and forge a lasting agreement in Israel. The mainstream media would have a cow if the Trump administration were to successfully broker such a deal, so they have been doing everything in their power to derail the US-Saudi relationship.

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  9. A lot of this has to do with Chuckle-Head Carter, who in his limited wisdom threw long time US friend the Shah of Iran under the bus, which brought in the smelly robed mullahs and their taste for underage waifs.

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  10. Fuck Saudi Arabia. They were behind 9/11. They spread Wahibbism around the world in mosques paid for by the Saudi royal family. It should have been the 2nd country we declared war on after Afghanistan. But no. The Bush administration made up that Iraq was involved when they unequivocally were not. You know why? The Bush family owned a company called the Carlyle Group with the Saudi royal family. Guess W thought it strain the relationship with his business partner to start a war with them. Not only that, the Saudis bailed W out at least twice before he was president from failed businesses. You see, everything W touched turned to shit, including his presidency, and he played a major role in where we are today. Of course we should care about an American citizen being murdered. Will anything be done about it? Of course not, Trump has already admitted as much. Saudi Arabia, along with Pakistan, will continue to be the two worst countries in the world that double deal us constantly while we give them billions of dollars every year.

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  11. Cee Bee and 6:08 are correct.

    Here is a picture of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt at Yalta.

    https://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/churchill_roosevelt_and_stalin_in_yalta_4_to_11_february_1945-en-60939c79-5270-4e0a-be5e-e2208b96091e.html

    The idea that we can throw a fit, take our ball and go home like some Liberal Hollywood diva, because a dictator kills someone he doesn't like is preposterous. Stalin killed 20 million of his OWN people, not to mention "colluded" with actual Nazis. Yet there sits two of the most important leaders of the 20th century, negotiating (Very poorly, Roosevelt was on death's door.) with what we could reasonably call a mad man to achieve what the world hoped would be a lasting peace.

    It's an ugly world and the idiots who stomp their feet at every opportunity to proclaim their virtue at the expense of me paying 6.00 a gallon at the pump can go fuck themselves.

    A big picture overview with an eye to extrapolation and consequences for knee jerk idiot liberal initiatives is far more important than the short term "victories" achieved by the 4th estate and Trump haters who would have us on our knees after ill advised policies that expose us to chaos.

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  12. @7:47AM You are an idiot. Clinton had the opportunity to kill OBL and didn't. So was he in on 9/11 too? Take off your tin foil hat.
    And which American citizen that was murdered are you referring too? Typical low information millennial snowflake. Stay on your Xbox and let the adults talk, junior.

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  13. One kind of Islamist radical kills another kind of Islamist radical somewhere other than in the USA. Not easy to get real worked up about that. What counts is America's best interest, not the Muslim Brotherhood's, Saudi Arabia's or Iran's.

    Writing a few propaganda columns for the WaPo does not make a person a journalist, and being a journalist does not make a person sacrosanct.

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  14. I want to see gas go back down to $1.25 a gallon.


    Hurry it up please

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  15. @8:34 It will be a while. After 9/11 if Bush would have taken $100 Billion and built molten salt reactors instead of invading Iraq and Afghanistan, the price of oil would be under $30/bbl today.

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  16. ^^^So that wasn't one of Obama's "shovel ready" projects?

    But you're at least consistent if not logical. Fifteen years later, it's all still Bush's fault.

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  17. We are still fighting the SLAM DUNK WAR.

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  18. #9:35 No, it wasn't a shovel ready project.
    Who else is to blame for Afghanistan if not Bush?
    I'm no liberal, but I think even dogmatic neocons would admit that the Afghanistan War is a quagmire.
    And what did Bush say in his first campaign for President? The Army is not some "meals on wheels" program. And then Bush made the same mistake Johnson made: he thought he could bribe a stone age people with public works projects.

    At the time, I backed the war in Iraq. Afghanistan too, but I was also very shocked that Bush would do it. The only possible justification I saw was to secure Pakistani nukes, which I suppose is still an issue today.

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  19. Our money is oil based, they start selling in another currancy our economy falls due to not being able to export our debt. They own us.

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  20. 10:23 and why exactly did we go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq again? 9/11 ring any bells

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  21. RE: "Reality check: Nobody is allowed to mention this on TV but the reality is that a lot of innocent people in the 3rd world have to die in order to secure cheap and plentiful gas. Think about that whilst getting nice and cozy this holiday season. And the thank God the ghost of Osama never had access to Predator drones."

    Alright TKC, you started out very nice with your first sentence above, which is a profound truth, but then you reached for the Osama reference and I'm not sure where you were headed.

    Most of what Americans believe about Osama bin Laden is a myth. Actually, most Americans likely wouldn't recognize the name anymore, as it was "retired at sea" in a fabricated ceremony.

    bin Laden was an American ally in the Afghani proxy war against the Soviet Union. He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with American foreign policy architects like Zbigniew Brzezinski. The Bush family were friends and business associates with the bin Laden family. On the morning of September 11, 2001 George H.W. Bush (former President/CIA Director/and father of then-President GW Bush was meeting with the Carlyle Group in D.C. In attendance were members of the bin Laden family.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=brzezinski+bin+laden&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYy7Ct_ereAhVLeawKHW4rDcEQ_AUIDigB&biw=1304&bih=675#imgrc=_

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  22. I don’t mind being at war in the Middle East. Most towel heads should be killed anyway. Less Muslims on this earth.

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  23. 11:08 is what happens when you've been unemployed for more than 18 months. You turn into this.

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  24. It is routinely and conveniently forgotten, that Bush could not have taken military action against either Afghanistan or Iraq without support from congressional Democrats. A majority supported military action in both theaters. Later, when public opinion turned against the war in Iraq, Democrats demanded that action in Iraq should be shut down and resources allocated to the just war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Now, the Democrats are pretending to have been against that war too all along. The media, being more devoted to propaganda than facts, simply repeat what the Dems tell them to say.



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  25. The fact you are glossing over and making several misstatements about is that Saudi Arabia is the country that committed the 9/11 attacks.

    The 21 attackers were 19 Saudis, 2 Yeminis who grew up in SA, nd one guy born in Lebanon who grew up in the Trucial States and moved to SA when he was 14. Osama bin Laudin was a second cousin of the Royal Family (mother's side) and was entirely financed by them throughout his life.

    The House of Saud (the entire Royal Family) are Wahabi, neither Sunni or Shiite, and SA has no long-standing feud with either sect. The only threat to Saudi hegemony in the Arab World was Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

    In other words, Saudi Arabia killed 3,000+ Americans in its 09/11 attack on the US, and Bush II responded by taking out the only rival they had to their power.

    Also, check out the role Prescott Bush played in drawing the present National Boundaries in the Middle East following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Then look to see whohis son and grandsons were.

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  26. 12:52. Why don't you check out the help-wanted listings online. CVS needs cashiers. It'll be good for you.

    Look, I know you're out of Vicodin and you can't get another refill for three more weeks, and two Xanax have to carry you through until Monday... but seriously, try a job.

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  27. If you believe airplanes alone brought down those three buildings, yes three buildings in NY you are dumber than a Islamic goat.

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  28. 12:52, are you claiming that the Saudis who participated in the 9/11 attacks were agents of the government? I call that BS. Provide proof.

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  29. Saudi citizen gets killed by agents of the Saudi government in another country in a Saudi consulate considered Saudi soil.

    Explain to me why this is any of our business?

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  30. 8:04 eat another bag of dicks in your trailer in Braymer,Mo or whatever shithole you live in. You couldn't be more wrong. I'm not a millennial. Why don't you disprove anything I said? It's because you can't. I know you won't but if your mom will drive you to the library check out Richard Clark's book Against All Enemies. Let me beat you to the punch here because Rush Limbaugh told you Clark is one of them libtards. He was first hired by Reagan. Bush Sr, Clinton, and W kept him until he resigned from the W's administration. Clark was there for every step of going after bin Laden. They had bin Laden on satellite surrounded by women and children who would also have been killed in the air strike. I know, who cares? Bin Laden wasn't yet the clear enemy he became, not enough to kill 300 other people the air strike would have got. If he called in an air strike Republicans would have torched him. After all, Republicans had accused him of "wag the dog" for air strikes in 1998 in Afghanistan. Clinton simply didn't have the political clout to get away with anything, if you remember at the time he was going through the Kenneth Starr investigation. Flight instructors did inform the FBI about Islamic men wanting to learn to fly but not land planes. The Bush administration ignored this information. But go ahead and keep being blinded (and factually wrong) about what happened sue to your devotion to a political party. I challenge you to post links refuting what I said. I challenge you to actually read a book and not get all your info from Hannity. You won't though. Hell, it's been 40 years since you read a non-fiction book, why start now?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/02/16/bill-clinton-and-the-missed-opportunities-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/?utm_term=.c329a1701b30

    https://thinkprogress.org/flashback-conservative-lawmakers-decried-clintons-attacks-against-osama-as-wag-the-dog-e1ca08cd43ad/

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  31. “If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it…. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change.” ― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

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  32. September 11, 2001: Bin Laden Brother Attends Carlyle Group Conference

    The Carlyle Group is a large private-equity investment firm, closely associated with officials of the Bush and Reagan administrations, and has considerable ties to Saudi oil money, including ties to the Bin Laden family.

    The Carlyle Group is one of the most powerful and successful private equity firms in the world with $13 billion under management and with more political connections than the White House switchboard. George Bush Sr, his former Secretary of State James Baker, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Arthur Levitt, the retired IBM boss Lou Gerstner, and John Major, the former Prime Minister, are among the big names on the Carlyle payroll. The chairman is Frank Carlucci, a former Secretary of Defense and Deputy Director of the CIA, a close friend of Donald Rumsfeld, who put Carlyle at the center of the American defense industry.

    With the ascension of George W. Bush to the presidency, the White House is now full of ex-Carlyle employees, friends and business partners. And with the newly fattened defense budget, Carlyle has been able to extract massive profits from its defense holdings. The same morning as American Airlines Flight 11 roared towards the north tower of the World Trade Center the Carlyle Group was holding its annual investor conference. Among those who gathered in the plush setting of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Washington were former world leaders, former defense experts and wealthy Arabs from the Middle East.

    There with them, looking after the investments of his family, was Shafiq Bin Laden, Osama Bin Laden‘s half-brother. George Bush Sr. was also at the conference, but left before the terror attacks. It is impossible to say when it dawned on the partners at the Carlyle Group that what was to come, as a direct result of September 11, would serve their financial interests. Perhaps it was that very day, in the midst of the chaos and grief that had gripped the nation.

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  33. Fantastic retort 8:55! Well thought out response pointing out with documentation of everything 8:47 said that isn't true. Well done, congratulations. Have you considered writing a book? One other thing about 9/11. In the hours after the attack all planes in America were grounded. Except one. One plane was allowed to fly. Who was on that plane? Was it Bush Sr who was traveling at the time? No it wasn't. That one plane that was flying in American airspace was bin Laden's family members leaving the country. Think about that (if you can), who in this country would have the pull to ground every plane but allow one plane full of the suspected terrorists family members to leave the country? I realize Hannitty probably didn't tell you this stuff but it is all true. You can find out what happened if you maybe pick up some books and read but you won't do that, that is too difficult. Turn on Fox and join the echo chamber of fellow morons who know nothing.

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  34. @10:41PM @7:04PM Just because the Bushes and the Saudi Royal Family are close does not equal the Saudi Government was behind 9/11.
    You are jumping to conclusions.

    The CIA has so muddied the waters that they will never be untangled. Any hypotheses you present can be countered with several others with as much fact.

    I will admit that the official government story is bunk. The Saudis that are blamed for it were not the product of the Saudi government, rather the CIA. Al-Qaeda means "the base" in Arabic. Yes, the CIA database of known Wahhabi (which are a type of fundamentalist Sunni) radicals that were recruited to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. I am certain they started to oppose their own ruling family and sought to oust them and replace them with a Wahhabi version of the Shiite theocracy that rules Iran. Whether they did 9/11 or were used as cutouts by the CIA is still very much open to debate. It certainly does not make a case for the complicity of the Saudi Royal family in the attacks.

    Your partisan defense of Clinton is touching, but is devoid of facts. During the Lewinsky investigations Clinton wagged the dog many times in an attempt to get the media to change the subject. Enforcing the no-fly zone in Iraq, and retaliating for the Al-Qaeda bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, Clinton bombed Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan. So trying to argue that the Lewinsky matter hamstrung his ability to kill Osama bin Laden is pure revisionist bullshit.

    If Bush was involved with 9/11, then so was Clinton. Trying to put the blame on one political party is not only wrong, it is deceitful.
    The blame lies with the Deep State, and making it partisan is part of their attempted Hegelian dialectic (look it up, smart guy).

    For all your accusations that people should stop watching Hannity or read a book or something, you are still a useful idiot. It is great to read books and consume a variety of media, but the most important part is digesting it. You could really use some critical thinking skills.

    In this context about Saudi Arabia, you are using faulty logic to push your partisan hatred of Trump. Trump is the President least beholden to the interests of the Deep State since probably Eisenhower, and possible Teddy Roosevelt.

    You are supporting the media's use of the Khashoggi story to damage Trump's negotiations with the Saudis. You are a pawn of the left. As Chuck pointed out earlier, the world is not black and white, and it shows real political naivete to make a blanket statement about one of the US's strongest and longest strategic relationships.

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  35. ^^^ ahh, the Deep State, two words that are a dead giveaway for a Fox News cult member.

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  36. ^^^Great argument. Fox News Herr Durr.

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