The Khashoggi murder: Riyadh put on notice
CRITICAL followers of Saudi affairs could not help but be a little bemused by the strong international reaction to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It is not that they do not take what happened seriously; it is regarded as something appalling, but many feel that their voices went largely ignored while the Saudi state did much worse things in the past.
Saudi Arabia has consistently opposed trends towards more democratic and open societies in the Arab world. During and after the 2011 Arab Spring revolts, it put its influence and money behind the suppression of popular protest, sending troops to Bahrain and supporting the military coup in Egypt that overthrew the Morsi government.
It is engaged in a war in Yemen that has so far killed well over 10,000 people directly and condemned some 50,000 to death by starvation. Many of the deaths have resulted from Saudi bombing of areas where there are high concentrations of civilians. The most notorious attack was on Aug 9 this year, when 24 children and 11 adults were killed in an air strike on a school bus. Aid agencies warn of 10 million people being threatened by famine in one of the worst humanitarian emergencies since World War II.
