Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, The Kremlin, Moscow, May 30, 2017
Dr Steve Hewitt writes for the Birmingham Perspective:
A journalist murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul allegedly by Saudi government agents; an ex-Russian spy and his daughter poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury, apparently by Russian intelligence agents. What connects these two 2018 events is a concept that receives little attention in wider media and political discourses: state terrorism.
State terrorism is similar to non-State terrorism in that it involves politically or ideologically or religiously inspired acts of violence against individuals or groups outside an armed conflict. The key difference is that agents of the state are carrying out that violence.
It is certainly not a new phenomenon. There is a tendency, in part because the domination of terrorism studies by certain academic disciplines, to see terrorism as a problem of the present. But its modern version appeared in the latter half of the 19th century, and State terrorism has an equally long history, stretching back to at least the French Revolution and “the Terror”. Russian intelligence, including in the Soviet era, has long deployed murder as a tactic against those deemed as threats to the state or to a particular leader. The most famous victim of Soviet state terrorism was Leon Trotsky, who was killed in 1940 in Mexico City by a Soviet agent. This trend appears to have continued in the post-Soviet era with the deaths of a wide range of opponents and critics of the Russian state and President Vladimir Putin.
Despite the Salisbury and Saudi consulate examples, State terrorism does not necessarily involve individual targets. In a chapter for a new edited collection, Routledge Handbook of Terrorism and Counterterrorism, I compiled the number of deaths in Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) from acts of terrorism between 1968 and 2018. Topping the list were deaths from an act of State terrorism, the 1988 bombing by a Libyan Government agent of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
Nor do authoritarian states have a monopoly on State terrorism. To try to stop protests against nuclear tests, French Government agents bombed the Greenpeace ship, The Rainbow Warrior, in New Zealand in 1985, killing 1 person. Israel has spent decades targeting perceived threats, such as scientists active in Iran’s nuclear program, for death. The US Central Intelligence Agency allegedly sponsored a car bombing in Beirut in 1985, in an effort to kill a cleric connected to Hezbollah. The explosion missed its intended target, murdering 80 people instead. And in 1998 a former MI5 agent, David Shayler, alleged that MI6 sponsored a 1996 assassination attempt on then-Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi, that missed its target but killed several other people.
As with non-state terrorism, State terrorism has a purpose. Political scientist Ruth Blakely notes State terrorism is not only about the destruction of those targeted, but is also driven by the “opportunity afforded by the harm to terrorize others”. What unites these acts is an aspiration not only to punish but to intimidate more widely as well.
Based on recent events, that desire on the part of a wide variety of states shows no sign of dissipating soon.
Finally a piece with some background and less lean towards “I am better than you”
Forgot to mention Abu Ghreib, or the president of El Salvador who Nixon tried to assasinate. How about Diana and Dodi. Marwar Sherif in London etc etc Al Mabhouh who Israel assasinated in Dubai in 2011. The countless Iranian assassinations on dissidents and former shah era diplomats.
The list is endless. Should the killing lead to destruction of the entire state system. Should it lead to chaos of the state and instability that impacts everyone. Should it lead to removals of monarch families and thus civil wars. This is the question people don’t jump far ahead enough. Nothing will Happen in Saudi, Erdogan used this as much as he could. He even gave up the pastor to get even more leverage. The Saudis pulled him back probably by reminding him that they are only a step away from removing their investments in his weak economy and stepping up support for the kurds 10 fold.
Khashogji was no sweet angel. His family was known for weapons dealing. Look up Adnan Khashogji. He was working with Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood to build a new electronic army called DAWN. The headquarters was to be in Delaware. When Trump came in and removed support for the Anti-Saudi Pro-Iran diplomacy, Khashogji moved to Turkey to continue it with Qatari funds and Turkish support. The recordings of him speaking about Qatari support and opening up his own new channel are public knowledge and everyone in the region has a whatsapp video of him stating it. The goal of the Saudi agents was most likely to extract him and thus the 15 man team. You dont need 15 people to assassinate him, but to extract him and bring him back to Saudi for interrogation would need as such.
Anyhow, Iran oil stoppage and Democrats election winnings are my interests for this week, Khashogji is not news anymore. Enjoy the show
Finally Nanoybiz comes out of hiding after posting numerous commenters denying Khashoggi was murdered by the Saudi Leadership. This after the Saudis admitted to the hit and the hillarious use of a body double.
I am still on the edge of my seat awaiting his explanation I as to how the death of Diana and Dodi was a murder.
a piece with some background and less lean towards “I am better than you”
Forgot to mention Abu Ghreib, or the president of El Salvador who Nixon tried to assasinate. How about Diana and Dodi. Marwar Sherif in London etc etc Al Mabhouh who Israel assasinated in Dubai in 2011. The countless Iranian assassinations on
“Nothing will Happen in Saudi”
In your dreams. Mattis has already laid down the law and stated the war in Yemen in over and will end in a ceasefire. The Saudis, who have to be the most pathetic excuse for a military in memory, were already losing that war with US support. They have no hope in hell of carrying on without it, not to mention the fact the war is bankrupting them at a rate of US$9 billion per month.
Erdogan has MBS right where he wants him and still has a number of aces up his sleeve. He returned the pastor at a moment he sensed the Saudis were in deep trouble and it’s paid off. The Saudis have been shovelling tens of billions into Turkey to keep Erdogan from releasing all the audio recordings because they are scared to death.
No one ever said Khashoggiwas a sweet angel. Everyone knows who Adnan Khashoggi is. All this crap being spread about Kashoggi is just a diversion ti change the subject from the saddistic and barbaric method in which Saudi Arabia has been exposed for the medieval death cult that it is.
“The goal of the Saudi agents was most likely to extract him and thus the 15 man team.”
Yeah right. That explains the body double, the bone saw, etc. You dont need 15 people to extract anyone. And no 60 year old man is going to take on 15 goons in a fist fight and hope to win. Erdogan has he audio recording and Skype intercepts which features MBS abusing Khashoggi in a live video conference and calling for his team off murderers to return with Khashoggi’s head.
Saudi Arabia is finished. MBS’s 2030 vision is dead as is the NEOM project. There will never be a listing of Aramco, as the Saudis will never agree to open their books and reveal the state of their declining oil resources. MBS’s days are numbered.
Iran’s oil is not stopping in spite of US efforts. China is too big for the US to sanctions and they alone are purchasing 800,000 barrels of oil from Iran every day. Saudi Arabia will never be able to make up the shortfall from Iran anyway and the US cannot afford to weather the spike in oil prices if Iran exports were to end. India have decided they are not going to cut their oil imports from Iran, nor is the EU.
We are indeed enjoying the show. Saudi Arabia’s days are numbered.