The headline has been altered from the original. Mystery has been changed to riddle.Why? Though mystery and riddle are close in meaning it seemed to me that the word riddle better represented the idea that Robert Fisk was putting forth. Mr Fisk may beg to differ, but, based on my reading of his piece.. riddle was the better word choice. Murder is in quotations, because, in my book- No body/Not a certain murder.Riddle: a question or statement intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity in ascertaining its answer or meaning,a person, event, or fact that is difficult to understand or explainRobert Fisk Let's read together:
"Where should the Sunni Islamist fighters of Idlib go? Since their money and their weapons come from the Sunni Gulf, and since their Wahhabi Sunni faith was inspired by the very same creed which governs the Saudi monarchy, what better location for their future welfare than one of Saudi Arabia’s vast sandpits?
The Saudis are going to get away with it. Muhammad bin Salman, too. They may pay a price – we’ll travel in that direction later – but they remain the “vision of light” against Iran’s “vision of darkness”, in the words of Saudi Arabia’s ever more egregious foreign minister"
If the Saudi's were going to 'get away with it' then there would be no price to pay. (Contradiction)
"We are all, alas, making the same old Middle East mistake: of thinking that the bad guys will get overthrown or punished for their murders and transgressions and that the good guys (whoever they may be) will come out on top.Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of murder most foul. But in the Middle East’s sectarian civil war, the Sunnis have got to win over the Shiites and the Saudis have got the money, and America’s president – for whom the epithet "insane" is now as irrelevant as it is obvious – has managed to quote the Saudis as claiming that Khashoggi was “an enemy of the people” and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Even if his murder was “terrible” and “a horrible crime”. It could very well be, announced the leader of the free world this week, that bin Salman had knowledge of the murder. “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
Of course Khashoggi was tied to the Muslim brotherhood and Osama bin laden (Fisk seems to be obfuscating those connections)
"The story clip-clops along like an old horse and we all trot along behind this lovable, familiar, furry beast.
There was a kind of tragic inevitability behind Adel al-Jubair’s latest appearance as Saudi foreign minister in Bahrain, a Sunni monarchy with a Shiite majority where the UK has just opened a new naval base beside the headquarters of the US 5th Fleet. Al-Jubair accused the press – yes us, colleagues of Khashoggi – of “hysterical” coverage of his murder. It was as if he was running the movie backwards to its original claim of innocence: when the kingdom stated that it had nothing to do with his butchery, that he had indeed left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul alive, that they had no idea what had happened to him. Hysteria indeed. How dare the media go on about Kashoggi being murdered and chopped into bits and secretly buried. Anyway, where was the body?"
Actually the coverage was really hysterical. If Jubair didn't say really hysterical he was downplaying the over the top coverage
"If there’s a murder, there’s got to be a body. And so here, briefly, we go back to Istanbul and to the Sultan himself, who doesn’t blame good old King Salman, but who really would like to find the corpse and who might – here we go again – have yet another tape of Khashoggi to send to the world’s intelligence services. Be sure our political leaders will not sully their ears by listening to it; Trump called the original recording “a suffering tape”. Canada’s Trudeau chose not to listen to it. But they really should have put their ear to the loudspeaker. Listening to an Arab journalist telling his murderers that he was suffocating would have been a fairly accurate symbol of democracy in the Middle East today."
From my reading the news of another tape was leaked in the Turkish press. I've seen nothing suggesting Erdogan made this statement. Here's the meat and potatoes of Fisk's what's behind the riddle theory
"But Erdogan must have other plans. And here, I suspect, we should move a little south of the Sublime Porte and gaze over the plains of Idlib, the Syrian province where we were long ago told to expect – by Trump, the UN, the British, the EU, Amnesty International, Uncle Tom Cobley and his old grey mare – a bloody, gas-infected invasion by Syrian and Russian forces to finally destroy the Islamist fighters of Isis, Al-Nusrah, Al-Qaeda and their fellow jihadis, along with tents of thousands of civilians. Idlib is the rubbish basket for the enemies of the Syrian regime. Their only escape route is across the Turkish border – whence they originally came."
Ah yes, Idlib. Where we were told a bloodbath, brought on by the Syrians and Russians was inevitable. And desired by the 5/6 eyes. But then something happened. Russia and Turkey made a deal. Denying the anglo zionists the desired excuse to intervene. Readers here will recall this was written about extensively, here. I'd suggested there would be no attack by the Syrians and Russians... for what seemed to me very obvious reasons
September 7/2018-Idlib & The Status Quo: The Trump Resistance
For now the situation in Idlib will remain as it has been. Which means Russian and Syrian attacks on targets in Idlib will continue to occur as they have already been.If the US/coalition attacks or conducts a chemical weapons psyop that status quo will be altered.
Fisk continued:
"But since the Sultan doesn’t want them back, and since Syria and Russia see no point in another bloodbath when the Syrian war has almost concluded — though readers may check this conclusion against future events (it's not over yet)– the outstanding question remains: where should these assorted Sunni Islamist fighters and their families go?Since their money and their weapons come from the Sunni Gulf and since their Wahhabi Sunni faith was inspired by the very same creed which governs the Saudi monarchy, what better location for their future welfare than one of Saudi Arabia’s vast sandpits? Could there be a more humane and convenient place for their “re-education” than the ascetic wastes of the Saudi Empty Quarter?
Fisk is suggesting the Turks may be using this situation to pressure Saudi Arabia (and the US/Israel) to come get their fighters.
Surely the Saudis, who would according to Trump “gladly withdraw from Yemen”, could accommodate the lot of them, saving the West – yet again – from “world terror” while sparing themselves a second tape from Erdogan and the sudden and most inconvenient discovery of body parts from a victim whose demise may have been known – or maybe not – to Mohammed bin Salman.
The Russians must surely approve. (YUP) The Americans, too. (not so sure about that) The Saudis would surely be making a sacrifice for all of us to take on so onerous a burden as the desert imprisonment of the Isis and Nusrah legions inside the kingdom itself. After all, these legions of crucifiers and executioners – I’m talking about Isis, of course – would certainly abide by prison rules when their guards are such experts in publicly chopping off the heads of alleged drug-addicts and child murderers with the sword, not to mention the dismemberment of a journalist with a bone saw.Can we see a deal in the making here? The Yemen war comes to an end (thanks to its arms-selling enablers in the West) and the Syrian war reaches its peaceful finale with the blessing of Vladimir Putin. Of the $450bn Saudi Arabia has promised to spend on weapons in the US – let’s have no more talk of a piece of paper – $110bn will go to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon “and many other great US defence contractors”. Adel al-Jubair’s “vision of light” – Saudi Arabia, of course – can go to war with Iran’s “vision of darkness which seeks to spread sectarianism throughout the region”.
A deal in the making? Seems entirely plausible. Look at all the perceived wins to be had... Idlib situation settled. Turkey & Russia can claim Sochi success. Idlib will be cleared of terrorists. Syria can, hopefully, take that territory back. The US and Saudi Arabia garner some good PR over the Yemen situation. The neo liberalist plunder of Saudi Arabia can start in earnest. And the status quo will remain.. Sunni vs Shia. Plus Israel will have Saudi Arabia back in her fold.Perhaps there is a riddle in the process of being unraveled, right now?One that will take us all to the next scenario/situation.
Khashoggi may have had a certain vision of darkness as they put the plastic bag over his head in the Saudi consulate last month but in the Middle East, the good guys don’t always come out on top. The war with Iran must be fought. The war against the Shiites must be fought. Israel and Netanyahu – notice how those names have so far eluded us in our woeful tale today? – will be satisfied with their "secret" Saudi alliance against Iran.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin will flourish, along with many other great US defence contractors. And the Saudi crown prince – unlike Kashoggi – will be assured of a long life and an honourable burial in old age. Preferably in one piece.
A bit more on Idlib going back to August:
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August 9: How Russia, Turkey, and Iran are Going to Avoid a Battle for Idlib
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August 10: Turkey and Russia Coordinate for the Move on Idlib- Moving Terrorists Eastward?
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August 15 :Firas Tlass: SAA Will Invade Idleb with Russian and Turkish Help
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Finally August 16: The Sticky Situation of the Idlib Offensive