Trump's favored Saudi prince becomes a global pariah

[DonViejo]

By Ishaan Tharoor
November 29 at 12:59 AM

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has had quite the year. Just months ago, he was swanning from capital to capital, feted by politicians, celebrities and business bigwigs. He and his advisers boasted about their plans for reform and innovation. Prominent commentators in the West even believed the youthful royal could usher in a new liberalism in the Middle East.

Such dreams now look delusional. As 2018 draws to an end, Mohammed is a figure stained with blood. His alleged role in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has made him into the bete noire of this year’s Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, where the prince landed on Wednesday after a trip to Tunisia. His stop in the North African nation — one of the Arab world’s few functioning democracies — featured crowds of protesters denouncing him for Khashoggi’s abduction and murder last month.

Things won’t get any less awkward in Argentina. An Argentine prosecutor is looking into whether Mohammed can be charged for war crimes, mostly related to the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. It’s a move made possible by Argentina’s post-dictatorship constitution, which gives the country jurisdiction over any cases of war crimes or torture it would like to prosecute, no matter where they occurred.

Link to tweet

“The case against the prince is being pushed by Human Rights Watch, which said it has documented 90 ‘apparently unlawful coalition airstrikes’ in Yemen that ‘hit homes, markets, hospitals, schools and mosques,’" explained my colleague Amanda Erickson. “In its petition, the organization argued that Mohammed, widely known as MBS, was ultimately responsible for several international-law violations because Saudi troops had conducted ‘indiscriminate and disproportionate’ attacks on civilians.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/11/29/trumps-favored-saudi-prince-becomes-global-pariah/?utm_term=.55d36fe5f3b0&wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1

[lagomorph777]

1. And TrumPutin with him. It's a Pariah's Club.