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Who is Jamar Khashoggi? Khashoggi is a writer of the Washington Post and a critic of Saudi Arabia, particularly of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. In his writing, Khashoggi often criticizes policies imposed by the prince such as the following;
- Saudi Arabia's role in a war in Yemen
- Diplomatic Spat between Saudi Arabia and Canada
- Saudi Arabia's arrest of women rights activist after lifting the ban on women driving.
Khashoggi vanished on October 2 after visiting Saudi Consulates in Istanbul, Turkey. A report said, authorities in Turkey obtain audio and visual evidence that showed Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi killed and dismembered Khashoggi.
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Trump said the case of Jamal Khashoggi was "being looked at very, very strongly" and that his administration "would be very upset and angry" if it turned out that the Saudi government had ordered his killing. He also said that there would be "severe punishment" if the missing Saudi journalist was found to be murdered.
Saudi Arabia dismissed the accusation as "lies and baseless" and also rejects political and economic threats from the US. In a statement, the Kingdom said, it would respond to any punitive action "with bigger one". This is the warning of Saudi Arabia as top oil exporter of the world.
Washington Post contributor Jamar Khashoggi |
In his editorial, Turki Aldhakhil, general manager of Al Arabiya, official Saudi news channel, he said, Saudi Arabia will have a powerful hand to play if tensions with the US and the West escalates. According to him, Saudi Arabia enjoys a privileged position both in geopolitical and economic terms.
It said that Saudi's most obvious advantage is its vast oil reserves — makes the Kingdom as world's largest oil exporter, pumping or shipping about 7 million barrels a day.
With this Riyadh has a very wide influence on the global economy because it has a power to dictate or push up prices. According to Aldhakhil, Riyadh is weighing up 30 measures designed to put pressure on the US if it will impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia over the disappearance and suspected murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
These would include an oil production cut that could drive prices from around $80 (£60) a barrel to more than $400, more than double the all-time high of $147.27 reached in 2008. This would have profound consequences globally, not just because motorists would pay more at the petrol pump, but because it would force up the cost of all goods that travel by road.
Saudi Arabia also supports thousands of US jobs via its arms purchases. It is the world’s second-largest arms importer. Saudi Arabia was the biggest arms customer last year, signing $17.5 billion worth of deals. If sanctioned by the US, it said that Riyadh could simply switch its purchase to other major arms exporters such as Russia and China.
Aldakhil added that if the US sanctioned are imposed on Saudi Arabia, economic disaster would rock the entire world and Washington will stab its own economy to death even though it thinks that it is stabbing only Riyadh.
This article is filed under US sanctions, women rights activist, Saudi Arabia, oil products, top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia oil, and economy.
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