The Saudi engine of repression continues to run at full speed

One hundred days after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pressing ahead with anti-dissident campaigns and remains in regular contact with Saud al-Qahtani, the media adviser whom the CIA believes helped organize Khashoggi’s killing, according to U.S. and Saudi sources.

The Saudi crown prince, far from altering his impulsive behavior or signaling that he has learned lessons from the Khashoggi affair, as the Trump administration had hoped, appears instead to be continuing with his autocratic governing style and a ruthless campaign against dissenters, the U.S. and Saudi sources said this week.

“Domestically, he feels very confident and in control. As long as his base is secure, he feels that nothing can harm him,” says one American who met recently with MBS, as the crown prince is known. One of Britain’s most-experienced Saudi-watchers agreed: “He’s completely unchastened by what has happened. That is worrying for Western governments.”

MBS has been contacting Qahtani and continuing to seek his advice, according to the U.S. and Saudi sources. A Saudi source said Qahtani had also met recently at his Riyadh home with his senior deputies from the royal court’s Center for Studies and Media Affairs, the cybercommand post he ran until shortly after Khashoggi’s death. “I’m being blamed and used as a scapegoat,” Qahtani is said to have told his former aides.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-saudi-engine-of-repression-continues-to-run-at-full-speed/2019/01/10/d5a5f68a-1521-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html?utm_term=.b510f4995d29&wpisrc=al_trending_now__alert-world--alert-national&wpmk=1

As long as his base is secure, he feels that nothing can harm him. Sounds like Donald Trump.