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The Saudi Crown Prince Gets a Pass on Khashoggi at the G20

Source: www.theatlantic.com - Thursday, November 29, 2018
When leaders of the Group of 20 nations meet Friday in Argentina, they will discuss the global economy, climate and energy, and efforts to fight corruption. One item that will almost certainly not be on their agenda—despite the presence in their midst of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—is the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad. And Saudi Arabia is not alone in the G20 for its casual attitude towards human rights. Turkey, the leading critic of the Saudi investigation into Khashoggi’s killing, has more journalists in jail than any other country and can hardly be taken seriously as a defender of the free press or human rights. China imprisons its dissidents and has interned its Uighur Muslim population in camps. Russia uses assassination as a technique to rid itself of dissidents. All three are members of the G20, as are others with human-rights concerns. Put it another way, the G20 is not the Group of 8, which suspended Russia following its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014 and so became the G7. Nor is it the European Union, which has criticized members like Hungary and Poland for their perceived lack of commitment to shared European values. The G20 is primarily an economic club, a mission from which it rarely strays. It is happy to overlook messy internal political issues—especially ones involving a leader who is widely seen as the face of modern Saudi Arabia, a country which is schedule

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