English articles from Arabian newspapers are not so weird anymore.
Here is a recent article from 20. Nov. 2018:
Source: Pompeo Handed Saudi Arabia A Plan to Shield MbS from Khashoggi Fallout
TEHRAN (FNA)- Saudi Arabiaâs king and crown prince are shielding themselves from the Jamal Khashoggi murder scandal by using a roadmap drawn up by the US Secretary of State, a senior Saudi source told Middle East Eye (MEE).
Mike Pompeo delivered the plan in person during a meeting with Saudi King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS), last month in Riyadh, the source, who is familiar with Pompeoâs talks with the Saudi leaders, said.
The plan includes an option to pin the Saudi journalistâs murder on an innocent member of the ruling al-Saud family in order to insulate those at the very top, the source told MEE.
That person has not yet been chosen, the source stated, and Saudi leaders are reserving the use of that plan in case the pressure on bin Salman becomes too much.
âWe would not be surprised if that happens,â the source told MEE.
The US State Department denied the Saudi sourceâs allegations, and called them âa complete misrepresentation of the secretaryâs diplomatic mission to Saudi Arabiaâ.
"Weâve spoken publicly about our goals: to impress upon Saudi leadership the seriousness to which the Unites States government attaches to a prompt and complete accounting of the murder of Jamal Kashoggi,â State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told MEE.
According to the source, Pompeo outlined his plan on October 16, when he jetted over to Riyadh to meet with King Salman and MbS as international scrutiny on the Khashoggi case intensified.
Pompeoâs trip to the Gulf kingdom came exactly two weeks after Khashoggi, a prominent journalist and critic of the crown prince, was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Turkish city of Istanbul on 2 October.
Just days before Pompeo touched down in Riyadh, MEE reported that Turkish officials had discovered that Khashoggi was killed and dismembered minutes after he entered the consulate to get papers he needed to remarry.
At the time of Pompeoâs trip to Riyadh, top US officials - including US President Donald Trump - had said very little about what happened to Khashoggi, who had been living in self-imposed exile in the US at the time of his disappearance.
Pompeoâs meeting with MbS in Riyadh raised eyebrows, as human rights groups worldwide were urging Washington to demand answers from its allies in Saudi Arabia.
The day after the high-profile meeting, Pompeo told journalists that the Saudis didnât want to talk about the facts in Khashoggiâs case and neither did he.
âI donât want to talk about any of the facts,â Pompeo said as he travelled to Turkey, adding that âthey didnât want to eitherâ.
The Saudi source told MEE that Pompeo went to Riyadh to advise the Saudis on how to handle the fallout in the Khashoggi case.
After his meetings, however, Pompeo stated that he advised the Saudis to conduct a transparent investigation.
âWe had direct and candid conversations. I emphasised the importance of conducting a thorough, transparent and timely investigation, and the Saudi leadership pledged to deliver precisely on that,â he noted.
âMy assessment from these meetings is that there is serious commitment to determine all the facts and ensure accountability, including accountability for Saudi Arabiaâs senior leaders or senior officials,â he added.
The Trump administration is expected to make a formal statement on Tuesday about the USâs findings so far in relation to Khashoggiâs murder.
Late last week, the CIA announced that it had concluded that MbS ordered the journalistâs killing, several US media outlets reported, but Trump has since moved to cast doubt on the US intelligence agencyâs findings.
Pompeoâs plan for the Saudi leadership included several steps, the Saudi source said.
When Pompeo declared on October 18 that Saudi Arabia should be given âa few more daysâ to complete its investigation into the case, he was giving them time to begin implementing his plan, the source added.
âThey [the Saudi leadership] have done everything he wanted to execute,â according to the source.
Since Pompeoâs visit to Riyadh, the Saudis have allowed Turkish investigators into their Istanbul consulate, offered to coordinate a joint Saudi-Turkish investigation, sent a team to Istanbul to pursue the probe and arrested at least 21 suspects.
The remaining step - pinning the crime on a member of the royal family - may be taken if the arrests of those Saudi suspects donât work to ease the pressure on Riyadh, the source stressed.
Meanwhile, MbS and King Salman have toured Saudi Arabia, made public appearances at a major investor conference in Riyadh, and met with the journalistâs sons.
So far, Riyadhâs official investigation into Khashoggiâs murder has implicated two of bin Salmanâs closest allies, deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri and top aide Saoud al-Qahtani.
Both men have been relieved of their jobs. However, according to the Saudi source, they are expected to eventually retake positions of influence in Saudi Arabia.
MEE understands that neither Assiri nor Qahtani are among five Saudi suspects the countryâs public prosecutor said would be facing the death penalty if convicted of âordering and committingâ the murder.
Last Thursday, the Saudi prosecutor said the leader of the Saudi team sent to kill Khashoggi in Turkey - widely believed to be MbSâs bodyguard, Maher Abdulaziz Mutrib - made the decision on his own to have Khashoggi killed.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that the order to kill Khashoggi came from the âhighest levelsâ of the Saudi leadership. However, Erdogan added in a Washington Post column that he does not believe King Salman was involved in the murder.
The kingdom maintains that MbS had no knowledge of the assassination plot and the subsequent attempt to cover it up, however.
Seven members of the death squad sent to kill Khashoggi were members of bin Salmanâs personal security detail, MEE has previously reported.
http://en.farsnews.com/13970829000589
Parts from a long article from Hareetz:
**Saudi Arabiaâs Crown Prince Losing Favor as Senior Royals Reportedly Want Him Replaced
**
U.S. ROLE KEY
The brutal killing of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the crown prince, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month has drawn global condemnation, including from many politicians and officials in the United States, a key Saudi ally. The CIA believes the crown prince ordered the killing, according to U.S. sources familiar with the assessment.
Saudi Arabiaâs public prosecutor has said the crown prince knew nothing of the killing.
The international uproar has piled pressure on a royal court already divided over 33-year-old Prince Mohammedâs rapid rise to power. Since his ascension, the prince has gained popular support with high-profile social and economic reforms including ending a ban on women driving and opening cinemas in the conservative kingdom.
His reforms have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, a purge of top royals and businessmen on corruption charges, and a costly war in Yemen.
He has also marginalized senior members of the royal family and consolidated control over Saudiâs security and intelligence agencies.
He first ousted then-powerful crown prince and interior minister Mohammed bin Nayef >
Some 30 other princes were also arrested, mistreated, humiliated and stripped of their wealth, even as MbS splashed out on palaces, a $500 million yacht, and set a new record in the international art market with the purchase of a painting by Italian Renaissance engineer and painter Leonardo Da Vinci.
The entire House of Saud has emerged weakened as a result.
According to one well-placed Saudi source, many princes from senior circles in the family believe a change in the line of succession âwould not provoke any resistance from the security or intelligence bodies he controlsâ because of their loyalty to the wider family.
âThey (the security apparatus) will follow any consensus reached by the family.â
Officials in Riyadh did not respond to a request for comment.
The United States, a key ally in economic and security terms, is likely to be a determining factor in how matters unfold in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi sources and diplomats say.
Trump and his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner have cultivated deep personal relationships with the crown prince. One Saudi insider said MbS feels he still has their support and is willing to âroll some heads to appease the U.S.â
But Trump and top administration officials have said Saudi officials should be held to account for any involvement in Khashoggiâs death and have imposed sanctions on 17 Saudis for their alleged role â including one of MbSâs closest aides.
U.S. lawmakers are meanwhile pushing legislation to punish Riyadh for the killing, and both Republican and Democratic senators have urged Trump to get tough on the crown prince.
King Salman, 82, is aware of the consequences of a major clash with the United States and the possibility that Congress could try to freeze Saudi assets.
Those who have met the king recently say he appeared to be in denial about the role of MbS in what happened, believing there to be a conspiracy against the kingdom. But they added that he looked burdened and worried.
ALLEGIANCE COUNCIL
When the king dies or is no longer be able to rule, the 34-member Allegiance Council, a body representing each line of the ruling family to lend legitimacy to succession decisions, would not automatically declare MbS the new king.
Even as crown prince, MbS would still need the council to ratify his ascension, one of the three Saudi sources said. While the council accepted King Salmanâs wish to make MbS crown prince, it would not necessarily accept MbS becoming king when his father dies, especially given that he sought to marginalise council members.
Officials in Riyadh did not respond to a request for comment.
The Saudi sources say MbS has destroyed the institutional pillars of nearly a century of Al Saud rule: the family, the clerics, the tribes and the merchant families. They say this is seen inside the family as destabilising.
Despite the controversy over Khashoggiâs killing, MbS is continuing to pursue his agenda.
Some insiders believe he built his father a new but remote Red Sea palace in Sharma, at the Neom City development site â thrown up in a record one year at a cost of $2 billion â as a gilded cage for his retirement.
The site is isolated, the closest city of Tabouk more than 100 km (60 miles) away. Residence there would keep the king out of the loop on most affairs of state, one of the sources close to the royal family said.
Officials in Riyadh did not respond to a request for comment.
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/saudi-crown-prince-losing-support-among-senior-royals-1.6673984
