The savage murder last year of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, dismembered by Saudi Arabia’s agents in its consulate in Istanbul, surprised in the way it accelerated into the worst crisis between the kingdom and the west since September 11 2001, when 15 of the 19 hijackers who attacked the US turned out to be Saudis. It seems just as surprising that, as 2019 progresses, there is little let-up in the pressure on the Saudi leadership — in particular on Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful crown prince widely blamed for ordering the assassination. If anything, it is intensifying.
記者賈邁勒•卡舒吉(Jamal Khashoggi)去年被沙烏地行刑隊在該國駐伊斯坦堡領事館殘忍殺害並肢解的事件，在幾個地方令人驚訝，首先是它讓沙烏地與西方陷入了自2001年9月11日以來最嚴重的危機——在9/11事件中襲擊美國的19名劫機者中，竟然有15人是沙烏地人。同樣令人驚訝的是，進入2019年之後，沙烏地領導層受到的壓力沒有緩解——尤其是穆罕默德•本•沙爾曼(Mohammed bin Salman)受到的壓力，這位權勢極大的王儲被普遍指責下達了暗殺的命令。如果說情況有任何變化的話，那就是壓力在加大。