A Saudi Prince's Attempt To Silence Critics On Twitter (wired.com) 30
Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck write via Wired: In 2014, Mohammed bin Salman's uncle, King Abdullah, was nearing death. Mohammed's father, Crown Prince Salman, was set to inherit the throne upon Abdullah's death. For more than 60 years, the Saudi crown had been passed from one son of the kingdom's founder to the next, the heir being determined by a combination of seniority and consensus of the surviving brothers. Mohammed's father, Crown Prince Salman, was set to inherit the throne upon Abdullah's death. But anonymous Twitter users were spreading claims that Salman had dementia, and that presented a problem for Mohammed: If the rumors became accepted as fact by Saudis and foreigners, Salman's brothers might feel pressure to elevate one of his rivals, cutting the Salman clan off from its claim to the throne and dashing Mohammed's hopes of one day inheriting the crown.
So Mohammed, according to legal filings from the Department of Justice, determined to secure his father's fate and his own popularity among the Saudi youth, had Bader al-Asaker, the head of the prince's private foundation, begin a years-long effort to unmask his family's critics on Twitter. A court case is still underway, but the indictment claims the endeavor began with a conventional strategy: bribery. (Prosecutors filed revised charging documents this summer, dismissing an earlier indictment in a procedural move and replacing it with updated charges.)
So Mohammed, according to legal filings from the Department of Justice, determined to secure his father's fate and his own popularity among the Saudi youth, had Bader al-Asaker, the head of the prince's private foundation, begin a years-long effort to unmask his family's critics on Twitter. A court case is still underway, but the indictment claims the endeavor began with a conventional strategy: bribery. (Prosecutors filed revised charging documents this summer, dismissing an earlier indictment in a procedural move and replacing it with updated charges.)
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Good luck tracking down someone named Mohammed over there. That would be like what, 33% of the population?
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What kind of corrupt judge is even hearing the case?
Re:Let me be the first to say it... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Any king that seeks to silence his critics rather than refute them should rest his head on a chopping block.
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silence his critics rather than refute them
But that is becoming a more popular political position [newdiscourses.com] these days.
should rest his head on a chopping block
Symbolically, if not physically. Yes.
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No, literally, rulers that step out of line should be killed, the second monarch that steps out of line should be killed along with his entire family
Re:Let me be the first to say it... (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not sure Hussein bin Ali would've been any better.
Denying the Kurds their own country feels worse to me.
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Saudi Arabia is still the only country that has no actual name. It's "The land of family Saud".
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Saudi Arabia is still the only country that has no actual name. It's "The land of family Saud".
A lot of countries are named in simple ways. China's endonym Zhongguo means "Middle Country". Germany's endonym Deutschland means "People's Land". South Africa is...at the south end of Africa.
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None of them mean "this land belongs to a person or family". We're not talking about naming a country after the people living there. We are talking about naming a country after the family owning it.
Dementia can be diagnosed (Score:2)
Apparently since this can be diagnosed and proven or disproven, he must really have it, otherwise the rumors could be shown to be baseless. Oh wait, brutal dictatorships do anything to avoid setting a precedent for transparency, so maybe he doesn't have even a trace of it.
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Also, where did you get the idea that dementia could be disproven? There are some tests you can take for memory and such, but it ultimately comes down to the opinion of the psychologist whether those tests show sufficient cause to warrant that label. Obviously, whichever psychologist that the royal family chooses to prove his innocence will find him to be innocent. Then what? What has that proven?
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Man, Woman, Person, Camera, TV.
See? I have just proven definitively that I don't have dementia. I can also identify a picture of an elephant!
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Sir, the question you were asked was, 'would you like some tea?'
Well of cour$e (Score:2)
These people have more money than pretty much anyone. Bribery is a good first choice.
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Nope, just homicidal maniacs with delusions of grandeur who control an inherently cowardly population that is too afraid to stand up for themselves and are placated by being sold teenage girls to abuse.
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Khashoggi's bane (Score:2)
Remember, this is the same guy who was presumed (by the CIA and others) to have ordered the murder of Saudi-expat journalist Jamal Khashoggi [wikipedia.org] at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.
The Turkish government published proof of the murder, including footage that Khashoggi had entered, and an audio recording of it happening.
Unfortunately for his loyal hit squad, what Muhammed bin Salman then did when faced with the scandal was to put the whole blame on them, and arrange to have them sentenced to the death penalty or long
Charges? For what? (Score:2)
Why do we care about Saudi internal politics? Bribery and attempting to unmask social media users who might well actually have been our own intelligence community? You've got to be kidding, any of these guys does worse than this in his sleep.
Which one of the 1500 princes? (Score:2)
Mohamed Bone Saw?