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March 5th, 2022 
Awake Goy 
Observers are puzzled — and disturbed — at why the Atlantic just published a long article that tries to rehabilitate Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, the murderous crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The magazine’s top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was present in Saudi Arabia for the two interviews with the crown prince that are a major part of the piece.
Goldberg’s participation, unusual for an editor-in-chief, is a clue as to what may have been part of what motivated the Atlantic. His long-standing pro-Israel views are well known; he even volunteered and served as a prison guard there during the second intifada. Israel hopes to extend to Saudi Arabia the so-called “Abraham Accords,” which have already led to mutual diplomatic recognition between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and other Arab nations.
Goldberg, and Israel, recognize that the crown prince could soon succeed his ailing father, King Salman — and stay in power for decades. Is the long Atlantic article designed to help prepare U.S. public opinion to accept Prince Mohammed?
The Atlantic article — the main writer is Graeme Wood — is a disgrace to genuine journalism. Here are the key prevaricating lines. Wood writes:
I’ve been traveling to Saudi Arabia over the past three years, trying to understand if the crown prince is a killer, a reformer, or both — and if both, whether he can be one without the other.
This sentence is dishonest. There is no doubt that Prince Mohammed ordered the murder and dismemberment of the dissident Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in the kingdom’s embassy in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. Spy agencies actually have recordings of Khashoggi’s excruciating last moments alive. Khashoggi was not an obscure figure, but a regular columnist at the Washington Post. Raising doubts about who is responsible for his death is willful obfuscation.
What’s more, the rest of the long Atlantic article continues in the same spirit: Prince Mohammed may be responsible for some bad things, but he’s also done good things; who knows for sure; you decide. Meanwhile, let’s keep doing business with him.
Israel is far from alone in wanting to rehabilitate Prince Mohammed. Ben Hubbard’s excellent 2020 book, MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed Bin Salman, explains how Western businessmen fawned over him before the Khashoggi murder, eager for deals. What’s more, journalists, think-tankers and celebrities flocked to the Kingdom, often on paid-for junkets, designed to shape public opinion in the U.S. and Europe.
But Israel’s stake in Prince Mohammed is among the largest. Links between the two countries exists already, but official recognition by the wealthiest Arab state would be a diplomatic coup. Saudi experts believe that King Salman stands in the way, but he is 86 years old.
Meanwhile, how will the Washington Post respond to the Atlantic article? Another mainstream U.S. media outlet is rehabilitating the man who ordered the murder of their columnist. Will the paper, and its international affairs columnists, say nothing?
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