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U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a turkey pardoning event as one of the two candidate turkeys Peas stands on a table at the Rose Garden of the White House November 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
First things first.
Continuing his multi-day public relations blitz to insulate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from accountability over its brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump issued a pair of tweets early Thursday--the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States--that began by quoting Secretary of Defense Mike Pompeo's line that "it's a mean & nasty world out there" in order to qualify the brutal assassination.
Less than four minutes later, Trump followed it up with this all-caps declaration: "HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!"

As former Italian diplomat Marco Carnelos wrote in the Middle East Eye on Wednesday, Trump's continued defense of the Saudis in the name of U.S. economic and strategic interests is an explicit admission that Trump has placed a price tag on the worth of Khashoggi's life.
The U.S. president's defense of the Saudis, writes Carnelos, has been "an extraordinary demonstration of realpolitik. Because the world is a very dangerous place, the United States will continue to support Saudi Arabia, no matter what. But the real purpose of Trump's statement on Saudi [on Tuesday] is actually to fix a price for this support.
"The hidden message that the statement was sending to the Saudi royal court is that to save himself the Saudi crown prince will be expected to disburse $450bn in investments."
It was not an isolated interpretation:
Not that the U.S. government standing with murderous regimes and shielding others and itself from mass human rights violations is anything new.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
First things first.
Continuing his multi-day public relations blitz to insulate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from accountability over its brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump issued a pair of tweets early Thursday--the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States--that began by quoting Secretary of Defense Mike Pompeo's line that "it's a mean & nasty world out there" in order to qualify the brutal assassination.
Less than four minutes later, Trump followed it up with this all-caps declaration: "HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!"

As former Italian diplomat Marco Carnelos wrote in the Middle East Eye on Wednesday, Trump's continued defense of the Saudis in the name of U.S. economic and strategic interests is an explicit admission that Trump has placed a price tag on the worth of Khashoggi's life.
The U.S. president's defense of the Saudis, writes Carnelos, has been "an extraordinary demonstration of realpolitik. Because the world is a very dangerous place, the United States will continue to support Saudi Arabia, no matter what. But the real purpose of Trump's statement on Saudi [on Tuesday] is actually to fix a price for this support.
"The hidden message that the statement was sending to the Saudi royal court is that to save himself the Saudi crown prince will be expected to disburse $450bn in investments."
It was not an isolated interpretation:
Not that the U.S. government standing with murderous regimes and shielding others and itself from mass human rights violations is anything new.
Happy Thanksgiving.
First things first.
Continuing his multi-day public relations blitz to insulate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from accountability over its brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump issued a pair of tweets early Thursday--the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States--that began by quoting Secretary of Defense Mike Pompeo's line that "it's a mean & nasty world out there" in order to qualify the brutal assassination.
Less than four minutes later, Trump followed it up with this all-caps declaration: "HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!"

As former Italian diplomat Marco Carnelos wrote in the Middle East Eye on Wednesday, Trump's continued defense of the Saudis in the name of U.S. economic and strategic interests is an explicit admission that Trump has placed a price tag on the worth of Khashoggi's life.
The U.S. president's defense of the Saudis, writes Carnelos, has been "an extraordinary demonstration of realpolitik. Because the world is a very dangerous place, the United States will continue to support Saudi Arabia, no matter what. But the real purpose of Trump's statement on Saudi [on Tuesday] is actually to fix a price for this support.
"The hidden message that the statement was sending to the Saudi royal court is that to save himself the Saudi crown prince will be expected to disburse $450bn in investments."
It was not an isolated interpretation:
Not that the U.S. government standing with murderous regimes and shielding others and itself from mass human rights violations is anything new.
Happy Thanksgiving.