2debate

The Saudi Halal butcher shop

I know the image above can lead to confusion. You may think it’s a screenshot from secret footage of a Saudi operative “negotiating” with Jamal Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia earlier last month. It obviously ended badly for the Saudis. I mean for Khashoggi too of course, but the Saudis seem to be in a bit of a pickle as a result, to say the least.

No, the photo above is not that. It’s actually a public photo of the Saudi operation in Yemen, precisely the moment when they take care of (read: bombard) Yemeni children. Okay, that’s some grim joking and once again Dirk will sternly tell me off – but then I’ll remind him that I won our fourth debate on the absence of limits on freedom of expression (I actually did not win that debate, but in this era of fake news, it’s enough to simply say history was the opposite of what it actually was).

Let’s get back to our main point. What do you find more depressing, even horrifying: the death of a dissident journalist or the death of thousands of civilians? What should matter more? Do we even understand what’s going on in Yemen? I shamefully admit that I wouldn’t be able to explain things in detail. Even the corresponding Wikipedia page is titled the Yemeni Civil War, as if it were purely an internal conflict – how ironic when the Americans, the British and the French are providing support to the Saudi military forces.

This humanitarian disaster has been going on for more than three years and yet, the dreadful assassination of one man in Istanbul’s Saudi consulate seems to have outraged the world much more.

To try and make sense of this ethical dilemma regarding which deaths are more “important”, Dirk and I debated about it in our latest episode. Tune in for 12 minutes of debating and a few more minutes of context.

Thank you for listening to this “serious” debate. We have more serious stuff coming, don’t worry. Don’t sulk: we also have some lightweight topics in the pipeline too, from cannabis to drones. Stay tuned!

Sebastian & Dirk

Want to learn more? Here are some insightful sources:

• [Podcast] Intelligence Matters: The Khashoggi Case: Intel Veteran Norman Roule on Implications for Saudi Arabia
• [Podcast] Intelligence Matters: Bonus Pod: Michael Morell on Khashoggi Incident
• [Text] Aljazeera: Jamal Khashoggi case: All the latest updates
• [Text] Aljazeera: Is peace in Yemen within reach?
• [Text] Washington Post: Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression
• [Podcast] NYTimes The Daily: The Photo of the Yemeni Girl

Picture: CC0, Pixabay