The Khashoggi Affair Tests US Influence in The Mideast

The U.S. needs to keep the Saudis and the Turks on its side. The Khashoggi affair makes that a difficult game

- Marc Champion

Three weeks after Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, it wasn’t the leader of the free world who stepped up to articulate international outrage at mounting evidence of his murder, but the president of Turkey. Any cover-up of the true authors of such a savage attack “would be an affront to humanity’s conscience,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his parliamentary party on Oct. 23 as he demanded justice for Khashoggi’s family and a full investigation. Just days before, Saudi authorities had finally acknowledged the journalist died at the consulate, but said he died after an argument turned physical.

The contrast between Erdogan’s outrage and Trump’s seemingly off-the-cuff responses underscores changes in the post-Cold War order, as Washington’s dominance declines alongside its promotion of so-called values-based foreign policies. It’s also illustrated by the brazen nature of the killing, carried out by officials of one U.S. ally in the territory of another—and the deep regional rivalry emerging between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, whose cooperation is key to U.S. policy in the Middle East.