Technology Warfare !

It looks like technology has tripped up the Saudi Arabian security people when they contrived a plan to eliminate a journalist who was constantly bringing their country's failings to world attention.   In the world of espionage making someone disappear without trace can cause a media fuss, but this usually subsides and the matter fades from public attention.

Critics claim the Saudi's knew that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was planning to get married and would need to obtain official paperwork for that marriage to be recognised in his home country. They learned he was likely to visit the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and they flew a fifteen man security team to that city to prepare a trap.

What they failed to contend with was that Khashoggi was wearing one of those electronic  "smart "watches and he set it to record because he suspected danger when he walked through that consulate entrance. This transferred it to his fiancees phone as she waited outside in a car.   It is now claimed that a clear record exists of his abduction, questioning with the use of torture and murder at the hands of Saudi security people.

The Saudi's admit he visited the consulate, but claim he left of his own free will, yet the security   cameras that cover all entrances show no record of his leaving.   In the world of diplomacy that would normally be inconclusive and quickly wither away to silence, but if that audio record is authentic the Saudi's have a case to answer.

The big question is what action the world will take.  Donald Trump is threatening " punishment ", but at the same time making it clear that this incident will not derail the Saudi arms purchase with a value of more than a billion dollars placed with American industry.  Trump makes the point that the Saudi's would simply transfer the sale to Russia or China and the only victim of a cancellation would be American industry.

So far that transcript has not been publicly released.  The Saudi's will continue to voice their denial and will most likely claim the recording is a fake.  Despite the creation of the United Nations as a world body, there simply is no instrument capable of delivering justice when a country breaks international law.

If the usual precedent is followed, should a western government move to impose sanctions either Russia or China will use their veto to take that option off the table.  The only redress seems to be the bad publicity the Saudi's will suffer because their spooks failed to recognise that modern western technology could create a record of an actual murder.

Just as the Russian agents who delivered a nerve poison to targets sheltering in Britain are safely back behind the Russian frontier, the Saudi agents will be withdrawn under diplomatic cover and remain out of reach,  When matters of this nature go wrong they deliver embarrassment, but apart from a few cosmetic slaps on the wrist nothing changes.

No doubt the Khasjoggi affair will form the basis of a spy novel and perhaps a movie, but critics who offend know that they are never out of reach, nomatter where they reside.