Nicholas Kristof: If a prince murders a journalist, that’s not a hiccup

The crown prince thinks he can get away with anything View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Sunday, October 14, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Kristof »]( [If a prince murders a journalist, that’s not a hiccup]( [An activist holds an image of the missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.]( An activist holds an image of the missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Osman Orsal/Reuters Maybe we shouldn’t write columns when we’re angry, but I [can’t help myself](. I’m beside myself that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, MBS, seems to have overseen the torture and murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who contributed to The Washington Post. I’ve known Jamal for more than 15 years, and I’m horrified — at the idea that he was murdered but also at the tepid Trump administration response and at the way so many Americans have fawned over MBS. [Hence my column](. We don’t have all the facts, and I’m still praying that I’m wrong and that Jamal somehow reappears. But if he was indeed murdered, then let’s be clear that MBS would not have undertaken such an operation if he hadn’t already absorbed the idea that he could get away with anything. He had kidnapped Lebanon’s prime minister and bombed Yemeni school children, and was still hailed as a reformist hero, so why would he think he couldn’t murder a journalist? [Here’s my column]( on what we should think about our relationship with Saudi Arabia and what we should do next. Readers sometimes ask for behind-the-scenes glimpses of how we journalists make decisions, so let me offer one. In [my column]( I thought about referring to published reports that MBS had bragged that Jared Kushner had given him a list (presumably from U.S. intelligence) of Saudis who were disloyal to him. I spoke to the White House about it, trying to figure out if this was true and whether Jamal was on Kushner’s list. It was an intriguing nugget, and it seemed plausible. But in the end the reports all seemed to be traceable to a single article on The Intercept from the spring, and I couldn’t find anyone else who could confirm it (although some have tried). Unable to verify it, I felt it just wasn’t fair to amplify something that I couldn’t be sure was true, so I left it out. I’m a little hesitant even to mention it in this newsletter, but I do want to be transparent about how I go about writing my column. I’ve read two great books lately that I recommend to all. Steven Pearlstein, a Washington Post business writer, published “[Can American Capitalism Survive]( and it’s an incisive, highly readable exploration of how America took some crucial wrong turns over the last half century. Fox Butterfield just published “[In My Father’s House]( a page-turner about how crime runs in families, told through one particularly troubled family. And if you’re looking for a long novel, Steven King has [a rave review]( of Tana French’s latest thriller, “[The Witch Elm]( I’m a Tana French fan, although I haven’t yet read this latest. The percentage of American children under two years of age who have not been vaccinated for anything [has quadrupled since 2000]( and I find this deeply alarming. Parents are jeopardizing not only their own kids but also others. When I travel to Ethiopia or Bangladesh, I see parents walking for miles to get their kids vaccinated, to save their lives, yet here in the United States parents keep their kids from getting vaccinated. Girls are actually twice as likely to be vaccinated against HPV in Rwanda as in the United States. My colleagues Dan Barry and Jeffrey Singer have [a powerful long read]( A look at a young Chinese woman who tried to build a new life for herself in New York City, ended up in the sex trade, and killed herself when she faced arrest. And now [here’s my column]( about Jamal Khashoggi, the way so many people enabled MBS, and why we need a coordinated international action to hold Saudi Arabia accountable. [Read!]( ADVERTISEMENT Recent Columns [The ‘Greatest Hoax’ Strikes Florida]( Denying climate change doesn’t stop its devastating effects. [Justice Delayed, With a Life on the Line]( Gov. Jerry Brown is still reviewing a murder case that advanced DNA testing could settle. I welcome suggestions for what to include in this newsletter. You can connect with me on [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google]( [Instagram]( and [Pinterest](. 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