The enigma of MBS. The Atlantic's Graeme Wood goes in depth on the Saudi crown prince (Page 1/1) rinselberg MAR 06, 08:52 AM "ABSOLUTE POWER" quote Asked about the murder of [U.S. foreign resident and Washington Post journalist] Jamal Khashoggi, Mohammed bin Salman said, “If that’s the way we did things, Khashoggi would not even be among the top 1,000 people on the list.” Graeme Wood for The Atlantic; March 3, 2022. https://www.theatlantic.com...ce-interview/622822/ A long read, or it can be experienced as an audio podcast, of one hour and 24 minutes. Here's Graeme Wood on the Saudi program to rehabilitate the jihadists that are held in their prisons: quote Nothing is stranger than normalcy where one least expects it. These jihadists—people who recently would have sacrificed their life to take mine—had apparently been converted into office drones. Fifteen years ago, Saudi Arabia tried to deprogram them by sending them to debate clerics loyal to the government, who told the prisoners that they had misinterpreted Islam and needed to repent. But if this scene was to be believed, it turned out that terrorists didn’t need a learned debate about the will of God. They needed their spirits broken by corporate drudgery. They needed Dunder Mifflin. [A reference to the American TV series "The Office".] Photographs by Lynsey Addario. rinselberg MAR 06, 11:47 PM "Opinion: The Atlantic['s Graeme Wood] elevates Mohammed bin Salman’s lies and disdain" EXCERPT quote Washington media has a long history of cooking up overbaked puff pieces on murderous autocrats — especially when those autocrats are key U.S. allies. The Atlantic’s April cover story, “Absolute Power,” about MBS — which was written by Graeme Wood and included interviews conducted along with the magazine’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg — is part of this tradition, a case study in everything that is wrong with access journalism and the immoral fixation on powerful, brutal men. EXCERPT quote “Absolute Power” [Graeme Wood's 12,000-words article about the Saudi crown prince] is an insult to Jamal’s memory and to journalism. When history looks back at this period, this Atlantic piece will shine as an example of how the path to the resurgence of brutal, global authoritarianism is paved in no small part by the worst aspects of access journalism in the United States. Karen Attiah for the Washington Post; March 6, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost....arabia-lies-disdain/