Everything's About the Saudis These Days

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Everything's About the Saudis These Days

Is there something else we're not supposed to be noticing?

I recently wrote about "Weasel words" and now I have to do it again!  When you see them, you need to know you're being conned.

CBC: A Quebecer spoke out against the Saudis - then learned he had spyware on his iPhone

• It started with a tub of protein powder. Omar Abdulaziz ordered one on Amazon in late June and was waiting for it to arrive at his Sherbrooke, Que., apartment. Abdulaziz didn't think much of it when he received a text message later that day from DHL with a link to a tracking number, stating his package was on its way.

• Abdulaziz believes he clicked the link, which would have let spyware burrow its way into his iPhone. There, it could copy his contacts and messages and even eavesdrop on calls. Its operators would have total control.

• In a new report, researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab say that it was very likely conducted by the government of Abdulaziz's home country, Saudi Arabia.

About the only things said in definite terms were these:

• Abdulaziz said his two brothers, along with several of his friends, were recently imprisoned by the Saudi Arabian government. He has been unable to speak to his mother in months.
• "Because I'm [in Canada], I know that I'm protected. I'm not scared. So I would just keep doing what I'm doing."
• [Researchers] cannot say with certainty it was Saudi Arabia that installed the spyware, short of being in the room with the operators when they launched their attack. Nor can they draw a definitive link between Abdulaziz's surveillance and the detention of his friends and family back home.

But:

• [The researchers] have a high degree of confidence that the Saudi Arabian government or its security agencies were likely behind the attack.

The report goes on to say that "Public Safety has yet to respond to a request for comment", but it doesn't actually say that Public Safety was ever contacted. We're supposed to assume that.

The Director of the research unit, Ron Diebert, is an absolute expert at weasel words:

• "This is likely going to amplify the dispute between Canada and Saudi Arabia, no doubt."

You can read the detailed report of the research here.

Okay, note that all that took place back in June, yet nothing was said about it until October 1. And then it isn't until October 14 that we are told that Omar had been in phone contact with the missing-and-presumed-dead "journalist" Jamal Khashoggi.

• "Khashoggi promised me to sponsor the project and I guess they could listen in to those conversations," Abdulaziz said. "I told the Canadian authorities that it's a serious thing."

What if Khashoggi was a Saudi plant and not just an innocent dissident (like Omar) writing for the fake news experts at the Washington Post. (Read all about him at PennyforyourThoughts)

What would that make Omar Abdulaziz?

What this latest report does is boost the story that Khashoggi was abducted by the Saudis. And it certainly tweaks Omar's own importance. (Oh, gawd, is he going to become another Mubin Sheikh?)

CBC: Quebec dissident believes Saudis used spyware to eavesdrop on his chats with Jamal Khashoggi

Well, the RCMP are investigating, so that's okay then. They can't find over a thousand missing Native women, but maybe there are some things they're good at. Especially if they themselves are the ones who infected Omar's phone. It's their job to be watching out for potential terrorists, isn't it?

Keep in mind that an Israeli firm was said by the researchers to be the innovator of the spyware they say may have infected Omar's phone. It's said to be very expensive, and therefore only accessible to the well-funded, but the RCMP and CSIS have proved in the past to have lots of money to throw at infiltrators.

Omar Abdulaziz is terribly brave about the problems he says he's caused his mother and brothers, as well as what he believes is Khashoggi's predicament, all due to Omar's own activities.

As he says, they wouldn't harm him on Canadian soil and they couldn't get Khashoggi until he went to Turkey. It's like the old saying, "I'm allright Jack; pull in the ladder"

It's not easy to keep all of the current international intrigues straight, but the biggest mystery seems to me to be why Omar ordered all that protein powder.  And we haven't been told if he ever received it. That's going to keep me awake tonight, for sure.

I've read that protein powder is not good for you, but I never knew until now just how dangerous it could be.
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