More on the Khashoggi-Canada Connection

Image - BBC: Why are people so incredibly gullible?

More on the Khashoggi-Canada Connection

... now that Khashoggi is nowhere in sight to confirm or deny.

Suddenly there's a much more developed story about the purported relationship between Omar Abdulaziz and Jamal Khashoggi. (See earlier story on YYC)

According to Omar, the two were in constant contact over the summer, Jamal having become like a father to him, phoning him every day to check on him, even sending him money ("about $5000") that would allow him to buy extra microchips to help foil Twitter's invasive user  information requirements.

It seems Omar's whole campaign against Saudi Arabia was solely Twitter activity, which Jamal encouraged. Omar now reveals that Jamal said he was going to come to Canada to see him, but first was going to get his marriage papers sorted out.

If Jamal Khashoggi was an undercover agent for the Saudis disguised as a journalist/activist who actually went home to be debriefed and reassigned ... well, then we can expect him, one day in the future, to resurface with an amazing story of escape from certain death and having to hide from his assailants until it was safe to end his cover.

No, I haven't watched too many spy movies; they bore me.  I like detective stories because they teach one to think and follow clues, and the protagonists are not so James Bond-ish that they are caricatures rather than flesh and blood humans.  Unfortunately, the media carry wild stories of spy intrigue all the time, so one always has to consider that the latest might simply be more of it.

Why has the Abdulaziz story been so gradually spoon-fed to the public? Because it tweaks curiosity and sells more copy while, at the same time, it eases a hitherto unknown student into the public eye, much like Mubin Sheikh, who is now profiting from his past notoriety on behalf of Canada's little "war on terror" which, not incidentally, belied some of Canada's much-vaunted freedoms in the form of the brutal Security Certificate, and the skirting of its own anti-torture laws by shipping certain suspects offshore to be tortured.

And now, even CNN is quoting highly-placed US figures who express doubt that the latest Saudi story is factual. So what can a blogger do but suspect the whole scenario from top to bottom, including the purported Canadian connection in the person of Omar Abdulaziz?

Meanwhile, the BBC just comes right out and says most people are gullible!
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BBC: it’s surprisingly easy to plant ideas in peoples’ heads without them realising.

Mind you, the BBC is in no way suggesting that the media tell lies. In fact, the suggestion is that the media are purveyors of the very "hard evidence" that the public ignores. Yet, for instance, you'd never find the BBC pointing to this "hard evidence".

Read PennyforyourThoughts for detailed skeptical discussion of the Khashoggi issue.

Image from Life in a Dust Storm ​