Sanctions on Saudi Arabia aren’t enough - Brookings Institute

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Sanctions on Saudi Arabia aren’t enough
“Smoking gun” or not, MBS is responsible for the crisis in U.S.-Saudi relations. There’s still a chance he can be responsible for its resolution.
Tamara Cofman Wittes

We may not know everything about what happened to Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul on October 2, but we know this much: It was carried out by Saudi officials, acting under orders from Saudi superiors, in a Saudi diplomatic facility. Like the intervention in Yemen, like the arrests of activists and human rights defenders, like the kidnapping and forced resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi government act. Wielding the authority of his father King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is the de facto ruler of this government, an absolute monarchy. That’s where the buck stops in Riyadh.

There is no escaping the Saudi government’s responsibility for this horrific act. Sanctions against culpable individuals imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, though important, are insufficient to address this reality, or to address the crisis in U.S.-Saudi relations it created. The depth of that crisis is evident in the  bipartisan congressional majority that’s now unwilling to allow the Trump administration to maintain business as usual with the kingdom. Some U.S. officials may agree with Senator Lindsey Graham that Prince Mohammed “
is crazy, I think he is dangerous,” or that “he is a wrecking ball to U.S.-Saudi relations.” In fact, though, Washington has very limited ability to influence the Saudi line of succession. To resolve this bilateral crisis, the Saudi government—in the person of MBS or someone else—must take responsibility, pay the price of these actions, and demonstrate a new path.

Read more at: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/12/05/sanctions-on-saudi-arabia-arent-enough/