by krn on 10/11/2018, 9:20:14 PM
by ilamont on 10/11/2018, 9:16:53 PM
SV founders get into bed with questionable characters, one-party governments, and evil empires all the time. If the past and present is any guide, the people named in this article will say some nice-sounding things or stay quiet and wait for the news cycle to move on to the next scandal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/12/08...
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/yu...
by clubm8 on 10/11/2018, 9:42:09 PM
I'm surprised it took 17 years after Saudi money paid for 9/11[1] for this to become the case.
[1]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/15/911-report-s...
by timavr on 10/11/2018, 9:51:31 PM
USA has a lot of problems, but the fact that free press exists is a miracle.
Calling people out by name that they are hypocrites by taking Saudi money and basically funding murder would get you killed in most countries.
by ProAm on 10/11/2018, 9:40:55 PM
> there’s growing outrage over the week-long disappearance of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who Turkish officials say was murdered last week in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on orders from the Saudi Royal family, then cut into pieces with a bone saw and removed from the building.
Wow, that's crazy.
>Silicon Valley big wheels as Marc Andreessen, Sam Altman and Travis Kalanick are advisors to a $500 billion megacity project being built by the country, which has pitched it as a model of what future cities will look like.
Has Sam Altman commented on this project at all, or is it not associated with YC?
by reza_n on 10/11/2018, 9:55:32 PM
> ...Diplomatic murder, women's rights arrests, Yemen war, Canada row, royal imprisonmemt...
There is also the failed blockade of Qatar. Seems like this has been a pretty disastrous few years for MBS and he isn't even king. Im surprised he hasn't been replaced. These are pretty massive blunders.
by saudiokay on 10/11/2018, 10:13:05 PM
The article is right on the point out the hypocrisy in condemning slight missteps on the front of gender and diversity in one hand, and taking money from those that order unlawful murders in another.
by kgc on 10/11/2018, 9:42:10 PM
This would imply that the SoftBank Vision fund is also radioactive...
by mattnewport on 10/11/2018, 11:54:22 PM
Something seems odd about this story. I can see him dying in a botched interrogation or extraordinary rendition and it being covered up, or it was a successful extraordinary rendition and he's back in a cell in Saudi Arabia, but if they just wanted him dead why would it take 15 people and why would they do it in their consulate? It seems like there are easier and more plausibly deniable methods employed to do that like a "botched robbery", fire, heart attack or car crash.
by sys_64738 on 10/11/2018, 9:24:13 PM
This country should be on the terrorist watch list. 19 of the 9/11 terrorists came from that country.
This same country is armed by the Brits.
by cyphunk on 10/12/2018, 12:09:46 PM
What reasons are there for being more suspect of money from Palestinians than other middle eastern partners:
> “typically, entrepreneurs don’t like to focus on politics and historically have not cared very much where the money came from,” except if it’s “from the PLO or Iran.”
Quote from "Longtime VC Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston"
by xte on 10/12/2018, 9:08:48 AM
Any country that have an official religion, any country that is not a democracy with simple and well known rules for voting like Swiss is not a free country but a strong or light dictatorship and people inside it should know that and decide what to do for themself and their future generation.
by pteredactyl on 10/12/2018, 1:09:09 AM
Not to mention all the people they've killed in Yemen and elsewhere...
by jayalpha on 10/11/2018, 10:29:36 PM
The US (and now also Israel) siding with Saudi Arabia and condemning Iran has always been madness in my opinion.
See also:
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2015/02...
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2015/01...
by kisstheblade on 10/12/2018, 5:23:36 AM
Well, money talks, and weak people like money. The saudis are scum, I would never have anything to do with them. I mean the just now apparently "let" women drive! Are you kidding me, they still think of women as property and as lesser beings than dogs. Or try being gay over there.
by newfocogi on 10/11/2018, 9:13:16 PM
Obligatory reference to Betteridge's Law of Headlines... But seriously, the idea that you vote with your dollars becomes even more compelling when you have billions to throw around. Unfortunately when you cast your vote and what you end up voting for don't always happen in the expected order.
by jernfrost on 10/11/2018, 9:50:54 PM
This is Trump's boy. He helped him get in power. In some ways Trump might have done a good things, because the Saudi needed a bit more crazy guy on the top for the west to finally wake up about what a terrible place Saudi Arabia is.
The whole west, and in particular the US has made a faustian bargain with Saudi Arabia. Sooner or later someone has to answer for that.
Our number one terrorists problem comes from Wahabism, the toxic strain of Islam, coming straight out of Saudi Arabia funded by petro dollars.
It was weak and embarrassing that we could not back up Canada when they stood up to these bullies.
Saudi Arabia's missing princes:
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-40926963
Saudis Said to Use Coercion and Abuse to Seize Billions:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/11/world/middleeast/saudi-ar...
Saudi Arabia arrests economist after he criticises Crown Prince's plans:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-a...