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I'm not so sure it's as much about etiquette than deniability. If he was killed in some "accident" then the other countries or corporations can easily buy the

I'm not so sure it's as much about etiquette than deniability. If he was killed in some "accident" then the other countries or corporations can easily buy the lie, avoid the confrontation and keep the money/relationship (even if they think it is likely to be state-sanctioned). Because it was such a screw up (fiance waiting outside was a kind of solid witness as well as the recording etc.), it is much harder for others to accept the "accident", which becomes toxic PR and therefore something to distance yourselves from.

danso 8y ago
This is exactly what I was thinking. Other alleged government-ordered assassinations have enough plausible deniability that they may indeed be the work of rogue elements. For example, at around the same time that Khashoggi's death became known, Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova was found raped and murdered after she had gone out for a jog. It was immediately suspected to be politically-motivated, as she had recently anchored a news program that looked at EU corruption. A few days ago, a 21-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of Marinova's rape and murder, and prosecutors do not believe that she was killed for her work [0]. Of course, that doesn't mean she wasn't killed as part of a state plot. But there's not much reason to suspect that over the possibility that she was a random murder victim. For her death to be as scandalous and controversial as Khashoggi's, it would have to have the same evidence of suspicious circumstances. For example, the 21-year-old suspect being an employee of Bulgaria's intelligence agency or military covert forces, and being caught and identified right after her death, but taking 1+ weeks to come up with the confession that he randomly murdered her, despite purported audio recordings that suggest that he murdered with political intent. [0] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/viktoria-marinova-murder-suspect-admits-attacking-journalist-181019161609175.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/viktoria-marinova-mur...

danso 8y ago

This is exactly what I was thinking. Other alleged government-ordered assassinations have enough plausible deniability that they may indeed be the work of rogue elements. For example, at around the same time that Khashoggi's death became known, Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova was found raped and murdered after she had gone out for a jog. It was immediately suspected to be politically-motivated, as she had recently anchored a news program that looked at EU corruption. A few days ago, a 21-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of Marinova's rape and murder, and prosecutors do not believe that she was killed for her work [0]. Of course, that doesn't mean she wasn't killed as part of a state plot. But there's not much reason to suspect that over the possibility that she was a random murder victim. For her death to be as scandalous and controversial as Khashoggi's, it would have to have the same evidence of suspicious circumstances. For example, the 21-year-old suspect being an employee of Bulgaria's intelligence agency or military covert forces, and being caught and identified right after her death, but taking 1+ weeks to come up with the confession that he randomly murdered her, despite purported audio recordings that suggest that he murdered with political intent. [0] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/viktoria-marinova-murder-suspect-admits-attacking-journalist-181019161609175.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/viktoria-marinova-mur...