The murder of Jamal Khashoggi has given the international order of today a proper shaking. There is a historic precedent. The young Duc d’Enghien was heir to the French throne, and when Napoleon Bonaparte had him murdered, Talleyrand came out with the comment that only a man who understood politics as he did could have made: “It is worse than a crime, it is a mistake.” Jamal’s murder is also a mistake.
The Khashoggis are well known Saudis. Jamal’s uncle, Adnan Khashoggi, was a businessman with the usual extravagant tastes and a fortune said to be $4 billion in the 1980s. …
This article appears as “Murder Must Out” in the October 19, 2020, print edition of National Review.
Something to Consider
If you enjoyed this article, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS. Members get all of our content (including the magazine), no paywalls or content meters, an advertising-minimal experience, and unique access to our writers and editors (conference calls, social-media groups, etc.). And importantly, NRPLUS members help keep NR going. Consider it?
If you enjoyed this article, and were stimulated by its contents, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS.
