Very quick commentary on this. MBS had two paths ahead of him - either institute actual reform that would convince the world, *or* guarantee his own secret police complete impunity. He chose the worst of both worlds https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1302981228233195521

Choosing the first path means having a shot at being rehabilitated back to his early 2018 "liberal savior-reformer" image.

Choosing the second path means embracing his inner Putin and sending a message to the world that he'll do whatever he wants.

MBS did neither

The first path would see MBS take responsibility for the crime and purge the entire command chain. Difficult, since that command chain leads up to him, but he could have at least tried to take it all the way up to, say, Saud Al Qahtani. He didn't. What he did convinces nobody.

Leaves us with path #2. It's clear the MBS wants to build a police state, in which dissent is impossible. One of the cardinal rules of police states is that those doing the dictator's bidding must have absolute impunity. They can *not* be put in jail.

Why? Because it's a very dangerous thing for a dictator to create a situation where if he gives someone an order and they refuse, they go to jail; and if he gives someone an order and they *do* carry it out, they also go to jail. Dictatorship requires impunity.

And so MBS punishes a bunch of his minions for doing his bidding *and* convinces exactly nobody that he's reformed or reforming. He creates a situation where the world sees him as a criminal *and* his own secret police know they can be punished for following his orders. So smart.

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