President Donald Trump, even with all his tough talks, was never going to take any stern action against Saudi Arabia and the crown prince Mohammad bin Salman for killing and dismembering Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And this was very evident right from the get-go.

donald-trump-and-saudi-arabia-letsidiskuss (Courtesy: Foreign Policy)

One of the foremost reasons was/is because Saudi Arabia homes large stock of oil. Action against the Kingdom would have been a financially inane step that the USA couldn’t have afforded. And this is something that even President Donald Trump added in his recent statement.

On one side, he says “our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event -- maybe he did and maybe he didn't!” BUT in the same breath, he adds “if we abandon Saudi it would be a terrible mistake,” citing to Saudi’s influence on the global oil price.

The best President Donald Trump did to reprimand Saudi for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was to place sanctions on 17 Saudi nationals, according to Magnitsky Act penalties. The act says the US can place sanctions against individuals of other nationals for violating human rights. The sanction would include prohibiting those individuals from accessing the USA and its banking systems.

It’s safe to assume that even when the world came forward to stand against Saudi Arabia for killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Kingdom yet again managed to escape the reprimands for its human rights violence. Why? Because it has oil, well!!!!