Saudi Arabia’s well-funded public relations apparatus
moved quickly after Saturday’s explosive execution of Shiite political
dissident Nimr al-Nimr to shape how the news is covered in the United
States.
The execution led protestors in Shiite-run Iran
to set
fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, precipitating a major diplomatic
crisis between the two major powers already fighting proxy wars across the
Middle East.
The Saudi side of the story is getting a particularly
effective boost in the American media through pundits who are quoted justifying
the execution, in many cases without mention of their funding or close
affiliation with the Saudi Arabian government.
Meanwhile, social media accounts affiliated with
Saudi Arabia’s American lobbyists have pushed English-language
infographics, tweets, and online videos to promote a narrative that reflects
the interests of the Saudi regime.
A Politico article about the rising tensions between
Saudi Arabia and Iran by Nahal Toosi, for instance,
quoted only three sources: the State Department, which provided a muted
response to the executions; the Saudi government; and Fahad Nazer, identified
as a “political analyst with JTG Inc.” Nazer defended the executions, saying
that they served as a “message … aimed at Saudi Arabia’s own militants
regardless of their sect.”
What Politico did not reveal was
that Nazer is himself a former political analyst at
the Saudi Embassy in Washington. He is currently a non-resident fellow at the
Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, a think tank formed last year that
discloses that it is fully funded by the Saudi Embassy and the United
Arab Emirates.
The Washington Post quoted
consultant Theodore Karasik of Gulf State Analytics as
saying that the executions were a “powerful message that Saudi Arabia
is intent on standing up to its regional rival.” Karasik is a columnist
at Al Arabiya, an English-language news organization based in
the UAE and owned by Middle East Broadcasting Center, a private news
conglomerate that has long been financially backed
by members of the Saudi royal family. Its current chairman is Sheikh
Waleed bin Ibrahim, a billionaire Saudi businessman whose brother-in-law
was the late King Fahd. (Al Arabiya’s
coverage of the crisis is almost comically pro-Saudi, featuring headlines like
“Storming
embassies.. Iranian speciality.”)
An editorial published
by the Wall Street Journal approvingly quoted Joseph Braude of
the Foreign Policy Research Institute claiming that Nimr was a violent
extremist who advocated a “military option” against Saudi Arabia. But as
journalists and editors from the Christian
Science Monitor, The
Guardian, the BBC, and other
prominent outlets have reported, Nimr advocated nonviolence and encouraged his
followers to protest peacefully. Braude did not provide any
evidence for his claims beyond anonymous “Saudi sources.”
Braude is a contributor to several Saudi-owned media
outlets, including Al Arabiya and Al Majalla, a magazine owned
by a member of the Saudi royal family. Neither of these affiliations were
disclosed in the Wall Street Journal editorial. (Braude was
also convicted in
2004 of attempting to smuggle 4,000-year-old artifacts looted from the Iraqi
National Museum after the fall of Baghdad into the United States.)
Braude’s depiction of Nimr aligns with the Saudi
Arabian view. “Saudi Arabia’s terrorism law includes as acts of terrorism
merely criticizing the government, merely criticizing the monarchy,” Sarah Lea Whitson,
executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division, told The
Intercept.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Embassy is blasting out its
message through social media.
As we have previously reported,
Saudi Arabia’s lobbyists, including Qorvis and Targeted Victory, a social media company founded by
Republican strategists, help to maintain a Saudi Embassy effort called Arabia Now, which
puts a positive spin on all things Saudi Arabian.
Arabia Now has retweeted content from a reportedly
Saudi government-run Twitter account called Infographics KSA, which produced
a slick English-language
video and infographic that
deride Nimr as a “sedition
instigator” and point to 10 years he spent abroad in Iran. On Twitter,
the same account has started releasing
English-language infographics defending Saudi moves to expel Iranian
diplomats and bar air travel to Iran, using the hashtag #SaudiCutsTiesWithIran.
The U.S. government is obviously not eager to
alienate a government that President Obama has wooed with warm
words and over $90
billion in arms sales. The diplomatic offensive by Saudi-financed flacks
and media has provided some space for it to provide a muted response to the
execution.
In a statement issued
after the executions, the State Department avoided any condemnation, simply
expressing concern “that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political
activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they
urgently need to be reduced.”
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