If you were going to build a modern Trojan horse -- something that would give you more control of a powerful but silly head of state, what could be better than a 747 airplane, full of golden gizmos, and quite possibly full of state-of-the-art equipment to listen in on activities within the plane, plus perhaps a destruct device if needed.
How many nooks and crannies are there on a 747? How large are the gadgets of surveillance and destruction? A simple locator device would be useful. When one is up in the air, would not a simple failure of any crucial system be the same as a hidden bomb? What does built-in failure look like? How close would the trigger have to be before take-off to activate it at, say, 30,000 feet?
I keep remembering the barbaric way that reporter Jamal Khashoggi was murdered, hacked to pieces while conscious, with the approval of Saudi Prince Mohamed bin Salman, and I remember thinking that we cannot assume that the usual and expected political interactions around the world have any restraints, and to assume that they do is foolish.
The world knows that Trump does not necessarily keep any promises he makes. He will have no trouble taking the plane, making many deals along the way, then not keeping his end of the negotiations. I believe the Saudis have thrived under conditions of uncertainty (like a Trump promise provides) for many years. They do not walk out on thin ice. They use their money to carve a path that they define, and they do not trust anyone. They stay out of openly conducting warfare at the horrifying level that is commonplace in the Mideast.
So they are going to give the American president a toy. Falyakun
(M Koch)
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