The murder
of Jamal Khashoggi
should not affect the relationship
between the United States
and Saudi Arabia.
On the line,
thousands of jobs
in the American weapon industries
and
billions of dollars in trade deals, including:
laser-guided missiles,
programmable bomb systems,
self-propelled Howitzers.
No responsible government
would risk all that
for one person.
Not even for a journalist.
The tens of thousands of Yemeni children
who died of starvation
(caused by the Saudis)
and in airstrikes
(led by the Saudis)
are not a good reason
either.
Lost lives
are merely statistics,
to quote Stalin.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
