Russian and Chinese governments have no moral scruples!

Surprise surprise. The US and western governments boycott the Saudi "Davos" investment conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh in protest at the premeditated (Saudi government word) and savage murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and thus miss out on cosying up to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and signing big fat contracts. So who leaps in to fill the empty chairs at the conference, not minding the least about the brutal slaughter of a Saudi national in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul? Well the Russians and Chinese of course. It doesn't bother either Beijing or Moscow, they're used to dissident types mysteriously dying in unexplained circumstances, so why pass up a golden chance to snatch lucrative contracts away from the US and Europe? It's such a cynical world: money before morality; I suppose it was always thus. But for Beijing and Moscow, the murder of Khashoggi has provided a unique chance not only to win contracts with Saudi Arabia but also to screw the US and exhibit undying love for the Riyadh royal family. The empty chairs at the big money conference headed by the Crown Prince filled up so rapidly with Russian and Chinese delegates that the missing representatives from Saudi Arabia's oldest friends in the West were hardly noticed. Bin Salman turned the screw by telling the conference that now he knew who his best friends were and who his best enemies were. Ok Mr Crown Prince you're welcome to your new Russian and Chinese friends. But his sucking up to Moscow and Beijing will in the end be his undoing because, strategically, Saudi Arabia needs the United States almost as much as the United States needs Saudi Arabia. Lose American support, and the whole geopolitical landscape in the Middle East is going to change. That won't be good news for Saudi Arabia. The great "reforming" Crown Prince could be the one who irretrievably damages the kingdom's reputation. Trump must be fuming.