President Trump’s most recent remark that he is now not satisfied with the Saudi explanation that the journalist died in a fight at the consulate in Turkey, in the midst of a conversation with Saudi officials, was greeted with incredulity across the world. One man fighting fifteen officials? Why were the officials flown in for this meeting? Why was one of them a pathologist carrying a bone saw in his luggage? Where is the body? Why did the Saudi government lie and say he had left the building in one piece?
Initially Trump, whose strategy was to create a pathway down which his ally, in whom he has invested far too much political capital, could escape from a calamitous miscalculation more or less unscathed, declared the explanation plausible and one he could likely accept. A backlash from almost everyone both inside and outside the US has provoked a rethink. Now it is up to Turkey to come forward with the outcome of its extensive investigation, backed by evidence which leaves no room for doubt. Only then can a decision be made about punishing the Saudis. Meanwhile America needs to re-evaluate its strategy in the Middle East. Too many eggs in too few baskets in an area where almost everything is wrong is asking for the very kind of trouble Trump now finds himself in.