US magazine Foreign Policy published an analytical article by Stephen Walt on Saudi Arabia's contradictory accounts of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and her attempts to evade the consequences of the crime.

The writer, a professor of public relations at Harvard University, says that some governments sometimes do bad things, and when they are discovered - as with Saudi Arabia - they seek to reduce the negative consequences of these acts, through various methods and pretexts, including:

Denial and denial
The writer says that Saudi Arabia initially denied any undesirable thing for Khashoggi, and that he attended his consulate in Istanbul and left the back door, just as former US President Bill Clinton denied any relationship with Monica, and also denied Syrian President Bashar al-Assad use weapons Bye.

Blame others
The writer says that US President Donald Trump used this tactic on this crime when he said that the "rogue killers" had killed Khashoggi, which meant that it was not an official operation.

However, the writer says that "rogue killers" were in fact Saudi agents acting on behalf of an increasingly rogue leader.

King Salman hails Ibn Khashoggi's royal palace (social networking sites)

We did something bad unintentionally
The author says the Saudi version here is that Khashoggi's death took place during a quarrel, and that he died by an unintentional strangulation.

The writer adds sarcastically that no one had intended to kill Khashoggi and that he should not have fought a battle with 15 well-trained professional security men, and there was no need to question about forensic experts or bone saws or where the body was.

We had no choice
The writer says that the Saudi Arabian strike team had no choice but to use force, when Khashoggi began to resist, explaining that such an excuse did not justify the action, but to make the final result look less disheartening.

Justifying the act on the pretext of greater good
The writer suggests that some may see that regardless of the human cost of ousting Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi, the result is to get a better situation.

Designed by Mohammed Bin Salman and Jamal Khashoggi (Al Jazeera)

Khashoggi's death refers to Trump's talk about the billions of dollars of US weapons that Saudi Arabia has promised to buy.

He says Khashoggi's reputation has been tarnished on the grounds that he is a radical Islamist who was helping al Qaeda and was close to Osama bin Laden.

This means that it is perhaps worth killing or that his death should not cause much discomfort.

Everyone does and our opponents do more
The author says no one has ever heard of Khashoggi's death, but some are expected to begin denouncing what Iran is doing in the region and would be portrayed as worse than Saudi Arabia.

Emphasis on restraint
When governments are besieged and can not deny that they are doing wrong, the writer says they sometimes insist that they show a great deal of restraint, adding that others should be grateful that this government has not used all the power it has.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman child in the bosom of his father King Salman (social networking sites)

The author tries to apply this tactic to the Saudi version, saying that he may have wanted to silence the voice of an influential opponent, as well as sending a chilling message to anyone else who might be inclined to criticize the crown prince and his increasingly irregular and inefficient judgment.

But the writer sees no justification for Khashoggi's death.

Confirm a special case
The government says that what we did was not a real mistake, because we are different.
Here the author points to the relationship between Mohammed bin Salman and Jared Kouchner and the economic benefits the Saudis offer to the United States.

Acknowledgment of guilt and apology
The Saudi government expressed "deep regret" over the incident and promised to investigate it.

Things happen
The writer points out that this is the tactic of former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to justify the failure.

"Who would have known that Khashoggi would resist trying to interrogate, torture or kidnap him?"

Saudi Arabia follows the classic formula routinely used by the wrongdoers to absorb the anger of critics and move forward.