Jamal Khashoggi

The Arab Spring is a true phenomenon. Embrace Arab Spring; embrace the aspiration for freedom of the people of Egypt, Syria, and Yemen.

If Mohammed bin Salman wants to deal properly with corruption, he must preserve two elements vital to the Saudi economy: trust in the state and the role of national companies.

Corruption in Saudi Arabia is quite different from corruption in most other countries, as it is not limited to a 'bribe' in return for a contract, or expensive gift for the family member of a government official or prince, or use of a private jet that is charged to the government so a family can go on vacation.

I have left my home, my family, and my job, and I am raising my voice. To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot.

When I speak of the fear, intimidation, arrests, and public shaming of intellectuals and religious leaders who dare to speak their minds, and then I tell you that I'm from Saudi Arabia, are you surprised?

Osama bin Laden's hijacked planes not only attacked the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also attacked Islam as a faith. They attacked the values of tolerance and coexistence that Islam preaches.

I'm not an extremist. And I disagree with Saudis who are calling for regime change and stuff like that.

I champion a real campaign to tackle the rampant corruption that is draining Saudi resources, both financial and human.

In 2004, Lawrence Wright wrote in the 'New Yorker' about 'The Kingdom of Silence,' where a massive sewer project in Jeddah was really a series of manhole covers across the city with no actual pipes underneath. I, as the editor of a major paper at the time, can say that we all knew - and we never reported on it.

I don't want to be a dissident. But in the same time, I don't want to go back home and be silent again.

The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power.

The death of Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh shows that Saudi Arabia is paying for its betrayal of the Arab spring in Yemen in 2011.