The fate of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, assuming that his disappearance was the work of Saudi security and military officials, threatens to upend the fundaments of fault lines in the Middle East.

At stake is not only the fate of a widely respected journalist and the future of Turkish-Saudi relations.

Khashoggi's fate, whether he was kidnapped by Saudi agents during a visit to the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul to obtain proof of his divorce or murdered on its premises, threatens to severely disrupt the U.S.-Saudi alliance that underwrites much of the Middle East's fault lines.