Breakingviews: The Importance of Being Ernest

Saudi is a less clear situation. Riyadh has been asked by U.S. and European governments to investigate the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who Turkey says was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has suspended his role on the advisory panel until more is known about Khashoggi’s fate. Alphabet’s Dan Doctoroff, chief of the tech giant’s urban-planning division, is not a member, the Financial Times reported, despite being named as one by the Saudi government.

That still leaves 16 other luminaries, including Kalanick, architect Norman Foster and Rob Speyer of real-estate group Tishman Speyer. If it looks like their presence won’t have much chance to encourage meaningful change, they stand to accrue little more than reputational risk. Bin Salman’s commitment to transparency was already uncertain, after he detained hundreds of fellow royals and businessmen in the Ritz-Carlton hotel last year. If even patriotism couldn’t keep Trump’s band of CEOs together, a seat at Saudi’s table ought to be even easier to put aside.

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