On Iran - Fakenews From Newsweek
How fake news is made.
James Melville @JamesMelville - 19:10 UTC · Nov 14, 2022
Iran 🇮🇷The Iranian parliament has voted overwhelmingly to execute 15,000 protesters - and all because they dared to protest for the rights and freedoms of women not to wear a headscarf.
Absolutely despicable.
The above was retweeted more than 3,300 times. It is fake news. But you only learn that when you go back to the sources.
The Newsweek report linked in the tweet, though full of lies, does not say that the Iranian parliament "voted overwhelmingly to execute 15,000 protesters".
bigger
After numerous calls for harsh punishments in recent days, the Iranian parliament on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of the death penalty for protesters.
...
Iranian lawmakers have, in recent days, called for strict punishments for the protesters who have been arrested. On Monday, CNN reported that a letter signed by 227 members of the Iranian parliament urged that the protesters be given harsh punishment that "would serve as a good lesson in the shortest possible time.""Now, the public, even protesters who are not supportive of riots, demand from the judiciary and security institutions to deal with the few people who have caused disturbances in a firm, deterrent, and legal manner," Iranian government spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said, according to Reuters.
On Tuesday, parliament did just that, voting to impose the death penalty on all protesters in custody as a "hard lesson" for all rebels. The majority in favor of the penalty was considerable, 227 out of the 290 total members, matching the number of lawmakers who signed the letter.
The above fake news piece also includes a tweet by a Ukrainian propaganda outlet:
ТРУХА⚡️English @TpyxaNews - 9:45 UTC · Nov 8, 2022Iran's parliament voted by a majority (227 out of 290) to execute all protesters.
The authorities emphasize that the rebels need to be taught the most "hard lesson".
In replies to that tweet someone asks for a source. In response another person post a link to an Iran International piece:
Iranian Lawmakers Urge Judiciary To Sentence Protesters To Death
Iran International is a Saudi financed TV channel and website made in Britain:
A UK-based Iranian TV station is being funded through a secretive offshore entity and a company whose director is a Saudi Arabian businessman with close links to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Guardian can reveal.The disclosures are likely to raise concerns about the editorial independence of Iran International, and comes at a time of growing fears about a number of Saudi-linked stations operating across London.
A source has told the Guardian that Prince Mohammed, who many believe is responsible for the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is the force behind Iran International. The station, which is operating out of Chiswick, has not denied claims that it receives its funding from the Saudi royal court.
Iran International TV emerged abruptly on the London media scene last year; many of the 100-strong staff network were offered generous salaries, often double what rivals paid, but was elusive about its source of funding.
The Iran International report claims:
A group of 227 parliament members in Iran has called on the Judiciary to issue death sentences for people arrested during the ongoing antigovernment protests.The parliament, elected in a non-competitive election in February 2020, is packed with hardliners and Revolutionary Guard officers.
In a statement that was read out in the parliament on Sunday, the lawmakers called the protesters ‘mohareb’ -- which literally means warrior in Arabic, but in Islamic law or sharia it means ‘enemy of God’ that carries the death penalty. They also compared the protesters to members of ISIS, who "attack people's lives and property..."
The Iranian regime has so far charged several people with ‘moharebeh,’ “corruption on earth,” “assembly and collusion against national security” and “confrontation with the Islamic Republic” for participating in the protests.
Moharebeh, or hirabah in Arabic, is a legal category for a number of crimes under Islamic law:
In Islamic law, hirabah is a legal category that comprises highway robbery (traditionally understood as aggravated robbery or grand larceny, unlike theft, which has a different punishment), rape, and terrorism. Ḥirābah (Arabic: حرابة) is an Arabic word for 'piracy', or 'unlawful warfare'. It comes from the triliteral root ḥrb, which means “to become angry and enraged”. The noun ḥarb (حَرْب, pl. ḥurūb حُروب) means 'war' or 'wars'.Moharebeh (also spelled muharebeh) is a Persian term that is treated as interchangeable with ḥirabah in Arabic lexicons. The related term muḥārib (محارب) (perpetrator of muḥāribah) has been translated by English language Iranian media as "enemy of God".[ In English-language media sources Moḥarebeh in Iran has been translated variously as "waging war against God," "war against God and the state," "enmity against God." It is a capital crime in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Peaceful protests are not a crime and do not fall under the moharebeh category. Extreme rioting can be a crime under the doctrine but the penalty for that varies and is not necessarily a sentence to death.
If the Newsweek writer had bothered to read the CNN piece he refers but does not link to, he would have know better than to claim that the parliament was "voting to impose the death penalty on all protesters".
CNN wrote:
Iranian lawmakers have urged the country’s judiciary to “show no leniency” to protesters in a letter cited by state-run Press TV on Sunday, as thousands of people continue to rally on the streets despite the threat of arrest.
...
In an open letter signed by 227 of Iran’s 290 members of Parliament, Press TV reports the lawmakers calls for protesters to be taught a “good lesson” to deter others who threaten the authority of the Iranian government.“We, the representatives of this nation, ask all state officials, including the Judiciary, to treat those, who waged war (against the Islamic establishment) and attacked people’s life and property like the Daesh (terrorists), in a way that would serve as a good lesson in the shortest possible time,” the letter read according to state-run Press TV.
Lawmakers added that such a punishment – the methods of which were not specified – would “prove to all that life, property, security and honor of our dear people is a red line for this (Islamic) establishment, and that it would show no leniency to anybody in this regard.”
There was no vote in the Iranian parliament about the issue. There is an open letter, signed by all members of the conservative Principalist faction, that asked the Judiciary for harsh punishment or rioters. There is no mention of the moharebeh category or the death penalty.
Going even further down the source chain we can look at CNN's source, the Press TV report on the issue. It says:
Iranian lawmakers have called for firm punishment of those who incited the recent riots across the country and caused loss of life and extensive damage to public property.The call was made in a Sunday letter to the Judiciary, signed by 227 Iranian lawmakers, who asked the judicial officials to consider severe punishments for all those involved in the riots, both as agents on the ground and inciters.
“We, the representatives of this nation, ask all state officials, including the Judiciary, to treat those, who waged war [against the Islamic establishment] and attacked people’s life and property like the Daesh [terrorists], in a way that would serve as a good lesson in the shortest possible time,” they said.The lawmakers added that such a punishment will “prove to all that life, property, security and honor of our dear people is a red line for this [Islamic] establishment, and that it would show no leniency to anybody in this regard.”
Again - no parliament vote, no mentioning of peaceful protesters, no request for the death penalty.
The Press TV report was posted on Sunday, November 6. On November 8 Reuters reported on the response of the Judiciary to the parliament letter. The Newsweek writer also got the date of the letter and the sequence wrong claiming that the parliament reacted to the judiciary. It did not:
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's courts will deal firmly with anyone who causes disruption or commits crimes during a wave of anti-government protests, the judiciary said on Tuesday, signalling the authorities intend to hand down harsh sentences to convicted demonstrators.
...
"Now, the public, even protesters who are not supportive of riots, demand from the judiciary and security institutions to deal with the few people who have caused disturbances in a firm, deterrent and legal manner," judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said.
Reuters also lets us know that the 'peaceful protests' have, according to the U.S. financed opposition media, not been peaceful at all:
The activist HRANA news agency said that 318 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of Saturday, including 49 minors. Thirty-eight members of the security forces had also been killed, it said.State media said last month that more than 46 members of the security forces, including police officers, had been killed.
Police officers do not die from 'peaceful protests'.
As I reported a month ago the current riots in Iran are concentrated in the southeastern Baluchistan region and in the northwestern Kurdish region of Iran. There are foreign financed terrorist movements active in both of those regions. Iran International, the Kurdish terrorist organization PDKI and other foreign entities are inciting the rioters:
PDKI @PDKIenglish - 20:43 UTC · Nov 14, 2022Now that the voices of the marginalized, the oppressed nations and all Iranian freedom fighters have echoed around the world, the message of death [to the regime] have reached Tehran. It is certain that we will be victorious.
...
Media like Newsweek, who publish fake news about Iran, are complicit in damages and deaths those riots are causing.
Posted by b on November 15, 2022 at 13:09 UTC | Permalink
We will know our information program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.
William Wild Bill Casey, Director of CIA
Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 15 2022 13:36 utc | 2
Pretty good rundown Bernard.
It has been observed many times that the western media tries to run cover for the organizers and instigators of these subversion operations. This has many times been seen to be the case, even domestically. It's one of the ways they try to cover their assets and keep the necessary conditions intact for such operations.
Always remember...
At one time Newsweek was sold for $1 US dollar, and has changed hands several times in the last 20 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsweek
Of note:
Unlike most large American magazines, Newsweek has not used fact-checkers since 1996.
That other large publishing corporations "use fact checkers" is comedy in its own right.
I guess at least Newsweek admits to not using fact checkers, vs pretending that fact checkers have any sort of influence at NYT or WaPO.
Posted by: BroncoBilly | Nov 15 2022 14:12 utc | 4
Nothing new under the sun:
Evelyn Waugh Scoop 1938
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoop_(novel)
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Nov 15 2022 14:23 utc | 5
Bronco Billy @ 4
Fact checking is a basic function performed by copy editors. Breaking the task out and separating it from normal editorial process is both a mistake and political. If Newsweek had real reporters and real editors having separate fact checkers would be redundant and ridiculous. Where they do have fact checkers those are political jobs.
Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 15 2022 14:28 utc | 6
I always assume that ANY story in the mainstream media is false unless proven otherwise particularly if in involves official enemies of the Empire. We are well passed the point where we can say that Western political culture is anything but highly authoritarian moving inexorably to totalitarianism. The "inexorable" is a result of the stunning degradation of a once relatively vigorous intellectual culture in the West that was able to handle inquiry and debate. The current crop of intellectuals have degenerated into bureaucratic drones who simply parrot official talking points exactly like the Soviet nomenklatura and their Communist Party comrades abroad mimicked. The Party Line was laid out in Moscow and a week later the line might be reversed.
I used to follow the Soviet press and media and it was more interested in truth than the current US media has been in recent year which resembles more Stalin's media that the late Soviet media. Fortunately, there are still some of us who came from a more promising intellectual culture and a growing cadre of young bloggers who are picking up the slack of finding the truth about matters of consequence. However, the current crop of bloggers and writers lack the intellectual training to be more effective but the reality is that if you a come out of the US university system today you are unlikely to know much about the world and, in particular, history.
In addition we are very fortunate to have in "b" perhaps the best source of truth on the internet. Perhaps he can inspire his country men/women to wake the f**k up for Germany/EU is even more barren intellectually than the USA.
Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Nov 15 2022 14:28 utc | 7
Looks like a not-so-innocent version of the children's game "telephone" (aka "chinese whispers"), where a short message is passed along a chain from one player to the next, with the nearly inevitable result that it gets badly corrupted along the way.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Nov 15 2022 14:32 utc | 8
Meanwhile by any objective measure these protestors are vastly closer to being bona fide insurrectionaries than the unescorted* tour group of "January 6th", guilty of nothing more than trespassing at worst.
*Unless one counts the FBI provocateurs among them as docents.
Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Nov 15 2022 15:12 utc | 9
Posted by: BroncoBilly | Nov 15 2022 14:12 utc | 4
Since Newsweek is owned by Dev Pragad and is part of the Indian tech mafia I tend to view it as a legacy wrapper around new ideological positioning
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Nov 15 2022 15:22 utc | 10
thanks b... your last line is worth repeating - "Media like Newsweek, who publish fake news about Iran, are complicit in damages and deaths those riots are causing."
this is completely the case.. it can be argued these riots are a direct result of usa/uk/ksa meddling.. it is what they are seeking... sick puppies...
Posted by: james | Nov 15 2022 15:35 utc | 11
This kind of fake news is a crime against humanity, a despicable act of the worst kind.
Thanks for the heads up.
Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 15 2022 15:50 utc | 12
Iran supports Russia so the regime must be changed., of course Iran has always been in the US crosshairs generally because of Israel. the MSM is utterly wothless as a news source.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Nov 15 2022 16:10 utc | 13
Way back when, the droughts in Syria stressed the rural population, then Assad was pressured/lured into a neoliberal austerity program on social spending etc., radically compounding the problem. Mass demonstrations broke out, these then compounded by a heavy-handed police response. But the rough treatment didn't settle the crowds which still came out. The violence was increasingly started by elements in the street, aimed at the police. Within weeks the Syrian government was attempting to make concessions. But...at this point the negotiations were refused by the ad hoc leadership (speaking loosely) of the movement. And somewhere in the background money began to subvert some elements of the army. This was the point at which it was confirmed that the protests had been taken over by outside forces. And the Syrian war was on, still not settled today, where jihadis, Turks, the US and of course Israel still occupy areas of Syria. (So much for the principle of territorial integrity vaunted in propaganda over Ukraine!)
Now it seems very plausible that this process is serving as inspiration for a do-over in Iran. Thus it is necessary for honest outsiders to wonder whether the protests have retained their genuine popular nature, or whether they are now being indirectly led by outside forces? The acid test for outsiders, the refusal of the movement to accept concessions from the state, is so far not met in Iran. The current administration has made no concessions whatsoever, despite the strong indications that the bigoted enforcement of "morality" is not popular. The issue here at MoA is confused by the apparent strong wish for purity police in the "West," aka Christendom, aka White countries.
Being a conservative in temperament---but not in politics, political conservatism is ignorant and bigoted---I am not quite ready to dismiss the protest movements' petitions, and call for merely punitive, police measures. But it should be obvious there are grave suspicions as to the continued popular nature of the protests.
The larger part of propaganda however is as dubious as the reports analyzed by our host in the OP. This sort of thing, going back to the sources to check, was a key part of what a man named I.F. Stone did back in the Fifties and Sixties, in I.F. Stone's Weekly. When our host analyzes foreign affairs reporting, he does very well indeed.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 15 2022 16:18 utc | 14
Press TV @PressTV - 13:46 UTC · 15 Nov 2022Hilariously FAKE news claiming Iran has "sentenced 15,000 protesters to death" has triggered a now-deleted Tweet from Canada's PM Trudeau in which he denounced the "barbaric decision"!
PS: The death of 1000s of native kids in Canada's residential schools remains to be a FACT.
A screenshot of Trudeau's tweet is attached.
Let's not sugar coat the Iranian regime.
In the 80's, they were well capable of doing such a thing.
I worked there in the 90's.
In the city I worked, in the 80's there were regular executions of dissidents in the 80's at the fish market, string them up off a truck bed to the arch over the entrance and drive the truck away! No one counted how many.
Today, more than 40 years after the revolution, all of the middle and the vast majority of the senior police officers are persons who grew up after the revolution. Just like in East Germany in 1989, they are most unlikely to have the same uncompromising revolutionary fervour as their predecessors.
They won't act against the people as was done in the 80's.
But they will defend their country.
Posted by: ltexpat | Nov 15 2022 17:42 utc | 17
And here we were all thinking that MBS and the Saudis had discovered commonality with opec+, desire to join the BRICS and perhaps even the SCO and the transformative BRI.
Yet they can’t stop being two faced lying head choppers and actual abusers of women’s rights including their princesses. Still not allowed to drive without objections of the crazy Wahhabism and its terrorist funding.
That any journalist actually took on employment at the London set up - sets these journalists in the same camp as Nazis,fascists and imperialist propagandists.
They should be named and disbarred by whatever ‘independent’ association they take their accreditation from.
They even ought to be sued for slander and maybe libel.
I understand London had much legal experience in that.
These pieces of silver must be made to hang heavy around their necks in a pillory and certainly they should be never allowed to forget their base lies.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Nov 15 2022 17:44 utc | 18
Ah my dear b, you are a rare scholar, passionate and a true journalist. You hunt this down like an inquisitor of old armed with faith and truth. But it will not make honest brokers out of the MSM. Fake news, hysteria, beat-ups—it's their business model (I don't need to tell you that!). History on the other hand will forget their hollow men and hacks. When the water freezes in the pipes and there's no heat it won't matter whether 15,000 people are really executed in a far away land or not. Newsweek is as good a fuel for the fire as anything else.
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 15 2022 17:57 utc | 19
"Fiery But Mostly Peaceful" is CNN's (and western media's catchphrase).
After HK 2019, US 2020, it's moved to Iran now. (I'm sure there are many other editions in that period, likely double digits)
Ad: Color revolution, now coming to your country. Remember the protests to overthrow your elected, populist government in favor of the Empire's puppet may be fiery but they're always peaceful.
Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Nov 15 2022 18:05 utc | 20
Iran's parliament and the press that covers it mimicked the US Congress and the press that covers it in calling for harsh punishment of protesters threatening their respective rule. One must, however, give credit to the spooks who escalated the threat to the Iranians from severe punishment to the death penalty for 15,000 persons, revealing what is planned for future protesters should they interfere with the goal of global full spectrum dominance by the US.
Posted by: Wilikins | Nov 15 2022 18:20 utc | 22
A more appropriate word for this activity should be “twisted news”. They take that news and twist it to fit their agenda. The words fake news has lost its luster.
Posted by: Jose Garcia | Nov 15 2022 18:39 utc | 23
Dungroanin 18
Keep up with the changing times. Discard outdated prejudice.
Women drive in Saudi Arabia, and have done for about five years now.
In the last two months I have even had three lady drivers on Careem (Arabian Uber) taxis with no one else in the car.
Years ago, that would have got both of us arrested.
Saudi society is developing at its own pace, not yours.
Allow societies to develop at their own pace. This is a more robust, durable process.
Posted by: ltexpat | Nov 15 2022 18:45 utc | 24
"Fiery But Mostly Peaceful" is CNN's (and western media's catchphrase).Ad: Color revolution, now coming to your country. Remember the protests to overthrow your elected, populist government in favor of the Empire's puppet may be fiery but they're always peaceful.
Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Nov 15 2022 18:05 utc | 20
We have Trudeau/Freeland so are safe for now. But Trudeau Sr. found himself in the middle of the FLQ crisis when he started to act too independently. I am convinced that was an externally manufactured event, given the speed with which the convicted perpetrators were released.
If we vote in Poilievre, that may change.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Nov 15 2022 19:07 utc | 25
Posted by: b | Nov 15 2022 16:45 utc | 16
I think that is really you posting b. It sounds like you. But with the trollmania of the last few weeks I'm expecting any day now to see a post by a b impersonator.
Posted by: Chas | Nov 15 2022 19:19 utc | 26
Not a real fan of the death penalty anywhere. I still remember the nightmares I had over the execution of an innocent mentally challenged man from Mobile, Alabama, usOfa. I was the only "white" person at Martin Luther church on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, and every member knew the family and knew he was innocent. "Hey, you're a real smart guy, can you sign your name" with no lawyer present for his confession. 3 weeks later the watch of the murdered Sr. Religious miraculously was found at a second search of his parents house. Not one Black person in the jury. Capital punishment has too many ways for mistakes and railroading.
Thanks for the deeply researched info via more primary sources. I can disagree with Iran over utilizing the death penalty. However, I am inspired that they, after looking at theology, declare a fatwah against the usage or ownership of nuclear weapons.
The western reporting - codswallop.
Posted by: paxmark1 | Nov 15 2022 19:23 utc | 27
chinese whispers"), where a short message is passed along a chain from one player to the next, with the nearly inevitable result that it gets badly corrupted along the way.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Nov 15 2022 14:32 utc | 8
"Send reinforcements we're going to advance".
"Send three and fourpence, we're going to a dance".
Posted by: Gt Stroller | Nov 15 2022 19:34 utc | 28
steven t johnson | Nov 15 2022 16:18 utc | 14
the greatest perpetrator of violence in the world today, by far, is also the greatest liar.
i might despise the iranian regime but so what? what i know about their gov't is mostly b.s., what i know about what is happening inside the country right now is 100% b.s. (but yeah, what does it say about "the left" in the west that they fall for ANOTHER "color revolution"?)
that the USG is using the actual situation, whatever it is, to attempt to overthrow Iran and create another Iraq is not up to dispute. it is 100% certain.
same story with the russian and chinese govts. they aren't, but so what if the chinese gov't is persecuting Wiggers? you want to save some kids from persecution, go knock on ICE's door and stop bitching about something on the other side of the planet. lots of migrant farm working women could use your support.
part of the M.O. of the US is to cultivate the resentment of the ex-pats who "lost" when the Shah (or Baptista or whoever) got booted out. whether they come to identify as donkey or the other big-nosed party of jackasses, they can be relied on, largely, as regime change advocates and agitators within the West. and hey, they are "natives," don't they know how awful the mullahs and the Castros and the Putins and the Xi's and the Bolivarians really, truly are? why, they stole the family's ancestral manse! and now they have no servants...such resentment. and there it is: bombs away.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Nov 15 2022 19:54 utc | 29
the "coverage" of Iran also normalizes ideas of collective punishment, mass executions and repression, etc.
as we find out more about Ukraine, it is important to stress again and again, EVERYBODY DOES IT. Russia tortures people and bombs civilian infrastructure (see today's NYT), Egypt executes its thousands and the Saudis their ten thousands...
anyway, on the theme of history repeating itself, youtube has graced us with the Ford/Steinbeck, "Grapes of Wrath" classic. look at those "tiny homes" going up. tiny homes = progress.
yeah. hitler built tiny homes, didn't he? what else are those labor camps the joads are living in? oops, did i say, are living in?
progress is being made in the war on the homefront, too. for example, in addition to more tiny homes, the west cares so much about women we made it illegal to even wear certain kinds of traditional "muslim" garb. i mean, duh, how can your banker tell it's really you, when you are draped in all that piety and devotion?
(psst. the saudis are developing at THEIR OWN pace. don't forget.)
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Nov 15 2022 20:18 utc | 30
The purpose of "fact checkers" is not to check that a story fed to them by (anonymous to the public) government officials is factual.
It is to confirm that multiple such sources are purveying essentially the same story and that their transcription of the story contains no major inaccuracies.
Posted by: Billb | Nov 15 2022 20:21 utc | 31
"...If we vote in Poilievre, that may change." Opport [email protected]
Does Poilevre know that you are associating him with commitment to change? The guy is a Tory. A Tory.
A Stephen Harper Tory.
You are delusional.
Posted by: bevin | Nov 15 2022 20:44 utc | 32
This practice of trolls assuming the identities of regular posters is not necessarily a bad thing.
Check out the post @14 by someone pretending to be Steven T Johnson. You may not agree with it. But it is reasonable, properly argued and innocent of libels and misrepresentations.
The real Johnson will be here soon- howling with anger at anyone mistaking him for a sensible person.
Posted by: bevin | Nov 15 2022 20:50 utc | 33
All the land that would compose a "Greater Kurdistan" just happens to bee the high ground separating Iran, Iraq and Turkey composed of parts of all three countries.
Now you know why the US and Israel support these terrorists.
BTW Kurds are a majority in none of these areas. What the Kurds want is to be able to ethnic cleanse these areas using the Israeli model.
Posted by: Rabbit | Nov 15 2022 21:15 utc | 34
Steven T Johnson @ 14:
My understanding is that the protests, that are the focus of the 227 Iranian MPs' petition to the judiciary to punish protesters who have committed murder and vandalism, are those "protests" or "demonstrations" that broke out in the border regions near Turkey and Iraq (in NW Iran) and in Baluchistan (SE Iran) bordering Pakistan. These include remote mountainous or desert areas where borders are perhaps not well patrolled, and people can pass through without having the proper papers. These areas are also ethnically and religiously mixed, and I believe there are separatist or pro-independence movements (with shady connections to Western intel) active in those places. It is very likely that the organisers of these protests were in close contact with one another even before the incident involving Mahsa Amini, who happened to be Kurdish herself, and were waiting for an opportune moment to act.
I recall back in late 2018 or 2019, protests in Tehran supposedly led to protests occurring in other parts of the country near its border regions (Mashhad especially). Iran is in the unenviable position of being surrounded either by countries or regions hostile to it (to the west) or countries or regions that are poor, unstable and with a history of foreign interference (to the east: Afghanistan, Pakistan).
Of course, the Western news media cares nothing for the context behind the protests in Iran - no-one thinks to ask why there are protests in remote parts of the country like Baluchistan when more populated areas like Isfahan and Shiraz are quiet - and would have us believe that these protests, wherever they are and no matter how violent the protesters are, are in solidarity with the protests against the supposed police treatment of Mahsa Amini.
There have been articles here at MoA stating that Mahsa Amini died from hypoxia after fainting. Her medical history showed that she had had a brain tumour removed when she was young, but the surgery was not done well and left her at risk of dying from hypoxia incidents.
Posted by: Jen | Nov 15 2022 22:12 utc | 35
@bevin32. I had the same thought. Only thing that changes if blue house gets in; will be the terminology. NOTHING else.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Nov 15 2022 22:15 utc | 36
@oldhippie #2
We will know our information program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.
Have you verified the authenticity and attribution of that quote? Seems a bit muddy.
Posted by: fnord | Nov 15 2022 22:45 utc | 37
Posted by: bevin | Nov 15 2022 20:50 utc | 33
i thought it seemed a bit uncharacteristic, but there are some posters that seem reasonable depending on the subject--granted, I would not have expected this analysis of color revolutions from somebody that ordinarily seems to support them.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Nov 15 2022 23:03 utc | 38
@bevin #33
What if comment #14 was actually written by the real Steven T. Johnson, while all those hundreds of previous comments full of pro-Imperial bullshit, misrepresentations and misdirection were written by an impostor who foresaw the coming of the real Steven T. Johnson to the bar, Minority Report-style? That would be a true M. Night Shyamalan twist!
Posted by: S | Nov 15 2022 23:50 utc | 39
@Rabbit 34
Worth noting that the reason Iran helped against Al Queda was to manage that region.
The only request that Turkey made in return for it's active assistance. Including use of it's airbases during "Desert Storm" was that a separate Kurdistan not be enabled by the US, whether politically or economically. The US solemnly promised and then broke every promise. Which is why the USA did not receive overflight permission during the USA's illegal 2002 invasion of Iraq, murder of it's leaders and appointment of a puppet government (which they might have forgotten when criticizing Russia).
Posted by: Hermit | Nov 15 2022 23:53 utc | 40
@ Posted by: ltexpat | Nov 15 2022 18:45 utc | 24
Thank you for your response. I appreciate it. I have not kept up with changes in the kingdom for a few years.
I stand corrected.
I thought I had seen a recent report of how a female driver was assailed there. But I guess that would happen with the general public. It is indeed good to see progress. Now let’s hope it progresses rapidly to full emancipation.
Have they stopped the stoning and head chopping?
Posted by: DunGroanin | Nov 16 2022 0:31 utc | 41
Col. Doug Macgregor, latest video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8EVMSqbvzU
Best summary of the whole situation I've ever heard. What a man.
Posted by: Saul Goode | Nov 16 2022 0:43 utc | 42
The only thing crazier than Iran, is the propaganda campaign to get U.S. fighting in Iran. I was in a medium-sized midwestern American city last weekend and I saw a billboard for supporting the Iranian protestors! It has nothing to do with us!
Also on the topic of endless lies and manipulation: Alexander Mercouris on his November 15th video "Russia focuses on Donbass," proposes that the dirty bomb thing was a real Ukrainian plot, that the Biden administration shut it down, and some elements of the Biden administration who know about it have decided that the war is out of control and its time to start winding it down. I am inclined to agree with this. It seriously felt like WWII was right around the corner in late October. There was a real dark atmosphere, with Elon Musk being threatened and accused of being in cahoots with Putin. and then the dirty bomb stuff just vanished!
And why would Shoigou have called around the world, making a fool of himself, if he wasn't either a) preparing plausible deniability as cover for a Russian attack, or b) genuinely concerned about something? We can rule out a) since it did not happen, which leaves b).
As an American, the Ukrainians lost me gradually. I started shifting away when I figured out they were lying about the ZNPP. Because, it's a nuclear power plant, so if you're attacking it you're trash. I actually caught them in a couple lies around that. At one point Energoatam claimed that a Russian commander had telephoned them to say that the ZNPP was rigged to explode, and the Institute for the Study of War said the report was false. Another time Russia reported on an amphibious raid on the ZNPP by Ukr motorboats, Ukraine swore it was a lie, but Reuters confirmed it. And then there's Ukr's habit of telling anyone who suggests peace to "fuck off" - whether it's Elon Musk or Henry Kissinger. Plus, the bombing Darya Dugina....
So, whether the dirty bomb was a real plot or not, I think we Americans have seen enough that the smarter of us have a healthy distrust of the Ukranians as out-of-control psychopaths.
It's just that they're OUR out-of-control psychopaths, so we're not going to admit it. We're going to use them and then dispose of them. After this whole stupid catastrophe is over, someone should make a Ukrainian band called "The Loose Cannons of The Second World"
Posted by: GoFast | Nov 16 2022 1:20 utc | 43
paxmark1 #27
Unmitigated bullshit. Who is your audience? This is not the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Posted by: catbonez | Nov 16 2022 1:24 utc | 44
Have you verified the authenticity and attribution of that quote? Seems a bit muddy.
Posted by: fnord | Nov 15 2022 22:45 utc | 37
Thanks for the alert to the Latest Langley disinformation campaign.
I am old enough to remember when Casey said it.
Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Nov 16 2022 1:42 utc | 45
Perhaps the periodical in question ought to be referred to as Newsweak.
Posted by: David Levin | Nov 16 2022 2:32 utc | 46
The white Western judeo-christian mass media cannot be trusted.
Posted by: Ali | Nov 16 2022 3:57 utc | 47
Thanks for the report b.
The goal of the empire has always been to plunder the riches of Iran — it’s resources. In that goal, Iranians are a mere cannon fodder.
Vitriol, subversion, demonization, fake news, sanctions, bombs, assassinations are their tool to take control of the said assets.
No-one uttering a word about Iran cares a wit about Iranians. The more dead Iranians, the better.
We had a barfly that twisted himself into a pretzel over a decade, analyzing how and when the war on Iran will be fought. His wet dream: bloody Iranian babies. Wrote several million words on the subject. Some long-time posters/readers here know who he is.
It is really interesting that there are more protests around the world, than Iran on this one person’s death.
Do those fueling more protests care about the other deaths that occur as a result of the words/actions? Those dead, have names too. Does anyone know them, or just the name of the pretty girl?
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Nov 16 2022 4:13 utc | 48
GoFast | Nov 16 2022 1:20 utc | 43
Pretty Girls must have captured your attention to the point where you couldn't think above your waist. Ukraine had lots of those - you could buy one. If it took you, "As an American, the Ukrainians lost me gradually. I started shifting away when I figured out they were lying about the ZNPP.",... all that time from the Nuland managed Maidan & Kolomoisky-Stenenko-Yarosh's) Odessa Trade Union Massacre; without even the deep historical background which is and has been available for the educated or simply curious, to recognize the situation; THEN All that which you say says to me you are pretty self-absorbed and mostly uneducated. Then again, I rarely read your posts after your early contributions. Your thought process interests me not at all. Each to their own...
Posted by: DoesItReallyMatter | Nov 16 2022 14:53 utc | 49
According to the announcement of the judiciary, three rioters were sentenced to death in Tehran (Mehr News Agency, November 16, 2022 [Aban 25, 1401] — in Persian — machine translation)
According to Mehr News Agency and based on the announcement of the judiciary, in the continuation of the investigation of the case of rioters and disrupters of security in the Revolutionary Court of Tehran and following the holding of court sessions of the accused in the presence of their lawyers, a preliminary verdict was issued for three more rioters.Accordingly, in one of the rulings issued by the Tehran Revolutionary Court, a person who, in a terrorist act, intentionally and with the intention of killing the police officers, quickly attacked the officers with his car and killed a policeman as a result He had testified and injured a number of people after his clear confessions of committing a crime in the court and the substantiated documents in the case for corruption on earth through crimes against the physical integrity of people, destruction and actions against the national security of the country, which lead to disruption in Public order and insecurity in the country and causing damage to people and public property were accused and sentenced to death.
Also, according to another document issued by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, the accused who, by drawing a cold weapon and armed attack by deliberately wounding one of the security guards with a knife with the intention of killing him, created terror and insecurity for the citizens and insecurity in the environment and He was tried for setting fire to the governorate of Pakdasht city and destroying its property, and was sentenced to death by the court's verdict.
In another issued verdict, according to the decree of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, a person who, by being present at the scene of the riots and based on the documents found in the reviewed videos from the cameras of the scene of the riots, attempted to close the street, prevent the movement of vehicles and cause terror and terror, as well as He had damaged public property and had a guiding role in these fields, and was sentenced to death on charges of war.
It should be noted that the issued rulings are preliminary and can be appealed.
So, 3 rioters sentenced to death today, plus 2 rioters sentenced to death earlier, that makes 5 rioters sentenced to death. Just a tad bit smaller than the 15,000 figure claimed by Newsweek.
Posted by: S | Nov 16 2022 15:33 utc | 50
@ S | Nov 16 2022 15:33 utc | 50 with the reality of Iran protesting and below is a quote from a ZH piece showing the propaganda
Early this month at a Democratic campaign event in California, Biden said, "Don’t worry, we’re gonna free Iran. They’re gonna free themselves pretty soon." Iranian officials have meanwhile taken these and similar statements as evidence of an externally driven regime change operation.Following news of an Iranian court issuing a death sentence for a demonstrator, the White House condemned the disturbing development, with Jake Sullivan stating from the G20 in Bali, "We are deeply concerned about reports from Iran of mass arrests, sham trials, and now a death sentence for protesters voicing legitimate demands against a government that systematically denies basic dignity and freedom to its people."
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 16 2022 17:06 utc | 51
[email protected] is correct that continuing major violence limited to areas where foreign influence can materially support a minority campaign. Being cautious, I'm not quite certain yet this is the case. I'm not sure yet that there are not inchoate mass protests *without* organized violence from elements in the crowd in populous areas, especially Tehran. I have little use for the Tehran crowds that hated Ahmadinejad for giving out potatoes to the lower orders, then protested the election results *even though they showed a majority for their favored "liberal" in Tehran!* I am convinced they also had the usual suspects working in the background to colorize the movement. But there is a difference between seeding a lawn and Astroturf, to put it metaphorically. In general, all movements start with specific parties, usually by some money and status and connections. But genuine grassroots movements are not characterized by how they start, they are characterized by how they grow, putting down roots naturally and developing their own internal financing and especially, their own leadership. I'm skeptical that this current wave is wholly legitimate. But, again, I'm not sure it's 100% controlled.
The news that the sad young lady may have been more vulnerable? To me, it is conceivable that it was a mere coincidence. But it's also conceivable that she was more vulnearable to ordinary rough treatment that would have left the vast majority unsdamaged, even if intimidated. I don't know how anyone can know. And there is the question of whether a woman should be arrested for how she's dressed. Allah may be offended, but I figure Allah can solve the problem for himself and doesn't need state help. I don't approve hysteria in the US over clothing either.
[email protected] and [email protected] are incorrect about me supporting color revolutions. So far from approving color revolutions, I have argued with friends against the Hungarian counterrevolution of 1956, the false path in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and very much against Solidarnosc in Poland. bevin who thinks well of Third Campers would be far, far more accurate in openly condemning me as a Communist-sympathizer soft on Stalin. bevin's Trotskyist---no, that's unduly polite, Trotskyite---past is Stalinophobic.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 16 2022 19:02 utc | 52
Saudi hired a bunch of UK scyops propagandists to write fake news about their adversaries. UK dominates corruption in so many domains. MI6 got away with trashing the US democracy in 2016. They need to be tought a lesson. The irony is that Saudi still chops off the head of anyone that does not agree with them including fimanist.
Posted by: ATM | Nov 16 2022 19:30 utc | 53
@SwissArmyMan @45
You heard him say it in person? Maybe a video? Or was it just reported by a corporate news source?
Posted by: fnord | Nov 19 2022 0:13 utc | 54
The comments to this entry are closed.
Don't worry, FOX News will correct the record. We have a system of checks and balances [major sarcasm]
I have noticed that Ukraine is now fully weaponized to the the U.S. arsenal of soft power oppression. Ukraine is bizarrely attacking Iran in multiple ways. They must realize this this will help ingratiate them to the U.S. Ukraine is also patronizing Israel.
Russia claimed that their security was threatened by a weaponized Ukraine, they were right.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Nov 15 2022 13:30 utc | 1