1. An amazing article by @MazMHussain -- we're into real "Wag the Dog" territory here with fake personas created to promote a new Middle Eastern war.https://twitter.com/Ali_Gharib/status/1137734025425117185 …
-
Show this thread
-
2. We need a real full-blown dissection of MEK: this is a cult which started off with a syncretic ideology fusing Marxism, feminism & political Islam. Until recently, it was classified (accurately) by the USA State Dept as a terrorist group. Naturally conservatives love it.
2 replies 40 retweets 133 likesShow this thread -
3. Where does MEK get its funding from? Why are very prominent American public figures (of both parties) working so hard to legitimize it? I assume there is a Gulf oil connection but we need reporting.
11 replies 29 retweets 117 likesShow this thread -
4. Some context: conservative media has long had a big payola problem, being easy targets for PR firms that want to place articles. This
@JaneLytv piece from 2018 has more examples:https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/this-public-relations-firm-has-been-secretly-placing …5 replies 27 retweets 83 likesShow this thread -
5. It's telling that foreign actors who want to influence American foreign policy are very aware that right-wing media is an easy date: you can quickly place articles for very little $$, and they have a far reaching impact. In fact, there's a long history of this.
1 reply 35 retweets 108 likesShow this thread -
6. Going back to at least the 1950s, a wide variety of foreign actors (Chinese nationalists, South Africa, Rhodesia, Pinochet's Chile) were able to get right-wing outlets (notably National Review) to publish raw propaganda. The MEK is following in that tradition.
4 replies 29 retweets 104 likesShow this thread -
7. There's another thing about this MEK story worth pondering: the thinness of Iranian opposition that the USA/Saudi Arabia are allied with. You have the MEK (a tiny cult that creates sock puppets) & the son of the Shah. Hardly people to win the masses. https://theintercept.com/2019/06/09/heshmat-alavi-fake-iran-mek/ …
3 replies 7 retweets 36 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @HeerJeet
What is the political lean of the Iranian diaspora generally? Are they reactionary generally like the older generation of the Cuban diaspora?
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.