We often ask ourselves why Russia (and China for that matter) are so lousy at mounting global propaganda campaigns. Granted, the Western empire has more than a century of practice, and over generations has created the most gianormous machinery of mass communications and cultural influence ever seen in history. Not to mention that with a machine spawned by developed capitalism, it was born with the propaganda talent to seduce and deceive sociopathically, it’s in their genes, so to speak, something other nations are not so adept at, at least not with the advanced production values that Hollywood and a huge p.r. industry are able to inject into such exercises. Yet soft power is an art that those who oppose imperialism must try to muster.
READ ONCategory: INTERNATIONAL BRAINWASH
Israel Evacuates White Helmets From Syria to Jordan
Jordan, for its part, [as a longtime satellite of the West in the region] has also acknowledged that it allowed the UN to arrange for the entry and passage of 800 Syrian “civil defense workers,” according to Reuters, citing Mohammad al-Kayed, spokesman for the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry. The Jordanian authorities later revisited the numbers, saying that only 422 White Helmets members have actually made it into the country.
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How Iran got economically socialist, and then Islamic socialist
RAMIN MAZAHERI—The bonyads are not just in consumer goods but have been awarded parts of more sensitive economic sectors; the same goes for the Basij, another co-operative foundation. However, it’s the Revolutionary Guards who have been handed partial control of the big portfolios, sectors and projects upon which the country’s well•being depends: oil, telecommunications, large•scale development and construction. This was obviously all by plan (and not “market forces”), and all of these groups, their political backers and their employees have discouraged private competition because their ideology is that the state should control it — they prefer the bonyads (and Basji and the Revolutionary Guards) to Western capitalism (ands thus Western capitalists).
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The WSWS, Iran’s economy, the Basij & Revolutionary Shi’ism: an 11-part series
RAMIN MAZAHERI—Non-Iranians need to realize that any foreign invasion of Iran implies the mass, grassroots involvement of the Basij. Certainly not all of them, as only a small percentage of this volunteer group are involved daily in security operations (contrary to popular belief), but very certainly invasion would involve a lot of them. I think that if people learned about the solidity of this group – whether one condones or condemns them, and I remain 100% objectively neutral in my examination and refuse to either condone or condemn them on my part – one must simply accept that they are a huge force to be reckoned with in any war.
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Pompeo’s Outrageous Speech on Iran
FARHANG JAHANPOUR—This obsession with the past and a deliberate decision to bring about a regime change in Iran will have incalculable costs. Let’s not forget that prior to Iraq war, Paul Wolfowitz, one of the authors of that war, predicted that it would be a “cake walk”, that it “would pay for itself”, and that “US forces would be welcomed with roses”. Fifteen years after that disastrous war, American forces are still operating in that country, and the war which has cost trillions of dollars to US taxpayers has killed and wounded millions of innocent Iraqi people, shattered that country and has given rise to a number of vicious terrorist movements.
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The Friendly Mask Of The Orwellian Oligarchy Is Slipping Off
CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—It really couldn’t be more fitting that the US now has an actual, literal torturer as the head of the CIA. It also couldn’t be more fitting that it has a reality TV star billionaire President, an Iraq-raping Bush-era neoconservative psychopath as National Security Advisor, a former defense industry director as Secretary of Defense, a former Goldman Sachs executive as Secretary Treasurer, and a former Rothschild, Inc. executive as Secretary of Commerce. These positions have always facilitated torture, oppression, war profiteering and Wall Street greed; the only thing that has changed is that they now have a more honest face on them.
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US and Israeli Ziofascists Partner in State Terror Against Palestinians
STEPHEN LENDMAN—According to Palestinian media, Monday Palestinian casualties include about 800 shot with live rounds (including internally exploding dum dum bullets), around 90 seriously wounded – 65 of them shot in the head and/or neck, about 50 in the chest or back, most others in the legs. Journalists, medical personnel and an ambulance were targeted. Gaza’s Health Ministry called on Egypt to send urgently needed surgeons, intensive care physicians, anesthesiologists, other medical personnel and supplies to deal with the overwhelming casualty toll Gaza can’t handle on its own.
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