WASHINGTON — The US State Department has begun sending Twitter messages to Iranians in Farsi, alluding to the “historic role” social media have played in mass protests against Iran’s 2009 disputed presidential polls.
The Twitter feeds in the Iranian language began Sunday as US officials accused Iran of hypocrisy by supporting the anti-government revolt in Egypt but seeking to prevent anti-government demonstrations in Iran.
On the Twitter account, USAdarFarsi, the State Department said it “recognizes historic role of social media among Iranians We want to join in your conversations.”
In another tweet, the State Department said: “Iran has shown that the activities it praised Egyptians for it sees as illegal, illegitimate for its own people.”
In a third tweet, it said “US calls on Iran to allow people to enjoy same universal rights to peacefully assemble, demonstrate as in Cairo.”
In Tehran, riot police on Monday fired tear gas and shot paintballs at protesters who turned what they said was a Tehran rally in support of Arab revolts into an anti-government demonstration, witnesses said.
International and local Iranian media were banned from freely covering the massive wave of protest sparked by the disputed re-election in June 2009 of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But Iranians overcame the reporting ban by using social-networking and image-sharing websites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr despite efforts by local officials to cut off mobile phones and the Internet.
But what would be the goal of such a psyop? The US must know that to oust a dictator is quite different from ousting a religous leader like Khamenei. Targeting Achmedinejad makes no real sense, as he is the real favorite of the people and has limited powers.
Here in Holland, the big thing is now the hanging of an Iranian/Dutch woman, accused of drug smugglery but also happened to be a demonstrator. Fact is that Iran doesn’t recognize Dutch citizenship for its citizens (and she was supposedly traveling on her Iranian passport), so that amkes the entire story very difficult. Demonstrators should be wary that it is considered to be treason in Iran to demonstrate against a democratically chosen government.
@Albert: But what would be the goal of such a psyop? The US must know that to oust a dictator is quite different from ousting a religous leader like Khamenei. Targeting Achmedinejad makes no real sense, as he is the real favorite of the people and has limited powers.
Excellent point. Here is what I believe:
First, Ahmadinejad is really the only possible target simply because the position of Supreme Leader – currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – is not one which is contested in a national election. There is really no practical way to “go after” Khamenei, but Ahmadinejad is a very good ‘target’.
Second, to try to topple Khamenei would be way too much, a clear indication that the target is the Islamic Republic itself. Besides Khamenei is too powerful to be openly challenged. In contrast, challenging the largely symbolical figure of the President makes it possible to continue to impersonate a pious Muslim and loyal Iranian citizen who is ‘only’ challenging a President.
Third, the USA knows fully well that Ahmadinejad’s powers are very limited, and the REAL target of the Gucci revolution was ALWAYS Ali Khamenei. By contesting the elections result the Guccis forced Khamenei in the ‘party spoiler’ role since he, and the rest of the government, had to insist that the elections were fair and that Ahmadinejad had won. Mousavi and his puppet master Rafsanjani were very slick in pretending to play by the rules and by not openly pointing fingers are Khamenei. But soon enough it became clear that they had absolutely no intention of presenting their alleged evidence of fraud and that they would simply not play by the rules of the Iranian Republic.
Fourth – you say that Ahmadinehad is a ‘real favorite of the people’ and that is true, but it is ALSO true that a non-trivial minority of Iranians really dislike him very much. His populist style, his anti-corruption campaigns and his high international profile also made him unpopular. Furthermore, I am getting a strong feeling that there are plenty of key personalities high up in the regime who also dislike him. For example, it is not at all clear to me that the Pasdaran would really support him whereas their determination to defend the Supreme Leader is by all accounts formidable. The big tactical success of the Guccis was to federate all sorts of very different social categories and personalities who disliked Ahmadinejad into one protest movement. I believe that if somebody like Larijani had been elected it would have been much harder to get any kind of traction, even a limited one like the one the Guccis actually got.
So why are the DoS/CIA/NED & Co “tweeting” now to push dissatisfied Iranian to demonstrate against Ahmadinejad? Simply because that is the best option they have. In reality, Iran is governed in a way which is dramatically different of the Mubarak regime. Mubarak was a “one man show”, a single dictator vested with all the powers. In Iran there is no such single center of power. Even the Supreme Leader is not a dictator: formally, there is the President, the Iranian Parliament, the Cabinet, the Guardian Council, the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts (check out this chart: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Iran_gov_power_structure.svg). Add to this a very important political role of the Pasdaran and you will see that very much unlike Mubarak’s Egypt the Iranian Republic has a very complex and decentralized power structure. The USA goes after the President because he is the only ‘single individual’ towards which a minute of hate -type campaign can be organized.
Does that make sense?
here is a good class analysis of the struggle in Egypt, and its regional and global context, by palestinian academic, adam hanieh (university of london, soas):
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/462.php
Makes sense. Or could it be that it is real war propaganda targeted at the western world. Preparations for future military action. Surely here in NLD people all believe in the evilness of Achmedinejad. Just the other day I pointed some people here at the fact that Achmedinejad is not a dictator and was democratically elected. Boy, they looked at me as if I was defending Hitler.
Mubarak, Ben Ali, now is time for Sayyed Ali!
@Albert: check out C.H.’s latest comment:
Mubarak, Ben Ali, now is time for Sayyed Ali!
Noticed that he says “Sayyed Ali” – not “Sayyed Mahmud”. The good thing with the defeat of the Gucci’s two years ago is that ever since their *real* objective has now pretty much become an open secret. They are done pretending that this was all about a Presidential election – it was always about “regime change”.
That is actually a very desirable development as it puts the Iranian people between a much more meaningful choice than Mousavi versus Ahmadinejad for President: its the Islamic Republic versus a US-sponsored “color revolution”. While I am disgusted by the fact that the Guccis did not have the honesty and courage to announce that goal from day 1, I am grateful to them for doing so now.
@C.H.: Mubarak, Ben Ali, now is time for Sayyed Ali!
LOL! I just hope that you are not holding your breath ;-)
Off topic but interesting TIME article about how the US helped Yeltsin become re-elected in 1996.
“Last week Russia took a historic step away from its totalitarian past. Democracy triumphed–and along with it came the tools of modern campaigns, including the trickery and slickery Americans know so well. If those tools are not always admirable, the result they helped achieve in Russia surely is. But just as in America, the consultants can only take Yeltsin so far.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984833,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ywcCvx8vuk&feature=player_embedded
BBC Persian gets a small taste of what it deserves
Saker,
I’m not the one who came up with that chant…its what the people of Iran are demanding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xbfOnIQ_k0
@C.H.: I did not say that you came up with that chant. I am quite aware that the real authors of all these chants and slogans are elsewhere. I just used your post as an illustration of my point. Just like I did with your grinning Navy SEALS.
I just want my reader to add 2+2. Navy SEALS + anti Khamenei chants. It makes my case better than anything else as it come directly from the source, from you.
Thanks for that!
@Everybody: just to better illustrate my points about C.H. and his likes, some more pearls from his blogs:
Israel and Iraq deal a devastating blow to tyranny and terrorism every time an election is held
(http://coreyhunt.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/the-glory-of-democracy/)
In reference to the massacre on the Mavi Marmara:
I’m not saying the Israelis did not botch this raid…but the way I see it, this “international outcry” crumbled and went up in flames before it even got off the ground. There is no way for this to be taken seriously when despotic, third-world regimes and genocidal nationalists are leading the charge. Reason has been drowned by hypocrisy in this sad world…because only without the former could countries like Turkey and Pakistan — two “occupation” states responsible for carnage far, FAR worse than anything Israel has ever done
(http://betternowthannever.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/hypocrisy-is-the-new-world-order/)
I’m still trying to decide if Rahm Emanuel was a good pick to be Obama’s Chief of Staff. On one hand, the man can be mean, angry, and extremely partisan, but on the other, he is of Israeli descent, and speaks fluent Hebrew. Could this be a signal to Israel that he intends will uphold America’s alliance to the Jewish State? I hope so
(http://coreyhunt.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/time-to-be-one-nation-again/)
I could go on for quite a while (and I encourage everybody to browse through his blogs), but I think you see my point : with “friends” like these, the Iranian people sure don’t need any enemies :-)