[HN Gopher] Protests in Iran: State-run live TV hacked by protes...
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       Protests in Iran: State-run live TV hacked by protesters
        
       Author : lifeisstillgood
       Score  : 214 points
       Date   : 2022-10-09 12:03 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bbc.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.co.uk)
        
       | lifeisstillgood wrote:
       | Apart from the usual "this is something important that is
       | happening" (which is not quite HN "intellectual curiosity"
       | territory, what is striking is the use of what I _assume_ is a V
       | for Vendetta mask - with Red and Green daubing.
       | 
       | How culture spreads is ... fascinating.
        
         | master_crab wrote:
         | The genesis may have been "V for Vendetta" but I believe
         | Anonymous used a similar mask and it's possible the hacker/s
         | are aware of that.
        
           | squarefoot wrote:
           | Anonymous, and many other unrelated protesters, used the V
           | for Vendetta mask when protesting against Scientology not
           | just as a symbol but rather because of the cult..er church
           | well known tactics of harassing anyone who opposes them. They
           | usually followed protesters until they put the mask off so
           | they or their car license plate could be photographed easing
           | the identification.
        
         | mgdlbp wrote:
         | The red and green is just the Iranian flag though. What culture
         | were you thinking of? Suiseiseki?
        
         | Kukumber wrote:
        
           | jimlongton wrote:
           | > It's similar with the low quality "drone" footage from the
           | Uyghurs "camps
           | 
           | Multiple news organizations have published high quality
           | satellite photos of the Chinese concentration camps for
           | ethnic minorities and Muslims, published the tenders for
           | their construction and interviewed both victims and former
           | jailers who have fled the country. Chinese officials on
           | record boast about the 100s of thousands they have imprisoned
           | or send to prison like factories across the country and the
           | children they have separated from their parents for "re-
           | education". Would you have us all believe this is an
           | elaborate "MI6" conspiracy?
        
             | MickerNews wrote:
        
               | space_fountain wrote:
               | I can tell you believe this, and I do think it seems
               | possible to me the west over plays it's hand. Especially
               | the genocide label, but your evidence isn't exactly
               | strong. You make it sound like Adrian Zenz is a cultist
               | when as far as I can tell he's just a passionate critic.
               | As to the photos being deepfaked, I only look at a
               | handful. One did look a bit suspicious, none of the
               | others did, and none of them have that vanilla this
               | person isn't real type look. I also see the fact that
               | China restricts travel to the region as compelling
               | evidence of foul play even if when they occasionally do
               | take people on tours they don't find anything. Like you
               | do know the Nazis produced lovely videos of concentration
               | camps full have happy people just living out the war or
               | whatever, China is hiding something.
               | 
               | My fairly uninformed guess (and tell me if this seems
               | right to you) is that what's going on is merely on the
               | level of what the US did to American Indians what with
               | the boarding schools and the forced removal of their
               | children with maybe a touch of forced labor on the side
               | for spice.
               | 
               | But it's always worth remembering on this subject, only
               | one of these countries tries to have the state capacity
               | to squash dissent so yes I am a bit more skeptical of
               | what their mouth pieces have to tell the world
        
               | geysersam wrote:
               | This is insane. The human rights violations against
               | Uighurs in Xinjiang are well documented by serious
               | institutions like the UN human rights office.
               | 
               | Read their recent report here: https://www.ohchr.org/site
               | s/default/files/documents/countrie...
        
               | xwolfi wrote:
               | I live in China, I think if our asses were so clean, we
               | could all go there and even visit these reform camps they
               | said they built and are not at all cruel and inhumane.
               | 
               | You can say the foreigners exagerate, sure they do, with
               | their sudden newfound love for muslim people even the
               | worst ayatollahs of the world cant seem to express, but
               | hum, it's not like there's no fire behind all this
               | smoke...
               | 
               | However I've always been careful not to call it a
               | genocide: for me we must prove the mass deaths first.
        
               | philliphaydon wrote:
               | Genocide doesn't mean mass killing.
               | 
               | Just to cite Wikipedia...
               | 
               | > In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined
               | genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to
               | destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial
               | or religious group, as such." These five acts were:
               | killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily
               | or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to
               | destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly
               | transferring children out of the group. Victims are
               | targeted because of their real or perceived membership of
               | a group, not randomly.
        
               | space_fountain wrote:
               | Well, but that isn't the definition tend to think of
               | right? They do think mass killing, it's part of why the
               | word has such power. If it was merely portrayed as the
               | Chinese working to forcibly convert Muslims a lot of the
               | US would shrug and say that seems good
        
             | Kukumber wrote:
             | Do you remember when chinese were only able to give 1
             | single birth?
             | 
             | That policy never applied to ethnic groups, so the idea
             | that the chinese government is trying to imprison ethnic
             | groups to "re-educate" them is hard to believe
             | 
             | Concerning the MI6 story, it's not a conspiracy, when you
             | share that kind of classified, military, materials with the
             | public, your intent is not the truth, it's always
             | manipulation, specially when the videos are always blurry,
             | in the age of HD content, it's kinda fishy, maybe they want
             | to obfuscate the imperfections, it gives me similar Colin
             | Powell vibes
             | 
             | https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/colin-powell-
             | u-n-...
        
               | fritztastic wrote:
               | None of what you mention presents plausible evidence of
               | your statement implying that CIA/MI6 have monolithic
               | control over information regarding the camps. Not to say
               | they aren't manipulating information or have no
               | involvement, but none of the evidence you present backs
               | up your claim.
               | 
               | Enforcing the birth of children and sending people to
               | camps are two very different issues.
               | 
               | The content not being HD could be explained by them using
               | less detectable drones. I would imagine that flying a
               | military or HD drone over sovereign territory would be
               | dangerous and an act of aggression, so it's within the
               | realm of belief that someone, perhaps covertly, used a
               | drone less likely to draw suspicion, not easily
               | detectable or traceable to foreign interests.
               | 
               | Moreover if you watch the Frontline (the same source you
               | cited above) documentaries about Iraq, you'll find they
               | present people working in intelligence at the time
               | explicitly told officials Zarqawi was sketchy and that
               | the information he presented was not supported by the
               | intel they had.
               | 
               | I'm not saying it's a certainty without doubt that the
               | camps _are_ everything what some sources allege them to
               | be, but it 's also not certain without a doubt that they
               | _aren 't_.
        
               | haswell wrote:
               | > _That policy never applied to ethnic groups, so the
               | idea that the chinese government is trying to imprison
               | ethnic groups to "re-educate" them is hard to believe_
               | 
               | I'm trying to understand this paragraph. In your mind, in
               | what way does the one child policy make any of this hard
               | to believe? How does that policy change our understanding
               | of what's going on in these camps?
        
               | Kukumber wrote:
               | If they were against ethnic groups, as the current
               | western propaganda wants us to believe, they would have
               | applied that policy so they'd have less of that
               | "problematic ethnic group"
               | 
               | They didn't, which mean they are fine having ethnic
               | groups
               | 
               | The west is pushing this propaganda because it's a known
               | fact that the US want to split the Chinese territory
               | (Tibetan, Uighurs, Taiwanese) (same with Russia btw)
               | 
               | For the same reason they now, publicly announced, want to
               | hinder China's development
               | 
               | https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/china-lashes-out-
               | latest...
        
               | philliphaydon wrote:
               | Taiwan is not part of China. There's nothing for the US
               | to split.
        
               | bitxbitxbitcoin wrote:
               | I have never met a single person that isn't a Chinese
               | propogandaist that actually believes Taiwan is a part of
               | China. It's such an obvious calling card.
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
               | Literally every country in the world, including the USA,
               | believes that Taiwan is a part of China. You're extremely
               | uninformed on this matter.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | haswell wrote:
               | > _They didn 't, which mean they are fine having ethnic
               | groups_
               | 
               | This is a gigantic leap to a conclusion that does not
               | logically follow the premise, and ignores evidence that
               | requires no such leaps.
               | 
               | I guess it was the inevitable that the Chinese propaganda
               | machine would make its way to HN.
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
        
               | haswell wrote:
               | Coverage of the abuses in these prisons is not limited to
               | a single country or region of the world. And which is "my
               | own" country's media?
               | 
               | It is not intellectual laziness to observe that an
               | account primarily parrots the propaganda of certain
               | repressive governments.
               | 
               | Your own account is rather interesting in that regard.
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
        
               | indemnity wrote:
               | As an "Irish" person you sure are remarkably interested
               | in defending the Chinese state.
               | 
               | Considering Irish history, your stories seem...
               | incongruous.
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
               | Strange, I would have said the opposite. Irish people
               | tend to be opposed to imperialism considering our history
               | of suffering under it.
               | 
               | But I don't defend the Chinese state at all, I just call
               | out western warmongering lies.
        
               | Kukumber wrote:
        
               | haswell wrote:
               | If you're only aware of blurry videos on Twitter, I'd
               | recommend you do a deeper dive and look at additional
               | reporting on this matter. You don't have to look very far
               | [0] (just a single example).
               | 
               | At least you acknowledge the gigantic leap in your
               | argument.
               | 
               | How does one go through the ascension process?
               | 
               | - [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/extra/85qihtvw6e/the-
               | faces-from-chi...
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
        
               | haswell wrote:
               | > _These images are all fake, and obviously so._
               | 
               | As a photographer, what about these images is obviously
               | fake?
               | 
               | > All the eyes are at an identical pitch
               | 
               | Which is evidence of what? Generally, when booking photos
               | are taken, the subject is asked to look at a single spot
               | to preserve consistency and identifiability.
               | 
               | > _when you go to the source you 'll find many of them
               | wearing exactly the same clothes, with exactly the same
               | creases._
               | 
               | I find it very unsurprising that people in a prison
               | situation are wearing the same clothes.
               | 
               | All of my clothing is also creased in the same places,
               | but this is no big conspiracy, there are just popular
               | ways of folding clothes...
               | 
               | I'm always interested in getting the whole story, but
               | you're going to need to share a less sketchy link...
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
        
               | haswell wrote:
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
        
               | throwaway742 wrote:
               | Wow those last two are some pretty bad fakes. The first
               | one I could blame on like file corruption or something,
               | but I can't think of any way to explain the last two.
        
               | bitxbitxbitcoin wrote:
               | Are you aware of the forced marriages to ethnic Han
               | Chinese people? I am having trouble following your logic.
        
               | throwaway742 wrote:
               | Source?
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
               | He's referring to:
               | 
               | "Darren Byler, an anthropologist at Simon Fraser
               | University who studies repression in Xinjiang, recently
               | uncovered evidence that some Han "relatives" in Uyghur
               | homes had coerced women into such marriages."
               | 
               | Byler, who is also an American Kissinger Institute
               | fellow. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/darren-byler
               | 
               | If it's China news, and it's in the west, it's really
               | good policy to completely disbelieve the claims first and
               | then demand evidence. You won't get any.
        
               | fritztastic wrote:
               | > If they were against ethnic groups, as the current
               | western propaganda wants us to believe, they would have
               | applied that policy so they'd have less of that
               | "problematic ethnic group"
               | 
               | > They didn't, which mean they are fine having ethnic
               | groups
               | 
               | Or, they just didn't deem the issue relevant enough to
               | spend the resources to deal with it. China is a large
               | country, some of those ethnic groups exist in remote
               | locations, some very difficult to reach- it has been the
               | case numerous times when a natural disaster occurred and
               | aid was slow to reach those regions because of logistical
               | difficulties.
               | 
               | Perhaps it wasn't that they are fine with the ethnic
               | groups, but that they were indifferent and/or deemed them
               | unimportant unless they had sufficient reason to think
               | they warranted the attention/involvement.
               | 
               | Mind that just because they didn't want to lower their
               | numbers, doesn't mean they have no issue with those
               | groups, or that they wouldn't have issues with them if
               | the situation and their perception of them changed.
        
             | jdmonty wrote:
             | Source? Actually, low effort agit prop that could actually
             | be done by NGOs. Moral grand standing by US is so
             | tiresome... it's an Psyop color revolution otherwise we'd
             | see Saudi protests etc.
        
               | Retric wrote:
               | China has openly acknowledged these camps, going so far
               | has to request the UN acknowledge their sovereignty:
               | 
               | "The Chinese government officially legalized re-education
               | camps in Xinjiang in October 2018.[422] Prior to that,
               | when international media had asked about the re-education
               | camps, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they
               | have not heard of this situation.[423]
               | 
               | On 12 August 2018, a Chinese state-run tabloid, Global
               | Times, defended the crackdown in Xinjiang after a U.N.
               | anti-discrimination committee raised concerns over
               | China's treatment of Uyghurs. According to the Global
               | Times, China prevented Xinjiang from becoming 'China's
               | Syria' or 'China's Libya', and local authorities'
               | policies saved countless lives and avoided a 'great
               | tragedy'.[424][425]
               | 
               | On 21 August 2018, Liu Xiaoming, the Ambassador of China
               | to the United Kingdom, wrote an article in response to a
               | Financial Times report entitled "Crackdown in Xinjiang:
               | Where have all the people gone?".[432] Liu's response
               | said: "The education and training measures taken by the
               | local government of Xinjiang have not only effectively
               | prevented the infiltration of religious extremism and
               | helped those lost in extremist ideas to find their way
               | back, but also provided them with employment training in
               | order to build a better life."[433]
               | 
               | In September 2020, amid condemnation from Western
               | countries, Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping acclaimed
               | the success of his policies in Xinjiang in a 2-day
               | conference expected to set the country's policy for the
               | next years.[445] The Chinese government published a white
               | paper defending its "vocational training centers,"
               | claiming that the regional government organised
               | 'employment-oriented training' and labour skills for 1.29
               | million workers a year from 2014 to 2019.[446]"
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_internment_camps
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
        
               | yorwba wrote:
               | If you don't like Wikipedia, how about the Chinese
               | government's official arrest statistics? https://web.arch
               | ive.org/web/20180725042225/https://www.nchrd... Just
               | click on the numbers in the table to verify that they
               | match the original Chinese source.
               | 
               | Of course you can choose to believe that the Internet
               | Archive is in on the conspiracy, in which case you cannot
               | be helped.
               | 
               | Or you can choose to believe that Chinese police were
               | exaggerating their arrest statistics to make themselves
               | look good, in which case I have an interesting article
               | for you that mentions the practice:
               | https://madeinchinajournal.com/2019/10/25/punish-and-
               | cure%ef...
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
        
             | MickerNews wrote:
        
               | joemazerino wrote:
               | I stopped when you said "sinophobes". It is classic CCP
               | counter-intel to describe all of it's enemies as racist.
               | 
               | Why are you here on a thread about Iran anyways?
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
               | Anti Asian hate crimes have skyrocketed since this
               | propaganda campaign kicked off. Sinophobia is a very real
               | thing, not a "psyop". The propaganda relies on the
               | masses' well cultivated racism in order to propagate.
               | Nobody would believe any of this if it was about a
               | 'respected' country and not some unknowable other on the
               | other side of the planet, that we're meant to believe the
               | US has grave humanitarian concerns about.
               | 
               | >Why are you here on a thread about Iran anyways?
               | 
               | Where should I be? It's Sunday morning, it's raining in
               | Dublin.
        
               | aaaaaaaaaaab wrote:
               | 2 hours ago, when you made your comment, it wasn't
               | morning in Dublin. It was mid-afternoon.
        
               | MickerNews wrote:
               | I was just out of bed. Morning for me.
        
               | pessimizer wrote:
               | I wish people would stop bragging about not reading.
        
           | fritztastic wrote:
           | >the intent was to make sure people instantly understand
           | without context
           | 
           | This goes without saying, but this isn't exclusive to
           | AlQaeda. Using video editing to convey a strong message isn't
           | enough reason to conclude there is a link to foreign
           | intelligence. Most likely they were just trying to be direct
           | and convey a message (a statement to the regime that the
           | people are tired of and angry about the oppression/violence)-
           | none of what you mentioned to explain your association to
           | AlQaeda makes any sense- "musical tribal message"? Are you
           | inplying AlQaeda is controlled by a foreign agency? Which
           | agency?
           | 
           | Really makes it sound like you have a very vague
           | understanding of the region, alongside a very strong bias.
        
           | nashashmi wrote:
           | This has the marks of a colour revolution.
           | 
           | From the false news spread constantly being spread by Masiha
           | Alinejad, to the focus on a small but growing group of
           | protestors, to the massive social media campaigns trying to
           | flame the situation both in and outside of Iran, this is well
           | coordinated.
           | 
           | Mahsa Amini collapsed at a facility and was never hurt. No
           | signs of being beaten are visible on her hospital pictures or
           | her entry into the re-education centers. And yet the protest
           | started from a few handful and started growing over several
           | days.
           | 
           | This is a coordinated campaign of disinformation and protest.
        
             | selimthegrim wrote:
             | Would you want Iranian system in Pakistan?
        
           | WastingMyTime89 wrote:
           | The questions surrounding the involvement of foreign actors
           | are interesting meanly because of the timing. It's
           | interesting that Iran see a vague of mass protests right
           | after the utter failure of the nuclear talks and when they
           | are admittedly very close to getting the bomb. Plenty of
           | foreign powers therefore have an interest into seeing the
           | current regime fall down and have historically never been
           | above giving a gentle push in the right direction. It
           | wouldn't in any way make the reasons of the protests
           | illegitimate however.
           | 
           | Now, I don't really understand why you bring Al Qaeda and the
           | Uyghurs to the mix. That needlessly muddies your point.
        
         | jagaerglad wrote:
         | That is like ...nothing, then you have like no idea how
         | omnipresent this type of pop culture is (for good or for
         | worse). Of course iranians watch these types of movies and of
         | course an iranian hacker would be aware of the mask symbolism
        
           | GekkePrutser wrote:
           | These masks are also made by the Chinese in the billions and
           | available in any "Bazar" for very cheap so they're a cheap
           | way to obscure your identity :)
           | 
           | Not saying this is the case here (for TV this is probably
           | well considered and it's not the standard Chinese mask which
           | is the 'smiling' version) but there might be more than one
           | explanation especially for seeing them on the street during
           | protests.
        
         | system16 wrote:
         | Maybe that was the intention but it doesn't really look like a
         | Guy Fawkes mask at all though, other than being a white face
         | mask. Eyebrows and eye cut-outs are different, it has a full
         | beard, it's not a v-shaped face, etc.
        
       | photochemsyn wrote:
       | Given the recent split between the USA and Saudi Arabia over
       | crude oil production targets, I wouldn't be surprised to see
       | similar hacking of Saudi news feeds by 'domestic protestors' and
       | a new US State Department focus on 'human rights and democratic
       | reforms in the repressive Saudi dictatorship' coming up pretty
       | quickly.
       | 
       | This would be a radical shift from US behavior during the Arab
       | Spring, when the USA gave a wink and a nod to Saudi tanks rolling
       | into Bahrain to crush the pro-democracy protests there.
       | 
       | [edit] Here's a story about Saudi Arabia, hijabs, and death
       | threats to women (2016). Let the revolutions begin!
       | 
       | https://tribune.com.pk/story/1251171/saudis-call-execution-w...
       | 
       | > "A woman in Saudi Arabia has sparked outrage after posting a
       | photo of herself on Twitter without an abaya or hijab, and is now
       | facing calls for her execution."
        
         | nayaketo wrote:
         | Don't know about CIA conspiracies but I'm sure Saudi Arabians
         | will protest Hijab mandates one day. Freedom is amazing and
         | every human craves it at some level.
        
           | seer-zig wrote:
           | Ah yes, the typical astounding secular definition of freedom,
           | equating it with nakedness and vices. I'll tell you
           | something, the vast majority of the Saudis are proud of the
           | Hijab and their Islamic faith that promotes purity and
           | decency. We don't want the western definition of "freedom"
           | thank you very much, we've seen where it leads
        
             | msoad wrote:
             | Tell me you're a muslim man without telling me you're a
             | muslim man
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | anthk wrote:
             | Your faith is based on backward tribes with no clues around
             | themselves being just an spin-off of Judaism. Grow up.
             | 
             | From Canada to the Patagonia, no one had heard of the
             | Abrahamic God until the Spaniards arrived. Ditto with China
             | and India. And Africa, Scandinavia and the Poles.
             | 
             | So "good" for the "universal" God from Abraham that just a
             | millenia ago your religion was inexistent for more than
             | 9/10 of the population across the globe.
        
               | jdmonty wrote:
               | I'm not a Muslim but agnostic and agree that "freedom" is
               | poorly defined and subjective like "idea" of America
               | which is empty cipher. Ruling class of US idea of freedom
               | is for citizens to be free to take on debt and live
               | precarious alienated life with not a small portion dying
               | in abject poverty and increasingly alone.
        
             | pvaldes wrote:
             | It leads to people showing the hair in their heads, that is
             | the normal way in your species. Including the majority of
             | the muslim population and the majority of the human
             | population.
             | 
             | If you think this is the same as being naked in public or
             | that women's hair is impure, well... You live in a very sad
             | place and deserve compassion. It really sucks to be you,
             | but your pain is self-inflicted.
             | 
             | Enjoying the feminine grace and beauty is one of the
             | greatest pleasures of being alive.
        
           | uquercia wrote:
           | Freedom is amazing , true. But I am afraid you could be over
           | optimistic saying that everyone craves it. Unfortunately many
           | people have short-term goals that are more important for them
           | than freedom...
        
             | seer-zig wrote:
             | The freedom to get naked in the streets yeah? Thanks but no
             | thanks.
             | 
             | You're correct that our goals and culture that promotes
             | purity and piety is more important than what the secular
             | West defines as "freedom"
        
           | Slava_Propanei wrote:
        
         | avgcorrection wrote:
         | Perhaps. But these things are not signs of that since the
         | American government has hated the Iranian government for a long
         | time.
         | 
         | It would be much more suspicious if the US govt. started to
         | support the Iranian govt. all of a sudden.
        
           | boomboomsubban wrote:
           | You don't think they'd try to change a government they've
           | hated for a long time? I would also find a sudden 180 on Iran
           | suspicious, but also would not be surprised if any Iranian
           | opposition group had US support.
        
             | avgcorrection wrote:
             | I would think that they would, yes. And it is a day that
             | ends with "y" so it is as likely that they are doing it now
             | as it was five years ago.
        
         | ProjectArcturis wrote:
         | The basic deal between the US and SA is, in exchange for
         | supplying the global oil market, the US will overlook SA's
         | dictatorship, human rights abuses, and involvement in 9/11, and
         | will supply them with weapons. If SA stops upholding its side
         | of the deal, I would expect the Arab Spring would suddenly find
         | its way to SA. Or, perhaps first, the US would support a coup
         | against MBS to replace him with a more compliant member of the
         | House of Said.
        
         | futhey wrote:
         | People read too much into the recent production target cuts. An
         | important thing to consider is that OPEC+ has been failing to
         | meet their targets by about the same amount for several months
         | now, and most experts seem to believe they lack capacity, not
         | the will to produce.
         | 
         | https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/opec-mi...
        
         | fritztastic wrote:
         | This is a very simplistic view of the tensions in the region,
         | which have been ongoing for decades. Just as the US has reason
         | to retaliate against Saudi Arabia, many other places could also
         | have reasons to push the ruling family out of power and gain
         | influence.
         | 
         | It also fails to account for the autonomy of the people there.
         | Is it really so hard to believe that they are rebelling against
         | authoritarianism?
         | 
         | Even if there is an interest to empower the people to oust the
         | regime, wouldn't it be fomenting on already existing
         | unhappiness?
         | 
         | Interestingly, the same can be said of unrest anywhere-
         | undoubtedly the agendas of several states will always align
         | with weakening their competitors/adversaries.
         | 
         | When you consider the things everyday people care about and
         | strive for, it can be argued that any party interested in
         | destabilizing another nation would play to those aspirations in
         | such a way as to further their control- this is true of almost
         | everywhere, it is not exclusive to any one people or any one
         | institution, and it can be seen in every region. In any given
         | place, if you take a close look, there are varying levels of
         | influence from foreign powers- often with the goal to secure
         | economic goals or obtain natural resources.
        
           | avgcorrection wrote:
           | > Even if there is an interest to empower the people to oust
           | the regime, wouldn't it be fomenting on already existing
           | unhappiness?
           | 
           | Out of all the nations on Earth, perhaps a majority of them
           | have some kind of discontent among the population. Then, with
           | this blank cheque being given, the nations with the most
           | powerful intel agencies can empower the ones they want into
           | full-blown protests.
           | 
           | The conspiracy theory that Russia influenced the two recent
           | American presidential elections naturally come to mind. If
           | that was the case--and I don't doubt that they might have
           | invested a small pittance into FB ads--then they were surely
           | just building on existing unhappiness, as Trump supporters
           | are too numerous to all be sleeper agents of the waning super
           | power that is Russia.
        
           | Slava_Propanei wrote:
        
           | somenameforme wrote:
           | You're absolutely right it's been going on for decades, but I
           | think looking into that history is also telling. In 1953 Iran
           | was a relatively secular and democratic nation that had
           | generally positive, though flagging, relations with the West.
           | Then their leader decided to reduce US/UK control over his
           | country's oil assets. So of course we had to bring democracy
           | to them. But since they already had a democracy, autocracy
           | would have to do instead. [1]
           | 
           | We staged a coup, overthrew their democracy, and installed an
           | extremely unpopular puppet dictator and monarch. 26 years
           | later in 1979 there was another revolution, except this one
           | was carried out by the people of Iran, and not the CIA. The
           | puppet (still ruling from 1953 interestingly) was overthrown,
           | and in his place an Islamic theocracy was created. And since
           | then it's invariably been headed by leaders that, for some
           | reason, haven't been especially fond of the West - and
           | frequently imply we're up to shenanigans. That scenario
           | continues to this day.
           | 
           | Ultimately I no longer really believe that we deserve the
           | benefit of the doubt when it comes to black ops types
           | scenarios. We've turned what should be a sort of last resort
           | act of subterfuge into what increasingly seems to be a front-
           | line approach to international relations. The most bizarre
           | part is that these shenanigans never even really seem to
           | achieve anything. Iran just being one example of going black
           | ops to undermine one enemy, only to create one 10x more
           | deadly, dangerous, and hostile than the former.
           | 
           | All we really seem to be achieving is the fast-tracking of
           | WW3.
           | 
           | [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3
           | %A9ta...
           | 
           | [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
        
             | wefarrell wrote:
             | There's a theory that 1979 started as a British plot to
             | retaliate against the Shah for nationalizing the oil
             | industry.
        
             | darawk wrote:
             | The fact that the US orchestrated a coup in 1953 proves
             | that the US is also orchestrating this coup today? That's
             | the argument?
        
               | pazimzadeh wrote:
               | It obviously means there's reason to be suspicious. It
               | took 60 years for the US to admit its role in the 1953
               | coup.
        
           | anigbrowl wrote:
           | No, GP is a legit comment. Everything you say about Iran is
           | also true of Saudi Arabia (in the sense of the ruling regime
           | being autocratic and oppressive) but it's expedient for the
           | establishment in the US to condemn one regime and support the
           | other.
        
           | unity1001 wrote:
           | > This is a very simplistic view of the tensions in the
           | region
           | 
           | That is a very simplistic, and correct view of how the US
           | manipulates such tensions.
           | 
           | There are many of us international HNers, whose countries
           | suffered multiple US backed coups or color revolutions, and
           | even worse, whose grassroots popular movements were co-opted
           | and subverted by the US.
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity_(Polish_trade_union.
           | ..
           | 
           | So much that even the 'people's movement', Solidarity in
           | Poland, that was the 'trade union' movement that overthrow
           | their government, was CIA funded and organized. The same
           | thing has been a staple of daily life in Middle East since
           | 1960s, when CIA decided to fund and use Islamist groups.
        
             | fritztastic wrote:
             | As someone from one of those countries, I'm well aware.
             | 
             | I'm not saying the US, and/or proxies of the agendas of the
             | powerful who stand to gain from exploitation and meddling,
             | _aren 't_ involved. I would expect they are very much
             | involved, and I would be very skeptical of any claim they
             | aren't.
             | 
             | What I'm saying is simply that despite this, people in
             | those places could conceivably be independently fed up- and
             | their dissatisfaction with their regimes stands on its own
             | and is valid. There is a lot of nuance and a lot of
             | different intersecting motivations and interests at play.
             | 
             | I just think, in my personal opinion, that those things
             | people fight and risk dying for (freedom from persecution,
             | personal safety, to be able to put food on the table, to
             | care for family, etc) aren't _only_ happening because of
             | outside factors and political reasons, these are human
             | concerns. People in Iran, Saudi Arabia, anywhere else, aren
             | 't _just_ pawns susceptible to propagands- they understand
             | there are all sorts of players trying to gain dominance
             | over their lives. A lot of people in the US have these
             | broad ideas about people in entire regions, as though they
             | 're monoliths- like people in Iran/Saudi Arabia were
             | content and would have been obedient if not for foreign
             | involvement, which I think is simplistic and I disagree
             | with this assumption.
             | 
             | People in an uprising and nations in upheaval are
             | especially vulnerable to external groups swooping in to
             | manipulate the situation to their interests- this much is
             | true, and it can also be true that people would have been
             | rising up regardless. How this plays out over time is yet
             | to be seen but unfortunately the most likely scenario is
             | some other despot will step in to further their personal
             | agenda at the expense of the people, whether they align
             | with US interests or otherwise... like anywhere else, those
             | in power will fight to maintain and gain power and control,
             | no matter the human cost and devastation- this is true
             | everywhere.
        
               | unity1001 wrote:
               | > How this plays out over time
               | 
               | How this plays out over time is either of the two: 1) The
               | protests fail, either due to the momentum fading or the
               | government suppressing 2) The protests succeed, and the
               | country gets a US backed government. Along with all the
               | privatization, removal of labor protections and social
               | welfare, decline in life standards.
               | 
               | Unfortunately, there hasnt been any case of the
               | protesters somehow being able to avert that while still
               | succeeding. Because such protests and movements need
               | organization to succeed. And if there wasnt an
               | indigenous, powerful source of such organization present
               | in the country for a long time, the organization will be
               | coming from those who are backed by the US.
               | 
               | A US backed government would mean hell for both Saudis
               | and Iranis - Saudi Arabia has VERY extensive social
               | programs that literally guarantee everyone's comfort,
               | life and education. Iran does not have those, but it
               | still has enough such programs and the traditional
               | cultural relations and social fabric is still alive.
               | Those tend to get destroyed in the first wave of
               | privatizations and 'free marketization'.
        
               | jdmonty wrote:
               | Saudis not always acquiescing to US pleas/demands
               | historically hasn't ever regime change ops. They have
               | Long history of cooperation likely, arms deals, key to
               | keeping dollar for their market, keep up starving
               | slaughtering Yemen, where as Iran has been one of baddies
               | since 1979
        
               | unity1001 wrote:
               | That was so until the US establishment came up with the
               | idea of breaking up Saudi Arabia recently.
        
               | jdmonty wrote:
               | I agree but what you're missing from threat modeling is
               | relative capability of actors. And yes not there's
               | degrees of of organic discontent which is key to
               | amplifying or muting etc. they'll have intelligence and
               | adapt vectors. For example the girl was killed is a fact.
               | The trick is building narrative and this is where likely
               | lies of omission or exaggeration or semantics come in in
               | e.g. girl is dead, it's evil repressive regimes fault, we
               | demand justice. Not perfect science for sure
               | 
               | [edit]
        
       | [deleted]
        
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