{"id":43432,"date":"2019-02-02T08:48:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T13:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=43432"},"modified":"2019-02-02T08:48:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T13:48:08","slug":"the-cias-masterful-use-of-fake-news%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=43432","title":{"rendered":"The CIA\u2019s Masterful Use of Fake News\ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/articles\/the-cias-masterful-use-of-fake-news\/\">The CIA\u2019s Masterful Use of Fake News<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/whitneyiran.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Iranian demonstrators burn a representation of a U.S. flag and a caricature of then-President Barack Obama during an annual state-backed rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 2, 2012. That rally commemorates the hostage crisis that began at the embassy on Nov. 4, 1979, in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.&nbsp;(Vahid Salemi \/ AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In early 1954, writing in the magazine Encounter, F.R. Allemann slammed the ex-prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, for alleged abuses. In a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unz.com\/print\/Encounter-1954jan-00049\/\">Letter from Teheran<\/a>\u201d titled \u201cPersia: Land of Unrealities,\u201d Allemann referred to Mosaddegh\u2019s aborted term as a \u201cpseudo-revolutionary pseudo-dictatorship\u201d and claimed Mosaddegh could only cram laws through Iran\u2019s Parliament by summoning thugs to street protests\u2014that is, through demagoguery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Allemann depicted Mosaddegh\u2019s rallies as \u201cterror campaign[s] of the political-religious secret societies\u201d whose vocal support gave only the impression of a genuine mass movement. Lest the London-based magazine\u2019s white, European readership miss these subtle cues to revile the out-of-office politician, Allemann, a Swiss journalist, offered his readers a buffet of Orientalist buzzwords. Rather than a rational leader elected by his people, Mosaddegh instead was a charismatic \u201cdervish,\u201d and \u201cnobody was more inclined toward Munchausen escapades [like those of Mosaddegh\u2019s incumbency] than the Oriental in general and the Persian in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decades later, one must ask, where were Encounter\u2019s fact-checkers? Contrary to the article, Mosaddegh was legally elected during a period of robust Iranian democracy, and he was known as a beloved leader and a fiery speaker. His was such an iconic voice for his people that he was voted Time magazine\u2019s Man of the Year after being named prime minister. It was strange that such venom as Allemann\u2019s should describe a popular democrat once praised by President Harry Truman. Was Allemann signaling some conflict between the respective interests of Mosaddegh and Encounter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CIA\u2019s Masterful Use of Fake News In early 1954, writing in the magazine Encounter, F.R. Allemann slammed the ex-prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, for alleged abuses. In a \u201cLetter from Teheran\u201d titled \u201cPersia: Land of Unrealities,\u201d Allemann referred to Mosaddegh\u2019s aborted term as a \u201cpseudo-revolutionary pseudo-dictatorship\u201d and claimed Mosaddegh could only cram laws [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4102,655,8738],"class_list":["post-43432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","tag-central-intelligence-agency","tag-propaganda","tag-truthdig"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43433,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43432\/revisions\/43433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}