THE YEAR WAS 2016
Ten years ago, the Democratic Party and predominantly left-leaning media noted, with growing alarm, that Russia was engaging in disinformation campaigns on social media, such as on Facebook. These disinformation campaigns generally targeted conservative voters.
Ten years later, many of Russia’s harshest liberal critics are uncritically repeating the disinformation propagated by one of Russia’s closest allies: the Islamic Republic of Iran.
THE RUSSIA-ISLAMIC REPUBLIC RELATIONSHIP
Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran are both a part of CRINK, a coalition of authoritarian nations which includes China, Russia, the Islamic Republic, and North Korea. CRINK openly seeks to upend what it perceives as the post-World War II U.S. and Western-led global order, not just through conventional warfare, but by sowing division within the West, often through the spread of fake news stories on social media.
In addition, the Islamic Republic-Russia alliance is characterized by:
- Military cooperation, with the Islamic Republic being an important arms supplier supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Economic cooperation, in which the countries help each other bypass sanctions.
A NOTE ON THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC AND FALSE NEWS STORIES
The Islamic Republic has a long track record of carrying out atrocities and propagating false stories to defame its adversaries.
Most infamously, in 1978, Islamist terrorists doused the Cinema Rex in airplane fuel and set it on fire, killing as many as 470 innocent people. Though the terrorists had been motivated by Islamic extremism, anti-Pahlavi Dynasty protestors accused SAVAK, the government’s secret police, of starting the fire. The disinformation spread across Iran, triggering, at least in part, the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which gave rise to the Islamic Republic.
"Thousands of Iranians who had felt neutral and had until now thought that the struggle was only between the shah and supporters of religiously conservative mullahs felt that the government might put their own lives on the block to save itself."
Roy Mottahedeh
MANY IRANIANS ARE NOTING DISTURBING PARALLELS
Disinformation about the attack on the Cinema Rex triggered the Islamic Revolution. For this reason, many Iranians are weary of the news that an American or Israeli strike killed over 160 schoolgirls in Minab.
To be clear: as of the writing of this post, we have no independent verification on the perpetrator of the strike. It is entirely possible that either the United States or Israel was behind it, especially as that particular school is affiliated with IRGC and Basij structures, and Iranians have long called out the IRGC for embedding in civilian spaces.
But it’s also imperative to note that the accusation comes from Islamic Republic state media. The fact that Western media is repeating these claims uncritically, without noting the Islamic Republic’s previous patterns, is not only irresponsible; it’s borderline criminal. It’s also suspicious that a regime that just killed over 32,000 unarmed protestors in cold blood is suddenly “outraged” about the innocent loss of life. Finally, I find it really disturbing that many liberal and left-wing Westerners seem to be hoping that it was the United States or Israel that committed this crime.
TOTALITARIAN REGIMES AND THE MEDIA
It seems self-explanatory, but this bears repeating: totalitarian regimes have no freedom of the press. Anything that is published in a country under a totalitarian regime must be approved by the forces in power.
Reporters Without Borders ranks the Islamic Republic 176th out of 180 countries, meaning that only four countries in the world have worse press conditions than Iran under the Islamic Republic.
Meanwhile, Freedom House ranks Iran under the Islamic Republic as “not free,” scoring 11 out of 100 points under “Global Freedom” and 13 out of 100 points under “Internet Freedom.” For context, the United States scores 84 out of 100 points under “Global Freedom” and 73 out of 100 points under “Internet Freedom.”
Of course, in this context, it’s easy to understand why the media in Iran must follow the Islamic Republic’s party line. But why does the Western media uncritically repeat Islamic Republic propaganda? It turns out that, unfortunately, there is a long precedent for this.
TOTALITARIANISM AND THE FREE MEDIA
History is replete with examples of the free Western media choosing to fall in line with totalitarian regimes. Let’s pull two examples from the era of Nazi Germany.
- As soon as Hitler rose to power, the Nazi Party monopolized the German media, and by 1934, Hitler began expelling foreign journalists from the country. The Associated Press, however, chose to comply with Hitler’s Schriftleitergesetz law, which made AP journalists directly accountable to the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda. The AP even went so far as to hire Nazi photographers and whitewashed the Nazis’ crimes against Jews in occupied Ukraine.
- During World War II, the New York Times intentionally buried coverage of the Nazi persecution of Jews, relegating it to the back pages. Its Berlin correspondent was a Nazi sympathizer that reported on Hitler and the regime favorably, often writing of Hitler’s so-called “peaceful” intentions and claiming that the Nazis had “softened” their position toward Jews.
ISLAMISM AND THE LEFT
Islamism is a political ideology that (1) supports the implementation of Islamic law, known as sharia, (2) advocates for pan-Islamic political unity, (3) strives to create Islamic states, which will eventually unify into a Caliphate, meaning, an Islamic Empire, and (4) rejects non-Muslim influences.
The Islamic Republic is a theocratic, illiberal, authoritarian, and totalitarian state with little freedoms. Yet, Islamists have, again and again, played the left, beginning with the first Ayatollah of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini. While in exile from Iran, Khomeini severely downplayed his fundamentalist views, especially when speaking to Western, left-wing audiences. Instead, he presented himself as merely a fierce opponent of American neo-imperialism.
By downplaying his extremist views, Khomeini was easily able to bring Iranian leftists under his banner. Shortly after he rose to power, however, Khomeini systematically arrested, tortured, and murdered the leftist groups that had come to his aid during the revolution.
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