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1. An amazing article by @MazMHussain -- we're into real "Wag the Dog" territory here with fake personas created to promote a new Middle Eastern war.
2. We need a real full-blown dissection of MEK: this is a cult which started off with a syncretic ideology fusing Marxism, feminism & political Islam. Until recently, it was classified (accurately) by the USA State Dept as a terrorist group. Naturally conservatives love it.
3. Where does MEK get its funding from? Why are very prominent American public figures (of both parties) working so hard to legitimize it? I assume there is a Gulf oil connection but we need reporting.
4. Some context: conservative media has long had a big payola problem, being easy targets for PR firms that want to place articles. This @JaneLytv piece from 2018 has more examples: buzzfeednews.com/article/janely…
5. It's telling that foreign actors who want to influence American foreign policy are very aware that right-wing media is an easy date: you can quickly place articles for very little $$, and they have a far reaching impact. In fact, there's a long history of this.
6. Going back to at least the 1950s, a wide variety of foreign actors (Chinese nationalists, South Africa, Rhodesia, Pinochet's Chile) were able to get right-wing outlets (notably National Review) to publish raw propaganda. The MEK is following in that tradition.
7. There's another thing about this MEK story worth pondering: the thinness of Iranian opposition that the USA/Saudi Arabia are allied with. You have the MEK (a tiny cult that creates sock puppets) & the son of the Shah. Hardly people to win the masses. theintercept.com/2019/06/09/hes…
