For three hours Khamenei met with security force thugs and hard line clerics Saturday night trying to decide what to do about recent unfavorable trends. An overwhelming majority demanded Mousavi’s arrest. Attendees include Mojtaba Khamenei, the Supreme Dictator’s own sweetie pie who earned the nickname “Little Caligula” after he supervised the brutal incidents immediately after the election.
Two recent events had Coup Leaders in a panic
— Student Day demonstrations reinvigorated the domestic opposition and opened sleepy media eyes worldwide, especially among those who thought the opposition was a spent force.
— The regime faces huge potential repercussions after getting “outed” in a clumsy disinformation stunt. By their own logic and solely to get at perceived enemies, Khamenei & Co. committed a capital crime.
A TACTIC THAT WORKED FOR HITLER BLOWS UP IN KHAMENEI’S FACE
A few weeks ago the regime’s disinformation committee suggested a new tactic to Khamenei–one that Hitler used with great success. Disguised as communists, SS forces set fire to the German Reichstag. Hitler then blamed communists and Jews, and demanded Parliament give him emergency powers to deal with the “threat.” From then on, Hitler would relinquished those ‘temporary”: powers which allowed him to round up the opposition and deal with than at leisure in any manner he saw fit. Hitler used the same tactic once again when SS forces wearing Polish uniforms attacked a Germany radio station near the Polish border. Hitler blamed the Poles and declared war a few days later.
Just as Hitler approved both incidents and just as Khamenei approved the rigged election and whatever crimes followed, so too did he give a thumbs up to the New Reichstag Scheme. Regime thugs (agent provacateurs) would set fire to Khoumeini’s photo during the demonstrations. Public demonstration, planned well in advance and consisting mainly of Basilj types in plainclothes–would demand the regime “do something” about the alleged perps who were “getting out of hand?”
FOUR REASONS WHY A DISINFORMATION SCHEME BLEW UP IN THE REGIME’S FACE
REASON #1: Historical analogies work only to the degree two situations are near identical. Thus American strategists courted disaster by misapplying the Munich analogy in Vietnam.
To Mr. Khamenei: You may be better off studying the last days of Romania’s Ceaucescu. Like you, he brutalized his own people. Like you, he justified himself with a discredited ideology. Like you, he saw his support dwindle to a handful of security force commanders and a small in-crowd. Like you, he gradually alienated rank-and-file troopers sick of clubbing people or angry about brutalized friends and family.
REASON #2: Regime propagandists are expected to defend the indefensible with limited mental resources that droop at anything more than waving their wangers at imprisoned victims. However, the opposition can draw on Iran’s best and brightest to prove that the bad guys are Really Bad. Opposition scholars are superbly equipped to draw public attention to embarrassing “cultural borrowings.”
REASON #3: Too many goofy whoppers have destroyed the regime’s credibility (“We didn’t rig the election.” “Foreign spies are behind all discontent,” “Someone else killed Neda,” “There were no mass graves, prison rapes and torture.” “We didn’t arrest mothers of our victims, blah, blah).
REASON #4: Totalitarian rulers always borrow “good ideas” from one another. Khamenei plagiarized from Stalin’s show trials earelier, so why not copy the Reichstag fire technique? Even the word “disinformation” was invented by the Soviets and–like them–the regime even has its own bureau for “disinformation.” What else is such a committee supposed to do except think up schemes like this? As for Khamenei, Iran’s Ceaucescue, he has repeatedly and publicly demonstrated that he is capable of any crime–no matter how low or immoral–to retain power. Nothing as important as this scheme or rigged elections or a horrific campaign against protestors happens without his full approval.
I’m partially indebted to Scott Lucas’ analysis of the regime’s latest efforts though I’ve added much of my own. For his analysis see:
