In Truthdig Joel Whitney has an excellent recap of the CIA’s coup in Iran in 1953 and its continuing impact on the world we live in today. How is that possible? Read on: As relations between the U.S. and Iran again take on a hostile tone, it’s worth untangling the intricate braid of CIA claims...
Category: Middle East
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Power Play: NSA Leaks Implicate MBS in Khashoggi Assassination
The New York Times reports that a wide variety of sources are sharing information about top secret National Security Agency intercepts of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The story is less interesting for what it tells us about MBS’s complicity in the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October. MBS’s role is well-established. What this...
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Iran Regime Change 101: Build Exile Front Groups
With the Trump administration pursuing “regime change” operations in Venezuela and Iran, understanding the nature and history of such operations is essential. One common denominator, from Cuba in the early 1960s to Iraq in 2002, is creating front groups of exiles to create the appearance of legitimacy. In the excellent LobeLog, Muhammad Sahimi, a professor at...
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Bellingcat Aims to Document Yemen Airstrikes
To end secret wars, you have to start with ending secrecy. A shroud of official secrecy has long enabled the Saudi coalition’s criminal war in Yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians and deliberately starved millions. It has enabled the coalition to avoid compensating the U.S. government for $331 million in refueling costs. The gratis...
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Reuters: Ex-NSA Cyberspies Reveal How They Hacked Foes of UAE
This is a story about how intelligence agencies deploy private contractors for surveillance and repression. It’s about the globalization of intelligence. Exhibit A: the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which detained an innocent British graduate student as a spy and conferred with the chief of Israel’s Mossad. The UAE is an ally of the United States,...