John McCain makes the cut because he is on the board of the International Republican Institute (IRI) branch of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Soros is there because of his Open Society Institute (OSI) and Gene Sharp is there because of his Albert Einstein Institute and association with Robert Helvey. Serbia's Otpor , Georgia's Kmara, Ukraine's Pora, Kyrgyzstan's KelKel and Belarus' Zubr were directly trained by the Albert Einstein Institute.I am surprised that the left out Peter Ackerman and Freedom House with Frank Gaffney and James Woolsey.
This PSA was ran on Khozestan TV. I think that is instructive. The Neocon battle cry for years has been "real men go to Khozestan". Khozestan is the province next to Basra and it is where all the oil is. It analogous to Kosovo. Where Kosovo is a security enclave, Khozestan is an energy enclave. You dont have to defeat all of Iran to get the oil, you just have to carve out Khozestan, much like BP did with Kuwait.
So Iran's "problem" in Khozestan is very significant these days.
I think the "Velvet Revolution" has run it's course. These are engineered revolutions of which the world is very aware . In fact some of the "revolutions" are beginning to unravel. Boris Berezovsky recently demanded his money back from the OSI. The internet is full of research on the matter. Eva Golinger is the latest to publish, but there are many, many others.
Russia uses Nashi, Myanmar uses brute force against "The Saffron Revolution", Venezuela uses "leaked CIA memos", Laos throws out NGO's, and now we have PSA's from Iran.
Vietnam is the latest government to start inoculating itself against the velvet revolution.
Actually, I think Obama's campaign looks alot like a velvet revolution - lots of politically naive young people swarming, lots of symbology, etc. Now that's something that Noah Pollack at Commentary could use.
BTW, MEMRI's translations are always suspect, they have an ulterior motive, although in this case it's probably right. You always have to get an independent translator to check anything MEMRI has put up.
4 comments:
Bush administration efforts to subvert/undermine/overthrow the Iranian government are well-recognized, completely illegal, and Iran has every right to expose and condemen it (as does the legitimate progressive opposition within the country, whose struggle is being undermine by such imperialist intervention.) However, this idea that Gene Sharp (an 80-year old academic whose Albert Einstein Institution, located in his home in a working class neighborhood in East Boston, and whose staff consists of him and one assistant) was somehow responsible for the uprisings in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, etc. and is working with the Bush administration to plot a similar uprising in Iran is rather silly. His research and seminars on strategic nonviolent action have been used by activists of both the left and right for decades, but he is hardly a coup-plotter. I know the guy. I doubt he has ever even been to the White House and he certainly would not be part of a Bush conspiracy against Iran or any other country.
The famous "menshevik" who has been the apologist lo these many years for all things Gene Sharp/Robert Helvey/Peter Ackerman/Velvet Revolution finally unveils himself and it is Stephen Zunes.
Hey dude, do you seriously think anybody believes you?
Thanks for commenting, though.
I hesitate to elevate this silliness to the level of response, but I can assure you, Jesus, that at least in this case you are flat wrong. Sharp spent his time in prison doing nonviolent resistance against the imperialist adventures of the US--as I have--and to criticize his work as effective or ineffective is legitimate, but to lie about him is just that. A lie.
Sharp has helped many of us who have resisted our criminal US regimes--from Eisenhower on. You picked the wrong person to attack with false information. If you trust the source of that information (because it's obvious you don't know Gene), rethink that, Brother. We need our facts straight and you blew this one.
Tom Hastings, Portland OR
If Comrade Sharp's client list were FARC, the Guatemalan peasants, or the Zapatistas instead of the Myanmar opposition, etc. then I might take a look.
Comrade Sharp and kindred spirits were part of the great outsourcing of covert operations under Reagan as a result of the Frank Church committee in the late 70's.
I will agree that Comrade Sharp is either ineffective or overfunded and overstaffed because this is a two bit blog with no traffic and of no consequence. There are bigger fish to fry.
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