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Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif’s recent branding of US National Security Advisor Bolton, “Israeli” Premier Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) as part of a so-called “B-Team” of anti-Iranian hawks has been very successful in putting enormous pressure on the first-mentioned one and making Americans think twice about the whose interests would really be served by going to war with the Islamic Republic.
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Perception management is a tactic of information warfare that’s become extremely important in the modern-day age of social media, which isn’t to render any value judgement on it one way or the other, but just to point out a fact that few are reluctant to admit. All countries, leaders, movements, and politically minded individuals engage in it, though it’s “taboo” to say so. In any case, that doesn’t change the reality of it occurring all the time, especially since it’s come to play such a prominent role in the latest American-Iranian tensions. Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif‘s recent branding of US National Security Advisor Bolton, “Israeli” Premier Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) as part of a so-called “B-Team” of anti-Iranian hawks is a case in point and deserves to be analyzed more in depth because of the tremendous success that it’s had in putting enormous pressure on the first-mentioned one.
Iranian strategists keenly understand that many Americans on both sides of the partisan aisle are deeply suspicious of Bolton, with Democrats literally hating him simply because he’s a Republican while the Republicans themselves are divided over his controversial legacy of supporting the 2003 War on Iraq. They’ve also obviously been following the US’ domestic affairs closely enough to know that there are even rumors that Bolton isn’t in the best standing with Trump, especially after popular TV host Tucker Carlson’s reported intervention in getting the President to reconsider the wisdom of striking Iran in response to its downing of an American spy drone last month. All of this suggests that there are serious fault lines inside the Trump Administration and the rest of America as a whole over Bolton’s role as the country’s National Security Advisor, which presents a unique opportunity for Iran to relieve some of the pressure that he’s putting on it.
Every American is aware by now of the Democrats’ “Russian collusion” conspiracy theory, which has brought the topic of foreign interference in the country’s many political processes to the front and center of domestic debate. With this in mind, Iranian strategists realized the brilliance of grouping Bolton together with Bibi and MBS as part of the so-called “B-Team” that Tehran blames for trying to provoke war with the Islamic Republic because it strongly implies that the infamous war hawk might be doing the bidding of “Israel” and Saudi Arabia instead of advancing America’s own interests. Those two aforementioned actors are very controversial nowadays after many Americans have become aware of “Israel’s” crimes against the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia’s vicious conduct in the War on Yemen, and Bolton’s unwavering support for both of them has contributed to his unpopularity and the theory that he might be their joint “agent of influence”.
Iran wants as many Americans as possible — including regular folks, government officials (both domestic and foreign), and even Trump himself — exposed to this idea in order to exacerbate the preexisting fault lines over this official and either functionally neutralize his influence or get him fired, but the only way to ensure widespread awareness of the theory that he might be “Israel” and Saudi Arabia’s joint “agent of influence” in provoking the US into war against Iran on their behalf was to get Foreign Minister Zarif to tweet about the “B-Team”. That instantly caught the international media’s attention and guaranteed that the largest number of people possible could be made aware of who Bolton might really be working for, which has put the National Security Advisor under unprecedented pressure like never before. Iran’s successful employment of perception management tactics via social media might even result in Trump tempering his position towards the latest tensions and ultimately preventing an outbreak of what Zarif warned would be the “war of the century”.
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Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
Featured image is from New Eastern Outlook
Michel Chossudovsky
The “globalization of war” is a hegemonic project. Major military and covert intelligence operations are being undertaken simultaneously in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and the Far East. The U.S. military agenda combines both major theater operations as well as covert actions geared towards destabilizing sovereign states.
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