To the idiotic Spiegel reporter Ulrike Putz & the misinformed (or intentionally disinforming) Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan, the Iranian Ansar-e-Hezbollah is not even remotely associated with Lebanon's Hezbollah ... Iran's is a loose knit group of supporters of the government who are either Basij or Veterans of the Iran-Iraq War ...AeH members are known for their "heavy handedness" at anti-government demonstrations ...
Oh and, they don't need to be flown from Beirut!
"One woman (maybe a nurse) shows a sign which says 8 people were martyred here last night. Toward the end of the clip the young man (whose voice breaks down many times) is saying that he witnessed the brutal beating of women and children and wonders who these brutish forces are. He speculates that they are not Iranians, but Lebanese Hezbollah."
4 comments:
sullivan's translation from the video is accurate. it's a genuine rumour that seems to be making the rounds, and he's helping to keep it in circulation.
it's not very plausible of course, but a variant on a classic trope, reminiscent of rumours israeli snipers were involved in killing protesters during the 1979 revolution. People can't come to terms with the fact that their society is polarised to the extent that security forces can fire at their own people.
I read the same pathetic rumor on an Iranian blog. I had to laugh, because in Lebanon it is always the specter of an "Iranian" that is bandied about as the ultimate incarnation of evil.
Good points.
It does seem that societies going through tensions regularly imagine foreign hands at work.
A must admit though Andrew Sullivan's blog has been one of the prime places I have been reading about the protests. I think the nature of his reporting (fast updates from people at the protests) makes it likely that some rumours will get thrown in with facts.
Of course not to downplay the usefulness of having someone posting updates from people there every 10-15 mins. A few posts questionable but a lot that gives a good insight into the situation.
Andrew Sullivan is the ultimate Anglo-American elite "insider"
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