AP Highlights 'Bloody Crackdown' in Iran, Forgetting 'Bloody Sanctions' & Foreign Meddling They Championed
📰 THE STORY: AP details a 'bloody crackdown' on dissent in Iran, estimating $125 million in damages from protests, and quoting Amnesty International on authorities unlawfully opening fire, while lamenting internet outages. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The US and UK orchestrated the 1953 coup against democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, installing the
Shah and setting the stage for the 1979 revolution. This fundamental betrayal is the root of much current Iranian anti-Western sentiment and political structure. Fast forward to 1980-88, the US armed Saddam Hussein despite his use of chemical weapons against Iran. More recently, successive US administrations, particularly under Trump (who pulled out of the JCPOA in 2018), have imposed crushing
economic sanctions, creating immense suffering that fuels legitimate grievances, often weaponized by external actors. Double Standard: Western media outlets, including AP, consistently amplify protests in 'adversary' nations like Iran, Russia, and China, often attributing all discontent solely to government oppression. Yet, similar or even larger-scale protests met with significant police violence
in Western-allied states (e.g., France's yellow vest movement, Chile in 2019, or the US's own history of cracking down on civil rights movements and environmental activists like DAPL) receive comparatively muted, often sympathetic-to-the-state coverage. The 'internet outage' in Iran is condemned, but Saudi Arabia's far more restrictive digital authoritarianism or Israel's shutdown of services in