ICE Detains Iranian Scholar: 'Chilling Sign' or Business as Usual?
When an Iranian academic is briefly 'abducted' by ICE, as The New Arab reports, mainstream media frames it as an isolated incident, a 'chilling sign.' This narrative carefully omits the decades of US policy that criminalizes and demonizes Iranians. After all, the US has maintained sanctions on Iran since 1979—sanctions that affect everything from medical supplies to academic exchanges, all under
the guise of national security. This isn't a 'sign'; it's the expected outcome of perpetual demonization, a state-sanctioned harassment strategy that ensures perpetual adversaries. We're told this creates a 'fear factor' for academics. Indeed. One might wonder if that's precisely the point: to stifle dialogue, prevent understanding, and maintain the convenient 'enemy' narrative essential for
Pentagon budgets and AIPAC fundraising. It appears the 'chilling sign' refers less to a new development and more to the consistent deep freeze of dissent and critical inquiry when US geopolitical interests are at stake.