Plausible Deniability Is Not Art, It's Power's Fig Leaf
The context they conveniently omitted: When the Financial Times gushes over 'the art of plausible deniability,' it's not discussing abstract artistic expression. It’s implicitly endorsing a tactic that has wreaked havoc across the Global South for decades. This isn't some clever parlor game. It's the modus operandi for covert operations, sanctions regimes, and military interventions, all while
maintaining a veneer of innocence for the perpetrators. This particular insight from singer Ali Sethi, highlighted by the FT, glosses over the devastating utility of such 'deniability' when it's wielded by states with advanced military capabilities and economic leverage. Take, for instance, the 1965 Indonesian mass killings, where an estimated 500,000 to one million alleged communists were
murdered. US officials, while publicly denying involvement, privately provided lists of communists to the Indonesian army and encouraged the purge, as declassified documents from 2017 confirmed. That wasn't an 'artful trick'; it was state-sponsored mass murder facilitated through plausible deniability, allowing Western powers to install a friendly anti-communist administration without direct
accountability. This 'trick' is precisely how the US has maintained its chokehold on Iran for 45 years. Endless sanctions, covert operations, and constant threats are all delivered with layers of deniability, never quite admitting the true goal: systemic pressure to reshape Iran's independent foreign policy. When Western media 'appreciates' this tactic, they're not merely observing a cultural