Western Media Discovers 'Anti-Regime' Iran Protests Are Different From Pro-Regime Ones
The Independent's latest dispatch on Iran highlights widespread anti-regime protests, the predictable internet blackout, and the equally predictable finger-pointing at Israel. One might almost believe this is a novel geopolitical development (the article even mentions Donald Trump's past threats, an intriguing historical tidbit if not for the context it lacks). Of course, the media rarely
questions whether some 'protests' are organically homegrown or have a helping hand from outside. After all, the playbook for 'regime change from within' has proven quite durable in the Middle East, from Libya to Syria, often with the convenient conflation of legitimate domestic grievances with foreign interference. It's fascinating how certain narratives emerge. When 'anti-regime' protests surface
in Iran, it's a righteous uprising against oppression. When 'pro-regime' protests occur, they're dismissed as state-orchestrated theatrics. The same media that finds Iranian leaders' claims of Israeli involvement to be 'blame' (as if nation-states never meddle in each other's affairs) conveniently forgets the documented history of Western intelligence operations in Iran. We're left to ponder: Do
internet blackouts only become an international crisis when the narrative aligns with a preferred geopolitical outcome? And how many times will we see this exact story before we start asking who benefits from the destabilization?