US Conspiracy to Destablize Pakistan?

Stringent curbs on the Press and media would result in conspiracy theories increase and they would take life of their own. But in some instances, where certain groups feel they have no access to the media, they use whatever medium to spread conspiracy theories.

The Net has become the largest repository of the conspiracy theories as it is easy to print what you want to say. The author uses this same medium w/o actually understanding the factors behind the conspiracy theories!
Read this article which is much more scholarly and talks about Iranian conspiracy theories. (edited version)

Conspiracy theories and
the Persian Mind

By Ahmad Ashraf



Conspiracy theories in Persia are a complex set of beliefs attributing the course of Persian history and politics to the machinations of hostile foreign powers and secret organizations.

In contemporary social psychology such theories are defined as elaborate and internally consistent systems of "collective delusions," often tenaciously held and extremely difficult to refute.

Conspiracy theories often serve an important social function, helping to assuage certain kinds of anxiety among group members but also often limiting or hindering their capacity to respond effectively to external and internal social and political challenges.

Particularly since the beginning of the 20th century, Persians from all walks of life and all ideological orientations have relied on conspiracy theories as a basic mode of understanding politics and history.

The fact that the great powers have in fact intervened covertly in Persian affairs has led ordinary people, political leaders, even the rulers themselves to interpret their history in terms of elaborate and devious conspiracies.

The acceptance of such theories has in itself influenced the course of modern Persian history, for it has engendered a sense of helplessness in dealing with the rumored activities of foreign conspirators.

Conspiracy theories in modern Persia can generally be divided into two categories: those focused on supposed plots by Western colonial powers and those focused on satanic forces believed to have been active against Persia from antiquity to the present.

The Persian elite of the post-Mosaddeq period, one American diplomat noted, belied in the myth of "American omnipotence." Imagining that prime ministers were chosen by the United States, "candidates or would-be candidates for prime minister come to advertise their assets and their availability."

It was widely believed that the shah's White Revolution and the land-reform program of the 1960s had been designed in detail by Americans, though in fact American officials had favored more moderate land reform.

Leftists and many others in the middle class believed that the reforms had been designed to undermine the feudal basis of British interests in Persia. Khomeini, among others, considered land reform part of an American plot to destroy Persian agriculture in order to create a market for surplus American produce and to ensure Persian dependence on food supplies from the United States.

Conspiracy between the shi'ite olama and world powers.

In the 1980s Shoja-al-Din Shafa, a former Persian deputy court minister for cultural affairs, developed another conspiracy theory, based on ideas in the deposed shah's book that a "strange amalgam" -- among the Shi'ite clergy, leftists, Western media, major oil companies, and the British and American governments -- had set out to destroy the rapidly developing nation of Persia.

Shafa suggested that "the emergence of the Shi'ite olama in the 10th century constitutes the greatest conspiracy in Persian history and perhaps the oldest conspiracy in world history." The purpose was to emasculate true Shi'ism by transforming it into the instrument of corrupt Shi'ite leaders.

Three "capital investments" ensured the loyalty of the olama. First, they received financial support from temporal authorities and bazaaris, a "sacred coalition" of the forces of tyranny (estebdad), exploitation (estesmar) and demagoguery (estehmar).

Second, they accepted the "Indian money" and other contributions from Great Britain in the late 19th century. Finally, in the 1970s a gigantic coalition of big oil companies and the intelligence agencies of the United States, Great Britain, the U.S.S.R., and Israel used the olama to mobilize the forces of the Islamic revolution in order to halt the development of Persia and to prevent its impending entry into the "northern club."

Conspiracies of the Freemasons, Bahais and Zionists.

It is commonly believed in Persia that various elite groups are organized in secret lodges of Freemasons under the control of the British, who use them to advance their secret designs to control world affairs.

Groups accused of being under the thumb of the Freemasons include former courtiers, landowners, tribal chiefs, intellectuals, leading olama, wealthy merchants, contractors, influence peddlers, political bosses, and most politicians, including deputies to the Majles and cabinet members.

Belief in a conspiracy among the adherents of the Bahai faith is based on a forged document attributed to Prince Dimitri Dolgorukov (known in Persian as Kinyaz Dalguroki), the Russian minister to Persia in 1846-54.

It purports to a memoir in which the prince described how he created the Babi and Bahai faiths as a way of weakening Shi'ism and Persia as a whole. It was first circulated in Tehran in various forms in the late 1930s and has since been widely cited in Muslim polemics as evidence that the Bahais were controlled first by the Russians and later by the British or the Americans or both.

Those who believe in an international Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world find their proof in the protocols of the Elders of Zion, a document originally forged by the czarist secret police but still widely accepted as authentic in the Middle East.

The Zionist conspiracy is thought to have supported the "despotic" rule of the shah; for example, soldiers who are supposed to have massacred "thousands" of innocent people on Black Friday (8 September 1978) are said to have been Israelis.

Some people have argued that Israel supported the Islamic revolution in order to weaken its only potential rival for domination in the region by replacing the shah with a "vulnerable and dependent Islamic regime."

The popularity of conspiracy theories among Persians arises from a combination of political, social, psychological, and cultural factors: frequent foreign interference during the period of semicolonialism in the early 20th century and great-power politics in the 1940s-80s; the legacy of deeply rooted pre-Islamic and Shi'ite cultural beliefs about satanic forces; and the effectiveness of such theories as a collective defense mechanism, particularly during periods of powerlessness, defeat, and political turmoil.

Certain deep-rooted aspects of the Persian cultural heritage, which seem to have no parallel in other Muslim societies, may also have contributed to the popularity of conspiracy theories. They include a dualistic world view, probably derived from pre-Islamic religious beliefs, in which good and evil powers were considered to be in conflict, with the latter directing the course of history.

The mythological character of traditional Persian historiography, which may reflect a particular receptivity to the mythological mode of thought; a propensity to poetic exaggeration (eghraq-e sha'erana) among the Persians at all social levels; and a long tradition of attributing miraculous deeds to the twelve Shi'ite imams are other probable contributing factors.

Although blaming others can help assuage anxiety about failures, ready acceptance of conspiracy theories has also proved to be highly dysfunctional; in modern Persia it has contributed to political malaise that has sometimes precluded rational responses to internal and external crises.

A poorly written article that does not seek to examine the merits of what he calls "conspiracy theory" but tries to discard them all with a broad brush and label of cowards that know no better saying "conspiracy theory". A country like the US who has a long history of meddling in political affairs of others and has a special interest in Pakistani affairs and its military, and the open support it gave to BB in setting up deals with dictators and the luke warm condemnation of the assassination thereafter, not to mention the changing stance of BB all through the affair tells us that things just arent as normal as the author would like us to believe, it is not just business as usual where they are saints and we are evil people and so we find ourselves in this mess. Just look at this stupid comment by the author "Will anyone demand to know who sent the water hoses from ‘Tel Aviv’ to wash the scene of crime in Pindi?"

This is a third rate ignorant comment, suppose the Mossad were involved in the affair they would not leave the bottom down ground work to their field operative they would have some insider do this jamadari. In any case HP main don't give these fools fuel to rubbish every fact as "conspiracy theory" and as I said you should return to the homeland and leave the most miserable place humanity has ever invented as habitat....sincerely,./...

The biggest destabilizer of Pakistan is neither USA nor Israel nor the lethargic Flash Gordon of 'Great Britain' -- it is a renegade greedy Soldier of Fortune who hijacked the presidency at gunpoint for himself -- has destablized Pakistan for job security -- who has no business being in a place like the the Aiwane Sadr. Sooner he gets out of the place that he never deserved -- the better for the country's stability.

I think it was Brad DeLong who paraphrased David Landes as arguing that whether a society or a culture grows rich and successful depends upon how they react to some huge setback a the societal level.

If the response is "Who did this to us?" and look for foreign and domestic scapegoats, then the culture/society is going nowhere fast. If the response is "How can we fix this and make sure it can't happen ever again?" then the culture/society is going to progress and develop.

I'll leave it to the reader to decide which group we fall in.

Re: # 4

Don't we know each other from somewhere?

Well, after 911 (actually ELEVEN-NINE for the rest of us), America quickly discovered and then concealed the true who-did-it-to-us bit. The confession never came!

Then, instead of biting its own lips, it started this 'war on terror'. America hasn't fixed its own leaking faucet at home and is out to 'fix' our showers!

Who let Pearl Harbour happen? Not us, I'm sure. According to the references you've given, a country that wants others to be 'bombed into stone-age' is itself headed nowhere fast.

Peace.

Re: # 3

Changing nameplates will not solve the problem, we need to solve cure the disease and that is military involvement in Pakistan politics.

#5 Posted by tahir
“America quickly discovered and then concealed the true who-did-it-to-us bit. The confession never came!”

I have been following your posts on your own board and enjoying them too.

When we blame people for concocting conspiracy theories, we often forget that some government actions play an important part in that propagation. Like in the case of 9-11. How in the world the US intelligence agencies missed that for almost two years and then knew the culprits in less than 24 hours after the incident! They surely had tabs on the bad guys after the embassy bombing and the Cole incident.

Whenever there is a murder, some people know whodunit. In Pakistan no one finds out about the political murders and that gives plenty of ammo to the common folks to start speculating. That speculation ultimately becomes a conspiracy theory. Like the US is not willing to have a thorough inquiry of 911, Pakistani would never find out who killed Liaquat, Zia and now Benazir.

With so much muck and guess work around the incidents, no one should blame common folks for coming up with conspiracy theory.

Here is CIA trying to save the Pak army’s neck by supporting the a Pakistan government sponsored conspiracy theory that Bait ulah Massod did it. Now the question is: if they knew Bait ullah Mehsod did it only a few hours after the incident, then I am sure they must be keeping tabs on Mehsod’s whereabouts and conversations way before the murder.

This piece of support would spark another round of conspiracy theories in Pakistan.

The CIA has made conclusions w/o doing any investigation on the ground and have provided the lead to the Scotland Yard as to what to say when they finish investigations in Pakistan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080118/ap_on_go_ot/us_pakistan

WASH INGTON - The CIA has concluded that a Pakistani tribal leader's network was behind the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, according to a U.S. intelligence official.

nasah writes "it is a renegade greedy Soldier of Fortune who hijacked the presidency at gunpoint for himself "

Here is where you totally lose it. It was not a "greedy" soldier of Fortune, rather it is an institution that has been placed in a position by the regional situation and exploited and strengthened by the US, so that it can usurp power time and again and that is tolerated, nay promoted by the major power broker in the region, the US. Comparing the Brit/US shenanigans in this area to "Flash Gordon" makes your post sound extremely disingenuous and the previous posts quite hypocritical...

The ueber mythology around the globe is spread by the US with its city on the hill ideology that is actually a swamp hole atop a shit hole. In this muck infested mythology, some people get to the truth by clearing away the crap. Since the mythology of this swamp hole atop a shit hole is threatened the proponents of it term those efforts at getting past the dung "conspiracy theory". The biggest "conspiracy theory" involves the current mythology under which one state is dictating its will to the others and getting away with it all as being a promoter of democracy.

HP mian you need to return to the homeland...

fuzair writes "If the response is "Who did this to us?" and look for foreign and domestic scapegoats, then the culture/society is going nowhere fast."

When you have certain players dominating global institutions and you try to counter that with "personal responsibility", you will get nowhere. Rather understanding the problem's source to try to fix is is not "scapegoating". Only fools wanting to maintain the status quo will term it as such...When good comes out of something, even when not remotely connected to it, the US is always there to claim success, Iraq, libya and the so-called network of AQK are current examples, and when it has caused others to fail by putting them knee deep in shit, as in the case of Pakistan and its military's role in the WOT, not to mention trying to salvage it through the BB, who wouldn't play towards the end, then they say "we had nothing to do with it, these goddamned inferiors just arent mature enough for democracy".....and the rats like tahmed and fuzair help further the role of the US bastards

It is logical that given the current geopolitics, competition for the control of energy resources, and Pakistan's unfortunate location, there is bound to be some foreign interference in Pakistan's affairs. The main reason it gets bloated to full blown conspiracy theories is the Pak govt's own unwillingness, or inability, to provide full/credible information and to maintain transparency. Laughable explanations such as BB died due to hitting her head against the hook on the sunroof is a prime example of what I am talking about.

Whether or not there are external conspiracies to destabilize Pakistan is immaterial. The real question is: do the govt. and the people of Pakistan passively allow such interference to occur and then endlessly complain about it, like a bunch of impotents?

Tahir Sahib,

I was thinking more of our predilection for always blaming someone else but the US fits here very nicely. After 9-11, the US certainly didn't ask itself why are there thousands of nutjob jihadis running around? Did our support of the Saudi Wahabis and Afghan Mujahideen cause this disaster?

In other posts I've criticized the US and our Afghan policy in the 1980s. And we are the only ones really paying the price for this mistaken policy but virtually the entire country, barring a few unreformed Commies, supported the Afghani Jihad at first. Some of us grew to truly hate the Afghan barbarians infesting our land but we still refused to acknowledge the fact that the Communist government was, initially at least, the best govt that Afghanistan had ever had.

viqarm writes "The real question is: do the govt. and the people of Pakistan passively allow such interference to occur and then endlessly complain about it, like a bunch of impotents? "

Reminds me of the BS US democracy talk. Taking the blame away from the power brokers, the real culprits and placing it where it least belongs, the people of Pakistan. When throughout its history, except for the brief period under ZAB (may Allah bless the good he did)the people of Pakistan were out of design kept out of the political process and all avenues for them to express their political will were methodically shut down by the Pakistan Army. Regarding the government, by which any damn fool knows if they know anything that the real governance of Pakistan on behalf of America is done by the Pakistan Army- when the entire livelihood of this bunch of leeches is based on maintaing this status quo why will they challenge it....Get a grip on the facts fool, the blame lies least of all with the people and most of all with the neo-colonial shaitan, the US elite.

The Pakistanis are destabilizing their own country -- at this stage of the game not the Americans.

Americans did not kill Benazir -- that is a cockamamie story -- American agent Musharraf did not kill Benazir either -- Musharraf's agents did.

The Americans can be accused of looking the other way for their agent's repeated misdeeds -- as Musharraf must be accused of looking the other way at his agent's dastardly destabilizing deeds that includes the assassination of Benazir -- Scotland Yard or no Scotland Yard.

No wonder they were the "foreign experts" who were invited to investigate the hosed out scene of crime -- with their preordained conclusions towing the party line.

Masadi, why do you act like such an idiot? She was married to him because that’s how the system of arranged marriages work (thank your culture and religion for that), and she never undid any of her dad’s nonsense. She in fact kept the stupid believing in the Last polygamist prophet to be considered a Muslim. I don’t know what crap you talk about. You should just get lost.

Nasah writes "The Pakistanis are destabilizing their own country -- at this stage of the game not the Americans. "

And you say this in the same paragraph in which you say Musharraf is an "agent of the Americans". There is absolutely nothing "cockamamie" in American involvement with the BB murder, even if we ignore their history of politically motivated assassinations, they were in on it from the very start, they gave guarantees to the BB and she had complete confidence in those guarantees alone but they happened to be fake guarantees. The Pak Army would do nothing to get on the bad side of its masters, the US elite, it takes only one phonecall to get them back in line, that the US told them to do as they please in this case after BB wouldn't play is obvious as daylight. Get your thinking cap on or you'll sound just like Kulharee does here every weekend, as a drunk bum who lets forth multiple insults and curses against my posts without making a dime worth of sense...