Rob's Blog

Sometimes an old post comes to life with new comments and brings back memories. On an old post about an Iranian shortwave propaganda radio station called Voice of Justice, Paul writes:

I heard the Voice of Justice just last night on 6125 between 0100 and 0200 UTC from my location here in Sweden.

It was nothing but a long string of propaganda. What was interesting (and saddening in my opinion) was the great number of interviews held with so many American commentators so eager to lambast their own country on Iranian radio.

American commentators like professor Dwight Simpson of SFSU. I have recorded audio of that interview (in OGG format so you’ll need Winamp).

Another commenter, Marty, has me wanting to fire up the SW receiver again:

For really good ol’ fashion propaganda, try Radio PMR from the self-declared Soviet-style republic of Pridnestrovye, which isn’t recognized by anyone. It is a small strip of land between Moldova and the Ukraine. They broadcast in English (winter 2007 freq.) on 7,370 kHz at 1700 UTC.

Marty has a blog called Shortwave Scatter.

I’ve been listening to the Voice of Iran again. Last night they interviewed Professor Dwight Simpson from “San Francisco University”. In fact he is from San Francisco State University, as distinct from the University of San Francisco or the University of California, San Francisco. Being British, I have no idea of the significance of that, but the interview leads me to wonder what kind of institution SFSU is.

Professor Simpson is in the Department of International Relations and his interests include, “US Foreign Policy, World Hegemony, Middle East.”

I have recorded the interview and you can listen to it [1.1MB, 8m51s] in Ogg/Vorbis format with Winamp or other players. Here are some of the things Simpson had to say to the Voice of Iran’s listeners.

The interviewer asks why Washington is claiming that Iran is pursuing nuclear programmes. Simpson answers, “…the Bush Administration [...] are simply inventing a reason to put Iran on some kind of suspect list. In other words they are saying things that simply are not true about Iran, its nuclear capability, its plans for nuclear energy and so on. There’s plenty of evidence from international bodies that what Iran is doing in the atomic energy field is no threat to anybody and is not for military purposes.” He admits that he is accusing Bush of lying, and asks “why is he lying?”

“He’s lying because he’s trying to prepare the ground for an invasion or a takeover of Iran by a combination of Israeli and American power. And I think the stage is being set; and the likelihood is very strong that soon some overt step will be taken to destroy the political regime now in Tehran and replace it with one of American and Israeli choosing.”

Why is America doing this?

“Already the United States has Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and now Libya and other major deposits of oil and now if [that should go forward?] and the Iranian oil could be brought under American control or influence the United States then would have the majority of the world’s oil under its control.”

Aha! So this is all about the oil! Also, “the state of Israel will be secure and have no problems and will be able to profit from the change in the regimes of all these different countries. And you see, Iran is only the first on the list.”

Wow, America really does want to take over the world. The interviewer then asks what else “Israel — the Zionist regime, I mean” is up to. Professor Simpson knows something about that.

“Israel is in partial mobilisation right now, that’s not a secret. My contacts in Jerusalem, over the telephone, have told me, with the FBI listening –”

Wait a minute, Professor Simpson thinks he is important enough for the FBI to bother listening to his phonecalls. Why would they do that? To learn things (that aren’t secrets) about the Israelis from his “contacts”?

“– that this is true. Partial mobilisation has begun.” Apparently the Israelis are forced into these “desperate military moves” because, “their economy is deteriorating, their social system is decomposing, and they’ll go out of business soon unless they get started on some new plan such as this one facing Iran.”

All this may be the signal for what Simpson would call “world-wide war”. Simpson asserts that Dick Cheyney said that the United States “had to look forward to another hundred years of war”, but I can’t find any reference to that statement on the web. But, “to bring American power, with Israeli collaboration, to the Middle-East, to Asia and possibly elsewhere, is going to take a very long time.” Furthermore, “for the United States and Isreal to threaten and actually try to demolish all the so-called unfriendly regimes in the Middle-East is going to take a generation at least.”

So, are Israel and the USA preparing to go to war with Iran on the basis of false accusations about nuclear armament? Or are they genuinely concerned about Iran’s ambitions? In any case, if a need does arise to go to war with Iran, the Americans will be useful to have around.

Recently I bought myself a shortwave radio and a copy of the book Passport to World Band Radio. I spent most of last night finding out what I could hear.

One of the most interesting stations to listen to is the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, tagline: “Tehran, the voice of justice. For people around the world, especially Americans.” It’s about as close to a propaganda station as I’ve found. So far I haven’t been able to make any recordings — I need to dig out my minidisc recorder — but I did take some notes. The one hour broadcast for January 14th, like other broadcasts I’ve heard, consisted almost entirely of criticism of the USA and Israel. (A bit like the BBC, then). What’s striking is the language they use. Here are some stories from the news programme:

• In coverage of a story about agreements between Iran and Senegal, poverty in Africa is described as being caused by Western colonialism. Africa, though, “succeeded in freeing itself from colonialism in the last 100 years.”
• I only partly caught this story (shortwave is susceptibe to fading which can occaionally blot out the sound for a few seconds), and I don’t understand it, but someone, somewhere is saying that the Haj ritual is a good opportunity to “reveal the crimes of the USA”.
• In reference to, I think, this story, the Iranian radio station says that five zionist soldiers were killed by Palestinians in a martyrdom seeking operation. I can’t find coverage of this story on the BBC.
• Palestinian passengers in a car miraculously survived an Israeli helicopter attack.
• A Russian envoy to the UN says it’s vital that the USA respects other UN members.

Following the news was a commentary programme. Far from criticising the UN, the USA is condemned because it apparently, “ignored warnings” about corruption in the Oil for Food programme. [Update: I think this refers to the UN blaming the USA for the oil for food corruption.] Meanwhile American forces in Iraq are consitently described as occupation forces. Much is made of Colin Powell’s refusal to say that they would leave after the Iraqi elections. Instead the timing of the departure would depend on the security situation. This apparently reveals that the true nature of the USA’s strategy is to continue the occupation.

Next was an interview with some expert or other whose name I missed. When asked why Prime Minister Sharon has said he will meet with the new Palestianian leader, the expert says that, “Israelis need a Palestinian side who will legitimise the the zionist plan.” They hope the Palestinians will surrender. When this does not happen they will claim that the new leader is a barrier to peace.

When asked about the US peace plan and the creation of a Palestinian state, the expert says that the problem with the USA’s idea is that the state will lack powers to control its own borders, foreign policy, military and economy. This, he says, makes it more like a council than a state.

When asked what the real solution to the situation is, the expert replies that the only solution is the abolition of Isreal as it currently exists. “Israel must either change or be abolished.” He does not explain how Israel must change, leaving only one possibility.

Next was a round-up of foreign media, in which the free world’s balanced press is used against it. These stories were covered:

• USA Today says that “many Americans” disapprove of the torture and sexual abuse of Iraqis to get information about terrorism.
• The LA Times says that an expensive new FBI computer system will have to be scrapped.
• New York based Human Rights Watch says more investigation into the Iraqi prisoner abuse is needed. Oddly, a story from the same source about Iranian journalists receiving death threats was not covered.
• Bloomberg goes on about the cost of the Iraq war. The obvious comparisons between that and the amount spent on tsunami aid are made by the Iranian radio station, but not in the Bloomberg article.

In the same slot, much time is spent on the highlights of the article Bush Fails a Global Test by John Nichols. Bush was apparently slow to react to the tsunami disaster, and then only grumbled about critics and bragged about a $35 million aid commitment. Niether the Iranian radio station nor John Nichols mentioned the vital role played by the US military in the distribution of aid.

Before going off the air for another night, the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran broadcast a feature entitled, “Social Paralysis in the USA”, about plans to privatise social security. It was based on an article by someone named, I think, Sol Friedman, but I may have misheard because I can’t find the article online. The rhetoric was about the “inter-generational” nature of social security and how the young caring for the old via the government is the “right and civilised thing to do”. Far from making arguments about how social security really makes everyone poorer, conservatives are apparently only interested in “generating conflict between young and old”. Terrifyingly, President Bush used the word “problem” 39 times in a speech about pensions, according to the Washington Post.