{"id":56045,"date":"2012-09-10T07:23:39","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T07:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=56045"},"modified":"2012-09-14T09:02:10","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T09:02:10","slug":"in-iran-isfahanis-shrug-off-risk-of-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=56045","title":{"rendered":"In Iran, Isfahanis shrug off risk of attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction \u2013 September 9, 2012<\/h1>\n

Like so many Western media reports the following may be more fiction than factual reporting.<\/h5>\n
For a start it is attributed to the Financial Times (FT), coming via the Washington Post, two organs of the press that have become closely associated with Western inspired disinformation.<\/h5>\n
For disinformation: think of all the coverage given to Saddam Hussein\u2019s Weapons of Mass Destruction. Remember them? Those non-existent weapons that could have been used against Western targets within \u201c45 minutes\u201d.<\/h5>\n
Mixed with such blatant lies came the more subtle ones. Like stories about how Saddam was clamping down brutally on Iraqi dissidents. Although some were undoubtedly true, many were exaggerated to make the case for war.<\/h5>\n
This report follows a similar pattern, only unlike those earlier reports it has been crafted to be even more believable in the face of mounting public scepticism.<\/h5>\n
So now there\u2019s no more talk about Weapons of Mass Destruction. Instead the emphasis is on how ordinary Iranian\u2019s are enduring \u201cso many miseries, every day\u201d because of sanctions and the \u201cpopulist policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad\u201d.<\/h5>\n
The fact that the reporters location isn\u2019t named raises further questions. Where is he located? Iran, the Gulf States or London? The Financial Times doesn\u2019t say, even as their correspondent puportedly talks to ordinary Iranians.<\/h5>\n
So was Najmeh Bozorgmehr, the writer actually in Isfahan when he wrote the article? Did he meet the Iranians he quotes face-to-face? Or did he write the article while comfortably seated in the Financial Times offices in London?<\/h5>\n
Neither the Washington Post nor the Financial Times actually gives Najmeh Bozorgmehr\u2019s whereabouts. But if you go to other reports in both the Washington Post or the Financial Times the reporter\u2019s location is often identified, particularly if reporting in situ.<\/h5>\n
In this case however, no location is given.<\/h5>\n
This is not without precedent though. In February last year, Najmeh Bozorgmehr also reported for the FT on unrest in Teheran<\/span> <\/a>but again his exact location wasn\u2019t given. Just as the \u2018eyewitnesses\u2019 he quoted were not named.<\/h5>\n
\"\"<\/a>As we noted at the time, the FT report could have easily been concocted by a journalist in London with \u201clittle more than an active imagination\u201d. So although the photos accompanying other reports (right)\u00a0on the protests showed no more than a few dozen figures, Najmeh Bozorgmehr claimed that the number of protesters \u201cfar exceeded the predictions of most analysts\u201d.\u00a0<\/h5>\n
Such\u00a0hyperbole\u00a0was matched only by the absence of hard facts to authenicate those claims: no eyewitness names and no verifiable location for the correspondent.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/h5>\n
Like those earlier reports about Saddam and unrest in Tehran what follows maybe more carefully contrived disinformation dressed up as factual journalism.<\/h5>\n
To be read with a dose of scepticism:<\/h5>\n

In Iran, Isfahanis shrug off risk of attack<\/h1>\n

Najmeh Bozorgmehr \u2013 Washington Post September 7, 2012<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>Isfahan is home to several thousand historic monuments, many of which UNESCO recognizes as world heritage sites. The central Iranian city is also the site of one of the country\u2019s nuclear installations.<\/span><\/p>\n

As <\/span>speculation grows<\/span><\/a> over <\/span>whether Israel will attack<\/span><\/a> sites such as the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility, on the city\u2019s outskirts, or Iran\u2019s main <\/span>uranium enrichment<\/span><\/a> plant at Natanz, 87 miles to the northeast, Isfahanis themselves shrug off the danger.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am struggling with so many miseries every day, like the increasing rent of my shop and my house, that I do not have time to think about an Israeli attack, let alone be prepared for it,\u201d said Saeed, the owner of a grocery store.<\/span><\/p>\n

Near the historic Naqshe Jahan Square, which is surrounded by magnificent mosques and a palace, Rozhin, a 30-year-old homemaker, says she lives \u201cvery near\u201d to the Isfahan nuclear site. But she voices no concern about the <\/span>danger of a possible attack<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFood has become like gold,\u201d she said. \u201cNow I can afford to buy meat only for my daughter. That is what I am worried about, not a strike.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inflation and unemployment is perceived by Isfahanis to be far higher than is suggested by official figures, which put inflation at 23.5 percent and youth unemployment at 28.6 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInflation is 100 percent, or maybe 200 percent,\u201d said Razieh, a 27-year-old homemaker, as she walked through the 17th century Si-o-se Pol, one of the city\u2019s most beautiful bridges.<\/span><\/p>\n

State-run \u201ctelevision says prices of meat have come down. I suppose we should go and buy meat from the television,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Razieh and other residents of the city blame their economic problems on both the populist policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the <\/span>international sanctions<\/span><\/a> over the country\u2019s nuclear program.<\/span><\/p>\n

The value of the Iranian rial has fallen by more than 50 percent this year because of the tightening of U.S. banking sanctions and the European Union\u2019s ban on Iranian oil imports. That has dramatically increased the price of imported products and raw materials for local industries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sahar, a 22-year-old student of psychology with a part-time job at an upmarket toy shop, said that Thursdays, the first day of the Iranian weekend, used to be very busy but that now \u201cyou hardly see anyone walking into this shop on a Thursday.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnly those families who are well-off now buy imported toys for their kids,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pessimism over the economy has been exacerbated by the drying of the city\u2019s Zayandeh River, blamed on a combination of drought and a decision in Tehran to divert its waters to farms and factories.<\/span><\/p>\n

The once-picturesque waterway is now a dismal stretch of scrub that cuts through the city. According to Mayor Morteza Saghaeian-Nejad, the sight has demoralized residents and could partly explain their angry comments on the economic situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saghaeian-Nejad said he is not worried about a possible Israeli strike on Isfahan\u2019s nuclear facilities, although he noted that it is the responsibility of UNESCO to protect a city with 4,000 historical sites.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lack of anxiety over an Israeli attack may be due as much to the government\u2019s well-publicized rhetoric that the Jewish state would not dare launch an attack on the Islamic republic as to a preoccupation with economic concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n

But for Nader, a 55-year-old retired teacher, his beloved city appears threatened on all sides.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do not pass by the Zayandeh River anymore and would rather forget about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the situation continues like this … people will eat each other up without any need for Israel to destroy this city and this country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 Financial Times <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent report that appeared in London\u2019s Financial Times and the Washington Post may be more disinformation dressed up as journalism. We explain why<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,51,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Iran","category-The_Media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56045"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56363,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56045\/revisions\/56363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}