Why Bother Buying New Propaganda When You've Still Got So Much Perfectly Fine Old Propaganda Lying Around?

Which well-known Iranian leader could be described as "wild," "erratic," "eccentric," "crazy," "gangster-like," "fanatical," "absurd," "dictatorial," "demagogic," "inflammatory," "cunning," "slippery," and "unbalanced"?

Answer below.

Actually, it's a trick question. According to an article by Baruch historian Ervand Abrahamian (via All the Shah's Men), these terms were all used by the British government in the early fifties to describe Mohammed Mossedegh. (In 1953, the UK persuaded the US to help them overthrow Mossedegh's government and install the Shah.)

Yet every single one of those thirteen terms has also been used by American and British media and politicians to describe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

What are the odds that we'd have to deal with TWO wild, erratic, eccentric, crazy, gangster-like, fanatical, absurd, dictatorial, demagogic, inflammatory, cunning, slippery, and unbalanced Iranian leaders? As I've said before, we really have the worst luck.

• • •

"wild"—Washington Post

"erratic"—Washington Post, NPR

"eccentric"—CNN

"crazy"—Fox

"gangster"—numerous blogs

"fanatical"—Fred Thompson, former Israeli president Moshe Katzav, The Sun (UK)

"absurd"—Toronto Globe & Mail

"dictatorial"—Townhall

"demagogic"—Boston Globe

"inflammatory"—Newsweek

"cunning"—The Sun (UK), NPR

"slippery"—Time

"unbalanced"—numerous blogs