August 01, 2019 State Department Issues Manipulated Photo As B-Team Pushes Trump Towards War On Iran An old propaganda trick is to paint one's enemies in darker colors than oneself. Carl Zha @CarlZha - 1:25 UTC · Jul 31, 2019 Dark skinned Hong Kong cops vs white skinned Hong Kong protesters 👇🏼 I completely missed it, but someone pointed out pro-protesters Graphic designer DDED comics depicted “baddies” HK cops and white shirts in Yuen Long as dark skinned while Hong Kong protesters light skinned

bigger - bigger Also note the blond/black hair colors used which of course contradict the physiognomic realities of the people in Hong Kong. One wonders which U.S. color-revolution workshop gave the protesters graphic designers such racist ideas. Such manipulative us-them graphics are despicable propaganda. But it is even more malign when the U.S. State Department openly engages in such tactics and manipulates original photos to achieve a similar effect: Secretary Pompeo @SecPompeo - 22:45 UTC · Jul 31, 2019 Recently, President @realDonaldTrump sanctioned Iran’s Supreme Leader, who enriched himself at the expense of the Iranian people. Today, the U.S. designated his chief apologist @JZarif. He’s just as complicit in the regime’s outlaw behavior as the rest of @khamenei_ir’s mafia.

bigger A screenshot of the original tweet and attached graphic. A reverse image search via Tineye.com finds that the original picture used in the above graphic was first published by the Seattle Times on June 10. It is the second one in the gallery above this piece. In that picture Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is listening to a journalist's question. It is the only picture in the series in which Zarif is not smiling:

bigger The caption of the whole series is: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a press conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas after their talks in Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 10, 2019. [...] (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) The AP picture and Pompeo's tweet graphics cut for the same detail and size:

bigger - bigger Same as above with the color saturation in the second picture set to zero:

bigger - bigger It is obvious that the picture Pompeo distributed was artificially darkened to make Zarif look more "devilish". The background was manipulated to make it look like a rough unpainted wall. Additionally a vignette was added to put a dark halo around Zarif's head. The given reasons for the sanction against Iran's foreign minister are laughable. A press statement by Pompeo says: Today, the United States designated the Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who has acted on behalf of the Supreme Leader. Iran’s Foreign Ministry is not merely the diplomatic arm of the Islamic Republic but also a means of advancing many of the Supreme Leader’s destabilizing policies. Foreign Minister Zarif and the Foreign Ministry he runs take their direction from the Supreme Leader and his office. Foreign Minister Zarif is a key enabler of Ayatollah Khamenei’s policies throughout the region and around the world. The designation of Javad Zarif today reflects this reality. The U.S. Treasury put Zarif on its Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List: Collectively, such individuals and companies are called "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them. Despite the new sanctions Zarif is still on Twitter. This is likely to change soon as Twitter will now have to block him: Javad Zarif @JZarif - 22:33 UTC · Jul 31, 2019 The US' reason for designating me is that I am Iran's "primary spokesperson around the world"

Is the truth really that painful?

It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran.

Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda. Javad Zarif @JZarif - 1:23 UTC · Aug 1, 2019 We know that calling for dialog & peace is an existential threat to #B_Team.

And since reason for designating me is my words, would "US persons" need OFAC license to "engage" with me by reading my writings or listening to interviews?



cc: @stevenmnuchin1

cc: @SecPompeo

cc: @jack The B-team members are John Bolton, the Saudi clown prince Bin Salman, UAE sheik Bin Zayed and "Bibi" Netanyahoo. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called the U.S. behavior "childish". The stupid sanctions against Zarif were introduced to divert public attention from the fact that the Trump administration did not dare to eliminate sanction waivers for the delivery of nuclear fuel to Iran and for other civil nuclear activity. Iran would respond to the elimination of those waivers by increasing its own enrichment and fuel production: Even as the White House unveiled the sanctions against Zarif, it quietly renewed waivers that will allow Iran to continue to receive international assistance for its civilian nuclear projects. Under those waivers, China and other countries are helping Iran transform Iran's nuclear facilities to ensure they cannot be used to produce weapons-grade uranium or plutonium. Iran hawks had lobbied the Trump administration to sanction countries engaged in that work, while critics said it would encourage Iran to pursue a nuclear weapon. The administration's decision to sanction Zarif drew attention away from its waiver of the sanctions, and it could defuse some anger among hardliners who wanted the White House to take a tougher line. The latest crazy idea the Trump people had was to ask the most hawkish senator to prepare a new Iran deal: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is working in close coordination with senior Trump administration officials who focus on Middle East policy to find an alternative to the Obama administration’s Iran deal, four people with knowledge of the efforts tell The Daily Beast. Part of that effort includes fielding ideas from outside actors, including foreign officials, two of those sources said. There is no guessing needed who those "foreign officials" are: It is unclear how far along the team is in crafting a proposal, but Graham did travel to Israel earlier this month to meet with officials about the situation with Iran. In an interview with The Daily Beast on Wednesday, Graham said he had spoken to Trump about his ideas for a new nuclear deal several times and that the president was contemplating them. The senator said the U.S. should ask the Iranian regime to agree to a so-called 123 Agreement—a key, legally binding commitment that requires countries doing nuclear deals with the U.S. to sign on to nonproliferation standards. The U.S. has entered into those agreements with more than 40 countries. Graham does not really want to Iran to sign on to the 123 standard. It is a trick he wants to use to pull Europe to the U.S. side: “I told the president: Put the 123 on the table with the Iranians. Make them say ‘no,’” Graham told The Daily Beast. “I think the Iranians will say no. And I think that will force the Europeans’ hands.” The U.S. should also require Iran to sign on to the “gold standard,” a pledge not to enrich and reprocess nuclear fuel, Graham said. Enrichment and reprocessing are key steps on the way to a nuclear weapon. Enrichment and reprocessing are key steps to make ones own nuclear fuel. The U.S. several times sanctioned Iran's purchase of nuclear fuel. The country would be crazy to forever depend on others to provide it. Graham's idea is stupid. The Europeans would not fall for his cheap trick. The JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran, which the Europeans co-signed, expressly recognize Iran's inalienable right to enrich nuclear fuel under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Only after the Obama administration conceded that Iran has that right was Iran willing to negotiate that nuclear deal. That position will not change. Trump seems to really want a deal with Iran. But he has surrounded himself with childish people, Bolton, Pompeo and now even Graham, who all do not want a deal. These folks want war. They want to push Trump into a corner where the only way out for him is to wage war on Iran. As Trump lacks knowledge of the issue and has no idea of how to make a deal with Iran, their chance of getting him there is quite high. Posted by b on August 1, 2019 at 18:59 UTC | Permalink Comments