Method in Iran's conspiracy madness

A few days ago here on Cif, Henry Newman discussed the prevalence of conspiracy theories in Iran. "Faced with a massive legitimacy crisis, the Iranian regime and its supporters have been quick to point the finger at foreign powers," he wrote, adding: Ahmadinejad's insistence in blaming the unrest on foreign powers is not simply disingenuous; he may well genuinely believe his assertions. Many are convinced that a "British establishment" is working to overthrow Iran's political system and that it co-ordinates organisations as varied as the BBC, the Guardian, the Palace of Westminster, the British Museum (with its Shah Abbas exhibition supposedly intended to reinforce Sunni/Shia divides), and the Queen's College at the University of Oxford (which established a scholarship in memory of Neda Agha-Soltan). Well, bang on cue, Iran's deputy foreign minister has taken the paranoia to new heights . After a brief name-check for the usual suspects (BBC, Voice of America, monarchists, the internet, etc), he came up with a list of 60 allegedly subversive western organisations, including thinktanks and university departments. Some of the organisations are difficult to identify and their names are not necessarily given correctly. Others are mentioned more than once but, after eliminating the duplicates, this seems to be the full list: 1. Soros Foundation – Open Society 2. Woodrow Wilson Center 3. Freedom House 4. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) 5. National Democracy Institute (NDI) 6. National Republican Institute (NRI) 7. Institute for Democracy in East Europe (EEDI) 8. Democracy Center in East Europe (CDEE) 9. Ford Foundation 10. Rockefeller Brothers Foundation 11. Hoover Institute at Stanford Foundation 12. Hivos Foundation, Netherlands 13. MENAS UK 14. United Nations Association (USA) 15. Carnegie Foundation 16. Wilton Park, UK 17. Search for Common Ground (SFCG) 18. Population Council 19. Washington Institute for Near East Policy 20. Aspen Institute 21. American Enterprise Institute 22. New America Foundation 23. Smith Richardson Foundation 24. German Marshal Fund (US, Germany and Belgium) 25. International Center on Nonviolent Conflict 26. Abdolrahman Boroumand Foundation at Yale University 27. Meridian Center 28. Foundation for Democracy in Iran 29. Republican International Institute 30. American Initiative Institute 31. Private Trade International Center 32. American Center for International Labor Solidarity 33. International Center for Democracy Transfer 34. Albert Einstein Institute 35. Global Movement for Democracy 36. The Democratic Youth Network 37. Democracy Information and Communication Technology Group 38. International Parliamentarian Movement for Democracy 39. RIGA Institute 40. Berkman Institute 41. US Council on Foreign Relations 42. Foreign Policy Society, Germany 43. MEMRI, Israeli Institute 44. Center for Democracy studies, UK 45. Yale University and all its affiliates 46. National Defense University, USA 47. Iran Human Rights Documents Center 48. American Center FLENA, Active in Central Asia 49. Committee on the Present Danger 50. Saban Center, Brookings Institution 51. Human Rights Watch Now it's very easy to ridicule all this, as the Times does today in an editorial comment . The Times even suggests a few more names for inclusion: Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Barbra Streisand and Green Giant sweetcorn. But it's not quite as simple as that. Iran has, over the years, faced more than its share of genuine conspiracies hatched by foreigners. We can also be pretty sure that somewhere in Tehran there are files recording what all these organisations have done to offend the Iranian regime. I have my own files on a few of them, too. The American Enterprise Institute was highly influential under the Bush administration and some of the people associated with it (eg Richard Perle) helped to engineer the invasion of Iraq. Since then, it has turned its attention towards Iran. Memri , meanwhile, rarely misses an opportunity to circulate alarmist stories about Iran. In the west, of course, this is seen as normal political activity rather than subversion. If you don't like what they're saying and doing, you argue and try to prove them wrong. A couple of things bother me about Iran's list, though. If the regime takes it seriously (and there may well be those within it who do), they clearly understand little about the way things work in the west – which is potentially dangerous when it comes to negotiating with western countries. Second, harping on about foreigners in this way is an attempt to deny the existence of genuine, indigenous opposition. If they're doing that simply for propaganda purposes, it won't wash: too many people inside Iran can see that there's something bigger going on than a bit of meddling by the Soros Foundation and Yale University. If, on the other hand, they do think it's all the work of foreigners, then they truly have their heads in the sand.