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Daniel Larison, The American Conservative, July 17 2019:… President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has joined buckraking forces with former Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), speaking at an event in Albania for a bizarre, cultish Iranian group that fashions itself as a government-in-exile for the Islamic Republic. Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) — once designated as a foreign terrorist group — hosted the conference at a compound that MEK operates in Albania. Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Giuliani Bolton MEK and the Blood Money of Global Terrorism
Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
By DANIEL LARISON
Josh Kovensky reports on this year’s annual MEK gathering at their strange compound in Albania:
President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has joined buckraking forces with former Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), speaking at an event in Albania for a bizarre, cultish Iranian group that fashions itself as a government-in-exile for the Islamic Republic.
Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) — once designated as a foreign terrorist group — hosted the conference at a compound that MEK operates in Albania.
Giuliani delivers pretty much the same speech every time he attends an MEK event, but this year he added the flourish of condemning people that referred to the totalitarian cult as a cult: “These are people that are dedicated to freedom, and if you think that’s a cult, there’s something wrong with you! There’s something missing in your soul!” Then the camera looks out at the crowd of identically-dressed cult members obediently applauding Giuliani’s rote recitation of the cult’s talking points. The video is priceless, as Pouya Alimagham points out here:
You know you’re a cult when you have to give thousands of dollars in speakers fees to have international figures come to your rallies and expressly say that you’re not a cult—all while your members are dressed exactly the same and clap on cue in unison. #facts #Iran #MEK https://t.co/EzpYJy7y6n
— Pouya Alimagham (@iPouya) July 14, 2019
When Giuliani affirms that the MEK’s agenda “looks just like our Bill of Rights,” you begin to wonder if he has undergone some of the group’s brainwashing techniques. He goes on to praise them as “miracle workers” because of the speed with which they built their creepy compound. The idea that a group that subjects its own members to physical and psychological abuse stands for “human rights” is laughable, and it is a measure of how divorced from reality Giuliani’s speech is that he would make such a claim. “This is a decent organization, this is a good organization,” the president’s lawyer asserts because this is what he has been paid to say. “This is a group we can support,” Giuliani says near the end. It speaks volumes about the horrible judgment and poor ethics of Giuliani and his fellow MEK cheerleaders that they are willing to take money from this group and say these things publicly about them.
MEK Rajavi Applauded downing of the Iranian airliner ; FBI Report
The MEK’s paid American boosters are a disgrace, but their participation in these propaganda spectacles is useful in confirming that we can automatically dismiss anything these people have to say about Iran or Iran policy. No one that takes money from a deranged cult hated by Iranians has any business talking about Iran’s political future, and anyone that chooses to echo MEK propaganda has absolutely no credibility on any issue related to Iran. MEK boosters clearly know nothing about Iran and its people, and they definitely don’t care about what the Iranian people think or want. The “decent” and “good” organization that Giuliani praises fought for Saddam Hussein against their own country, it has killed Americans and Iranians in terrorist attacks, and it holds its own members captive and subjects them to brutal and dehumanizing treatment. The fact that he and others advocate for them to have any role in Iran’s government shows their utter contempt for the Iranian people.
The shameless cheerleading for a totalitarian cult might not seem so important, but we should remember that one of the cult’s biggest fans, John Bolton, is now National Security Advisor in charge of making Iran policy. The insane claims that Giuliani and others were making in Albania this weekend aren’t just confined to a bunch of has-beens on the take. Bolton has said many of the same things on many occasions, and I suspect he is fanatical enough in his desire for regime change that he would consider the MEK to be a legitimate ally.
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Richard Engel, NBC: The MEK’s man inside the White House (Maryam Rajavi cult, Mojahedin Khalq)
Also read:
Nejat Society, June 21 2019:… Twitter has turned out to be a field for a “troll farm” of a thousand people inside the camps of Mujahedin Khalq (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Rajavi’s Cult) who work in three shifts to launch anti Iran disinformation advocating war and sanctions against Iran. Former member of the group Hassan Heirani who left it in… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Philip Giraldi, Global Research, June 21 2019:… MEK, which is financially supported by Saudi Arabia, stages events in the United States in Europe where it generously pays politicians like John Bolton, Rudy Giuliani and Elaine Chao to make fifteen-minute speeches praising the organization and everything it does. Maryam Rajavi MEK Cult Fake Journalists MEK Impunity Undermining Democracy Maryam Rajavi MEK… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Gjergji Thanasi, Gazeta Impakt, Tirana, Albania, June 18 2019:… Former terrorist Maryam Rajavi, leader of the MEK organization of the so-called Iranian Mojahedin of Camp Manez, has filed a lawsuit against German Der Spiegel journalist, Louisa Hommerich, for her article titled ‘Prisoners of Their Own Rebellion’ published by Der Spiegel on February 16, 2019. Among other things, the MEK organization… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
M. K. Bhadrakumar, Iranian.com, June 18 2019:… In this rogues’ gallery, apart from Israel, there is also Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Bolton, of course, is mentored by Israel and it is an established fact that he has received money for services rendered from the Mojahedin-e Khalq MEK, the anti-Iran terrorist group based in France, which espouses the overthrow of… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Massoud Khodabandeh, Lobe Log, June 18 2019:… This is the tip of the iceberg. MEK interference in the internal affairs of America goes well beyond online attacks on Iran. In 2016, the Organization of Iranian American Communities in the US—a front for the MEK—announced a “General Elections Mobilization Effort,” publicly urging its members to “fulfill their civic duty through active…Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Aljazeera News, June 17 2019:… As the Trump administration continues with its hawkish talk on Iran, we need to look at how that story is being crafted and by whom: Heshmat Alavi was once cited by the White House as a credible commentator on Iran. Shame he doesn’t exist. It turns out he is a fictional persona reportedly created by the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK),… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Caitlin Johnstone, Consortum News, June 16 2019:… This would be the same John Bolton who has been paid exorbitant speaking fees by the pro-regime change MEK terror cult, promising the cult in a 2017 speech that they’d be celebrating regime change in Tehran together before 2019. This would also be the same John Bolton who once threatened to murder an…Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Helen Buyniski, Russia Today, June 14 2019:… Heshmat Alavi, a virulently anti-Iranian columnist promoted by the Trump administration and published in Forbes, the Hill, and several other outlets, was unmasked as a propaganda construct operated by the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a controversial Iranian exile group often called a cult that has only recently lobbied its way off the US’ terror… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
The Young Turks, June 13 2019:… “Heshmat Alavi” is a front propaganda efforts of the People’s Jihadis (Mojahedin-e Khalq or MEK). The MEK has committed numerous acts of terrorism in Iran and then collaborated with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It was listed as a terrorist organization the the US until a few years ago and it is mysterious why it… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Negar Mortazavi and Borzou Daragahi , Independent, June 11 2019:…The “Heshmat Alavi” persona had a strong presence on Twitter and harassed Iranian journalists, academics, and activists who are critical of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq organisation, a one-time armed guerilla group now holed up in Albania. There is no known link between the Iran Disinfo programme and the fake persona. At least one… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Jason Rezaian, Washinton Post, June 11 2019:… After the report, Twitter appears to have suspended the account. But the MEK, the organization that “Team Heshmat Alavi” represents, has a nasty history. It was on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations for years before being removed in 2012. These days, it has no discernible popular support in Iran and… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept, June 10 2019:… Alavi’s articles also mixed criticisms of Iran and U.S. policy with overt advocacy for the MEK. His pieces in the Daily Caller, The Hill, and other outlets — though less numerous than his contributions to Forbes — employed a similar mix of advocacy against the Iranian regime and praise for the MEK. Though… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Tony Cartalucci, Global Research, June 09 2019:… MEK is described by Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Ray Takeyh as a “cult-like organization” with “totalitarian tendencies.” While Takeyh fails to expand on what he meant by “cult-like” and “totalitarian,” an interview with US State Department-run Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty reported that a MEK Camp Ashraf escapee claimed the terrorist organization bans marriage, using radios, the Internet, and holds many members… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
Reza Jabali Sadeghi, Brussels, June 08 2019:… Dear Minister Koen Geens, The MEK’s 40-year record of behaviour does not substantiate its capability or intention to be democratic. Internally, the MEK run their organization autocratically, suppressing dissent and eschewing tolerance of differing viewpoints and they have no respect for the rule of law. Rajavi, who heads the MEK’s political and military… Giuliani’s Cuckoo Praise for Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)
