The refugee residents are boxed in primarily by their information environments that are deeply cordoned, enforced, and sustained by a smorgasbord of powerful handlers — family and state enterprises — whose intentions and power are enforced by violence.

Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh are reported to be billionaires today (Mashaal’s wealth specifically estimated to range between $2.5 and $5 billion). Khamenei’s “Setad” conglomerate, built partially on the theft of Iranian private property belonging to persons that could be targeted by the theokleptocracy, has today an estimated valuation of about $90 billion. The KSA and Qatar elements appear also to have within their range elements resistant to regulation when it comes to “donations” to Hamas or ISIS (reference: http://www.acc-co.com/content.asp?ContentId=598).

So there’s loose money, and most likely, some of that finds its way into “solidarity” type agitprop and anti-Semitic libel.

The head of the “Neturei Karta”, often trotted out by the regime in Iran, was noted to have been paid $50,000 annually by Tehran to have his group do their thing, i.e., Tehran pays to put on an evil show, and the extent to which it maintains or pays agents, whether through Hezbollah or in other organizations, isn’t something I’ve yet found on the web.

Adding post-Soviet totalitarian flavor to this may be Putin’s reversion to a feudal governing model for Russia. The FSB today employs more staff per capita than the old KGB, and following from its KGB roots also promotes state-controlled media and state-based lying. Frankly. Iran’s VEVAK has been also off the radar of the western press, but it too may be overwhelming in scale, at minimum internally to enforce the will of the regime as it exploits the state.

---

As the alternative histories of Gaza and Ramallah, if not other geopolitical space, fractures against histories carefully culled with integrity, the information operations of autocratic states should become more transparent and widely known.  As lies are told to hide things and get things, things that have been hidden nonetheless surface with time and things that have been stolen — including life itself — also come to light in the responsible historian’s accounting.

Reference by Title

“Doha Bank’s branch in New York is fined $5m for AML Non-Compliance” – 4/23/2009

“Report: UK fraud office to probe Barclays, Qatar Holding dealings” – 7/23/2013.

“Neturei Karta, Paid Agent of Israel’s Enemies” – 9/25/2004

“Khamenei controls massive financial empire built on property seizures” – 11/11/2013

Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Wikipedia)

Addendum

Also as regards beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, much in the middle east and elsewhere may be complicated by the separation of loyalty (as to a crime family) and integrity (as to mom, apple pie, and the American way). Nothing’s perfect. However, where the Islamic Small Wars are concerned, whether ‘the masses” or the element in power, many prove that they would rather embrace a loyal lie than attempt to live with an uncomfortable truth. The distillation for this predicament may be “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. The want of survival, literally, life, may make fear of a capricious power a better choice than courage before the same.

# # #