I Know I am Very Attractive – A Neurotic Angel

 

Who are you attractive to? – An Evil Young Woman

The two women who played impacted my life in the last three years seemed to be like two sides of the same coin. Both never met but both said the same of each other. Both completed a wise saying.

First was the Neurotic Angel who liked to tell people, “I know I am very attractive.” She first said this to me during our first meeting, where I noticed that she had a strange talent for being as cute as a twisted Pikachu which meant that she could say the most mundane of things that made me melt like jelly and this was one of her key phrases.

The second is the Evil Young Woman, whom, when I told her that I had been to a meeting where I met a woman who played with her hair as we chatted, quipped “Attracted to you – must be crazy – all your women are crazy.” Which led to the second part of the quip of “Who are you attractive to?”

I bring up these two ladies up because I’ve realized that most of us focus on one key question. We worry if you are attractive, whether its attractive to romantic, business or other sorts of partners.

Societies have a way of setting certain standards and just about everyone tries very hard to meet said standards. If I take Singapore as an example, women struggle very hard to look perfect in a Cheong Sam or a Sarong Kabaya as depicted by the SQ Girl. The Singaporean man then struggles very hard to work for a multinational or the government to show that he’s attractive.

However, thanks to the internet, all of us are attractive. A majority of us accept that we are at best, average in terms of our attractiveness. Yet, there is a special minority that doesn’t content itself with being average and moves to places where they’re considered attractive – look at every white expat in Asia as an example. I still remember one of my BFF’s asked “Wouldn’t you move to a place where being short, fat, bald or all of it, was the criterion for the locals to throw themselves at you?”

I noticed it with one of my favourite tribes – cuddly girls. One of the main characters in this tribe is Flesh Ball, whom all my guy friends looked at and asked “What’s the opposite of an erection -we’re getting one looking at her?” Well, not quite – I had one friend who looks like a Bollywood actor who looked at her and asked “Who is she brother – she is chubby but VERY pretty.”

 

 

This guy was at the time of meeting my friend, married to a woman whom he descried as “a little bit fat.” The word “Little” was understatement of the year and the fact that he was in lust with Flesh Ball proved that his first wife was definitely not a one off.

So, not all of us like the same thing. I grew up on Baywatch and so the ideal woman’s body was a generous chest, slender waist and long legs. However, while I realise that my taste was relatively main stream, my friend showed me that in his community, pretty was rather different.

So, just because someone isn’t appreciated in one community, it doesn’t mean that they won’t be appreciated in another. As my friend said “Wouldn’t you move to a place where being bald was a sex-signal?”

I look at the women around me and I believe its only right for me to bring them to places where they’ll loved for being who they are. When I had a diplomatic function, I brought someone who personified elegance. When I had an African event, I got the Cuddly Tribe to come along. I had to drag the Pillow to the event with the remarks “You’ll be VERY popular here.” Flesh Ball thinks I am an a***hole but my point being – why shouldn’t I bring the Pillow and the Cuddlies to places where they’ll be an instant hit.

All of us have a certain market, whether its ethnic or religious or even based on the same hobby. It was, for example the Indian nationals who gave me work when I was down. So, I learnt to eat briyani with my hands. My only time doing government level work was with Saudi Arabia, so it made sense for me to greet men from that part of the world with a kiss. My market was pointing a certain way and so I adapted in that direction. Instead of trying to fit into a mainstream that doesn’t appreciate you – look for one where you’ll be a hit.

F***ed Through No Fault of Your Own

 

The big news is that True Fitness, one of Singapore’s prominent fitness companies has just shut down abruptly. People have suddenly found themselves out of a job and the chatter is about how people are going to get on. The story can be found at:

https://theindependent.sg/singapore-customers-face-s-609k-losses-after-true-fitness-true-yoga-closures-including-those-who-paid-lifetime-membership-up-to-s-21k/

 

 

I’m going to leave the story of the collapse of True Fitness to cleverer people that myself. I will, however, like talk a little about being thrown out of work. Whilst I have been in a “steady” job for the last 14-years, I deal with the issue of unemployment on a regular enough basis. Prior to that, I worked freelance for the most the time, which meant that I was out of work and out of money for stretches of time.

Let’s start with the obvious – the mindset. Retrenchment and unemployment can happen to you, regardless of where you work and what role you play. This is especially true for people in white collar jobs who once saw “innovation” as the thing that only happened to blue collar workers. Machinery made it such that we needed less hands on the farms and then on the factory floor. It wasn’t supposed to happen to people sitting in offices – doing what we called “brain” work. However, innovation has no longer just reducing the need for manpower on the factory floor. Thanks to AI, innovation has now entered the office. If your skill was writing minutes or doing simple data entry, you better start expecting a pink slip. AI can write minutes or analyse bank statements better than the most qualified human being.

Once you adjust your mind to the fact that you can get kicked out of work, you then prepare for it.

Firstly, you except that you can get the sack, you then prepare for it. What do you need to prepare for?

Essentially, it’s about ensuring that you have enough “f*** you money” in the bank in the event that things go wrong. A case of having enough money coming in and managing the money going out.

First priority is to look after your health. Unemployment is inevitably stressful and the body does get worn down. Hospital bills are costly and there’s nothing worse than being stressed out and not getting any money. For me, I discovered exercise in my late forties partially because it was cheaper to run or pump for two hours a night than say, pay a couple of hundred at the doctors. Being a 50 something year old who trains regularly has allowed me t stay relatively active, something which anyone who is unemployed needs to do.

The second point about being unemployed is to stay busy. Depression sets in easily and as they say “Idle Minds are the Devils Workshop.” The best way to keep busy is to find something that gives you a bit of pocket money until you find an alternative source of income or something that turns your liabilities into income generating assets. I’ve actually advised someone who owns a car and has lost three jobs in the space of a year to become a Grab driver. She owns a car and should she take on the task, the car that is costing her monthly becomes something that earns her money.

Then, there’s education and training. The Singapore government has been big into getting people into training courses so that they can switch job scopes or even industries. The reality of work these days is that industries change. As such, one cannot hope to stay in the same job forever. I went from media relations to insolvency. It wasn’t that I lost skills, I just used them in different context (angry creditors instead of press people).

Finally, one needs to remember to put money aside. A cash cushion always helps when the income stops. The standard rule of thumb is to have at least six months to a year stashed in the bank.

Retrenchment and unemployment are unpleasant. However, if you are prepared for it, such things can be considerably better.       

UKHarv and We as in America

 This Saturday, I had the good fortune of attending the “Straits Connect” event which was organized by the “Indian ScholarsAssociation.” This was gathering of high-powered individuals who had been invited to share their views on various topics.

One of the major highlights was a discussion on geopolitics, which was moderated by Singapore’s most famous diplomat, Professor Kishore Mabhubani. The speakers were H.E Dr. Shilpak Ambule, the High Commissioner of India to Singapore, H.E Mr. Paul Thoppil, the High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore and H.E. Mr. Nikesh Metha, the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Singapore.

 

 

 The quip that all the excellencies made was that this was a gathering of four diplomats, representing four different nations and all of them were off Indian origin. Then one of them joked that all they needed was the presence of H.E. Dr. Anjani Sinha, the American Ambassador to make it lucky number five.

The discussion was intellectually stimulating. You could say that Professor Mahbubani is Singapore’s most famous “intellectual,” and as someone of a high level of intellect, he would ensure that his discussions would be of that level.

However, I do believe the fact that we had four diplomats representing four different countries being of Indian origin was particularly significant in that it was a story of “integration,” specifically in the case of H.E PaulThoppil and H.E. Nikesh Metha, who are from countries where they are “ethnic minorities.” Had H.E Anjani Sinha been there, that point would have been even more significant especially if you consider the fact that he’s appointed by the Trump Administration, an Administration that isn’t exactly known for being friendly to ethnic minorities.

The fact that these men stood on stage representing their countries outlines a major difference that I have noticed in how “ethnicity” is perceived in Asia versus how its perceived in the West.

I am writing from Singapore. A place that has on average, a pretty good record in managing ethnic relations. Singapore has not had a racial riot since 6 June 1969. Successive Singapore governments have gone out of their way to point out that Singapore is “multiethnic,” and “multireligious” and anyone who posts anything gives a hint of anything that has a hint of stirring up communal tension. Singapore makes a big deal about “race” but has justified argument in saying that its ensured that no particular ethnic or religious group takes over an entire estate.

We do not have ghettos like Harlem (the joke in the James Bond movie “Live and Let Die,” is that following James Bond is like following a “cueball.”). We’ve not had riots between communities. Singaporeans, regardless of race, somehow get along. I think of a recent lunch break where I and another colleague had Indian food whereas an Indian colleague had chicken rice.

Yet, whilst the state of ethnic and other communal relations in Singapore and much of Asia might seem like something to be envied, a lot of it does seem manufactured. Talk about who gets the top job for example. Its been voiced by the government that “The Public is NOT READY for a Non-Chinese.” – Hence anyone from an ethnic minority with political ambitions should forget about running for Prime Minister anytime soon.

Whilst there’s no “overt nastiness,” in ethnic relations, a good portion of the population have a problem seeing certain communities beyond certain professions and that’s just in Singapore where we’ve had 60 over years of “nation building.”

I’m not saying that its great in West. The George Floyd murder and the subsequent riots show that there are deep fault lines. Yet, whenever is said of Western societies, once an ethnic minority is “integrated,” they are truly integrated and accepted. I think of a former client who is of Gujarati decent. He ended up having to stress a thousand times that he was “American,” because there was enough talk about him being considered a “Mamak with an accent.” Likewise with another Punjabi friend who had to put “UK” on his email address.

Talk to enough people in Asia and there is still a mentality that certain nationalities are equated to certain ethnicities and when there’s talk about “your own kind,” in generally means the people who look like you. The examples I gave are actually small. On the international stage, the Americans once appointed “Gary Locke” as Ambassador to China. Mr. Locke is ethnic Chinese but he is the American Ambassador. The Chinese had issues with him having his main loyalty to “America.” Australia’s foreign minister, PennyWong faces similar issues when she travels to Beijing.

I think back to the time when Rishi Sunak took over as Prime Minister of the UK. The entire Indian press corps was very excited by that – so excited that one British commentator had to make the point that “he’s becoming Prime Minister of the UK, not Prime Minister of India.”

The establishment in the West has somehow made it such that ethnicity has become a non-issue” for those who have blended into the system. The major issue against Mr. Sunak was his lack of “working class” friends than the colour of his skin.

So, how does one manage ethnic relations? It’s a topic that deserves a study on its own. Coming from Singapore, I do see an argument for a certain amount of “management,” but there needs to be a point where one just has to move ethnicity out of the public discourse until it’s a non-issue. In a way, there is some amount of optimism, even in the age of Trump. I think of the Straits Connect event which was organized by the Indian Scholars Association. The majority of people were Indian nationals, of the community being “PiyushGupta,” former CEO of DBS Bank. Yet the man who brought everyone to standing ovation – Dr. Jack Sim, a local Singapore Chinese.      

A Successful Number Two Beats being a Mediocre Number One.

 

Zhu Rongji, China’s former Prime Minister has died at the age of 97. The great and the good from around the world are pouring in their tributes and I’ve made a point that as a kid growing up in the West, Mr. Zhu was something of an icon for me. He was the one leader from “my” part of the world who was doing things to make an impact for the better. When I was at school and in national service, he was rising up and sorting out the kinks in the Chinese economy. When I went back to the UK for university, a time when Asian economies were collapsing, Mr. Zhu stood out as a stable force in China. A list of Mr. Zhu’s tributes can be seen in this obituary from the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong:

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3363824/zhu-rongji-reformer-who-led-chinas-economic-transformation-through-minefield-or-abyss

 

 As a Singaporean of Chinese ancestry, it’s always interesting to observe the relationship between the nation of my birth and the nation of my forefathers. To us, China is now being sold as the land of opportunity. To the Chinese, specifically those in power, Singapore is the text book on how to generate enough wealth to the extent that your citizens don’t ask for political freedoms. In a way, Singapore has made “authoritarianism” cool and the Chinese have actually proven to be very good students of this form of “Cool.” I used to attend School of South Asian Studies (SAS) talks where you’d have plenty of Indian academics complaining about China and then a number of Indian students saying “why are we complaining – look them and look at us.”

If you look at this Sino-Singapore relationship, you could say that Mr. Zhu was like a prominent Singaporean politician – Goh Keng Swee, our former Deputy Prime Minister and the man who actually built the institutions that made Singapore what it is today. Mr. Goh actually built the nation and then, suddenly in 1984, retired and was never of until his death. In world filled with “iconic” leaders stamping their mark in history, Mr. Zhu stands out as someone who faded away until his death. Ironically, history may judge Mr. Zhu by what he didn’t do rather than what he did. Never gave interviews, wrote articles for foreign publications or joined the lecture circuit.

If you look at both Mr. Zhu and Mr. Goh, you’ll realise that what made them so successful is that they were masters of “boss management,” a skill that is not taught in any leadership or business school. If I look back at the leadership training I received, it was the then School Sargeant-Major of what was then called SISPEC telling us “Just be diplomatic with your OC’s.” This being after two months of training to “lead men.”

Mr. Goh never eyed the top job. That belonged to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Mr. Goh was nowhere to be seen or heard when Mr. Lee was branding the Singapore story as his story. As such, Mr. Lee allowed Mr. Goh to get on with it. He kept the politics off Mr. Goh’s back and when the institutions built by Mr. Goh proved to be successful, Mr. Lee ended up looking pretty darn good.

Likewise, the same happened in China. Mr. Zhu became Prime Minister and understood that he was subordinate to a President in the shape of Mr. Jiang. As long as he didn’t threaten Mr. Jiang’s position, he could get Mr. Jiang to do the things that he needed to get Mr. Jiang to do. When he got things done, it actually reflected well on Mr. Jiang and the virtuous cycle continued.

Think about it. If you look at the USA, you’ll find that successful Vice President’s inevitably were so, because they never had Presidential ambitions, which meant that the president could let them do things. Clearest example being the late Dick Chenny, who as vice president pretty much ran the administration.

Call it a case of understanding that being a successful number two is better than being a mediocre number one. We give the glory to the number one. It’s called the “Bush Administration,” and not the “Chenny Administration,” even if it was Dick Chenny who played a key role in key policies. In the case of Mr. Chenny, he was lucky – the failure of the Iraq War had a scape goat – his boss. In the case of Mr. Zhu and Mr. Goh, they waited to get the credit for their actual work when they died. To many of us get greedy for instant glory. We want to be recognised straight away. In many ways, we’re taught that no point being good if nobody recognises and thus rewards you for it.

For the likes of Mr. Goh and Mr. Zhu, being the front man was potentially dangerous and they left the political battles to their boss’s. Top dogs have a way of being very insecure of their position. Staying in power becomes the most important mission rather than serving the institution they were supposed to serve. Both Mr. Goh and Mr. Zhu never gave any public speeches after their time in office. Their boss’s and successors never needed to pick a fight with them. Both men knew their strength was in doing the work not in doing the fights. Mr. Zhu was infamously straight forward, a bit too straight forward for political fights.

We’re always taught to look up or to climb the ladder. What we’re taught is that sometimes staying away from the top job and being a successful number two can be better for your overall legacy.  

We The Citizens

 

It was Singapore’s 61^st birthday on Sunday, and like the good patriotic Singaporean that everyone turns into at this time of the year, I thought I’d try and bash out my thoughts and feelings about being a Singaporean.

OK, I’m from what they call “Gen-X,” and as a newly made middle-aged person, I get the perspective of having seen some interesting transactions. Unlike my parents, I was born in a Singapore that was never a crown colony or one of the Malaysian states. As such, I don’t have any particular emotional attachment to being “Singaporean.” My mum, in particular gets very passionate about being “Singaporeans of Chinese descent,” whereas I am more willing to claim being “Chinese born in Singapore.” A part of it could be because I grew up in the UK and telling people “Chinese” was easier than Singaporeans (Can’t miss China on the map, but you can miss Singapore.”)

However, being a Singapore citizen of Chinese descent had certain perks. As at the time of writing, Singapore has the most powerful passport in the world. We can travel to more countries anywhere visa-free than anyone else. A case of Western countries assume you’ll go home because you have a decent job and Asian countries still treating you as Asian enough not to want to shake you down by making you get a visa on arrival:

 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7492785486696972289/ 

 At school, my passport was particularly significant in as much as I wasn’t like the Chinese that most people imagined. My Dad was living in what they would have considered the “third-world,” but paying for me to be in the UK rather than flying me to the UK as refugee. Plus, my family income came from elsewhere – dad did not run a laundromat or a take away, which was the standard business that everyone expected the Chinese to be in.

More importantly, I came from a country that speaks English and so fitting into the UK wasn’t exactly a challenge.

So, in a way, being a Singaporean growing up in the UK wasn’t exactly a challenge. Sure, I looked a little different but other than the obvious, I was actually part and parcel of the scenery. As such, my relationship with the Western world isn’t the same as a guy whose dad ran the local take away or if I had come from the mainland where English came as something imposed by the school and the demands of international business rather than as something natural.

The other part about being a Singaporean growing up in the UK was the fact that my vision of Asia wasn’t what was taught in schools. Your text books tell you that certain parts of the world are “poor” by design but when you go home, you find that you have certain technologies that don’t exist in the Western world – the clearest example being everyone had moved to laser disk in Singapore when most of the West was still on VHS.

Even from the perspective of someone worried about the day when I can’t work anymore, Singapore is strangely comfortable in so many ways. I eat out quite often, which simply wouldn’t be the case in the west. I have access to a gym that only costs me S$2.50 per entry. I walk along the beach most nights and as a dad to a teenage girl, not worrying about her hanging out late was priceless.

I think Singapore’s food scene expresses Singapore at its best. I used to work in a French-Italian restaurant eating great pasta and then going out with my chef to have oyster omelette or roti prata or satay.

 https://www.tiktok.com/@tang.li0/video/7671850791782698247

 Singapore measures up pretty darn well compared to many places. We haven’t had anything as divisive as a Trump or Brexit and I am grateful that I live in a place where toxic politics hasn’t affected the basic social scene.

Yet, having said that, Singapore is by no means perfect. Its tough being a freelance entrepreneur here. Whenever you think you’ve made a move ahead, the powers that be inevitably will chose a foreign multinational over you. As such, I have greatest pride in my freelance days because it wasn’t just being a guppy against a shark but a situation where the ocean literally conspired with the sharks.

Yet, for all that, my two biggest worries remain the fate of old people and dark-skinned migrant workers. Go to any coffee shop and you’ll notice that its these two demographics doing the back breaking work that actually makes Singapore the clean and green paradise that it is.

The fate of old people in particular is interestingly worrying. You see the old and frail doing back breaking work in the hawker centre while the young and fit stand over them. I mentioned that in a Linkedin post recently and funnily enough, you get allot of comments about – “oh, they’re doing it because they’re bored,” or the government’s favourite – “exercise.”

Yet, at the same time as you see more of the frail doing back breaking work, corporate ageism becomes a normal thing. Anyone in their late forties with an office job, hangs onto it for dear life because, quite frankly, that’s probably the last job they’re ever going to get.

Sure, we measure up very well against most places. However, we do need to ask ourselves if these foundations are solid. How long can we use imported labour to mask things when a segment of our workforce is discarded easily? How long can we rely on poor neighbours to do heavy lifting as these countries become “must have” markets for the international investment community? We’ve done well but we need to go back and check the system and correct things whilst we still have the chance.  

The Red Card

 You have to hand it to Donald Trump for making being shameless into an art form. Mr. Trump has built a very successful career by claiming certain things and the moment he gets called out, he complains that the world is against him. The man made himself everyone’s ideal of a tycoon by playing a tycoon on TV. The world got so worked up with him being a “rich” and “self-made” man but didn’t notice that his career in business ended up sending businesses through bankruptcy courts the way most people ended up going through the revolving doors of hotels.

Mr. Trump used this playbook when he moved into politics, with a twist. His message was simple – every problem you have is someone else’s fault and I’ll keep them out. A certain demographic ate it up. His next great move was even better; he announced that he was going to win and any defeat was “rigged.”

To Mr. Trump’s credit, this has been very successful. He won his first election and if you look at things through the eyes of COVID and Mr. Trump’s mismanagement of COVID, he still managed to get 74 million votes too many and he came back and won in 2024. Whatever one might think, Mr. Trump has been successful despite not selling any form of facts.

The latest scam came from a red card, when Donald Trump called up FIFA President, Gianni Infanto to “look at” a red card that was issued to the US’s star striker, Florian Balogun. Mr. Trump says he never actually made a call to tell Mr. Infanto what to do. However, one might point out that when the US President calls you to “look into” something, its pretty much an order.

Much has been said about this. My main point is that, its “sad” and very “pathetic” that a head of state and government should be calling the head of a sports governing body to get them to “look into” a decision made by a referee in a game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZBJj9IPVvE

 

To put it crudely, this is an embarrassment for both FIFA and the US President. So, how did this play out. Well, it happened on the field. The US got four to one drubbing.

Mr. Trump has been notably silent now. Not said anything about a “rigged” game. There is one problem for Mr. Trump – everything happened on the field. Every moment of the game was seen by the 60 plus thousand spectators and that’s before you take into account the numbers who watched the game on TV. You can’t claim things were “hidden” or “rigged.”

Mr Trump may be able to convince people that he’s a victimised blob in his political career. Thankfully he can’t pull that off in the sporting world.

Holy Book Messaging

 Whatever one may think of Donald Trump, you have to credit him for doing the impossible. Ever since he started the war against Iran on 28 February of 20226, he’s somehow managed to transform the image of the regime in Iran in ways that the world’s top PR specialist could never dream on.

Let’s start with the obvious point. Nobody has ever accused the clerical regime in Iran of having any measure of humour. I’m old enough to remember when Salman Rushdie wrote the “Satanic Verses.” The book had the effect of “P***ing off” Muslim communities around the world and cities like Bradford and Birmingham were up in arms. Then came Iran’s then “Supreme Leader,” the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who proceeded to offer a million pounds for the death of Mr. Rushdie.

The late Ayatollah scared people. As far as many of us living in the Western influenced world were concerned, he was the very reason why very old men with major religious influence should be kept far away from the levers of power. His regime was so scary that when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in the early 80s, the entire Western world rushed to support Saddam.

Iran’s “Mullahs” had such a bad reputation in anywhere influenced by the West that any opponent looked good by comparison. All of us were trained to think of Iran as a miserable place run by Old Men with no humour.

Fast forward many four decades later and the Mullah’s are now proving themselves to be exceptionally good and messaging. When Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu decided to bomb Iran during Ramadan, they set of a chain of events that has basically upended everything. Sure, Iran has taken the heavier beating. The US and Israel are the superior military force and as Clausewitz says “God is on the side of big battalions.” However, despite being the weaker military force, the Iranians have hit back in a significant enough way for the GCC, which has traditionally looked to America as a protector to rethink things.

More importantly, the Iranians have shown themselves to be much better at basic communications than the US and Israel, two states that have practically invented modern Public Relations. The communications out of Iran has been so good that even people who were brought up to think of Iran as a miserable place are actually applauding them.

The spokespeople on the Iranian side have been measured and rational. Unlike, say Donald Trump, who has been going on TV and talking about how Iran’s capabilities have been totally destroyed as Iran launches strikes against US bases. One can’t help but be reminded of the same lack of communication strategy during Covid, when America’s death toll resembled what of a Hollywood depiction of a third world country than a highly advanced state just as the White House was claiming everything was under control.

Iranian spokespeople by contrast have been rational and dare I say factual, presenting themselves as rational people placed in an unrationed situation.

Contrary of the early days of the Iranian revolution, the regime has been exceptionally good at using humour. One only has to think of the Lego videos mocking Trump and Company:

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=ee96f3d42c6f5c08&sxsrf=APpeQntqcnj5GYJMjRKe3tguaPqgFYtRJQ:1783323904741&udm=2&fbs=ABfTbFVyMZGZf1hfvX9uKjN_-G8cxpBkeIeqYwoCbfNVc4vKE7plZzta63Pe5DpJ3XFR9Xy5hkFmhg6pfO_X-sED2CqEDfLQbWLcDMRztF_yUReEECN6eR27h7XUG7HTKs0ZMau9pzZ8PWvEAZ1RZhElPC707SSNa5IZK4CsuDh2AcdDUBquFGfuiQR6r-b9uQUixL11913Zv_QBThcIwA8L5r_r7jI5Jw&q=iranian+lego+video&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi18vGex72VAxXxU2wGHTZlBjMQtKgLegQIERAB&biw=1280&bih=585&dpr=1.5#sv=CAMSURoyKhBlLTZFdHVJZ2VvTW15eXJNMg42RXR1SWdlb01teXlyTToOV0pHb2tiT3pZQkVpb00gBCoXCgFzEhBlLTZFdHVJZ2VvTW15eXJNGAEwARgHIKX7udYOSggQARgBIAEoAQ

 

 

That’s too the Western Audience and as someone said on Tik Tok, it’s no coincidence that they chose to hold the late Ayatollah Ali Khameni’s funeral on the 4^th of July and America’s 250^th Birthday.

The second bit of propaganda mastery that they’ve displayed was the use of Qur’anic verses that were played for the various delegations that attended. Every delegation, it seems got a verse on the views that the regime must have held towards their guest. Observers could not help but notice that the verses for the delegations from Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthies were noticeably more upbeat that the verses the Saudis and Lebanese government got:

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/irans-funeral-diplomacy-quran-verses-ranked-allies-rivals-and-message-saudi-arabia

Everyone across the Muslim world is paying attention. The conflict has now become about religion or at least the interpretation of it. You cannot say that you were “snubbed” in the traditional sense of the word but they’ve managed to frame their side of the story in religious terms. They can say “we never said anything, it was just a recital from the Holy Book, which we both find sacred.” How the rest of the Islamic World reorganises its relations with Iran is left to be seen.

Iran’s rulers are not nice people in any sense of the word. They are, contrary to their propaganda, not Saintly. However, thanks to this war and the mishandling of communications on the side of the West led by the USA, shown themselves to be very good at the communications aspect. The funeral of the late Ayatollah has been a master stroke of propaganda and not the message of a nation that’s taken a hammering.