Napoleon Bonaparte once said…

I have made all the calculations. Fate will do the rest!

All those who are lately wondering in Greek blogs and websites must have noticed that conspiracy theories -related to Greece’s financial situation- are flourishing. Their funs are often base their arguments on a famous quote of “The Brave New World” writer; Aldus Huxley whoso motto claims that “the greatest secrets are always hidden in the openness.” Although these words entail some wisdom, they do not constitute a panacea and therefore we should review the general framework of the present conspiracy mania.

What actually made me more suspicious with regard to conspiracy theories is the popularity they enjoy in the Arab World. For many Arabs every calamity in this world is nothing but a result of the Zionist and American imperialistic aggression. Some of them are as obsessed as to deny to see any link whatsoever between the Arab Spring and the bloodshed in Syria with domestic chronic malfunctions and the determination of an authoritarian regime to defend its “vested achievements” until the last drop of blood of the last anonymous citizen. No, it is just the implementation of an evil plan masterminded by a handful of Mossad super-agents; people as competent as to mobilize and send thousands of citizens to face bullets every Friday. Because, it is indeed impossible to discuss and refute every single conspiracy theory that is being circulated in Damascus and Athens I will try to address the issue allegorically. In this context, I will remind you, in as few lines as possible, the contemporary history of a great country, with long history, distinct cultural identity and undoubted mineral wealth. No, I am not referring to Greece, I am referring to Iran.

Both in Athens and Tehran conspiracy theory followers have a big audience, and that is partly because both cities once became the theatre of true conspiracies. Just like John Fatseas, a Greek origin American CIA agent, was preparing with his Greek friend Georgios Papadopoulos, a right wing Greek officer, the “successful” military coup of 1967, similarly a number of British agents planned and managed in 1953 to topple the democratically elected leader of Iran; Mohammad Mosaddegh.

Iran during World War 2 was under a “soft” double occupation; British and Soviet. And that was because its leaders found it irrational to say NO* when the Allies requested to secure Iran’s neutrality and all of a “sudden” to control its railway network. Iranians were never particularly proud for this period and in this respect when their “friends” were gone they elected Mosaddegh as prime minister. The latter attempted to nationalize the Anglo Iranian Petroleum Company. Against this “arrogant” and “irresponsible” stance Americans and British implemented the so called operation “Ajax” which was nothing but a “nation saving” coup which gave the reins of power to the Shah and all of a “sudden”the oil to the West. A basic ingredient of the successful aforementioned conspiracy is that it became quickly known although it was organized by a small group of people and it took place in an era without TV and Internet. Given that, do you really believe that if a similar operation was underway somewhere today could preserve its confidentiality?

Before continuing this short historic review of contemporary Iran I have to underpin that this state, which valued so much for the West not only from a financial perspective (mineral wealth) but also from a geopolitical one (located next to the south border of the former USSR), kept developing steadily. In short amid the 70s Shah’s regime enjoyed the real support (or tolerance) of every single member of the UN Security Council**. In addition to that the Iranian leader had 400,000 security personnel at his disposal. Moreover, one of his most outspoken critics was not even in the country itself; Khomeini was in exile since 1964. Thus, against all odds, the Iranian people stood up in 1978. Despite the absence of Facebook, huge rallies were organized against the Shah on a 100% domestic issues agenda. Neither his guardians, nor his Western allies were able to repel the masses who demanded Khomeini’s return and the unconditional restoration of Iran’s national independence and pride.

Dozens of analysts and specialists have since tried to address convincingly the inertia that stigmatized Shah’s military. Were they cowards or pawns of an even wider conspiracy? This is probably not the case, since they were largely the same men on whom the army of the nascent Islamic Republic of Iran relied on in order to fight Iraq’s forces in the next 8 years; the longest military confrontation of the 20^th century. As it is widely known, the coup which brought Saddam to power took place only a few months after the return of Khomeini in his homeland. And not long after that, Baghdad’s new dictator used his recently acquired weaponry, mainly imported by the US and Pinochet’s Chile, against Tehran’s new rulers, but to no avail for Iran stood firm.

One of the basic conclusions of this short narrative rests on the idea that peoples so long as they are willing to; they are capable of overcoming not only imaginary, but even real conspiracies. Because as the mastermind of the Holy Alliance, Klemens von Metternich, once said “any plan conceived in moderation must fail when the circumstances are set in extremes.”

In short, I do not know if the spray us, but even if they do the problem is not there.The problem rests on us who have seen our constitution being raped and disfigured and we do not really react. All of us know what the last article commands*** but we do still stay inactive although nobody has really taken from us the ability to protest. What do we do? We wait and pray for our …bank savings. We are not passive my friend, we are pathetic! And what is the best alibi for somebody who does not want to resist? Conspiracy theories, for they usually come with an “invincible” enemy.

Jews, Masons, Satanists, the Loch Ness monster, the lost Brigade of Zion, the Phantom of the Opera and the rest of the notorious gang who make us stick to our couches even though …every single of us claims to be ready to repeat Leonidas’s paradigm. Of course, we will do that only in pure terms, meaning that we won’t “fight” along with those who do not “deserve” to be in our ranks. And who are they? They are the communists, the extreme rightists, the anarchists, the provocateurs, the civil servants, the TV hypocrites, the mainstream journalists and above all our …guilty mirrored reflection. Unfortunately the “Spartans” are all dead, but their absence is nothing but a convenient excuse in order to squander all our energy on a keyboard or against a TV screen without even demanding effectively and decisively the least; snap elections in order to speak up our voice. We don’t, because freedom goes together with responsibility and we hate responsibility. Because we are neither “Communists”, nor “Fascists”, we are …MALAKES****.

* At this point, it is necessary to remind you that on October 28, 1940 the Italian ambassador in Athens submitted a similar request to the Greek government. Mussolini was kindly asking to guarantee Greece’s neutrality by demanding free passage of his troops within Greek territory. Metaxas replied NO, and that brought Greece into war.

** Fred Halliday, The Middle East in International Relations, Power, Politics and Ideology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 1.

*** The last article of the Greek Constitution claims that its compliance lies on the patriotism of Greeks who should and must resist with any means possible against those who try to abolish it.

**** The vice president of the Greek government Theodoros Pagalos, grandson of Greece’s first dictator, recently stated that the “Indignant Movement” consisted of Communists, Facists and Malakes (infamous Greek swear which literally means “wankers”).