Kaveh Farrokh<\/p>\n
Below is a recent article of Dr. Sheda Vasseghi (April 29, 2018) posted in Evakdat in which she discusses a document written by a well-informed CIA official (whose name has now been redacted from the original document). As cited by Vasseghi in her article below:
\n\u201cIn the CIA Memo, the author claimed that the CIA tends to be \u201calert and responsive to official changes in the names of \u200bindividual political entities.\u201d\u00a0
\nHowever, when it comes to Ardeshir Zahedi (Montreux, Switzerland), May 25, 2018, geographic terms, the CIA adheres \u201cto usages that are imprecise, egocentric, and anachronistic\u201c. \u2026 According to the CIA Memo, terms such as \u201cthe Middle East\u201d are, and always were, imprecise and egocentric given they reflect \u201cthe world as viewed from London and western Europe.\u201d\u00a0 The [CIA] author is alarmed at how widespread the usage of these imprecise terms among the intellectual circles were, including as part of titles for respected publications such as The Middle East Journal.
\nKindly note that readers are also referred to the article by Dr. Mohammad Ala (Recipient of the 2013 Grand Prix Film Italia Award) entitled:
\nThe \u201cMiddle East\u201d: A 20th Century Neologism Or Malapropisms?<\/p>\n
In connection with below-linked article Farrokh & Vasseghi (2017) on the 20th century \u201cinvented term\u201d\u2014the Middle East\u2014one may refer to a declassified, internal memo by the CIA\u2019s Office of Basic and Geographic Intelligence (OBGI) to Deputy Director for Intelligence dated February 26, 1973 (the \u201cCIA Memo\u201d), in which the author, whose identity is redacted, noted his \u201cstrong aversion\u201d to the use of the term \u201cthe Middle East.\u201d
\nIn the CIA Memo, the author claimed that the CIA tends to be \u201calert and responsive to official changes in the names of individual political entities.\u201d\u00a0 However, when it comes to geographic terms, the CIA adheres \u201cto usages that are imprecise, egocentric, and anachronistic.\u201d\u00a0 One of the common ways in which the CIA ignores precise geographical names is by \u201cthe use of longitudinal compass directions as nouns\u201d (emphasis in original).
\nThe term \u201cMiddle East\u201d was first invented by Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914). Mahan\u2019s invention first appeared in the September 1902 issue of London\u2019s monthly \u201cNational review\u201d in an article entitled \u201cThe Persian Gulf and International Relations\u201d. Specifically, Mahan wrote: \u201cThe Middle East, if I may adopt the term which I have not seen\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 The term \u2013 \u201cMiddle East\u201d \u2013 when examined in cultural, anthropological and cultural terms makes very little sense. Iran and Turkey for example are not Arab countries and in fact share a long-standing Turco-Iranian or Persianate civilization distinct from the Arabo-Islamic dynamic. Instead, the Turks and Iranians have strong ties to the Caucasus and Central Asia.
\nAccording to the CIA Memo, terms such as \u201cthe Middle East\u201d are, and always were, imprecise and egocentric given they reflect \u201cthe world as viewed from London and western Europe.\u201d\u00a0 The author is alarmed at how widespread the usage of these imprecise terms among the intellectual circles were, including as part of titles for respected publications such as The Middle East Journal.
\nThe author of the CIA Memo is concerned with how those in the field of intelligence defend the use of imprecise geographic terms by arguing that everyone knows to what location one is referring when, for example, one says, \u201cthe Middle East,\u201d so why worry about it.\u00a0 Further, correcting such terms may cause confusion and inconvenience!\u00a0 The author responded to these officers by reminding them that as responsible leaders in the intelligence community, they \u201cshould always strive to be practitioners of precision\u201d in written materials.
\nMahan\u2019s invented term \u201cMiddle East\u201d was popularized by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol (1852-1929), a journalist designated as \u201ca special correspondent from Tehran\u201d by The Times newspaper. Chirol\u2019s seminal article \u201cThe Middle Eastern Question\u201d expanded Mahan\u2019s version of the \u201cMiddle East\u201d to now include \u201cPersia, Iraq, the east coast of Arabia, Afghanistan, and Tibet\u201d. Surprised? Yes, you read correctly -Tibet! The term Middle East was (and is) a colonial construct used to delineate British (and now West European and US) geopolitical and economic interests. These same interests help promote the usage of terminology such as \u201cIslamic arts and architecture\u201d\u00a0 (Image: Ria Press).
\n\u00a0As examples of changing how these officers think and write, the author of the CIA Memo encouraged them to substitute imprecise terms for accurate ones as listed in the chart below:<\/p>\n
Imprecise and Improper Terms Accurate and Refined Terms
\nthe Far East East Asiathe Middle\u060c East deadlock<\/p>\n
the Arab-Israeli deadlockth\u00a0industrial West the non-Communist industrial nations
\nthe Near East<\/p>\n
the Eastern Mediterranean the Middle East the Persian Gulf states<\/p>\n
Mahan and Chirol\u2019s invention (Middle East) provided the geopolitical terminology required to rationally organize the expansion of British political, military and economic interests into the Persian Gulf region. After the First World War, Winston Churchill (1874-1965) became the head of the newly established \u201cMiddle East Department\u201d.\u00a0 Churchill\u2019s department redefined Mahan\u2019s original \u201cThe Middle East\u201d invention to now include the Suez Canal, the Sinai, the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the newly created states of Iraq, Palestine, and Trans-Jordan. Tibet and Afghanistan were now excluded from London\u2019s Middle East grouping. The decision to include non-Arab Iran as a member of the \u201cMiddle East\u201d in 1942 was to rationalize the role of British political and Petroleum interests in the country (Image: Wikipedia).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kaveh Farrokh Below is a recent article of Dr. Sheda Vasseghi (April 29, 2018) posted in Evakdat in which she discusses a document written by a well-informed CIA official (whose name has now been redacted from the original document). As cited by Vasseghi in her article below: \u201cIn the CIA Memo, the author claimed that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-phart"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}