Orientalist knowledge became enlisted in Cold War counterinsurgency and national-security manipulation

Evidence

The upshot of this propaganda is that few in the media challenged the King hearings, giving credence to the notion that Muslims are in fact being “radicalized” and need to be questioned and monitored in ways similar to the “reds” in the Cold War era. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 559 (#expands, via linked claim)

In the context of the Cold War, the United States had two objectives in the Middle East: to control the flow of oil and to keep the Soviet Union out. After an initial period when it tried to bring radical secular nationalists into the fold, it turned against them. This meant cultivating all forces that could counter radical secular nationalism and communism. At the top of this list were the Islamists. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 219 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Harvard’s center steered Orientalism toward Cold War area-studies policy; American Cold War strategy cultivated Islamists against secular nationalism — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 219; Unchallenged propaganda legitimized monitoring Muslims like Cold War reds — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 559 (+8 more)

Related

• The government sponsored Orientalist conferences to weaponize religion (similarity 0.84)
• Eisenhower’s doctrine secretly armed Islamist groups against secular nationalists. (similarity 0.84)
• US cold-war strategy deliberately weaponized religion against nationalism and communism in Muslim regions (similarity 0.83)
• Postwar US Middle East studies was born as a national-security policy apparatus (similarity 0.82)
• Neocons deliberately leveraged academic Orientalist authority to sanction their wars (similarity 0.82)
• Cold War counterinsurgency logic fused foreign and domestic Arab threats (similarity 0.82)
• Cold War policy sciences retooled Orientalist stereotypes for national-security manipulation (similarity 0.82)
• The 1958 National Defense Education Act enlisted universities in Cold War empire (similarity 0.82)
• Cold War language programs reframed Arabic study as a propaganda and policy tool (similarity 0.82)
• Cold War legislation mobilized US universities to produce imperial knowledge (similarity 0.82)
• Cold War-era policymakers reframed Oriental studies as an instrument of geopolitical management. (similarity 0.81)
• Key Islamophobic organizations trace their lineage to Cold War-era neocons (similarity 0.81)
• Foundations and state built area studies to serve Cold War empire (similarity 0.81)
• Fear of Soviet alignment drove early US pressures on Muslim-majority nationalists (similarity 0.81)
• American Cold War strategy cultivated Islamists against secular nationalism (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Harvard’s center steered Orientalism toward Cold War area-studies policy #corroborates (0.95)
• Unchallenged propaganda legitimized monitoring Muslims like Cold War reds #expands (0.82) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 559
• American Cold War strategy cultivated Islamists against secular nationalism #complicates (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 219
• US facilitated Muslim violence when it served Cold War interests #expands (0.72) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 288