Matt’s Reviews > All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror > Status Update
Matt
is 91% done
Operation Ajax [CIA code for the August 1953 coup] taught tyrants and aspiring tyrants there that the world's most powerful governments were willing to tolerate limitless oppression as long as oppressive regimes were friendly to the West and to Western oil companies. That helped tilt the political balance in a vast region away from freedom and toward dictatorship.
— Nov 03, 2026 01:41PM
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Matt’s Previous Updates
Matt
is 73% done
Instead of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, I prefer Two Degrees of Problematic Britain, where virtually any geopolitical disaster can be traced back to the British in two degrees of separation or fewer. Still not entirely sure how Eisenhower was persuaded to support the coup beyond the reductive “communism bad, Soviets will make Iran communist” argument. And, as always, fuck the Dulles brothers.
— Oct 14, 2026 08:32AM
Matt
is 60% done
I have no words for Mossadegh visiting the Liberty Bell in Philly on an impromptu sidequest en route to DC.
— Sep 25, 2026 03:02AM