#psychological war

[prinscar]

Luigi trying to psychologically defeat Bowser for good...

Wasn’t there a proverb saying "You haven’t truly defeated an enemy until you've made them your ally"?

[eretzyisrael]

Iran is losing the psychological war they are so proud of

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

The article said:

The Tehran Times doesn’t need to remind the illegitimate regime of Israel of Iran’s defense capabilities. Yet, they need to remember something. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei responded to all Israeli threats in 2013, saying, “Sometimes the leaders of the Zionist regime even threaten us; they are threatening to strike militarily, but I think they know it, and if they do not know it, they must know that if they make a mistake, the Islamic Republic will destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa.” Keep your hands off!

This was published in 2021.

Iran is really good at threats, and not very good at following through. 

Last November, the same regime-linked newspaper reiterated:

As it was said two years ago: Just one wrong move! Attack on Iran, though circulated in the minds of Israeli officials, would be the termination date of the occupying regime. 

This isn't bravery. It is bravado. 

No one wants to see the war expand, but Iran's constant threats to destroy Israel are intended more to frighten the West than to be actual threats. After all, it has now been eight weeks since Israel assassinated the leader of Hamas in a supposedly secure area of Tehran, and eight weeks since Iran threatened a huge retaliation.  

Was that not a "wrong move"?

There have been similar threats from Hezbollah, with article after article about Hezbollah's huge rocket inventory. Again, not to minimize the threat, but both Hezbollah and Iran have a great deal to lose.

Most media ignores the bigger picture. For decades now, Iran has been building up its "axis of resistance" by creating proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, as well as Gaza and the West Bank, to create a "Shiite crescent" to project its power. 

Its goal has always been to become a world superpower. It intends to be the de facto leader of the Muslim world and then to cow other nations into allying with it as well. 

For years, they have tried to make it appear that this goal was inexorable. Their main obstacles are Israel and the US, while Europe has been so focused on stopping aggression that they end up being on Iran's side whether they intend to or not.

If Hamas is destroyed, it is a major setback to their plan. If Hezbollah is decapitated, it changes the entire trajectory of their master plan. 

Israel is sending a message to Iran: We are not frightened of you or your proxies. We are not going to fight the war the way you want or the way you expect. And we have the means to reach you if and when we decide to.

For a long time, Iran regarded their own threats as a major means to cow Israel and the West.  Israel is calling their bluff. 

The Arab nations who are a critical part of Iran's expansionism plans see this, and see who the real strong horse is  - which side is willing to do what is necessary and which side is hiding behind proxies and empty threats. 

The psychological war that Iran wants is happening now, and they are losing badly.

[achilles22hector]

— The 33 Strategies of War, Robert Greene

The 33 Strategies of War is a military history and personal development book. It was written by American author Robert Greene in 2006. It is composed of discussions and examples of offensive and defensive strategies from a wide variety of people and conditions, applying them to social conflicts such as family quarrels and business negotiations.

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Azulaang - psychological war

Aang vs Azula

But this battle is more psychological.

...

Azula remembered that the avatar masters all elements, has knowledge and experience of all nations, Aang managed to defeat Ozai, the man more powerful then herself, Zuko and possibly even Iroh and siphoned his bending with an unknown but unique and powerful type of bending.

Azula was always taught to alley with the most powerful but who could be more powerful then the avatar?

Azula then decides if Zuko cannot rise and rule with fear, perhaps Aang will. With the two of them, they will be the strongest in the entire world, they’d dominate the earth. No one would be able stand against them.

Luckily, she also learned of Aang’s more ruthless aspects and so she uses her smoke and shadow tactics to draw Aang out and tries to bring out the bad in Aang.

Azula will no longer let anything happen to Aang because. She secretly doesn’t want to be alone and longs for someone in her life.

...

Zuko asks Aang for help in finding Azula. Aang uses energybending to track down Azula but he accidentally astral projects into Azula’s mind and got more then what he bargained for. He sees and learns all of her memories, experience, wisdom, skills, knowledge and perspective.

Aang is horrified and distraught on how much Azula suffered growing up, Aang refused to leave her in this broken shell of her former self. Luckily Aang can feel a kinder side of Azula, hidden very deep.

Due to Azula being the descendant of Aang’s predecessor, Roku, Aang entering her mind has left a side effect, they have a strong spiritual bond, which allows them to understand each other on an empathy level, allows them to come closer then they ever have with anyone else, their spirit bond slowly combines with a more intimate bond and as a bonus, Aang would actually know when Azula is lying and vice versa, in a way Toph never even could.

Aang counters Azula’s mind games by actually trying to beat her at her own game and tries to bring out the good in Azula.

Aang won’t let anything happen to Azula because he has this unexplainable need for her to be around.

The two enter a psychological war. Both leave an effect on each other. Push and Pull. But overall, who is the winner?

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Zuko and Azula are more alike then we all realize. Yes they are siblings and are descendants of Avatar Roku and Fire lord Sozin but there's a lot more to it then that.

Both of them are socially inept, both of them are knuckleheads who have to learn lessons the hard way, and both worked hard to make their way and try to gain the respect of their father. And both were nothing more then pawns for Ozai that he had no problem tossing aside. The difference is that Zuko learned to look past his need for his fathers approval but Azula never did and still sees him as a wise and powerful sage to which Zuko would still relate to her on that.

Both had one parent on there side and began to learn from them as a result but where distant by the other and they both questioned on if that distant parent even cares about them (Zuko finally knows the answer but Azula still remains wondering) By "The Search", Zuko realizes that the way he treats his father and sister makes him no different from them and works to better himself in this area, particularly with Azula. In addition; both him and his sister love to be the deadpan snarkier albeit slightly differently (he's got a dry wit while she is much more snarkier.) both of them are intelligent, agile, and strategic; capable of fighting long periods and are amazingly quick thinkers...in addition to having very poor social skills and both having an inferiority superiority complex a mile long.

Another quality they both share is that they have standards and loved ones. For Zuko It's Iroh and Ursa. For Azula, It's Ozai, Mai and Ty lee. She genuinely loves Ty Lee and Mai, though her feelings are twisted due to Ozai's teachings. Aaron Ehasz said that Azula truly does love Zuko, possibly more than she does anyone else in the series, save Ozai; but it's also matched with an intense jealousy of Zuko because he got their mother's attention but Zuko can relate on that too for he once envied the attention Azula had from their father. Despite her smugness, cruelty, and narcissism, Azula is a young girl who wanted to be loved by her mother and trust in her friends and family and is heavily mentally dependent on Ozai. Zuko was emotionally dependent on Ursa and Iroh and desired for Ozai to care about him.

While Azula may be in it deeper. Zuko has some ambiguous disorders himself, Zuko has limited social ability, an obsessive personality ("I must capture the Avatar to restore my honor!"), suffers flashbacks under certain conditions, and has trouble controlling his emotions. But even before the abuse became really nasty, he showed social anxiety and naïveté, and was emotionally dependent on his mother.

At first glance, Zuko and Azula were viewed as these one dimensional secondary antagonists but later show hidden depths although Zuko showed his hidden depths earlier then Azula.

Aside of gaining superiority and threatens Mai and Ty lee. Azula doesn't really treat Mai or Ty lee very harshly at all and she's never killed her subordinates in the series. In fact, even at her craziest, she simply banishes instead of killing.

She seems to appear sadistic, as she smirks when her brother's face burned. However, it wasn't motivated by sadism, but by her emulating her father, her personal issues with her mother and brother, and a value system that the fire nation agreed with She also orders the wardens to stop torturing an innocent prisoner, and left the Kyoshi Warriors unharmed, something sadists would never do.

The context of the hallucinations combined with how badly she takes betrayal such as Mai and Ty Lee's, or when she thought Zuko was angry with her at the beach could heavily imply that despite her tough exterior, Azula may be harboring some massive guilt and remorse about how she acted in the past but only Ozai's teachings and her own ego that manifested from Ozai's praise for her kept her from apologizing for it.

When Zuko returned to the fire nation under the promise that Azula would come back an honorable hero. She delivers and since then she acted warmer blooded and caring to Zuko, even when she made up a guise about Zuko killing the Avatar instead of Azula was because Azula began to suspect he had treacherous plots against her after delivering her promise to return home but other then that. Nothing. She doesn't taunt him like when they were kids and she even told Zuko to be careful when visiting Iroh when she knows it was considered treachery, Ozai despises treachery and she coulda ratted him out to Ozai without Zuko knowing it.

From day one it's clear Zuko has a fairly rigid moral code. He has many opportunities to blackmail or otherwise manipulate Aang into doing what he wants, but never does. But neither does Azula during her pursuit on the capture of the avatar and ba sing se. Azula was the only one to actually almost kill Aang but that wasn't her primary objective when they first met but were in pursuit of Aang's capture. Again. Just like Zuko. just under different circumstances.

Azula taking Aang out with lightning seemed more out of desperation and quick thinking for Aang was doing nothing but floating in the air and so Azula took advantage of that and zapped him. She knew about the avatar's power and that capturing him was hopeless at that point and so she did what she had to do before Aang had the chance to go into action. Zuko, beginning to suspect that Aang had survived had ordered a hitman to finish the job but felt like something he had to do. Nothing personal, just war business.

Azula thinks she can be like her father and emulates him, his cruelty, and his philosophies...but never realizes why his ideas work for him and not her. Ozai's mentality only works because he has no friends, no love for his family at all (not even Azula) and thus, no problems eradicating people at the blink of an eye or dealing with a traitor in his ranks. Betrayal means nothing but a swift death for the traitor. Azula, on the other hand, cannot stomach betrayal at all, becomes unhinged quickly at being betrayed by anyone and has no idea what to do with the traitor. In turn, this leads her to a life of paranoia, constantly thinking there's a knife to her back or an arrow aimed at her head. Azula's (admittedly twisted) love for her brother and (at the time) trust in her friends makes her a complete contradiction to what she professed she wants. While Zuko wasn't directly betrayed by anyone, he also doesn't tolerate treachery from his allies and has suffered some paranoia himself.

When Iroh said that "she needed to go down" I don't think it was because he thought she was a lost cause or that he didn't like her but because that the best way to set up Azula's path to humility was for her to be humiliated. Zuko was humiliated in front of the entire fire nation during his agni kai against Ozai. Azula however hasn't had to be humiliated so Iroh couldn't reason with her because she had too much pride and he knew it was going to back fire on her one way or another. He felt he she needed "a lesson in humility" but set up Zuko to teach that lesson. What caused Iroh to bring Zuko into the light wasn't just because of his new found knowledge but because he was able to relate to Zuko for Iroh himself was seen as a dishonorable discharge and understood the anguish of having almost everything taken from him. And was able to relate to the loss of loved ones (Zuko's mom/Iroh's son).If Zuko decided to put Iroh's lessons in action and pass them down to Azula. Iroh wouldn't have a problem with that for the entire point for Zuko was to purify the fire nation and his family name, Azula is part of both and that she's his sister and his niece. family is still strong no matter the dysfunction plus If Azula was the one who was scarred and banished and Iroh was with her. He'd be able to get through to her at the same rate as Zuko by using her humiliation as a path for humility.

Azula was reluctant in giving Zuko a chance to help her but he would find that understandable for Zuko himself spat at Iroh's face multiple times, rejected team Avatar's assistance more then once, played a part in the fall in ba sing se and the avatar and keep in mind he chose to follow Azula in the latter. no one coerced him.

Another quality they share is that they were both lied to by Ozai. Ozai lied to Zuko by telling him that his honor is something only Ozai can give or take on a whim and lied to Azula by (possibly) telling her that Ursa accused Azula of being a monster. (Zuko was able to see past Ozai's lies but Azula is currently still blind by them and still devotes herself to him and his mentality.)Another thing they have in common is they had alter-egos. Zuko had the blue spirit and Azula had Kemurikage. while had different goals with these dual-identities, Ursa loved theater before being taken to be Ozai's bride. Zuko and Azula's masks allow them to have closeness with her despite neither of them not seeing her for years and Azula currently turning against Ursa. It also allows them to leave behind the identity of royal children of the fire nation. There original identities have burdens, external and internal and them adopting these secret identities allows them to escape such burdens. In "Crossroads of Destiney." Zuko explained that he saw himself as a disgraced fire prince cursed to search for that avatar in exchange for his honor. Azula saw herself as a symbol of perfection who must task with being fire lord so she could rule along side Ozai as fire lord and phoenix king. There secret identities kinda help them escape such roles.

Azula's plans in smoke and shadow aren't as different as before, not in large ways anyways. She begins one at the end of The Search due to Zuko's brotherly love for her: giving up her goal of killing her mother or taking the throne from him and instead runs off to find a new objective in life. I don't think her plans are out of pure malevolence but that of confusion. She is the prime antagonist of Smoke and Shadows. She orchestrates a plot to kidnap a bunch of children around the fire nation and later reveals herself to be a central figure of the New Ozai rebellion...so she can make Zuko a more decisive Fire Lord and to drain the finances of the revolution group. She lately has turned to fancy herself as a sort of adviser to Zuko; by which she means to turn Zuko into a ruler that will rule with Fear. Zuko easily brushes off her attempts. While she is still working towards negative ends, we can however see that her "rule through fear" mentality is more of years of damage and teaching through her father (which would take YEARS of therapy to undo); and for what it's worth, Azula has regained some degree of sanity and has even begun to care for her half-sister. She's not going to be what she was when we first saw her and she's certainly not all there in the head yet, but for now she's improving herself. The fact that her plan needed massive child abduction and treason mixed with Azula's revealed motives can paint this. Ultimately a really extreme case of "Girl's heart is somewhat in the right place, but god only knows where the brain is." She still ignorant that love can trump self-preservation and loyalty born of intimidation has limits and is still desperate for her father's validation. Zuko would be able to understand her confusion and be able to enlighten her like Iroh has for him. It won't be easy but nothing worth while ever is.

I also theorize that Ozai was behind Azula's pursuit to hunt down Ursa from the search and the Kemurikage attacks all along. Commentary on The Search said that Azula had essentially developed this and her brain has two personalities to it: The manipulative Azula and the lunatic Azula. (they might just be mood swings) During the scene where Azula and Ozai spoke privately under Azula's request. Ozai may have spoken to both personalities. He advised lunatic Azula to use Zuko to track Ursa down and strike her down with all her hate and so she can be free from the torment of her mind but then told manipulative Azula to try to get her brother to rule like he would have and tells her Zuko did give into fear and lost his balance and advises her to get Zuko to surrender to fear and insecurity so that Ursa could see Zuko's frightening methods, Ursa then begins to view him as a monster and that he'd feel the pain Azula had felt and he'd give up whatever idealism he had left and pick up where Ozai had left off. (He may have told her about redirecting lightning for Ozai was one of the first ones to see in action first had twice.) Ozai is still controlling Azula and Azula still foolishly and blindly trusts him.

Zuko knows (or should know) that Azula's path to healing and redemption would take time, patience and she still has much to learn just like his own redemption took time patience and he had much to learn. Thankfully; Zuko does state in The Search that no matter how bad and messed up their family is, he'll never turn his back on her.

Here's an interesting idea for future comics: After Zuko lured Azula into the catacombs, had her read Sozin's POV, told her about their ancestry, she begins to lose the sanity she had just regained but after Zuko told Azula if he'd ever take one step backward, one slip-up, gives any reason he might be changing into Ozai, he made Aang promise he'd stop him by any means necessary and Zuko pales compared to the avatar. Azula began to think about what he said, she remembered that the avatar masters all elements, has knowledge and experience of all nations, Aang managed to defeat Ozai, the man more powerful then herself, Zuko and possibly even Iroh and siphoned his bending with an unknown but unique and powerful type of bending. Azula was always taught to alley with the most powerful but who could be more powerful then the avatar? Azula then decides if Zuko cannot rise and rule with fear, perhaps Aang will. So she uses her smoke and shadow tactics and holds Zuko hostage to draw Aang out. Aang and Azula then start a psychological war. Azula tries to bring out the bad in Aang while Aang tries to bring out the good in Azula, with Aang on the winning side.

[tumblefuck]

RORY - PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR

[tibettruth]

China Intensifying It’s Psychological War Against Tibetans

Fear is the control mechanism used by the Chinese regime to suppress dissent from Tibetans, the ever present consequence that disloyalty, criticism or any other unapproved action or expression can result in severe punishment. Such draconian control however is not enough for the tyranny exerted by Xi Jinping and China’s Communist Party (CCP). It is the minds of Tibetans which must be penetrated…