Functional Tools (Who holds the strings: the visible or the hidden?)

 

The Overlooked Angle – Part of the “Silent Observer” Series

Not every hand that moves is holding the string.

And not every actor on the ground… acts with free will.

In the global political scene, there are two kinds of players:

1. True decision-makers (in the shadows).

2. Front-facing executors (functional tools).

Sometimes, even a state itself is built functionally—

given a role on a stage whose script and spotlight it doesn’t control.

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Jihadi Groups: From “Domesticated Jihad” to Functional Chaos

From Afghanistan to Iraq and Syria, the same fingerprints repeat:

Sudden emergence.

Unquestioned funding.

Safe corridors despite surveillance.

The functional mujahid doesn’t ask who’s backing him…

As long as the enemy is pre-defined—

even if the flags keep changing.

> Documented Example:

The CIA’s role in supporting “mujahideen” against the USSR in the 1980s,

which later laid the organizational foundations for Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

(Source: The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright)

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Israel: The Face or the Tool?

Despite its military and technological strength,

Israel doesn’t always act independently.

In many cases:

Used as a justification for broader Western policies.

Left to create a “common enemy.”

Employed to militarize the region and marginalize Arab centrality.

> Clear Example:

The “New Middle East” project (Condoleezza Rice – 2006)

coincided with the rise of sectarian conflict—

but wasn’t simply caused by it.

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Ethiopia: A Dam on the Surface… A Chokehold in Depth

The Nile Dam conflict wasn’t a coincidence.

A landlocked, underfunded state launches an oversized strategic project,

backed directly or indirectly by Israeli and U.S. support.

Why?

To shift pressure from sea to river.

From borders to the heartland.

To transform the conflict from "Egyptian sovereignty" to a "technical dispute."

> Source:

Stratfor Report (2018) + BBC coverage of early Israeli technical support for the dam.

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Functional States: Ruling or Being Ruled?

Today, some states:

Engage in conflicts they can’t choose to exit.

Get media-inflated to play illusory regional roles.

Are granted space—only to remain bound by strings, not sovereignty.

The result?

Crowds chant, borders shift, and decisions are made far from the capital.

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Who Holds the Strings?

Strings don’t appear in headlines.

True power is not elected.

Those who hold the strings…

Write the narrative.

Reassign the roles.

And stage it all on a theater called “reality.”

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Sources (summarized):

The Looming Tower – Lawrence Wright

Stratfor Reports on the Nile Basin

BBC Investigations into Ethiopian Dam Support

U.S. Congressional Documents on CIA & Operation Cyclone

RAND Corporation reports on Middle East re-mapping