🧩 BND Motif Index · M1408
Axis of evil
Hostile states are said to have banded into one bloc, arming and propping each other up against the West, so a fight with one is a fight with them all.
- 3claims filed under it
- 2left shows it came up on
- 1right show it came up on
- 1claim retold online
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up (2 left-leaning, 0 center, 1 right-leaning so far), colored by the show's lean; the bar is how many of its claims each one heard
- left-leaning
- right-leaning
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
🗣️ In so many words
the words that carry it
💬 the tellers' own words: “China and Russia are helping the wonderful Islamic Republic of Iran. It's literally a fact. They're 100 percent doing that.” “leaked defence industry documents that shed light on the depth of military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran” “Russia is providing Iran with military support and intelligence, like Iran provided Russia with military support in the form of the Shahi drones” “Russia provides Iran with weapons and technology to strike the United States” “they're giving them intelligence like China” “What are friends for?”
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, in our words, by who told it: newest first in each; a claim's dots are the shows it came up on, in their lean's color (point at them for their names)
Told on the left 1
claims heard on left-leaning shows, and no right-leaning one
- 2026-10-29 “Russia is openly helping Iran, and Putin calls the two strategic partners in all regards.” 1
Told on the right 0
claims heard on right-leaning shows, and no left-leaning one
🦗 No claim heard only on the right so far.
Told on both sides 1
claims heard on left- and right-leaning shows alike
- 2026-11-01 “China and Russia are actively cooperating with the Islamic Republic of Iran.” 3
Retold online 1
claims many people posted in their own words
- 2026-11-06 “Leaked documents reveal Russia is supplying Iran with missile launchers.”
M1408 · first seen 2026-11-01 · last 2026-11-06 · what this is · how the index works