Snitchcraft: Does Enes Kanter Also Ride the Bench for the CIA? Mediocre, Not Particularly Popular NBA Player is Frequently Showcased by The Dependent Media when He Parrots Uncle Brother's Messaging

From [HERE] Despite not even leaving the bench, Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter was the one drawing the headlines in their season opener at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The 6’10” Turk sported shoes emblazoned with the words “free Tibet.” “Under the Chinese government’s brutal rule, Tibetan people’s basic rights and freedoms are non-existent,” Kanter said in a video posted on social media, explaining the move.

Two days later, he accused “heartless dictator of China” Xi Jinping of running slave-labor camps in Xinjiang, demanding he “free the Uyghur people” and “stop the genocide now!” Kanter went even further on October 26, directly calling for the overthrow of the Chinese government and sharing his new “freedom shoes,” which show him playing basketball with a cartoon version of Jinping’s severed head.

“Change is coming and no one can stop it” he wrote, sharing the hashtags #FreeHongKong and #StandWithTaiwan. He also challenged Nike founder Phil Knight, as well as basketball greats Michael Jordan and LeBron James, to visit with him the “slave labor camps” in Xinjiang, where he implied Nike shoes are made.

While Chinese media have dropped Celtics games as a result, Kanter’s political stands have been met largely with rapturous applause in official circles closer to home. “His only crime is having the courage to speak out against oppression,” reacted Florida Senator and Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio. Meanwhile, conservative media outlets like The National Review and hosts such as Glenn Beck have described him as a “hero.”

On social media, however, the response was more mixed. While many praised his actions, others pointed to his troubling history of working with many of the world’s worst human rights abusing nations, and questioned whether the whole thing was a national security state PR stunt. “Enes Kanter is CIA” became a meme around the net, with many speculating about his links to Washington.

MintPress spoke with Danny Haiphong, contributing editor to the Black Agenda Report, a journalist who specializes in covering U.S.-China relations. Haiphong, a passionate Celtics fan, said that he was not surprised by the mixed response to Kanter’s statements:

Enes Kanter deserves all the scrutiny he has received. Kanter’s mentor Fathullah Gulen has protected CIA agents and his anti-China operation comes just weeks after the CIA announced a renewed focus on China. Kanter has rapidly become the face of the U.S.’s propaganda campaign against the Beijing 2022 Olympics alongside NED-backed forces.

“Speaking truth to power”

While there is no evidence that the 29-year-old star is a CIA employee, Kanter does have a great many troubling relationships with some of America’s most powerful state officials. In July, for instance, he traveled to Washington to meet senior war planner John Bolton, a key figure in the Iraq War deception and former President Donald Trump’s most hawkish National Security Advisor. The two met in the Russell Senate Office Building, Kanter announcing that he had had a great discussion on “human rights” with his “friend.”

The Turkish star also met with Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner. Sharing a video of himself with Kushner and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Gilad Erdan, he claimed that “good things are ahead.” He also has a close relationship with Rubio, whom he described as a champion of freedom around the world. “Huge thanks to Senator Marco Rubio for standing up for Human Rights,‬ Freedom,‬ ‪Democracy,” Kanter wrote on his Facebook page, alongside a video of their meeting in the Capitol Building.

The professional basketball player is, however, far from partisan. In 2019, he met with Bill and Hillary Clinton, talked about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey and presented the Clintons with two Boston Celtics jerseys with his number and “Clinton” on the back. He also publicly campaigned for Democratic Representative Eliot Engel’s reelection against progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman. A former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Engel has taken a number of hawkish positions on the Middle East and been vocally critical of Erdoğan. Kanter has also worked with his home-state senator, Ed Markey (D-MA), on Turkish affairs.

It is further known that Kanter has some sort of relationship and communication with the FBI, the agency even installing a panic button in his house.