The Tales from the Zirzameen

There’s an Iranian hand in Najaf, but it’s a positive hand. They’ve helped develop the city, the hospital, the tourism

Iran’s influence? You can hear it on Iraqi streets

By Mohammed Abbas/Int’l Herald Tribune

In the holy Iraqi Shi’ite city of Najaf, Iranian tourists throng the streets, speak to shopkeepers in Farsi and pay in Iranian money. Farsi chants blare from speakers at a nearby shrine.

The scene would probably horrify both the United States and Iraq’s Sunni Arab neighbours, who suspect Shi’ite non-Arab Iran of nefarious and subversive influence in Arab lands. Even some of Najaf’s citizens are wary of Iranian leverage.

But the city, a centre of religious and political power in Shi’ite-majority Iraq, benefits from Iranian tourism and aid.

The uniforms of rubbish men sport Farsi inscriptions, as do their gleaming new Iran-donated rubbish trucks. Iranian builders toil at the site of a new Iranian-sponsored hospital.

Iranian donations pay for the renovation of Shi’ite holy sites, and Iran has offered cash and expertise to boost electricity capacity in Iraq’s Shi’ite south.

Each year hundreds of thousands of Iranian pilgrims visit Najaf’s shrine of Imam Ali, one of the most important figures of Shi’ite Islam.

Najaf officials, up for re-election in provincial polls expected early next year, play down Iranian influence.

“Do you see Iranian councillors? Iranian police? … There is no influence at all,” Najaf provincial governor Assad Abu-Gelal said in a recent interview in the southern city.

But ordinary residents say Iranian influence is there, and they don’t necessarily mind.

“There’s an Iranian hand in Najaf, but it’s a positive hand. They’ve help develop the city, the hospital, the tourism,” said Hussein Abbas, who works in a Najaf toy shop. The province’s current administrators will get his vote in the provincial elections, he added, despite the whiff of Iranian backing.

SWORN ENEMIES

Iraq and Iran were sworn enemies under Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab dictator who launched a ruinous eight-year war with Shi’ite Iran in the 1980s in which 1 million people died, many Iraqi Shi’ite conscripts.

But since U.S. troops overthrew Saddam in 2003 and a Shi’ite led-government came to power in Baghdad, Iran has conspicuously shown off its clout, partly through its ties with Shi’ite politicians and parties that were based in Iran for years during the rule of Saddam.

In March this year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a triumphant visit – becoming not only first Iranian leader to visit Iraq since the 1980s, but also the first regional head of state to visit since the U.S.-led invasion.

Iran has had a full-service embassy in Baghdad for years, while no Sunni Arab state had an ambassador in the Iraqi capital for three years until this month.

Washington – Tehran’s arch enemy for 30 years – accuses Iran of supplying Shi’ite militants in Iraq with arms, training and cash, accusations Tehran denies.

Almost all of oil-rich southern Iraq’s provincial councils, including Najaf, are dominated by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), a Shi’ite political group formed in exile in Iran during Saddam’s reign.

Many Iraqis, including Shi’ites, say ISCI is still backed by Iran. Yet ISCI is also a key part of Iraq’s U.S.-backed government, and strongly denies Iran directs its policies.

“ISCI was in Iran. And from Iran we went to Washington. Iran has no ties to America. It’s at political war with it,” said Najaf deputy governor and ISCI member Abdul Hussain Abtan.

“We allow for good relations with Iran, but built on mutual respect, and not interfering in each other’s affairs.”

CLEAR AS THE SUN

Iraqis bristle at the prospect of their politicians taking Tehran’s orders.

“We love the tourists, but if (Iran) tries to take part in politics, we’ll fight it. And it is clear as the sun that they are,” said Karar Kadham, sitting outside the Imam Ali shrine.

But he praised ISCI’s leadership in the city and predicted most Najaf residents would vote to keep the party in power.

Majid Ali, a clothes shop owner, was careful to distinguish between Iranian cultural and political influence, saying Najaf city has had trade and religious links with Iran for centuries.

But he said he would not vote in local or national polls because Iraq’s political leadership was “constrained” by Iran.

“Iran’s aim is clear. To counter U.S. influence. They’re facing the United States and the Arabs on the Iraqi stage,” he said, before breaking off for a phone call in Farsi.

Ali Abshar, an Iranian pilgrim in Najaf, said he felt comfortable in the city, and that it was just like the Iranian city of Qom, Shi’ite Islam’s other main seat of learning. He had no hard feelings over U.S. demonisation of his country.

“Americans came and got rid of Saddam,” he said, holding two thumbs up and grinning.

(Editing by Peter Graff and Samia Nakhoul)

www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/09/30/africa/OUKWD-UK-IRAQ-IRAN.php

First of all I was just in Iran two months ago and alcohol is easily obtained and available just not ostentatiously advertised on bill boards or in magazines or on TV and radio or by liquer stores.

Once in the 1920’s the USA tried to eradicate alcohol and failed because people always want what they can’t have, but not before fortunes were made smuggling it, like that of Joe Kennedy. We are so easily caught up in the anti Iranian propoganda that we forget about the bigger questions like:Is alcohol beneficial to society? Just like tobacco, an entire industry of booze makers and employment and peripheral industries like bottle and glass makers, cork makers, label makers,outdoor advertsing and magazine advertising industries, night clubs, restaurants, casinos and bars are built on alcohol…i.e. killing human brain cells for a price.

In addition to that how much does alcoholism actually cost society every year? Consider treatment, traffic accidents and fatalities, loss of income and family income, destruction of family units… I believe in the USA alone there are 16 million alcoholics. Add Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Russia and the number is astronomical.

We stubbornly cling to our concept of freedom of choice and yet we are bombarded by ad campaigns and bill boards integrating alcohol into our culture and making it acceptable. The social forces against consumption of alcohol are minor in comparison and who is going to fund them since there is no way to get a $ return on investment… The law gives us the freedom of choice to drink or not to drink alcohol and yet the social pressure to do so is enormous…and the economic forces promoting it are huge…

So let’s not be too critical of state mandated prohibition. We are all more or less comfortable with the illegality of heroin and yet alcoholism is more devastating in absolute numbers of people destroyed by it.

amoo rasool

Hi Brian!
it’s nice to hear from you and thanks for the promo on your website. it looks great! Congrats on getting back to Iran. that sounds so exciting. I would love to go sometime.

Right now I’m just performing at Negeen and Chatanoga and doing some private stuff. I’ve been traveling a lot lately but I’m home for the fall and so happy to be able to relax.
Come see a show sometime. I’m always around.

take care,
sandra

Well it is as I feared Obama is not a statesman with his own vision of a better future either but responds to polls and panders to what he imagines we want to hear. Well read my lips Obama, Ahmadinejad is not a demon, his interview with Larry King rang out with truth and we the American people do not want a pre-emptive war on Iran so you must be analyzing the wrong polls…if you study the history of US activity in Iran, we are more than guilty…take a tour of their national cemetery Mr. Obama and count the young boys and men’s graves who died in the Iran Iraq War in which Saddam was encouraged, financed and armed by the USA….a million Iranian youth died over 8 years…something you can’t even begin to fathom… What have we brought to Iran for the last 50 years besides pain and suffering?

amoo rasool

Once again, U.S. politicians, including both Sarah Palin and Barack Obama, pile on the Iranian president. Why does Larry King (!) sound like the adult in the room?

By Juan Cole

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Read more: Iran, United Nations, Israel, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion, Juan Cole, Barack Obama, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sarah Palin

Reuters/Mike Segar

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York Sept. 23, 2008.

Sept. 24, 2008 | Sen. Barack Obama responded with outrage to the remarks made Tuesday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before the United Nations General Assembly, expressing regret that the quirky little president was even allowed to speak. Obama’s denunciation was mild compared with that of Gov. Sarah Palin, who accused Ahmadinejad of dreaming “of being an agent in a ‘Final Solution’ – the elimination of the Jewish people.” In contrast, “Larry King Live” carried an hourlong interview with Ahmadinejad in which the Iranian was allowed to speak for himself and repeatedly denied any violent intentions. King thus reinforced the trend whereby entertainment television, whether Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” or King’s own dog-and-pony interview hour, conveys reality-based news while politicians continue to paint inaccurate and even fantastic scenarios that are harmful to U.S. foreign policy.

In his speech, Ahmadinejad said “the American empire … is reaching the end of the road” and accused the U.N. Security Council of allowing “Zionist murders” because of “pressure from a few bullying powers.” Obama issued a statement saying, “I strongly condemn President Ahmadinejad’s outrageous remarks at the United Nations, and am disappointed that he had a platform to air his hateful and anti-Semitic views.” He added, “The threat from Iran’s nuclear program is grave.” Obama then called on his rival in the presidential race, Sen. John McCain, “to join me in supporting a bipartisan bill to increase pressure on the Iranian regime by allowing states and private companies to divest from companies doing business in Iran.” He slammed McCain, saying that the senator was playing partisan politics by declining to join Obama in this divestment campaign.

In the heat of the campaign, Obama surely overreached himself in appearing to advocate barring leaders of member states from addressing the United Nations because their views are obnoxious to Americans. He also fell into the trap of declining to make a distinction between anti-Zionist views and anti-Semitic ones. If a policy of exclusion had been adopted by past administrations, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev could not have announced from that podium the reduction of Red Army forces in Eastern Europe in 1988. And if anti-American statements should trigger the denial of a visa to come to New York, should Nelson Mandela, who called the United States the “most dangerous country in the world,” be excluded, too?

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Obama’s assertion that Iran’s civilian nuclear energy research program constitutes a “grave threat” may or may not be true. The 2005 National Intelligence Estimate put Iran at least a decade away from having a nuclear weapon if it was trying hard to get one and if the international environment was conducive (i.e., if Iran could import all the equipment it needed easily). Neither of those conditions actually appears to exist, so Iran is very far away from having a bomb. The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, parts of which were released last December, concluded that Iranian scientists have not done any weapons-related research since early 2003.

As Ahmadinejad pointed out to Larry King, no country has been as intensely inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency as Iran. No regularly inspected country has ever developed a nuclear bomb. Although the IAEA’s Mohamed ElBaradei has expressed frustration that Iran failed to declare its nuclear research program before 2003, he continues to say that in current inspections, “the Agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran” to weapons purposes. This consistent IAEA finding through recent years raises the question of whether Obama is right to be so categorical on this issue.

As for the imposition of economic sanctions on Iran, it might be worth considering for a moment whether the U.S., with its faltering economy, is even able to cause a major oil exporter such as Iran much harm through a unilateral boycott. The law passed by Congress at the insistence of the Israel lobby, placing sanctions on firms doing business in Iran, does not punish those who merely distribute or import Iranian petroleum. Does Obama want to go even further with sanctions? If Congress really could close down Iran’s production of 4 million barrels a day, it would cause the price of petroleum to soar and throw the U.S. into a deep recession or depression. From the point of view of a reality-based foreign policy, this sort of step is known as “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” Russia and China are now balking at placing any further sanctions on Iran via the United Nations Security Council. (Russia is not exactly in a cooperative mood after the drubbing it took from U.S. politicians over its intervention to protect South Ossetia from Georgia.)

The sanctions have in any case had no effect on Iranian policy, though they are keeping Iran’s gas fields from being developed by American and European firms, a task that may fall to Russia’s Gazprom or its Chinese counterpart instead. (One would not advise a President Obama to threaten to cut off economic cooperation with China over its Iran investments, given how much U.S. debt Beijing holds.) Since natural gas is a global market, this boycott of Iran harms American consumers twice, causing the price of gas to be higher than necessary and making sure that the development of Iranian gas creates no jobs for Americans and brings no profits into this country.

If Obama’s reaction to Ahmadinejad was a bit breathless and probably counterproductive to U.S. interests, Gov. Palin’s was, typically, like something from outer space. In a speech the Republican vice-presidential nominee had planned to give at an anti-Ahmadinejad rally on Monday, organized by right-wing Zionist organizations before they decided not to have major politicians speak, she alleged that the Iranian president “dreams of being an agent in a ‘Final Solution’ – the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a ’stinking corpse’ that is ‘on its way to annihilation.’ She warned apocalyptically that Iran had tested missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and that “the Iranian nuclear program is nearing completion.”

Next page: On “Larry King Live,” Ahmadinejad expressed the hope that the Israeli state will collapse just as the apartheid regime in South Africa did

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by Deepak Chopra

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week.

On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin’s pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride.

In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of ‘the other.’ For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don’t want to express them.

He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.)

I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to under stand Palin’s message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision. Look at what she stands for:

Small town values - a nostaligic return to simpler times disguises a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
Ignorance of world affairs - a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad.
Family values - a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be needed.
Rigid stands on guns and abortion - a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
Patriotism - the usual fallback in a failed war.
‘Reform’ - an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology.
Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from ‘us’ pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat.

The radical right marches under the banners of ‘I’m all right, Jack,’ and ‘Why change? Everything’s OK as it is.’ The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress.

The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness.

Obama’s call for higher ideals in politics can’t be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow - we all do.

So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict.

The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

they are the embodiment of your own reactionary shadows, your fears and aggression, a vote for them is a vote for denile, a vote for isolationism, a vote for America uber alles und Gotterdamerung for everyone else…

amoo rasool

Salaam Brian-e Aziz,
Thank you so much for sharing this. It is very moving for me. I love the
poetry of Rahi Mo’ayyeri as well. In fact I grew up as fan of his ghazals.

I featured your first Tehran essay in one of my recent windows on (which
a stellar student of mine is blogging:

http://windowsoniran.wordpress.com/

Though he has not got to all of them yet.
I will publicize your excellent photo essay in the next window.
Let’s stay in touch.
Best,
Fatemeh
P.S. – I hope to go to Iran in December

Brian Appleton wrote:
> I went to Zahir Ol Dowleh cemetery while in Darband in July and saw
> the grave of the eternal Forough Farrokhzad and of Rahi Mo’ayeri for
> you….see:
>
> http://www.payvand.com/news/08/aug/1036.html
>
>
> and I wrote “Five Days in Tehran; what to see and what to do…” since
> all the airlines magazines are content to think of Iran as Saudi
> Arabia. I wanted the West to know Tehran is a world class city. I had
> it placed in Iranian Times:
>
> http://www.iranian.com/main/2008/five-days-tehran
>
> http://www.iranian.com/main/albums/five-days-tehran
>
> Thanks to your inspirational book, I made up my mind to go back after
> 30 years. It was awesome and two weeks was not even enough time to see
> all my old friends
>
> Brian

Listen Now [8 min 56 sec] add to playlist

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks with NPR’s Steve Inskeep in New York on Monday. Joel Riddle/NPR

Morning Edition, September 23, 2008 · Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to criticize the U.S. during an address this week to the United Nations General Assembly. But in an interview with NPR, Ahmadinejad disputed that was his intention — up to a point.

Speaking to Steve Inskeep through an interpreter, Ahmadinejad said, “We do not have confrontations with anyone. The U.S. administration interferes, and we defend ourselves.”

Ahmadinejad said that diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States should continue to open up, citing a willingness to cooperate to uphold security in Iraq .

Asked what steps might help ease those relations, Ahmadinejad said, “We’ve never entered the United States and caused problems for the people here, but the American government has done that to us. So, our first proposal is that the government has to stop doing that.”

The Full Interview With President Ahmadinejad

NPR: I’ll get right to an important point: Is confrontation with the United States in Iran ’s national interest?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: We do not have confrontations with anyone. The U.S. administration interferes, and we defend ourselves.

NPR: Clearly, there’s more than one viewpoint on that. There are efforts to get Iran to change its policies on nuclear fuel enrichment, for example. Why is that not a confrontation?

Ahmadinejad: It is us who doesn’t seek confrontation. But, as I explained it. It’s the U.S. administration that interferes regarding the rights of the Iranian people and we defend ourselves.

NPR: Is there nothing about Iran ’s actions or rhetoric which can be seen as defiant and defying people in the world with whom you disagree?

Ahmadinejad: And who exactly are you referring to when you say the international community?

NPR: When I speak of the international community, I would speak of the United States ; I would speak of European nations that have urged Iran to change its nuclear policies. I would speak of Russia , which has made proposals; I would speak of China , which has been involved. I could go on for quite some time.

Ahmadinejad: What right do they have to make such demands on us? Based on what legal system or what international regulation and law? Exactly where do they find the legal basis to demand such things from our people? Whilst they are enjoying nuclear energy, they are telling us not to?

NPR: You raise an interesting point. You have argued that Iran has a legal right to enrich uranium. Many countries in the world are concerned that Iran ’s real purpose is seeking a nuclear weapon. You have denied this. You have said this is not your intent; people are not persuaded. What can you do? What can you offer to convince the world that your purposes are, in fact, solely peaceful?

Ahmadinejad: Well, first of all, the people of the world, the majority actually, support our stand. One hundred eighteen member states of NAM have declared their commitment to our program and supported it. The Non-Aligned Movement. And 57 member states of the OIC, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, too have supported our position.

Eight countries of the G-8 group have actually supported us. As well as the 15 countries of the Group of 15.

So, clearly, the people and the governments are supporting us. You are speaking of only three or four countries, led by the United States and with a couple of their European friends, and we don’t care about them, because they don’t represent the whole world.

NPR: Let me return to my original question. Is a confrontation with the United States in Iran ’s national interest?

Ahmadinejad: What exactly do you mean? What is it that we should be looking for?

NPR: When there is talk of war with Iran, when comments are made about breaking hands or cutting hands if there is an attack on Iran; when there is rhetoric against Israel; when there is great concern around the world about the future of Iran and its relations with other nations in the world — that is the confrontation I’m asking about. Is such a confrontation, regardless of who’s responsible, in Iran ’s interest? And is it in Iran ’s interest to actively seek to resolve it?

Ahmadinejad: We do not have any confrontation with anyone. We seek relations based on respect and justice. Let me turn the question around and ask you, exactly where is the world that you are speaking of? Again, 118 members of the Non-Aligned Movement are supporting us. Fifty-seven countries of the OIC. So the world that is concerned that you refer to, who is it? Which world? Is it really the U.S. administration and its group of friends?

NPR: I’ve named the United States ; I’ve named Europe; I’ve named Russia ; I’ve named China .

Ahmadinejad: Why is it that the U.S. administration and two or three groups that follow it allow themselves to speak for the world? We believe that that is the root cause of the confrontation. Simply because the U.S. administration and a few number of its European allies believe that they own the world. They want to interfere in anything that goes on around the world. I’d like to ask you, is it the Iranian army that’s around the territories around the country, or is it the U.S. troops that are around?

It is the U.S. troops around our borders. It is not ours around the American borders. So what exactly are they doing over there?

NPR: I think it is fair to say that there has been rhetoric on both sides. I think it is fair to say that you have spoken of wiping countries off the map, and chopping off hands. Does that rhetoric, when you speak that way — do you, in fact, play into the hands of President Bush? You give rhetoric that reinforces his case. He says you are a certain kind of leader, and you pose as that leader.

Ahmadinejad: You’ve asked a good question. I think that it’s necessary to open up a bit regarding the relations between Iran and the United States .

You are aware that 55 years ago, the U.S. government overthrew the national government of Iran through a coup, and imposed a tyrannical dictator on our people.

For over 25 years under the dictatorship, hundreds of thousands of our people went to prison and spent time there, whilst our oil was being looted by American companies. Our people were demeaned. Our independence was harmed.

Until the Iranian people rose [in] a popular and democratic event to create the Islamic revolution.

NPR: My time is short — be assured I am aware of the history.

Ahmadinejad: You know the history, but it has to be repeated to the people who are your listeners. While America was there, we had no elections in our country. Nonetheless, when the Islamic Republic came into being, the U.S. government rose against it with all its might.

NPR: Let me ask about that.

Ahmadinejad: Several coup attempts occurred. The eight years of war between Saddam [Hussein] and our country were actually supported directly by the United States . From Day 1, our people were — sanctions were imposed on our people. So who exactly is the provocateur? Who is the one who seeks war?

NPR: You’ve posed a question, you’ve posed a question — let me address it if I might. Because I need to — my time is short, your time is short. Please understand I mean no disrespect. Thank you, my question is this — coming back to now, history being what it has been, reality being what it is, do you feel any obligation — do you have any proposal that you can make to move the situation forward from what it is today in the real world, two countries that have been greatly opposed? Is there any small step that you can think of, to move forward?

Ahmadinejad: Well, yes. Of course, we’ve never entered the U.S. and caused problems for the people here, but the American government has done that to us. So our first proposal is that they have to stop doing that.

NPR: That is a proposal for them; what about for you?

Ahmadinejad: I’ve taken a lot of leaps forward in this respect. I sent a letter to Mr. Bush. That was a very good opening.

I even said that I am prepared to talk at the United Nations with them. We responded positively to the request made by U.S. government to extend a hand of cooperation in a joint security commission involved in upholding a security force for Iraq . So we did whatever we could. And we believe it’s time for the American government to act.

NPR: Is there a concrete proposal that you can make that would convince the government that Iran can enrich uranium peacefully, and provide some kind of guarantee, whether it be monitors or some other method; does your country, does your government that you represent have any proposal that it can make that would reassure the world when it comes to uranium?

Ahmadinejad: Again, it’s not the world people, it’s the American government that’s concerned.

NPR: I take it that’s a no, you’re not interested in proceeding.

Ahmadinejad: Of course we do have a proposal and that’s to advance law for everyone. That the U.S. administration extend at least the equivalent of one-tenth the cooperation we have extended to the [International Atomic Energy Agency]; we believe that the IAEA itself offers the best guarantee. And we believe that the American administration itself should cease putting pressure on the people who work at the IAEA.

Now how so is it that a country that possesses tens of thousands of nuclear bombs and has in fact actually used one against another nation is imposing its will on us, and we are a country that is simply seeking peaceful nuclear energy? There are a lot of good proposals that can be offered in this area.

NPR: That can be offered, but not by you.

Ahmadinejad: In fact, I’ve given many, many proposals. We just think it’s the policy approach of the U.S. government that’s been nonresponsive and must change. It is not our proposals that are going to fix the problem. It is something else.

NPR: Let me delve into two more areas. As you know, Mr. President, you are known in much of the world, and not only in the United States , as the man who wants to “wipe Israel off the map.” Are you?

Ahmadinejad: Is the problem of the U.S. government the Zionist regime? I believe the extremity to which the U.S. government has gone to extend support to the Zionist regime has caused the U.S. government problems around the world.

NPR: Do you accept the label of the man who wants to wipe Israel off the map? You’re not?

Ahmadinejad: Please pay attention to the fact that there are two issues that go side by side in this discussion. The first part is the proposal we have given to resolve the problem of Palestine . For 60 years, wars and killings have been going on over there.

Every peace proposal that has been put on the table so far has failed to give results. Why? Because it neglects the rights of the Palestinian people. Our proposal has been to offer the Palestinian people a free referendum. Everyone who lives in Palestine [should be able] to participate in a referendum to decide the future and the nature of its government.

Let me create an analogy here — where exactly is the Soviet Union today? It did disappear — but exactly how? It was through the vote of its own people. So therefore in Palestine too we must allow the people, the Palestinians, to determine their own future.

And then the second side of this same issue, and I’d really like to invite you to pay attention to it. Especially you — you must, because you are always being subjected to [the] unilateral sort of information that is coming from the administration here.

Let’s ask ourselves, where exactly did the Zionist regime come from? Palestine has existed historically with people who live there for thousands of years. Then at gunpoint several million of the indigenous people there were forced out of their homes and became displaced. And it didn’t stop there; others were brought from elsewhere in the world to replace them. How can you accept this regime?

NPR: If you will forgive me, the time is short.

Ahmadinejad: Well, everything is related to history. Imagine, somebody comes and occupies the United States , and say it’s history, don’t say anything else about it.

NPR: I’m not saying don’t say anything else; I’m saying our time is limited. You mentioned, Mr. President — you mentioned elections. You mentioned a referendum, which raises another question in my mind.

Iran ’s democracy, Iran ’s elections have a feature that is different from the United States , that we should explain.

In Iran , the government disqualifies many candidates, sometimes thousands of candidates, if they do not have what is considered to be the appropriate beliefs. They are not permitted to run.

Why do you not trust Iran ’s people to make that choice, instead of the government making it for them?

Ahmadinejad: I, in fact, believe that elections in Iran are among the freest in the world. There’s at least 100 times more freedom in Iran than there is in the United States .

NPR: Why don’t you trust people to vote for everybody?

Ahmadinejad: We trust people! Elections are free in Iran !

NPR: After the candidate rolls are removed.

Ahmadinejad: It’s the restrictions here that exist — we have a law in Iran . According to the law, whoever possesses qualifications to become a candidate can run — for example for the presidential elections.

A clear example of the confidence we place in the people is I, myself. I didn’t belong to any party. I taught at the university.

NPR: And if your supreme leader didn’t want you to run, you would not run.

Ahmadinejad: No, not at all. There were seven other candidates…

NPR: Permitted.

Ahmadinejad: Eight candidates —

NPR: Who were permitted. In legislative elections, thousands were disqualified.

Ahmadinejad: From many different groups and parties. Even independents. Free assorted [indecipherable] campaigns. The national TV actually gave time to all of them equally. I was an independent candidate, without any party affiliations. Only the academics supported me. And I was voted into office. And now I’m the president. I ask you, can anyone in fact become a president without the support of either of the two parties here in the United States ?

NPR: Anyone may put his name on the ballot in the United States .

Ahmadinejad: Are 300 million people here in America members of either of the two parties? No, not necessarily. People have no other choices here. You only have two choices. In Iran , at least, we have eight. Who is more free? Who has more confidence in its people?

NPR: Eight people in the political spectrum from about here to here, and I’m holding my finger an inch apart. If I may ask one more question, if I might, Mr. President.

Ahmadinejad: So then, you do agree there are restrictions, even farther here in the United States and elsewhere?

NPR: I do not agree. The United States — the American system has its own problems, which we may discuss in another interview. I would look forward to the discussion.

Ahmadinejad: Why do you assume that your system is better than everybody else’s?

NPR: I assume nothing, Mr. President, I ask questions. And my final question is this: Many visitors to Iran have remarked on an interesting trend.

Many Iranians listen to Western music, watch Western television, read Western books if they can get them, and appear to have disassociated themselves with politics. That raises a question of whether you have lost touch with many of your people.

Ahmadinejad: In fact, I’m one of the few people, one of the people who is, at all times, among the Iranian people.

I have links with everyone in Iran . The Iranian nation is a free one. And they elect freely. It’s always been the case. There are no restrictions for them. Why do you think that that’s a new trend? It’s the same mistake that the American government makes.

NPR: You say there are no —

Ahmadinejad: Just wait for three months, and on the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, you will see how people react on the scenes.

NPR: Haven’t the police confiscated satellite dishes?

Ahmadinejad: But that’s a different discussion, no! It’s a law. We are not addressing the law. The law was passed as a bill when it happened. There are other issues there. Sure, there are some problems, but it has nothing to do with the discussion.

Again, wait for another nine months, and you’ll see the vast turnover of the people in the presidential elections. Please remember that close to 98 percent of the people support the Islamic Revolution. I am in touch with people on the streets.

NPR: Do you read Western —

Ahmadinejad: There’s a lot of freedom in Iran . The example is our interview with you. Can you ask your own president these questions? Can you really so freely meet with him so easily? Never.

NPR: Do you —

Ahmadinejad: You cannot freely ask questions.

NPR: Do you watch any —

Ahmadinejad: But everybody asks questions from me freely.

NPR: Do you watch any Western television programs, Mr. President?

Ahmadinejad: Yeah, like everyone else!

NPR: What programs?

Ahmadinejad: People, after all, like movies and shows…

NPR: What’s something you’ve seen recently?

Ahmadinejad: Of course, very little, I mostly watch Iranian TV and listen to international news.

NPR: Any Western music that you listen to or books that you read?

Ahmadinejad: Sure, me too, like everyone else, but this isn’t what matters. That’s not how nations matter. People in Iran see everything, read everything, they don’t restrict themselves to one outlet.

NPR: The Beatles? Led Zeppelin?

Ahmadinejad: And it doesn’t basically put restrictions on itself. They use whatever they have! But that’s the Iranian nation. And they know how to defend their own rights, too. They won’t put up with force or with domination. Whoever, by whoever, please remember that.

NPR: Mr. President, thank you for taking the time today.

Ahmadinejad: Wish you luck and success. We’ll try to create the same ambiance for talks with your own president here, too.

NPR:: Tashakur. Thank you.

comment: even though this NPR interview at least let Ahmadinejad speak…I find the demands about whether he listened to the Beetles and Zeppelin, childish and arrogant and the kind of cultural imperialism that I find so offensive about the USA and globalization…the cultural imperialism paves the way for destroying indiginous culture and turning local populations into consumers of Western products in much the same way as christian missionaries did the same thing in the former colonial era. Imagine how we would feel if Ahmadinejad demanded whether we had read Ferdowsi or Hafez?
What on earth gives us the right to assume our popular culture is superior to everyone elses and if they don’t participate in our popular culture that they do not have freedom. This is just like Azar Nafisi in Reading Lolita in Tehran extolling the virtues of lipstick and pop music…who cares, the important thing for me is that Iranian society has functional extended families, communities, neighborhoods, lasting meaningful friendships, honored traditions and is one of the most crime free and safest societies I have ever lived in and visited and my experience this past July visiting again after 30 years confirmed this. Now contrast that with our society where people pay therapists to listen and women are raped daily in all our major urban areas and children are not safe to play in the streets of their neighborhoods…and we have the biggest absolute and per capita prison population in the world based on violent crime not political prisoners, but by God we have written laws guaranteeing our freedoms despite the social reality…

amoo rasool

Mashaei, VP Minister of Culture and Tourism

http://www.eterazonline.com/

Dr. George Bernett

GEORGE BERNETT, PhD visited Iran
“We just returned from 15 days gorgeous & interesting days in Iran, where I attended an International congress on Clinical Laboratory Quality Improvement (http://www.iqicl.org/). At this congress I presented a paper on “Glycated Albumin” as home-test for monthly monitoring of diabetes. Iran is a very interesting country undergoing an unusual revolution: a “Theocratic Revolution". There is freedom of religion and there are many synagogues, Christian churches and Zoroastrian temples. According to the Islamic regulations, women must cover their head with a shawl and must also wear an overcoat to cover their bodies up to the knees in addition, there is no alcoholic beverages available in the whole nation & any type of pornography is totally prohibited. There is a “supreme leader” (Ayatollah Khameni) and a parliament with over 300 elected members: 2 Zoroastrian are members of the parliament. There are over 300,000 archeological sites in Iran and there are several tours ranging from ancient Persepolis (near Shiraz, in the South) to the religious sites of Iman Reza in Mashhad, the poetic city of Omar Kayyan, in the East of Iran and the ski resorts north of Tehran, (www.idt.ir)

In summary: after attending the Clinical Chemistry congress and presenting my paper on a new Diabetic marker, we took a 10 day tour over the South and Center of Iran, visiting Persepolis, the Zoroastrian Necropolis in Jazd, plus the tombs of the emperor Cyrus the Great and Daryus the Great. We had a private English speaking guide (Mr. Amin) who took us by car all the way from Shiraz to Tehran. In our way we spent 3 days in probably the most beautiful city in Iran, the city of Isfahan (see pictures). Interestingly for visitors, Iran is a most safe place and huge amount of tourist visit Iran all year around, but in winter, the Scandinavians go in masses because of the ski resorts in Northern Iran ("Albus mountains"). I took over 800 pictures of this historic country, where tourists feel very, very safe. By the way, the tombs of biblical people like Esther and Mordecai are in Eastern Iran and many American Jews go to Iran to visit these sacred sites, as well as the tomb of king Cyrus the Great, who liberated the ancient Israelites from Babylonian Captivity and that of king Daryus the Great who thanks to Esther and Mordecai prevented a plot against the Jews orchestrated by his minister Hasan.” GEORGE “GIORGIO” BERNETT, PhD
http://www.idt.ir/en_US/SimpleNews/ViewSimpleNewsNewsDetail.aspx?newsid=40

long lost Khazar capitol near Caspian Sea

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080903/lf_afp/russiahistoryculturearchaeology_080903160809

me up in the Alborz Mountains, summer 2008

http://www.stopwaroniran.org

President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rice, Secretary Gates, Secretary General Ban, Senators and Representatives,

It is with grave concern that I observe the growing threat of a new U.S. war–this time against the people of Iran.

The media is filled with reports of an alleged nuclear threat posed by Iran and the assumed need for the U.S. to take military action. These reports recall the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” stories issued in the months leading up to the war on Iraq.

In the lead up to the illegal invasion of Iraq, the Bush Administration asserted that Iraq possessed massive stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and that it was capable of launching an attack - nuclear, chemical and biological - on the U.S. within 45 minutes.

President Bush said that the U.S. had to attack immediately, and could not “wait for the final proof – the smoking gun – that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” We all know now that this propaganda campaign was a complete fabrication created to justify a war of aggression.

Now we see reports that are all too similar being made to justify military action against the people of Iran. Taking Iran to the UN Security Council is a prelude for unilateral action. Just as in the case of Iraq, none of the claims made by the U.S. government stand up to unbiased scrutiny. Iran has submitted to the most intrusive and humiliating inspections, above and beyond what is required by Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). None of the inspections have found any evidence that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program.

There is only one government that has used nuclear weapons against civilian populations, and that same nation has the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction on the planet. Most dangerous and incredible it is at this very moment developing a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons that it intends to use, not merely to threaten. That country is, of course, the United States. Shouldn’t any real discussion of the dangers of nuclear weapons include the weapons stockpiled by the Pentagon and the history of U.S. aggression and interventions?

Iran has suffered greatly at the hands of the U.S. We recall the U.S. overthrew the democratically elected government of Dr. M. Mossadegh and returned the Shah to the Peacock Throne – ‘the proudest achievement of the CIA’. For 25 years the Shah ruled Iran with an iron fist for the benefit of U.S. oil corporations before the people of Iran, in the millions, overthrew his tyranny at a terrible cost in lives. For the past 27 years U.S. sanctions have impeded Iran’s right to development and brought great suffering to the people.

It is essential that all voices opposed to the devastation of a new war in the Middle East speak out now. I urge an immediate end to Washington’s campaign of sanctions, hostility, and falsehood against the people of Iran. I oppose any new U.S. aggression against Iran. We need funds for human needs, not endless war for empire.

Sincerely,

Brian H. Appleton
citizen of the world

posted June 26, 2008

Stop War on Iran! Campaign

and Palestine;

class photo of Israelis and Palestinians together in Dialogue Seminar, Summer 2007 in Giv’at Haviva.

http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=43

Jewish International Opposition Statement Against Attack on Iran
(source: The Struggle)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Efforts to beat the drums of war for an attack on Iran’s nuclear reactor facilities are promoted in both the USA and Israel scenes. The recent New York Times opinion piece of July 18th, written by the Israeli historian Benny Morris, serves to consolidate those political forces. The Jewish opposition here expresses our outrage in order to forestall this horrendous proposal.

That clamour for war with Iran has met not only popular opposition but also runs counter to the quiet diplomacy that has engaged Iran in ongoing relations with the UN nuclear agency, as well as economic trade talks with the USA itself. Israel is also committed to a cease-fire that has held now for a month’s time, to the relief of both the populations of Israel and Gaza. In light of the developing political atmosphere of reason and negotiations, the militarist mindset has pumped up its rationale for war attempting to create the preconditions for a further war. Morris seeks to fabricate such prior conditions arguing,

“They are likely to use any bomb they build, both because of ideology and because of fear of Israeli nuclear pre-emption. Thus an Israeli nuclear strike to prevent the Iranians from taking the final steps toward getting the bomb is probable. The alternative is letting Tehran have its bomb. In either case, a Middle Eastern nuclear holocaust would be in the cards.”

This promotion of inevitability plays on Jewish and Israeli memory of the Nazi Holocaust in order to garner any and every source of support for an Israel military strike against Iran, provoking a reaction and leading to a further war by drawing in the USA. This is particularly deplorable in view of the fact that 16 US intelligence agencies concluded that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program and has not had one for five years.

We extol the heroic courage of Israel’s nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu, joining our voices to his in condemnation of Israel’s illegal stockpile of nuclear warheads and support the call for a nuclear-free Middle East.

The mindset calling for a war of mutual annihilation as a solution to security is astoundingly self-contradictory. Only the fabrication of a Nazi-like threat seeks to provide any credibility to such a call to war, much like the rationale for occupation that perceives a Palestinian plot to drive Jews into the sea. The reference to Iranian ideology (Islam) as the source of confrontation does not stand up to scrutiny, since the political challenge to Israel by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is not a call for extermination, despite any mistranslation.

We seek security for all concerned by affirming the right of all to security. While we lend no credibility to the prospect of an inevitable conflict, we nonetheless object to the hysteria promoted by the Iran-bashers who are now desperate in their repeated false starts to create another unnecessary war. The attempt to oblige Iran to comply with Security Council resolutions loses its legal, diplomatic and political force as the United States and Israel consistently ignore UN diplomacy and World Court decisions, relevant to the question of Palestine. We call upon all opposed to a military confrontation with Iran to write their governmental representatives demanding that the State of Israel subject its nuclear facilities to international inspection and sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) as has Iran, rather than issue threats of war.

Further endorsements may be added by sending in a message to saalaha@fokus.name

To see list of initiators go to: http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/6028

http://www.bodazey.com/Irans_Jews_Say_Op_Ed.html

“Culture of Iran Youth Series” presents the first of four books to cover Iranian history and culture in a pictorial format

ANCIENT IRAN

A pictorial history for young readers aged 8 and up

Culture of Iran Youth Series

ISBN 978-0-9809714-0-8, Hardcover, 72 pages, 8.77 X 11.18, $19.95 US/CDN

Printed in Canada

Discover the great civilizations of the Iranian plateau - from the “Burnt City” in Sistan & Baluchistan in eastern Iran (3000 BC) to the splendor of the Sasanian court in the city of Cteisphon In modern Iraq in the 7th century AD.

Massoume Price, Canadian based writer, author of Iran’s Diverse Peoples has released a new book which aims to educate young readers about the cultural history of one of today’s most contentious and mysterious world powers. Spanning a 5,500-year period, Ancient Iran is the first book to document the ancient civilizations of the Iranian plateau in a pictorial format for young readers. Through a visually stimulating collection of over 260 high quality images of museum objects and accessible writing, young readers will gain insight into the life, believes and cultural practices of ancient Iranians and their contribution to the civilizations of antiquity. The publisher believes this book comes at a key time - when today’s youth are growing up in a world where Iran’s cultural and political practices are continually questioned on the world stage. Understanding Iranian cultural history has become more valuable than ever before. This book will also be of particular interest to second- and third-generation Iranians in various continents who wish to educate their children about the cultural history of their ancestors.

Educated in both Iran and England, Massoume Price has written extensively on many aspects of Iranian culture. Her book Iran’s Diverse Peoples (2005); was called by the Middle East Quarterly “must reading for anyone who wants to understand ethnic and religious diversity in Iran". Her website - www.cultureofiran.com - is used widely as an on-line reference source. For additional information about this publication, or to order the book, visit www.anahitaproductions.com

Sponsor this project by asking your local public and school libraries to order this book

& by E mailing to your friends and associates

www.tissahami.com

“Sassy and sarcastic… she spins laughter out of
anger, turning Islamic stereotypes inside out.”
- Boston Globe Sunday Magazine

From: Brian
To: Tissa

I remember now. You were a hoot! Are you still at it as la Comedienne? Does dad still want you to be an engineer or a doctor…LOL.

All the best,

Brian

To: Brian
From Tissa

Subject: hello

“San Jose. 2004. Iranian.com show. I was the one onstage telling jokes. I remember meeting you after the show. Perhaps this will help: www.tissahami.com”

Kavous as Spanish Ambassador’s paige in Pietro Della Valle 1975

Barran as Sir Robert Shirley in Pietro Della Valle 1975

Kavous, me and Nahid, Tehran 2008

baby Arian 1979

Arian, Nikarta and me Tehran 2008

Aryana, Sharokh, me and Saideh
1968 Orly Airport, Paris

Sharokh and me, Tehran 2008

Aryana today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dStP_ouJYHg&NR=1

My hat is off to the women of Alaska who reject Sarah Palin. “The War is God’s plan…” which God, Ares, the God of war? How stupid are we the people? Are we really going to put these McSame, McWorse, insane idiots in charge?

amoo rasool

With God on Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, and Democracy in George W. Bush’s White House by Esther Kaplan.

Have we entered a new DARK AGES?

What I want to know is when did we get to be so stupid? We have bible thumpers hating Qoran thumpers plus neo fascists in charge of Italy, France, Israel, USA…how did things get so bad…where did we miss the turn? The Cold War ended 20 years ago and this administartion is reviving it by alienating the Russian Federation and expanding NATO. We have a silent war raging in Afghanistan that the press isn’t even covering where the US forces are using bombing civilians as a way to make up for insufficient troop numbers on the ground but then does anyone care about our Afghan brothers? We have a war in Iraq costing us 10.5 billion $ per month and we the tax payers get to bail out the irresponsible banks who have created the worst financial market collapse since the 1930’s. Yet the Bush administration continues to threaten Iran like they could handle another war…if anyone is going to cause armageddon, it will be the neocons of the USA. And behind it all are the weapons merchants, the petroleum companies, the military, the intelligence community, who all languish in times of peace…

amoo rasool

A Child’s Guide To United States Foreign Policy

Q: Daddy, why did we have to attack Iraq?

A: Because they had weapons of mass destruction honey.

Q: But the inspectors didn’t find any weapons of mass destruction.

A: That’s because the Iraqis were hiding them.

Q: And that’s why we invaded Iraq?

A: Yep. Invasions always work better than inspections.

Q: But after we invaded them, we STILL didn’t find any weapons of mass
destruction, did we?

A: That’s because the weapons are so well hidden. Don’t worry, we’ll find
something, probably right before the 2008 election.

Q: Why did Iraq want all those weapons of mass destruction?

A: To use them in a war, silly.

Q: I’m confused. If they had all those weapons that they planned to use in a
war, then why didn’t they use any of those weapons when we went to war with
them?

A: Well, obviously they didn’t want anyone to know they had those weapons,
so they chose to die by the thousands rather than defend themselves.

Q: That doesn’t make sense Daddy. Why would they choose to die if they had
all those big weapons to fight us back with?

A: It’s a different culture. It’s not supposed to make sense.

Q: I don’t know about you, but I don’t think they had any of those weapons
our government said they did.

A: Well, you know, it doesn’t matter whether or not they had those weapons.
We had another good reason to invade them anyway.

Q: And what was that?

A: Even if Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was
a cruel dictator, which is another good reason to invade another country.

Q: Why? What does a cruel dictator do that makes it OK to invade his
country?

A: Well, for one thing, he tortured his own people.

Q: Kind of like what they do in China?

A: Don’t go comparing China to Iraq. China is a good economic competitor,
where millions of people work for slave wages in sweatshops to make U.S.
corporations richer.

Q: So if a country lets its people be exploited for American corporate gain,
it’s a good country, even if that country tortures people?

A: Right.

Q: Why were people in Iraq being tortured?

A: For political crimes, mostly, like criticizing the government. People who
criticized the government in Iraq were sent to prison and tortured.

Q: Isn’t that exactly what happens in China?

A: I told you, China is different.

Q: What’s the difference between China and Iraq?

A: Well, for one thing, Iraq was ruled by the Ba’ath party, while China is
Communist.

Q: Didn’t you once tell me Communists were bad?

A: No, just Cuban Communists are bad.

Q: How are the Cuban Communists bad?

A: Well, for one thing, people who criticize the government in Cuba are sent
to prison and tortured.

Q: Like in Iraq?

A: Exactly.

Q: And like in China, too?

A: I told you, China’s a good economic competitor. Cuba, on the other hand,
is not.

Q: How come Cuba isn’t a good economic competitor?

A: Well, you see, back in the early 1960s, our government passed some laws
that made it illegal for Americans to trade or do any business with Cuba
until they stopped being communists and started being capitalists like us.

Q: But if we got rid of those laws, opened up trade with Cuba, and started
doing business with them, wouldn’t that help the Cubans become capitalists?

A: Don’t be a smart-ass.

Q: I didn’t think I was being one.

A: Well, anyway, they also don’t have freedom of religion in Cuba.

Q: Kind of like China and the Falun Gong movement?

A: I told you, stop saying bad things about China. Anyway, Saddam Hussein
came to power through a military coup, so he’s not really a legitimate
leader anyway.

Q: What’s a military coup?

A: That’s when a military general takes over the government of a country by
force, instead of holding free elections like we do in the United States.

Q: Didn’t the ruler of Pakistan come to power by a military coup?

A: You mean General Pervez Musharraf? Uh, yeah, he did, but Pakistan is our
friend.

Q: Why is Pakistan our friend if their leader is illegitimate?

A: I never said Pervez Musharraf was illegitimate.

Q: Didn’t you just say a military general who comes to power by forcibly
overthrowing the legitimate government of a nation is an illegitimate
leader?

A: Only Saddam Hussein. Pervez Musharraf is our friend, because he helped us
invade Afghanistan.

Q: Why did we invade Afghanistan?

A: Because of what they did to us on September 11th.

Q: What did Afghanistan do to us on September 11th?

A: Well, on September 11th, nineteen men, fifteen of them Saudi Arabians,
hijacked four airplanes and flew three of them into buildings, killing over
3,000 Americans.

Q: So how did Afghanistan figure into all that?

A: Afghanistan was where those bad men trained, under the oppressive rule of
the Taliban.

Q: Aren’t the Taliban those bad radical Islamics who chopped off people’s
heads and hands?

A: Yes, that’s exactly who they were. Not only did they chop off people’s
heads and hands, but they oppressed women, too.

Q: Didn’t the Bush administration give the Taliban 43 million dollars back
in May of 2001?

A: Yes, but that money was a reward because they did such a good job
fighting drugs.

Q: Fighting drugs?

A: Yes, the Taliban were very helpful in stopping people from growing opium
poppies.

Q: How did they do such a good job?

A: Simple. If people were caught growing opium poppies, the Taliban would
have their hands and heads cut off.

Q: So, when the Taliban cut off people’s heads and hands for growing
flowers, that was OK, but not if they cut people’s heads and hands off for
other reasons?

A: Yes. It’s OK with us if radical Islamic fundamentalists cut off people’s
hands for growing flowers, but it’s cruel if they cut off people’s hands for
stealing bread.

Q: Don’t they also cut off people’s hands and heads in Saudi Arabia?

A: That’s different. Afghanistan was ruled by a tyrannical patriarchy that
oppressed women and forced them to wear burqas whenever they were in public,
with death by stoning as the penalty for women who did not comply.

Q: Don’t Saudi women have to wear burqas in public, too?

A: No, Saudi women merely wear a traditional Islamic body covering.

Q: What’s the difference?

A: The traditional Islamic covering worn by Saudi women is a modest yet
fashionable garment that covers all of a woman’s body except for her eyes
and fingers. The burqa, on the other hand, is an evil tool of patriarchal
oppression that covers all of a woman’s body except for her eyes and
fingers.

Q: It sounds like the same thing with a different name.

A: Now, don’t go comparing Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are our
friends.

Q: But I thought you said 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11th were from
Saudi Arabia.

A: Yes, but they trained in Afghanistan.

Q: Who trained them?

A: A very bad man named Osama bin Laden.

Q: Was he from Afghanistan?

A: Uh, no, he was from Saudi Arabia too. But he was a bad man, a very bad
man.

Q: I seem to recall he was our friend once.

A: Only when we helped him and the mujahadeen repel the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan back in the 1980s.

Q: Who are the Soviets? Was that the Evil Communist Empire Ronald Reagan
talked about?

A: There are no more Soviets. The Soviet Union broke up in 1990 or
thereabouts, and now they have elections and capitalism like us. We call
them Russians now.

Q: So the Soviets ? I mean, the Russians ? are now our friends?

A: Well, not really. You see, they were our friends for many years after
they stopped being Soviets, but then they decided not to support our
invasion of Iraq, so we’re mad at them now. We’re also mad at the French and
the Germans because they didn’t help us invade Iraq either.

Q: So the French and Germans are evil, too?

A: Not exactly evil, but just bad enough that we had to rename French fries
and French toast to Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast.

Q: Do we always rename foods whenever another country doesn’t do what we
want them to do?

A: No, we just do that to our friends. Our enemies, we invade.

Q: But wasn’t Iraq one of our friends back in the 1980s?

A: Well, yeah. For a while.

Q: Was Saddam Hussein ruler of Iraq back then?

A: Yes, but at the time he was fighting against Iran, which made him our
friend, temporarily.

Q: Why did that make him our friend?

A: Because at that time, Iran was our enemy.

Q: Isn’t that when he gassed the Kurds?

A: Yeah, but since he was fighting against Iran at the time, we looked the
other way, to show him we were his friend.

Q: So anyone who fights against one of our enemies automatically becomes our
friend?

A: Most of the time, yes.

Q: And anyone who fights against one of our friends is automatically an
enemy?

A: Sometimes that’s true, too. However, if American corporations can profit
by selling weapons to both sides at the same time, all the better.

Q: Why?

A: Because war is good for the economy, which means war is good for America
Also, since God is on America’s side, anyone who opposes war is a godless
un-American Communist. Do you understand now why we attacked Iraq?

Q: I think so. We attacked them because God wanted us to, right?

A: Yes.

Q: But how did we know God wanted us to attack Iraq?

A: Well, you see, God personally speaks to George W. Bush and tells him what
to do.

Q: So basically, what you’re saying is that we attacked Iraq because George
W. Bush hears voices in his head?

A: Yes! You finally understand how the world works. Now close your eyes,
make yourself comfortable, and go to sleep. Good night.

Bahareh

Bahareh is ten years of age and currently in the second grade. She lives with her mother and one brother in the city of Abhar located in the province of Zanjan. Bahareh’s mother works as a maid, but her income is not enough to support the family. Bahareh is extremely bright and has a GPA of 19.83 out of a possible score of 20 points. Bahareh’s family is living in extreme poverty and Bahareh desperately needs our help to succeed in school.

Please consider helping Bahareh and her family today!

Sponsor this Child

http://www.childfoundation.org/AboutUs/AboutUs/tabid/888/Default.aspx

http://www.iranesabz.com/Pictures/Kheyrieh/

http://www.iranianpigeons.com/photos.php?album_id=8

Last class of Community School, Tehran, 1980 photo by Arastoo Vosough

From: A
To: Jim
Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 4:06 PM

Dear Jim (aka Jeeeeem),

Thank you so much for your warm and thoughtful AND prompt reply! How wonderful (for me) to discover American friends of Iran . Well, I have news for you… First of all – to my own surprise – evidently there are 100’s of American tourists visiting Iran (of today) every year, on tour and for education, led and organized by an American professor named Jerry Dekker. Can you believe that? I can get his info. for you a bit later, as I’m working at the moment.

BTW, the direct site where I found your article is: http://www.iranian.com/Features/2000/March/American/index.html

I am an Iranian-American living in CA for over 30 years and yes I have visited Iran several times over the years. America is my beloved adopted country and Iran , my beloved birth country. I have learned to create my own Hybrid combo-culture to live by which serves me well, as I believe that every culture has it’s own wonderful traits along with idiosyncrasies; so, I have carefully hand picked a few of each to form my very own personalized ‘culture’ that suits my nature! LOL

As I mentioned, I was so thrilled to have come upon several Americans whom in their own unique experiences, had developed a bond with Iran – Persia – Pars, as you call it – and that whole little known ancient & mysterious land. The contrast of such few Iran loving Americans with the greater majority of Iran-hating ones (thanks to the biased media), is stark, to say the least. So, I have made it my mission to seek out these rare species (s), and to try to share what I know about them, with others… As they seem to stand up and courageously speak kindly of my heritage and illuminating the ‘kinder, gentler’ side of Iran and the Iranians, I would like to reciprocate their kindness, by illuminating ‘Them’, in my own small way. And to my joyous surprise, I keep finding these rare gems, coming out of the woodwork, like magical fairies that were hiding under the ground until now… Forgive the crude analogy…

I would very much like to speak with you more, a little later, when I’m not so rushed. But in the mean time, I can connect you with just such a friend, an Iran loving American who in fact just returned from a visit to Iran ! His name is Brian H. Appleton and his website is www.zirzameen.com

You will enjoy reading up on his many articles that he writes to the House and the Senate, and multiple publications, in defense of the Iranians’ plight. His own personal history with Iran and his (he says 100’s) Iranian friends, is quite interesting too.

More later, and many thanks for writing back.

And yes, I get funny reactions to my “Please don’t cut the trees, if you can help it” comment in my emails, all the time! Like I said, I try to help in ever so small ways!!! LOL

A
——————————————————————————-
From: Jim
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:12:18 -0400
Subject: Re: “Flying doves: Childhood memories of an American in Iran”
To: A

Dear Mrs A,

It is wonderful to hear from you. Thank you. Yes, I am alive and well and resident of north Florida USA. Thank you for your encouragement to write more of the fine wonderful experience of Iran, Parsa, which was formative in my life and world view. I trust I shall write more again. God give me the life, energy, focus and inspiration of a moment to do it again. Oh the memories I have, and I cherish that reality of mind. Perhaps, to impart it. Please tell me what was the forum or website to which that article was posted and upon a day I take I shall write good recollection again. My mind and heart is filled with those days. Perhaps, even I may tell IraniAmericans how wonderful it was then in many ways when the land of Iran was free in so many ways, irrespective of the problems recounted by some. For any who suffered, by any government or by any rule and even now I am sorry for their suffering and have pathos for their plight or suffering or oppressions. There are so many images, and wonderful days, and kind meetings, and good experiences in my soul from then during the days I knew in wonderful Iran. Truly, I look forward to the day when a US blond blue eyed American can walk freely about and travel about with the former hospitality of Pars. And I wish the same for Iranian Americans. If you like, please tell me of you. Do you read Farsi, speak Farsi ? Arabic too ? In what way and how so are you Iranian American ? Your educational background? Your current life. I am so amazed at the many Iranian and IraniAmericans in the USA now. I saw last week the amazing number of US universities offering Persian Studies programs. Wow. Now, I have made my mark and have retired from active employed life, and simply enjoy the world and people. I wish I could go travel Iran freely without the hazards even faced by resident citizens of Iran now. You can imagine the difficulties and potential offenses one may suffer there now. Have you traveled in Iran or lived there ? Next week I will go to a film that may be of interest to you if it comes to your area. It is not Irani tho, but concerns India and US. It is an Cannes award winning film, called Outsourced. I saw previews and it looks good. An American young lower mid management man is informed his function has been outsourced to India. His job thence is to go to India and train his replacements and get the operations there up and running. Wow, does he have a learning curve to run. It is a cultural eye opening in a way with many disparate cultures and religions and economic plights and peoples of India,,,and of course there is a romance theme too. There see India much as it is. Hope you don’t become outsourced. I did see an amazing film made by an Irani, remarkable, concerning Kurdistan. It may have been by Massoud Bahkshi yet I am not sure. Be of good heart. Dancing on clouds, Keep it up! James Culp or Jim Culp or as I was called by some Irani friends and my nearby shop keepers at little Medooneh Golhak in Teheran, I was Jeem, Jeemi, or Jamshidi Khalif . that was fun.

Published in “The Raw Story": Tuesday September 16, 2008
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_to_sell_bunker_busting_bombs_to__09162008.html

The US Defense Department has notified Congress of plans to sell 1,000 bunker-buster bombs to Israel in a deal worth 77 million dollars.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced the possible arms sale of the GBU-39 small diameter smart bombs on its website. The deal still requires approval from Congress.

The bombs, which are touted as more precise than larger munitions, have the capacity to penetrate 1.8 meters (six feet) of reinforced concrete and carry a 50 percent probability of reaching a target within five meters.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the bombs could help Israel in a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear sites, some of which are protected by bunker-like structures.

Last month, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that his country will never accept Iran developing a nuclear weapons capability and refused to rule out “any options.”

Israel, the region’s sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme, which Israel and its staunch US ally suspect is aimed at developing weapons.

http://www.persian.asia/node/45/photos/view/flash

http://www.iranthemovie.com/

Iranian Documentary to Screen at Camera 3 Entertainment
The Camera Cinemas and Golden Gate Cinema are proud to present a one-time only screening of the documentary, Iran: Hot Tea, Cool Conversations, on Sunday, Sept. 14th at 4:30pm at Camera 3 Entertainment, 288 S. Second Street in downtown San Jose. All seats are $10.
This revealing documentary, chronicling an American college student’s eye-opening journey to Iran, is a testament to Citizen Diplomacy, highlighting unscripted, touching interviews with a number of individuals the filmmaker encounters from all walks of life during this once-in-a-lifetime adventure. The human scale of the film cuts through the political rhetoric of the day, unveiling a country full of warm and compassionate people who desire peace and friendship with America and the West.
Go to http://www.iranthemovie.com for more information, or BUY TICKETS now!

This message was forwarded to you by brenden hamilton:

I cordially invite you and yours to the San Jose premier of Iran: Hot Tea, Cool Conversations. Hope to see you there.

Warmest regards, Brenden Hamilton

To add yourself to this email list, please click here.

Hi,

Please mark your calendar! Camera Cinemas and Golden Gate Cinema proudly announce the San Jose movie premiere of our recently completed feature documentary, Iran : Hot Tea, Cool Conversations.

Join Brenden Hamilton (Director) and me for a special showing of this timely film about an American college student’s eye-opening journey to Iran.

Showtime: Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 4:30 p.m.

Location: Camera 3 Cinema Downtown San Jose ( 288 S. Second St .)

Parking: Free Validated Parking

Tickets: Now available online or at the Camera 3 Cinema box office

Hope to see you and your family at the show.

All the best,
Mehdi

Brenden Hamilton and me at his premiere Camera 3 San Jose, CA. 9/14/08

AWESOME FILM Both Thumbs up…buy the DVD everyone…it is a very very good film by a real irandoost starring Jerry Dekker and Farzaneh Khademi, the same ones who you saw in Bam 6.6

http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=mideast&item=080914113621.kuaexn6m.php

Mohammad Khatami

Hassan Rowhani

Change is possible from within if Iran is left to its own devices…of course moderates in Iran fomenting peace with the world would not serve US neocon neocolonial interests…neocons do not want peace, they prefer to see a hardline Iran leaving them no option but to invade…and without an identified enemy how do the weapons makers stay rich? We have seen the same pattern in Iraq where Saddam’s cooperation with UNSCOM was ignored and the myth of WMD sufficed to dumb the public down and not offer any serious objection to starting this war…the alleged unproven nuclear weapons program in Iran serves the same purpose… the American people who do not protest this scare tactic give their tacit consent to it and also want to see Iran return to being a US colony…

amoo rasool aka Brian H. Appleton

By doing this Iran is putting the zionists on the spot as to their
behavior. here we will see the true colors of the UN and the zionists.
Peter Khan Zendran

Iran demands resolute UN response to Israeli threats

Khazaee: Threats display aggressive nature of Israel

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran demanded on Tuesday a “resolute and
clear response” from the United Nations to dangerous threats against it
by Israel, and said Tehran would not hesitate to respond to any attack.

A letter from Iran’s UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee to UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described comments by two Israeli
ministers as “"vicious threats … in blatant violation of the most
fundamental principles of international law."”

Khazaee said remarks attributed to Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi
Eitan by German magazine Der Spiegel this week “"yet again put on
display the aggressive and terrorist nature of the Israeli regime."”

Der Spiegel quoted Eitan as saying in an interview that while the era of
Israel hunting down former Nazi officials abroad was over, “"that’s not
to say that such operations are a thing of the past."”

Asked to explain, he was quoted as saying, “"It could very well be that
a leader such as Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad suddenly finds
himself before the International Criminal Court in The Hague."”

Last week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview with Al
Jazeera television that Israel was serious about using “"any option"” if
diplomacy did not curb Iran’s nuclear program.

“"These dangerous threats of resorting to criminal acts … require a
resolute and clear response on the part of the United Nations,
particularly the Security Council,"” Khazaee said.

“"Iran … in accordance with its inherent right under Article 51 of the
Charter of the United Nations, would not hesitate to act in self-defense
to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation and to take
appropriate defensive measures to protect itself, its people and its
officials.

Copyright © 1998-2007 The Tehran Times Daily Newspaper, Tehran-Iran All
Rights Reserved.Email : Info@tehrantimes.com

original article in New Stateman Magazine

Return to: Home | World Affairs | Asia
Asia

http://www.newstatesman.com/asia/2008/09/iran-ahmadinejad-government

Inside Iran
Maziar Bahari

Published 11 September 2008

7 comments Print version Listen RSS It is the country the west fears most - and knows least about. In our exclusive reports, Iranian writers describe the extraordinary contradictions of life under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s “Loving Government” - and reveal how Iran sees the west. Maziar Bahari, a leading journalist, begins with a drive across downtown Tehran

It’s not a promising start, but I’m going to confuse you. That’s how I feel about the situation in my country, Iran. If I’m supposed to remain true to my journalistic principles I have no choice but to share my puzzling observations with you. After 40 years of being an Iranian I can say it loud and clear: Iranian politics, economics, society and almost everything about Iran are confusing and confused.

Contradictions and double standards pervade every aspect of our social and political life. The country’s economy is a shambles, but you can see more Gucci and Versace billboards than in Milan. Iranians are the most courteous people in their daily lives, but they behave like ruthless monsters when driving. Iranians don’t like America, but they are the most pro-American country in the Middle East. Iran has become internationally known as a pariah state, but our president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believes he is the most popular president in the world. Dozens of people are jailed or executed every month but the Iranian government calls itself “the Loving Government". And so on.

I’m in Tehran. To be exact, I’m in Victory Square on my way to see a recently divorced friend near Freedom Square. My cab driver is the septuagenarian Hassan Gharehbaghi, a little man with stubble and thick glasses. Hassan is on his mobile when I get in his car. I tell him the destination, and he continues talking with his son or daughter about the results of the university entrance examinations which were announced a few days ago. Every year, almost one and a half million Iranians take part in the exams and only about 300,000 get in. Around this time, the end of August, everyone talks about so-and-so getting in and so-and-so not making it. Those who make it become celebrities in their families. Those who don’t think it’s the end of the world. Suicide rates rise at this time of year. Hassan keeps on talking to his son or daughter who, it seems, hasn’t received the best grades but has somehow managed to get a place. I can see the joy and pride on the face of the old man, who has tears in his eyes. He goes through the list of people who have to be invited to the party to celebrate his child’s acceptance into university.

The friend I’m going to see was the bright star of his generation. He entered university in 1978 with the highest grades possible. A few months later, in February 1979, the Islamic Revolution happened, then the Cultural Revolution followed in 1980 and the universities were closed. He had to leave the country and continue his studies at the University of Houston. He recently divorced his wife of five years. He is desperate for a shoulder to cry on. He also wants to borrow £5,000 for the down payment on a flat in a not-so-chic neighbourhood of Tehran. Moreover, he has to pay about £300 per month in rent.

The price of housing has soared over the past three years, since the election of Ahmadinejad as president in June 2005. Rising house prices in Iran are usually a sign of economic insecurity. People invest their money in the most tangible of commodities - land - and not much else. Blessed with rising oil revenues, Ahmadinejad has managed to compensate for his mismanagement of the economy by distributing handouts. If you’re getting married or buying a car or a house you can get loans at 12 per cent, with interest rates running as high as 18 per cent: in other words, sub-prime loans. But the handouts have made the president very popular among the Iranian poor, especially in small towns and villages. These were the same people who elected him in 2005 and most probably will vote for him again in 2009.

My divorced friend is not poor. In fact, he was doing well until 2005, when his medical equipment import company was hit by the international sanctions imposed as a result of Iran’s nuclear programme. His revenues halved within a year, and were reduced a year later to 10 per cent of what they had been.

He thought he had hit rock bottom, but then his wife left him. His flat is in his wife’s name. He had promised her five years ago when they married that he would eventually move back with her to America and would have children with her. He has procrastinated on both counts. So she has changed the locks on the door to their flat.

“How can she expect me to move to a country where they treat me like a terrorist?” he asks. “I lived in the US during the hostage crisis [when Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 staff hostage from 4 November 1979 to 21 January 1981]. I had to hide my Iranian identity not to get beaten up, even at university.”

“So why don’t you raise a family in Iran?” I reply.

“How can she expect me to have children in a country where finding crack, heroin, crystal meth and opium is easier than finding a pint of milk? I have to pay thousands of dollars for a decent education in Iran and even then my children may not be able to find a decent job.” Iran has the highest divorce rate in the Muslim world. Divorce here has gone up 7 per cent in recent years. Drug addiction and economic problems are the main reasons for this.

Raisin vodka and tax-free goods

My friend has two choices. He can either live full-time with his mother or try to sell his apartment in Houston, Texas, where he studied, and buy something much smaller in Tehran. For now he lives part-time in his office, where he has had to fire all 12 of his employees, and goes to his mother’s house for a decent meal and a shower. I offer him extensive use of my shoulder. He will need it for a while. I don’t have any money to give him. But it shouldn’t be difficult for him to get a mortgage to buy a house, eventually. While the rest of the world is in sub-prime mortgage crisis, the Iranian government hasn’t done anything to regulate borrowing since the election of Ahmadinejad. As a university professor, my friend wouldn’t have any problem getting a mortgage. God willing, he will also find a way to repay the money at some point.

Like many men around the world who are reluctant to grow up, my friend entertains himself by watching Judd Apatow comedies. He asks me to get him bootleg versions of You Don’t Mess With the Zohan and Step Brothers on my way to his office. At the time of writing, Will Ferrell’s Step Brothers had only just been released in London but had been widely available in Tehran market for weeks. My friend has also ordered a gallon of raisin vodka in preparation for his night at the office. Drinking alcohol is forbidden in Islam, and selling alcohol is illegal in the Islamic Republic. But Iranian Christians, mostly Armenians, are allowed to produce alcohol for their own consumption. Naturally, they like to share their enjoyment of their produce with their fellow citizens. And, of course, they make some money from selling it. My friend’s Armenian supplier is a former pilot. He earns more money distributing alcohol than an IranAir pilot, who has an average salary of around £500 per month, a very large amount for an Iranian.

But in Iran your official salary doesn’t mean much. People usually have several jobs to make ends meet. They also try to make more money while doing those jobs. It is not unusual for teachers and government employees who have official monthly salaries of £150 to have a second job as a cab driver. Receiving bribes is an acceptable form of supplementing one’s income. An Iranian pilot may officially earn £500 per month but he makes three times as much by bringing tax-free goods from abroad and selling them on the black market. Yet even if an IranAir pilot has an actual monthly income of £2,000, my friend’s Armenian vodka supplier makes more than that and never wants to be a pilot again. The local products are not sufficient for the Iranian market. I once visited a very large warehouse, near Suleymaniye in Iraqi Kurdistan, filled with bottles of whisky, cognac and vodka destined for Iran. The owner of the warehouse was a happy man, with impressive love handles, who told me about his house in Majorca.

I’m supposed to pick up the illegal DVDs on the corner of Islamic Republic Avenue and Bobby Sands Street, next to the British embassy. The Iranian government named the street adjacent to the embassy after the Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer who died while on hunger strike in a British prison.

I once asked an Iranian official: how would he feel if the British named Princes Gate, where the Iranian embassy in London is located, Salman Rushdie Gate? He told me that there was no comparison - Bobby Sands is a martyr and Sal man Rushdie a heretic. He then told me that his next visitor had arrived and asked me to leave his office.

Lying is also forbidden in Islam but, unlike alcohol, it is widely tolerated in the Islamic Republic. If you’re caught with a bottle of raisin vodka you can receive 50 lashes on your buttocks. But lying has become something of a virtue among Iranian officials. The government spokesman has several times announced that he knew nothing about the resignation of such-and-such a minister, while the minister himself had announced his decision to resign days earlier. The head of the sports organisation praised the victorious Iranian Olympics team, even though Iran won only two medals at the Games. And the guy selling the illegal DVDs said that they were originals, but when I watch the film I can see the guy sitting in front of the dodgy cameraman in the auditorium choking with laughter on his popcorn as Will Ferrell sings “Por ti volare” at the end of Step Brothers.

To get from Islamic Republic Avenue (which used to be called Shah Avenue) to Freedom Square (formerly Shah’s Memorial Square), I have to go through the busy traffic around Revolution Square (formerly 14 March Square, after the shah’s father’s birthday). Consecutive governments in Iran have acted as if by changing names they can change the nature of things. When the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were published in 2005, Danish pastries were officially renamed Muhammad flower pastries. (My American friends, don’t laugh! Remember freedom fries?)

“A true, clean, patriotic Iranian”

I’m dozing off in the 35-degree heat while Hassan is still on the phone and his taxi is stuck in a traffic jam in Revolution Square. I’m sure suggesting that Islamic Iran needs another revolution to be free would bring a smile to the face of the US vice-president, Dick Cheney. For years, he has advocated overthrowing the Islamic government through military action, which he is sure Iranian people would welcome. But Cheney would snap out of that mindset, were he in a taxi with Hassan, who has finished his telephone conversation with his son or daughter and now is ready to talk to me.

Hassan declares himself an Ahmadinejad devotee. He has eight children. His eldest son was martyred in 1985 during the Iran-Iraq War. Like many Iranians, Hassan blames America more than any other country, even Iraq, for the war, which cost more than one million lives. He believes that, without American support, Saddam Hussein would not have been able to carry out his savage attacks against Iranian cities. He also believes that the only reason the Americans are against Ahmadinejad and Iran’s nuclear technology is that they don’t want Iran to be independent.

Like most Iranians, Hassan has a very good long-term selective memory. As we go through Revolution Square, he remembers the CIA coup against the nationalist government of Muhammed Mossadeq in 1953.

“I was here on 16 August 1953. I remember when people brought down the statues of the shah. But then Americans brought him back to power on 19 August,” says Hassan. Revolution Square connects Revolution Avenue to Freedom Avenue, which used to be called Eisenhower Avenue, after the American president who helped the shah topple Mossadeq. “Ahmadinejad reminds me of Mossadeq. A true, clean, patriotic Iranian. But he is even better than Mossadeq. Because Ahmadinejad is also a good Muslim.”

I ask Hassan why he still drives a cab at his age. “I’m a retired National Railway employee. But my pension is not enough to pay for my youngest son’s tuition fees.” Hassan’s son studies at the Free University, a semi-governmental institution that charges more than state universities, although its degrees are not as valuable. The tuition fees are almost £5,000 per year, more than the average annual income of most Iranians. “So, life is not that good?” I ask Hassan. “I am happy that I’m healthy and can still work at this stage. Otherwise, my family would be in so much trouble,” he answers.

“Those things” are a disgrace

Hassan can’t understand any part of my divorced friend’s story. “It’s just unbelievable that people don’t respect marriage any more. My youngest son is getting married and the government forces him and his wife to take mandatory family planning courses where they teach them about ‘those things’.”

By “those things” he means condoms. After the 1979 revolution, the government encouraged people to have more children. “Islam needs more soldiers” was the motto in those days. That created a population increase which scared the government in the early 1990s. Since then, Iran has acquired one of the world’s best family planning programmes. Now, every couple who register to get married have to go through family planning classes where they learn about different methods of birth control, including condoms. “It’s a disgrace that the government is trying to force people to wear ‘those things’. I hope Mr Ahmadinejad changes that policy,” says Hassan.

I find my friend half asleep at his desk. He’s gone through a quarter of a gallon of raisin vodka. “I like this guy Ahmad inejad,” are his greeting words to me. “Why?” I ask. “He’s the only one with guts in this country.” My friend is happy about Ahmadinejad’s defence of an adviser who claimed that “Iranians are friends of Israeli people". The adviser has been chastised by the conservatives and reformists alike for his audacity in declaring compassion for the Zionists. The Grand Ayatollah asked Ahmadinejad to fire him. But the president defied all his critics and stood by him. The same Ahmadinejad who questioned the truth of the Holocaust and allegedly said “Israel will be wiped off the map".

After a long day in the heat thinking about the complexities of my country, my brain is frying. Or maybe years of working as a journalist in Iran are taking their toll on me. In any case, I put on the bootleg DVD of Zohan, in which Adam Sandler plays a counterterrorism agent whose real dream is to be a hairdresser. Now that is a character I can relate to. I, too, wish life was simpler. My friend is absolutely hammered. He’s on the phone to his ex-wife, promising her that he is working on their immigration to the United States.

REPRESSION: THE NUMBERS
85
juvenile offenders on death row. Iran is the world’s most prolific executioner of under-18s
30,000
estimated number of political prisoners
100
lashes given to a woman found guilty of adultery in August
500,000
rials (£30) - the fine for women who do not observe Islamic dress in public. The average monthly salary is £106
317
people were executed in 2007, including six juvenile offenders
11
years’ imprisonment: sentence imposed on a journalist for founding the Human Rights Organisation of Kurdistan
4
male witnesses are needed to sentence a woman to death for adultery
Research by Katy Taylor

Date: 09/12/2008

Time: 16:00 - 18:00
Location: Press Conference UN Plaza
Host: Stiles Hall
Event Description: Festival

Military families and veterans, Iranians Americans, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others opposing an attack on Iran will celebrate with Iranian and American music, food, dancing, and poetry.

A rally with speakers in front of the Federal Building ending with the delivery of children’s art, poems and letters to Speaker Pelosi’s Office.

Similar events will occur in Washington DC, NYC, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Houston, Dearborn MI and Iran. Americans and Iranians around the world will light candles in their windows.

“How many huge mistakes can one administration make? Don’t bomb Iran.”
—Robert Reich, Former Secretary of Labor

“Plant the tree of friendship and harvest the fruits of love. Uproot the roots of hatred for it brings forth boundless agony”- Hafez
—Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi & Laughing without an Accent

On September 12th the world shared in America’s grief. Thousands of Iranians spontaneously lit candles in solidarity with the families of 9/11 and the American people. Instead of seizing on the opportunities for global peace and friendship, the U.S. administration used the attacks of 9/11 as a pretext for sowing the seeds of war. The enormous good will of September 12th was squandered.

On this September 12th, we will create an Axis of Friendship. We invite you to join us in celebrating and honoring the faiths, families, and friendships that bind us–Americans and Iranians –as one. Help us spread the light of peace and kindle the love that connects us to each other. Join us as we celebrate and affirm the Axis of Friendship that unites our faiths and families as one.

Contact: info@stileshall.org
http://www.irandokht.com/event/?EventID=474

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-politics/20080903/CVN.Palin.Iraq.War/

Not unless God is Ares, the god of war. How dare these misguided hypocrites speak for God and blame God for wars they started and ask seminary students to pray for the passage of a bill for a $30 billion pipeline in Alaska and then complain that the IRI has no separation of church and state…as she sends her own son off to fight in a war of conquest and gives it God’s blessing, is she the Pope? How dare these politicians speak for God? The God of Mammon, “in God we trust” is even on our money and that is what we worship…

amoo rasool

Is this the enemy?

I think not,

amoo rasool

Never before had a major broadcast video so blatantly attempted to connect the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979 to the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

“No doubt, showing a 9/11 video at a political convention was emotional exploitation. But it was also something much worse: it was blatant historical revisionism. It was a cynical attempt to claim attacks on Americans–1979 and 2001–were carried out by the same ‘enemy.’ “

Huffington: Iran Blamed for 9/11?

Last night, while Americans sat quietly expecting to watch a video ‘tribute’ to victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001–John McCain took advantage of America’s good will to show a video falsely linking Iran to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

At 9:11pm (CST), the MSNBC coverage cut to a video being projected onto the main screen at the RNC. At that point, Tom Brokaw introduced the video as follows:

Tom Brokaw: OK, let’s go now, Keith, if we can, down to the floor. We want to share with our viewers the ‘Tribute To The Victims of 9/11.’

So, that was the introduction the networks gave to the video–no doubt lifted from a press release given to them by the RNC. Normal practice, I suppose. But here is the astoundingly immoral thing that happened next, rather than show a video ‘tribute’ to the victims of 9/11, the McCain team showed a video ‘history’ of 9/11 that began like this:
(Fade to black as ominous slow piano music plays)

(Fade in: iconic image of Iranian revolutionaries from the late 1970s holding American hostages)
Narrator: The first attack occured in Iran.

(MSNBC feed now shows picture of Iranian hostage crisis with title ‘9/11 Video Tribute’)

Narrator: 444 days–America held hostage.

(Cut to: image of 1998 Al Qaeda bombings of Kenya and Somalia)

Narrator: Then again.

(Cut to: second image of 1998 Al Qaeda bombing of Kenya and Somalia)

Narrator: And again.

(Cut to: image of 2000 Al Qaeda bombing of USS Cole)

Narrator: At our embassies.

(Cut to: close up image of 2000 Al Qaeda bombing of USS Cole)

Narrator: Our navy.

(Cut to: image of generic crowd of Middle Eastern men waving machine guns)

Narrator: They grew ever more bold. Their call was, ‘On those who believe in God, and hopes for reward–’

(Cut to: image of Osama Bin Laden firing automatic rifle)

Narrator: ‘To obey God’s command to kill Americans.’

(Fade to black)

(Fade in:slow motion video of smoke rising from top of WTC.)

Narrator: And kill us they did. This time on American soil. The date was September 11th–9/11.

(Violent burst of flames slashes through Tower 2–the second plane. Crash is punctuated by high-pitched flourish of music followed by slow rising fireball)

(Cut to: video images of towers burning)

Narrator: This enemy sword to our destruction has been at war with us for decades. This we now know.

(Cut to: video of Tower 1 collapsing)

The ‘tribute’ continued for several more minutes, showing video of firefighters and rescue workers, other scenes of destruction.

Everyone in the United States has inevitably seen dozens of actual tribute videos to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. In most cases, these videos overlay photographs of those individuals who died with the video of the burning towers. There is, one could argue, a familiar vocabulary for tributes to the victims of 9/11.

Rather than follow that standard and recognizable tribute format, however, McCain’s video presented a political argument about Iran’s links to 9/11.

Never before had a major broadcast video so blatantly attempted to connect the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979 to the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Never before John McCain’s night at the Republican National Convention.

Interestingly, Keith Olbermann responded to the imagery in the McCain video immediately after it was shown by apologizing to MSNBC viewers for imagery that could be construed as a political exploitation of the emotions of 9/11.

What Olbermann should have apologized for was MSNBC accidental transformation of their network into a mechanism of the most cynical kind of Orwellian propaganda.

John McCain did not make the link between 9/11 and Iran in his RNC speech, but we can be certain that the video ‘tribute’ is a sign of what is to come on the campaign trail between now and November.

The media’s responsibility from this point forward is clear: either they can sit back and let McCain’s historical revisionism stand or they can move quickly to debunk it.

Either way, it seems apparent that major broadcast outlets need to take a more proactive role in pre-screening for blatant historical inaccuracies any video a political party plans to show during a national broadcast–or at least preparing to immediately debunk politically motivated inaccuracies.

John McCain will no doubt continue to exploit the pain of 9/11 in some vain hope of political gain, and will continue to push historical revisionism about the links between Iran and 9/11. The media, if it does its job, can be a crucial counterweight that prevents false and militaristic propaganda from flowing freely on our public airwaves.

Original article HUFFINGTON POST 9/8/2008 7:27:03 AM (PST)

http://www.picturesofyouiran.com/index.html

Dear Friends,

Anyone who tries to save Iran from the jaws of the American warmongers and to bridge the hearts of the ordinary Americans to the soul of the Iranians; is my hero. Each and every American who loves Iran and extends a friendly hand and promotes peace and bravely stands up against the tidal waves of the saber-rattlers - by default jeopardizing their own relationship with the current American administration, maybe even their safety – deserves our utmost respect and support. God bless them all…

My latest discovery is this American lawyer turned-photographer who is trying to (literally) shine a light on the human face of the Iranians. He’s taking his photo exhibits of Iran , across America , for which he’s receiving some praise as well as ‘much’ criticism (for befriending the enemy!!!) For Pete’s sakes, that says a lot about how little the world knows us Iranians… Please ck out his website and spread the word about him, if you too care about Iran.

Thank you!

A

ARTIST’S STATEMENT
One day, while photographing on the streets of Isfahan, Iran, I spotted a young Persian man wearing a Dixie Chicks t-shirt. I introduced myself, and I inquired whether his t-shirt was intended to signify his dislike for the American President Bush. He smiled, and replied that the shirt wasn’t just about President Bush. He explained that shortly after the Dixie Chicks criticized Bush on stage, bootleg Dixie Chicks shirts appeared in stores all over Iran’s major cities. He told me that the shirt represented the admiration that he and his compatriots had for Americans’ freedom of speech.

That young man and his t-shirt have become a symbol for me of the basic philosophical compatibility of Iranians and Americans— and of Americans’ unawareness of that compatibility. For example, few Americans understand that the Persian culture celebrates knowledge, personal freedom, and the enjoyment of life. Most Americans do not know that Iranian women, despite the obstacles put in their way, are a significant political voice, and make up a majority of the university students in Iran. It seems that Americans would ordinarily admire the courage and willpower of the Iranian people, but the current political climate makes it nearly impossible for Americans to recognize those qualities.
I want all Americans to have a chance to come face-to-face with their Iranian counterparts, and I want to document the Americans’ responses to the encounter. For this reason, I am assembling a traveling photography exhibit entitled ‘pictures of you: Images from Iran.’ The show features portraits of Iranians printed on translucent silk. The images can be viewed from either side, and the translucency of the fabric permits viewers to watch as other people look at the installation. This serves to make viewers aware of other people’s reactions to the images, and perhaps will cause them to reflect on their own responses. The fragility of the silk is intended to remind viewers of the significant effect that American misperceptions might have on Iranians and on Persian culture. I want viewers to have the sense that something beautiful is in jeopardy.

The installation will be shown in outdoor venues that are not traditionally reserved for art. It will be shown in high-traffic areas, so it will be encountered by viewers who do not typically seek out art. For example, we plan to show the exhibit at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, at a NASCAR event, and at select state fairs. Many viewers will simply happen upon the show without having heard about it. My intention is to reach a broad audience, and to evoke an unfiltered response to the photography.

For me, Americans’ response to the installation will be the real point of the show. Many Americans have strong feelings and intuitions about Iran, and many of their ideas have developed in an environment tainted by ignorance and suspicion. While Americans are free to learn about Iran and engage in informed debate about foreign policy, so many of them choose not to use those very freedoms that millions of Iranians long for. I hope that the show will ultimately transcend the issue of Iranian/American relations. It will illustrate how Americans exercise their freedoms and privileges— including the privilege to remain uninformed about other nations and cultures without suffering any significant consequences.

The main title of the show, ‘pictures of you,’ is deliberately ambiguous. Viewers may assume the subject of the show— the ‘you’— is the Iranian people. But the American viewer of the show is its subject— its ‘you’— as much as the people of Iran are. I hope that the documentation of Americans’ response to the installation will allow us to examine that part of American culture objectively and with compassion. My intention is that allowing Americans to see themselves in this way will encourage them to look more carefully at other nations and cultures.
The title of the show was inspired by a verse by the Iranian poet Rumi. The verse appears at the top of the page in Persian. In translation, it reads:

If my head holds one thought wise and clear, it’s you.
Poor as I am, what I hold dear is you.
No matter how I see myself, I’m nothing.
Anything I am entirely is you.

— Rumi’s Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi


http://www.picturesofyouiran.com/learn.html

http://picturesofyouiran.blogspot.com/

Shirazi Kids photo by Shahram Razavi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjsEs46C70

About Phillip Butler

Doctor Phillip Butler is a 1961 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former light-attack carrier pilot. In 1965 he was shot down over North Vietnam where he spent eight years as a prisoner of war. He is a highly decorated combat veteran who was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merits, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Heart medals.

After his repatriation in 1973 he earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at San Diego and became a Navy Organizational Effectiveness consultant. He completed his Navy career in 1981 as a professor of management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is now a peace and justice activist with Veterans for Peace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk

We have to spread the truth about McCain ourselves because it’s clear the corporate media won’t. NOW. FAST. FURIOUS. EVERYWHERE.
We are in the two-minute drill with no timeouts. No more sitting on the sidelines and allowing the McCain campaign to rack up points with countless distortions.

Watch the video and forward it to everyone you know.

As we’ve seen with The Real McCain 2 (nearly 4.5 million views and counting!), once the truth gets out, it’s hard to stop. In the last few days we have seen a disgusting descent into the worst of sleazy smear politics. We need to spread the facts and the truth. Send this to your friends and relations, especially if they are unsure or undecided – they’re more willing to believe you than a talking head! Vote this video up on Digg and Reddit, and rate, comment, and favorite it on YouTube.

Spread the truth. Don’t wait. It starts with you.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New team

—
Paid for by the Brave New PAC and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Brave New PAC is supported by members like you, please consider making a donation. To stop receiving the latest videos from us, click here. We are located at 10510 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.

Critics urge no agreement without Congressional approval
Dear Supporter of a Just Foreign Policy,

The Bush Administration and the Iraqi government have been negotiating a “security agreement.” Both Congress and the Iraqi parliament have been excluded from the negotiations, and critics in both countries fear that the Bush Administration and the Iraqi government are trying to “lock in” a long term relationship between the United States and Iraq that does not reflect the interests or the views of the majority in either country.

This is a critical time for Congress to hear from Americans about this issue. Can you ask your Representative to insist that any such agreement must be approved by Congress?

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iraqagreement.html

The Bush Administration is trying to sneak through this agreement that could constrain the choices of the next Administration concerning the future of US forces in Iraq. Press reports suggest that the negotiations have reached an advanced stage.

While the Iraqi government has publicly acknowledged that the agreement must be approved by the Iraqi parliament, the Bush Administration has not acknowledged that the agreement must be approved by Congress.

The American Friends Service Committee has published a translation [1] of a draft of the agreement that appeared in the Iraqi press. Contrary to the impression given by many press reports on the negotiations, the draft agreement apparently specifies no date for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, even as a goal.

Rep. DeLauro has introduced legislation [2] that would require the Bush Administration to consult with Congress on any long-term security, economic, or political agreement with the Government of Iraq. It would prohibit the use of funds for the implementation of any long-term security, economic, or political agreement with the Government of Iraq unless the agreement is in the form of a treaty with respect to which the Senate has given its advice and consent to ratification under Article II of the Constitution. This legislation currently has 58 sponsors in the House [3].

Can you ask your Representative to support this legislation?

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iraqagreement.html

Thanks for all you do for a just foreign policy,

Robert Naiman, Sarah Burns, and Chelsea Mozen
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org

Support our work. We’re funded by people like you. Our small staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. You can contribute here.

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html

References:

[1] “Agreement regarding the activities and presence of U.S. forces, and its withdrawal from Iraq,” Americans Friends Service Committee, August 6, 2008, http://www.afsc.org/Iraq/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/60561.

[2] “H.R. 4959, “The Iraq Stretegic Agreement Review Act,” http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.4959:

[3] Cosponsors: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR04959:@@@P


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Note from Amoo Rasool,

what kind of a Democracy is this where we the people have to constantly guess what our president is doing?!!!

I just realized why the West draws such a line in the sand over hejab and France even outlawed it…it’s not about women’s rights because since when did capitalists care about that but rather, what would all the producers use to market and sell products if not the sex appeal of women and teenage girls in various stages of semi nudity?

amoo rasool

private collection Tehran

To All Anti-war, Peace Activists and Promoters of Justice! The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are STILL THE PROBLEM!

Please join with this action to show all those wishing to occupy the SEATS OF POWER in Washington that the PERMANENT WAR ECONOMY is UNACCEPTABLE, and THAT THE VOICES AGAINST MILITARISM AND WAR WILL NOT BE SILENT!!!

—– Original Message —–

From:

To:

Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 9:26 AM

Subject: Fwd: Thursday/9-11: Say NO to war at Columbia University when McCain and Obama speak!

Anyone interested in meeting us at Columbia U on Thursday?

On Thursday, September 11th - McCain and Obama will be both speaking at Columbia University , beginning at 8:00 PM. in a nationally televised “discussion".

Meet up at the gates of Columbia University , 116th and Broadway,
beginning at 5:00 PM.

Bobbi and Steve

News from the New York City Chapter

Mark your calendars:
Tuesday morning, September 23rd
War Criminal George W. Bush will be speaking at the U.N.
Plan to take action that day.

The world must see and hear that:

People of the U.S. and the world oppose Bush and Cheneys criminal wars for empire. U.S. Out of Iraq and Afghanistan , and NO ATTACK ON IRAN !

Bush & Cheney have committed towering war crimes and crimes against humanity. They must be held accountable! Bush & Cheney must be IMPEACHED and international tribunals need to INDICT, ARREST and try them for their crimes, including for:

Wars of aggression against countries that have not attacked the U.S.

Torture and much more!

Bush’s speech to the U.N. Is occurring on “Grito de Lares", exactly three years after FBI stormtroopers in Puerto Rico, on orders from Washington, surrounded and fired into the home of noted Puerto Rican activist, Filiberto Ojeda Rios. Despite the cries for help from his wife, the FBI prevented access by medical team for several hours, and Filiberto bled to death. For this cold-blooded assignation, the Bush regime must also be held accountable.

“Stay tuned” for information on planning and organizing a powerful day of action for September 23rd

***

Reports from Denver and St. Paul
go to www.worldcantwait. org for reports on protests at Democratic and Republican conventions.

Thursday/9-11:
Say NO to war at Columbia University when McCain and Obama speak!
On Thursday, September 11th - McCain and Obama will be both speaking at Columbia University , beginning at 8:00 PM. in a nationally televised “discussion” .

We are sick and tired of having government leaders and politicians using the outrage of 9-11 as a justification for endless and expanding U.S. wars for empire. Our grief is NOT a cry for war!

People in the U.S. and around the world want an end to the criminal war in Iraq - but what are the “peace plans” of these candidates? - A slow “reduction” of the war in Iraq , greatly escalating the war in Afghanistan and threats of expanding war to Iran and Pakistan ! What will this mean? - Already we learn of massacres of civilians in Afghanistan , with much more to come.

Join in telling the world that we say NO to all these unjust wars for empire. This must all be brought to a halt!

Meet up at the gates of Columbia University , 116th and Broadway,
beginning at 5:00 PM.

Our message:

U.S. OUT of IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN NOW!
Obama/McCain: Shifting troops to Escalate War in Afghanistan is NOT a “peace plan"!
NO ATTACK ON IRAN !
Obama/McCain: Expanding war to new countries is NOT a “peace plan"!
U.S. OUT of IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN NOW!
No more blood for empire!
NO ATTACK ON IRAN !
Not another unjust war for empire!
It is up to the people to do what our government will NOT do!
Stop the wars! Stop the torture!

Stop the moves towards a theocratic police state!

***

Spread the word far and wide!

New York City Chapter, The World Can’t Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime

It’s up to us. The stage is being set for the whole horrendous course begun by Bush to continue, regardless of who becomes president - unless/until people in this country take independent and determined political action in our millions to repudiate and reverse the whole program begun by the Bush regime. That is our mission: Join us.

Bring it all to a halt NOW: the wars, the torture, the spying, the moves towards a police state.
War criminals Bush & Cheney need to be impeached/indicted and DRIVEN from office.

Declare it Now - Spread the Resistance - Wear Orange

Orange is color assigned to those detained without trial and tortured in Guantanamo & Abu Ghraib.

World Can’t Wait - National: http://www.worldcan twait.org 866.973.4463
NYC Chapter: nyc@worldcantwait. org http://nyc.worldcan twait.org

private collection Tehran

private collection Tehran

“Peace cannot be achieved by force, it can only be attained through understanding.” - Albert Einstein

With all due respect to the memory of Dr. Albert Einstein, the military industrial complex and the mainstream media,their propaganda arm they own, have no real desire for peace. Without an enemy there is no client for weapons and no mandate for their existence.

Brian H. Appleton

Herald Tribune Global edition

Russia, the U.S. and Iran
By Ray Takeyh and Nikolas Gvosdev The Boston GlobePublished: September 8, 2008

It is one of the rites of passage of the fall - every September, the Bush administration returns to the United Nations for another sanctions resolution against Iran. However, this time there is much consternation in Washington that Russia’s invasion of Georgia - and the subsequent chill that has descended on relations between Russia and the West - has ended any possibility of cooperation between the United States and Russia in dealing with Iran’s nuclear imbroglio. Such fears are overblown.

Russia’s assault on Georgia may produce no measurable change of its Iran policy. Indeed, President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia made it clear that, despite the harsh rhetoric that has been exchanged between Moscow and Washington, Russia continues to support efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

The primary reason for the continuity is that both Iran and Russia are essentially satisfied with existing U.S.-European policy of applying incremental and largely symbolic UN sanctions on Tehran. Moscow feels that as long as the diplomatic process remains in play, America is in no position to launch a military strike that could destabilize the Middle East. At the same time, the theocratic regime in Iran has increasingly adjusted to a sanctions policy whose impact is negated by increasing oil prices.

Although Tehran would be grateful for a Russian veto of any future sanctions resolutions, it does seem content with a Russian policy that waters down UN mandates while deepening its commercial ties with Iran. On the one hand, Moscow has supported three previous Security Council injunctions against Iran, yet it has also signed lucrative trade deals and expanded its diplomatic representation in Iran. The incongruity of today’s situation is that Russia rebukes Iran for its nuclear infractions while providing technical assistance to the Bushehr plant, which is a critical component of Iran’s atomic industry.

For its part, Russia is happy with the standoff between Iran and the United States. Not only does it destabilize international oil markets - keeping prices higher than they ought to be - but Iran’s large natural gas reserves are effectively off-limits for European use, reinforcing the continent’s dependency on Moscow. At the same time, as Iran strengthens its economic links with key Asian powers, it makes it more dependent on Russia and China for its critical trade and investments. Russia can only benefit from Iran’s gradual reorientation toward the East.

All this is not to suggest that Iran has not benefited from the Russian-Georgian conflagration, but those advantages have been subtle. Tehran is using the Georgian crisis as a cautionary lesson to the Gulf states. From its podiums and platforms, the message emanating from the Islamic Republic is that the Georgians mistakenly accepted American pledges of support, only to pay a heavy price for their naïveté. The Gulf sheikdoms who similarly put much stock in U.S. security assurances would be wise to come to terms with their populous and powerful Persian neighbor. In a region where America is viewed as unpredictable and unreliable, this message has a powerful resonance.

The contours of Russia’s policy became obvious in the recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was unable to persuade Moscow and its partners to extend security guarantees to Tehran, or to gain Russian support for switching oil pricing from dollars to euros. Medvedev and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, continued to urge Iran to be flexible and negotiate restraint on its nuclear activities. Yet, Moscow also declared support for Iran’s nuclear activities that were designed for peaceful purposes.
Given the fact that technologies employed for civilian use can be the basis of a military program, it is hard to see the utility of Russia’s latest pronouncement.

What this means?

Russia is not interested in playing an active role in resolving the Iran crisis on terms America will find acceptable. If the next president is going to solve the Iranian nuclear conundrum, he must appreciate that the UN process has reached its limits, and that the only manner of moving forward is for Washington to engage in direct negotiations with Tehran.


Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Nikolas Gvosdev is a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/08/opinion/edtakeyh.php

PS these journlists fail to mention Russian Federation has billion dollar contract from IRI to finish Bushehr reactor…and Bush admn encouraged Georgia to invade Republic of South Ossetia which triggered the Russian invasion of Georgia.

amoo rasool

I think it is fair to say that where we find communism, socialism and other dictatorships of the proletariot or populist regimes, it is in response to a history of extreme and prolonged poverty. Iran is no exception. Had the Shah’s Iran with all its oil wealth had no illiteracy and a more equitable distribution of wealth and a larger middle class the mullacracy could not have succeeded.

As Marx said religion is the opiate of the people and so is opium by the way….

I can remember when Empress Faradiba brought in an entire plane load of pink Portuguese Rosa Aurora for her swimming pool and when the Island of Kish was a private resort where you had to buy an $80K credit card to use there before you could join the club.

Of course the Americans lived like first class citizens in the Shah’s Iran and treated the Iranians as less than equal for the most part.

I can remember after the revolution when my illiterate opium addicted old Kurdish landlady in Tehran kept saying that now that Khomeini was coming everything was going to be OK and I had to gently disagree…I mean at one point the people thought they saw Khomeini’s face on the moon the day before he arrived.But I am not one of those monarchists who thinks Iranians are not ready for democracy. As far back as the parliamentary Constitutional Revolution of 1906 they have been yearning for it.

My point is that this great capitalist trickle down theory of how foreign investment and privitization increases the living standard of the general population of a “third world country” has been proven wrong time after time after time…a few elite get rich and the Americans hang out with them, never learn the local language or culture and never see the poverty and the illiteracy and the political prisoners and torture and so when the revolution comes they are amazed at all the retaliation, retribution, execution, violence and hostility…well it was building up for 50 years I should think…the violence is not born in a vacuum…Savak is the father of Savama…torture, execution and disaparitos are the fathers of torture, execution and disaparitos…look at the Reign of Terror after the French Revolution after being saddled with the French Monarchy for centuries and then the revolution got usurped by Napoleon, as so often happens in a sudden vacuum of power there is a vulnerability and the wrong people take charge…look at how the Bolsheviks usurped the new Russian Republic from Karenski after centuries of the Tzar, and look at all the executions in Russia…it may all be earned and justified but to end the cycle of violence someone has to forgive… like Nelson Mandela did with his general amnesty…what I saw in Iran was that people were proud of their heritage, even of the Pahlavis especially Reza Shah The Great and Shahzadeh, their palaces have been made into museums and their personal effects are proudly displayed there like childhood photos and toys and books…it is as if people respect that that was a period of their history even if it did not satisfy the needs of the majority…

Iranians are proud of their heritage and patriots who want their national sovereignty and dignity…a trip to the national cemetary to see the graves of all the young martyrs who died fighting for their country in the Iran Iraq war testifies to that.

It was like President Ahmadinejad said in his letter to President Bush about letting God be the judge of their actions in the end. Iran is not on a Jihad, Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons but it is seeking to maintain its national sovereignty…if you do not like this brand of government then ask yourself how you contributed to its making? Just as every American must also ask him or herself how they contributed to the making of the Bush administration? And why has the world become such a dangerous and unfriendly place even though the Cold War ended 20 years ago?

What efforts are being made for peace, does anyone really want peace? When one fighter plane costs more than the entire budget of the US State Department do we really want peace and does taking a bigger and bigger hammer to the problem ever fix it? Again, I say that if the US used its vast resources to actually help people, the terrorists would lose their constituents…but then again we don’t even recognise our own poverty in the USA so how can we be expected see it elsewhere?

Brian H. Appleton

DONATE
Please help build a grassroots campaign to Stop War on Iran
http://stopwaroniran.org/donate.shtml

Endorse the Call to Action for September 27 at
http://www.stopwaroniran.org/sept272008endorse.shtml

List your local action at
http://www.stopwaroniran.org/sept272008volorgcent.shtml

Sign the Petition at http://stopwaroniran.org/petition.shtml

Make an Emergency Donation at http://stopwaroniran.org/donate.shtml

September 27
National Day of Action to Stop War on Iran!
Help build locally-coordinated actions in 100 cities
March, rally, speak out, picket, teach-ins - in cities large or small, campuses & schools
what you do can make a difference
Stop the War on Iran before it starts!
Money for Jobs, Healthcare, and Education, Not War and Occupation!

Stop War on Iran!
U.S. Out of Iraq & Afghanistan
No U.S. attack on Iran through Israel
No to all U.S./NATO war threats

Money for human needs, not war!
Dear Friends:

As many of you know, the Bush Administration, with the support of politicians of both parties in Congress, has repeatedly threatened Iran with military action, and many now believe that an attack may be imminent. The Stop War on Iran campaign has issued an international call for actions on September 27.

We’re writing to ask for your help; the only force that can stop another brutal U.S. war is a massive outpouring of grassroots opposition.

We must act now ! As more U.S. warships are deploying to the Persian Gulf, we have to mobilize to stop an “October Surprise” attack on Iran, or any other country. Politicians don’t stop wars; they create them. The only force that will stop endless war in the Middle East is a massive grassroots peoples’ movement.

It is time to turn up the heat!

Threats against Iran are growing daily. The Bush Administration has mobilized a massive naval presence which will place hundreds of nuclear-armed aircraft within striking range of Iran.

The London Daily Telegraph of Sept. 2 reported that “the Dutch intelligence service has pulled an agent out of an ‘ultra-secret operation’ spying on Iran’s military industry because spymasters in the Netherlands believe a United States air attack was imminent.” The Jerusalem Post reported that the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf said the attack was to be carried out “within weeks.”

And there are increasing signs that the Pentagon is growing more reckless and dangerous on several fronts. During the first week of September, U.S. special forces attacked the village of Angor Adda in Pakistan, killing as many as 20 people, including women and children, according to Pakistani officials. This follows the August 22 killings by U.S.-led forces of 90 Afghan civilians, including 60 children. Meanwhile, the U.S. is deploying naval forces to Georgia, increasing tensions throughout the region and directly threatening Russia.

These war moves must be protested. On September 27 we must loudly voice our opposition and say: “Not Another War: No ‘October Surprise’!

A Summer of Mobilizing to Stop War On Iran

The Stop War on Iran Campaign has been mobilizing non-stop this summer to help build a movement to stop Washington’s drive to war. On August 2, in response to an emergency call for international actions issued by the Stop War On Iran campaign, anti-war activists in more than 100 cities– from Bangladesh to Boston, and from Vancouver to Hawaii, in cities large and small-voiced their opposition boldly in the streets.

In the past few weeks, Stop War on Iran activists have been in the streets of Denver and St. Paul, at the many protests at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Despite the menacing and often violent police presence, we carried Stop War on Iran placards and banners, and distributed tens of thousands of Stop War On Iran newsletters, reaching out to the many activists in both cities, to help build grassroots opposition to Washington’s bipartisan agenda of endless war.

We need money for jobs and housing -
not for another war!

While billions of dollars go to war, at home the unemployment rate has seen the biggest spike in 23 years. Home foreclosures and evictions are increasing; fuel and food prices are through the roof. While the situation is growing dire for many, Washington’s cutbacks in domestic programs continue. The fiscal year beginning on October 1 will bring drastic cuts. A new U.S. war will bring only more suffering here as well as massive destruction abroad.

The recent Hurricane Gustav highlighted the failure of Washington to do anything to rebuild the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Three years after the disaster, thousands of people are still homeless, as the money that could have been spent on meeting human needs has gone to fund the Pentagon and the agenda of endless war. Every social program and every aspect of the economy has been impacted by the billions of dollars wasted on war.

But we must do more! As the threat of a U.S. attack on Iran grows, we must do everything we can to build a grassroots movement to oppose this aggression, while continuing to protest the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

We must take action now! Here are some ways you can help:

Organize a local September 27 action to Stop War On Iran, whether it is a march or rally, speak-out, picket line, walk-out, or teach-in–in cities large or small. What you do can make a difference. List your action at http://www.stopwaroniran.org/sept272008volorgcent.shtml, so activists in your area can contact you and get involved. .

Make a donation to help with vital mobilizing expenses for September 27 protests and to help this movement grow. Or contribute to campaigns to get the truth out about the war danger by literature production, international emails and holding meetings. You can donation online at http://stopwaroniran.org/donate.shtml.

This campaign is truly dependent on grass-roots donations from all over the country; this is how every leaflet, sign, mailing and newsletter—every expense—is funded. We can only do what our supporters enable us to do.

Donate online at www.StopWarOnIran.org

All of our volunteer staff and organizers thank you for your continued support and dedication to the campaign to prevent a new war in Iran or anywhere else.

In solidarity and with our appreciation,

Stop War on Iran staff and national organizers

Join the Pressure Campaign! Support Our Diplomats!!!

http://atimes.com/c-asia/CG03Ag01.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrokhroo_Parsa

Farokhroo Pārsā, (1922-1980) (Persian: فرخ‌رو پارس&#1575 was an Iranian physician, educator and parliamentarian. She served as Minister of Education of Iran in the last pre-Islamic revolution government and was the first female cabinet minister of an Iranian government.

Pārsā was an outspoken supporter of women’s rights in Iran, and was executed by firing squad on 8 May 1980 on religious-revolutionary charges stemming from this position.
In her last letter from prison, Farrokhroo Pârsâ wrote to her children: “I am a doctor, so I have no fear of death. Death is only a moment and no more. I am prepared to receive death with open arms rather than live in shame by being forced to be veiled. I am not going to bow to those who expect me to express regret for fifty years of my efforts for equality between men and women. I am not prepared to wear the chador and step back in history.”

Shirin Ebadi

where is Khatami when we need him? http://atimes.com/c-asia/CG03Ag01.html
What has humanity done to deserve all these hardliners like Bush, Ahmadinejad, Olmert, Berlusconi and Sarkozy…God help us…I pray McCain loses…amoo rasool

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09062008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/ahmadinejads_new_enemy__women_127724.htm Ebadi: Nobelist faces threats for backing women’s rights.
Posted: 4:36 am
September 6, 2008

Women were the first to demonstrate against Khomeini’s regime with a mass rally in Tehran on March 8, 1979 - less than a month after the mullahs had seized power. ( I was there and saw that 20,000 woman protest march against Hejab and also the 200,000 strong counter protest of chadori peasant women whom khomeini had bussed in from villages to Tehran for their march, Brian H. Appleton)

Over the next decade, the authorities imprisoned hundreds of thousands of women for varying lengths of time, and executed thousands.

But women continued to fight a regime that deemed them subhuman. Their resistance prevented the mullahs from abrogating pre-revolutionary laws limiting gender discrimination. Thus, women succeeded in keeping their right to vote and win public office.

They also retained a veto, granted by the shah, on their husbands’ Islamic right to take up to four permanent wives and countless temporary concubines.

Last June, Ahmadinejad sought to remove that veto, launching a campaign with quotations from the Prophet and the 12 Imams of Shiite Islam to prove that men who took many wives would have a fast track to paradise.
To make polygamy practically impossible, a law predating the revolution required men seeking added wives to prove that they’re financially capable of running more than one household. Since few can meet that condition, the number of Iranian men with more than one wife had fallen to a few hundred before the mullahs seized power.
And most of those polygamists were mullahs or wealthy bazaar merchants associated with them.
Last month, Ahmadinejad presented a draft bill designed to “re-Islamicize” the status of women. He claimed that the shah had used laws inspired by “Zionist-Crusaders” to deal with women’s issues.

His new law would restore men’s Islamic right to divorce their wives without even informing them. Men would also be absolved from paying alimony.
In exchange, they’d be required to pay a mahrieh (a severance payment, whose amount is set in the marriage contract) to a wife they wish to divorce. But the draft law also plans a hefty government tax on the mahrieh. So a divorced woman left with no alimony and no resources except her mahrieh could end up losing most of that to the government. “This text is designed to return women to the dark ages,” says Sousan Tahmaspi, a spokesperson for the campaign against the law.

To prevent the law’s passage, women have been holding meetings nationwide, and launched a campaign to collect a million signatures in support of gender equality.
This week, their campaign seemed to have produced some results: The speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Iran’s ersatz parliament, opted to delay formal debate on the measure.

“The text has not been withdrawn,” a spokesman for Ahmadinejad said Monday. “It will be debated when we have a calmer atmosphere.” To get that “calm,” the regime has launched a crackdown against women’s-rights groups. This week, four leading campaigners (Pari Ardalan, Nahid Keshavarz, Maryam Hussein Khah and Zhaleh Javaheri) got sentenced to six months in prison in what their lawyers call “kangaroo courts.” A fifth campaigner, Zeinab Bayazidi got a four-year sentence.

And at least five women’s-rights advocates have gone missing. One, Solmaz Igdar, was abducted on her way home in Tehran, her family says.

The Khomeinist propaganda machine seeks to portray the women’s movement as part of a plot by “Zionists and Crusaders” to undermine Islam. In recent days, government media have published claims linking Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who has spoken in support of the women’s movement, to the Bahai faith, a religion banned by the regime. This is a deadly threat: To abandon Islam for another faith carries a death sentence.

“Free people everywhere should speak out in support of Iranian women,” says Tehran feminist Haydeh Karimi. “The proposed law is the thin end of a wedge. Ahmadinejad wants women out of universities and public life. He thinks he can curb mass unemployment by forcing women out of work, giving their jobs to men.”

I am reminded of one time Mexican populist leader Emiliano Zapata thinking that he could just have more money printed up to pay off the government deficits. amoo rasool

for more info and registration for this course please go to:
http://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/course/ARC118.asp

Thank you Professor for your kind words,

I already found that link and have posted it in my blog and will have my webmaster announce it on my website events calendar. I hope to be able to participate if I can fit it into my schedule and look forward to meeting you in any case. Another Irandoost (friend of Iran) who recently spoke at Stanford U., friend of mine Iason Athanasiadis has brought my attention to the Benaki Museum in Athen’s Islamic Art Exhibit which is doing a great deal to open up the minds of the most religiously conservative Christian member of the EU, i.e. Greece towards their Moslem neighbors. As close in proximatety as they are to the Moslem world, the episode with the Ottomans has created an anymosity which needs to end.

Ref ancient Greece and ancient Persia: Alexander married Roxana and his generals married Persian princesses and started the Sassanian dynasties so there has been as much synthesis as antagonism between the two peoples which is why movies like “300″ are distorting the truth in the public mind. It is not even certain that Alexander actually burned down Persepolis and you know the legend of how Darius’s own officers abandoned him for dead in an ox cart and Alexander found him and Darius whispered in his ear to take good care of his people.

cheers,

Brian

————– Original message ————–

http://www.patrickhunt.net/arch/arch.html

From: “Patrick N. Hunt”

> Dear Brian,
>
> Great to hear from you. I know both Prof. Abbas Milani and Mohammad
> Hekmat. I also think Stanford is seeking to build up its Persian
> Studies program for undergraduates as well.
>
> Dialogue is always important, including at present between states,
> because the West desperately needs to build bridges, not raise hackles
> in a world where the West has historically refused to give due credit
> to Near Eastern mathematicians, chemists, astronomers and other
> scientists and artists from whom much was borrowed without attribution
> from at least the 10th century CE onward, not to mention so many
> ancient borrowings you note. Of course this cultural and historical
> myopia continues to create added bitterness in the present Middle
> East. Alexander’s Greeks brought far more back than mere Orientalism
> to the West. They also brought about the Hellenistic world where
> Eastern influence shattered the myth of Greek cultural superiority in
> isolation. In far more than a diaspora of modern Iranians who have
> greatly blessed the US, the molten gold that ran through the streets
> of Persepolis after Alexander’s burning continues to flow today.
>
> The fall Persian course is listed in Stanford’s Continuing Studies
> website, and here is the url:
>
> http://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/course/ARC118.asp
>
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Dr. Patrick Hunt
>

Brian Appleton wrote 9/1/08

Dear Patrick Hunt,
first of all God Bless you for offering this course which I will try to attend myself. Iran is very near and dear to my heart as you can see as I have constructed this website and the upcoming publication of my book “Tales From The Zirzameen” at great personal expense for this worthy cause.

I will advertise your course in my blog and on my website calendar of events. I am very happy to have Stanford University as a neighbor as I have had great dialogue with Professor Abbas Milani and with Mohammad Hekmat, President of the Persian Student Association of Stanford University and I helped sponsor two of the books they were looking for to augment the Stanford libraries collection of contemporary Persian writers. Not only does Iran have a glorious past but the West is content to overlook their present greatness as well. I also helped coordinate the screening of the documentary film Bam 6.6 twice at Stanford. I just want to thank the entire school for it’s pursuit of the truth.

Regarding the glorious past, I am personal friends with the Soudavar family who each year award numerous scholarships to scholars of any nationality who are doing advanced Iranian studies as well as a whole series
of events (including the ‘Idea of Iran’ series on Iranian history and the published book version of each of the series) as well as
scholarships and various publications.

Especially relevant to your comments is the research underway by many scholars supporting the evidence that the Achaemenian dynasty had more influence over Alexander’s Macedonian Empire than visa versa.

Fatema Soudavar’s grandfather bequested the Malek Library to the Iranian State consisting not only of Sasanian coins but of thousands of rare manuscripts and other coins from the first Lydian coin minted under Cyrus to the Pahlavis and the recent addition of a wing in the name of her mother for her collection of 18th and 19th century Persian art. Unfortunately it was closed for repair during my recent visit.

Please advise me on how my readers and I can get more information on your course offering and register for it.

All the best,

Brian H. Appleton

Patrick Hunt wrote 9/1/08

Dear Brian,

I too have recommended the summer National Geographic article to everyone as it
is an antidote to the general ignorance about the greatness of Persia and is an
examplar of much-needed cultural diplomacy.

For your information (and perhaps sharing), I am teaching a community course at
Stanford University this fall on the ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF PERSIA. Wed.
evenings, 9/4-12/3.

“Persia has had one of the longest, most glorious and fascinating histories in
the world. Too often neglected by the West, Persia’s rich and complex culture
was jealously admired by the ancient Greeks and later by the Byzantines. Its
legendary arts and architectural sites range from Achaeminid Persepolis to
Safavid Tabriz and Isfahan, with its great monuments, rich textiles, intricate
miniature paintings, ceramics, and perfumed gardens. Every week we will
encounter treasures well known to archaeologists and art historians but
unfamiliar to most well-educated Westerners. Some of the highlights will include
the fabulous Oxus Treasure Hoard discovered in the 19th century, with its stupendous
jeweled metalwork, Persepolis and Sassanian art, and the literary masterpiece:
the epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings) and the from it the Tales of Rustam, whose
subject is a medieval Persian hero.”

Cordially,

Dr. Patrick Hunt
Archaeologist and Art Historian
Hannibal field research
Sponsored by the National Geographic Society’s
Expedition Council 2007-2008

Life goes on…and our horizon will be the last line we see when it is behind us. We have to move on to get out of the darkness to see the light. I have hope for Iranians to see the light they are waiting to see for so long….!

—-FARHAD NABIPOUR , “AMIR”

http://www.amirspaintings.fotopic.net/c443812.html

http://tannazie.blogspot.com/2006/07/cow-tongue-flower-chronicles.html

I was told by a friend’s mom while we were walking through the Tehran Bazaar recently that you have to brew Gol-e-Gov Zaban together with catnip to keep it a pretty purple color rather than turning an ugly brown when brewed by itself. Dr. Nasser assures me that it will get rid of stress and help you sleep to drink this Borage tea.

From: Tannaz 9/11/08

Hi Brian – sorry for the late reply. thanks so much for posting about my gol-e gav zaboon post! it’s a little silly, but very indicative of my crazy/wonderful dual-nationality life. zirzameen looks great!

cheers,
tannaz

On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 1:42 AM, Brian Appleton wrote:

I just read your blog and left a comment about Gol-e-Gov Zaban which I had just learned about recently myself. I have pasted the link to your blog about it onto the blog in my website with one of the pictures you had of the herb. Enjoy my website at www.zirzameen.com about all things Iranian from the perspective of me, an American irandoost. Gorbanat, Brian aka Rasool

Georgian people do not support the fascist expansionist desires of Saarkashvili nor his desire to enter NATO and antagonize the Russian Federation nor do they want to attack or support attack on Iran, which they have a long cultural affinity with…
Again the US despite UN inspectors findings has brainwashed the West into assuming Iran is making nuclear weapons. It does need more electrical generating capacity, I witnessed the scheduled black outs myself both in Tehran and Shomal this summer…the nuclear scare is another WMD scam designed to create public acceptance for the re-colonization of Iran by the US military industrial complex…

amoo rasool

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=68383&sectionid=351020101


Russia: US needs Georgia to strike Iran
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:32:58 GMT

A senior Russian official says the White House assists Georgia in a bid to secure Georgian territory for a potential attack on Iran.

In an interview with Press TV on Wednesday, Russian Duma Deputy Sergei Markov said Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ‘brought some support from Israel’ before he launched an attack on South Ossetia.

Georgian military forces launched a large-scale military offensive against South Ossetia on August 7. Russia, in response, moved its forces into the region.

The conflict in South Ossetia claimed the lives of some 2,000 people and displaced 40,000 others.

When asked if an attack on South Ossetia was a prelude to an attack on Iran, the State Duma Deputy said, “We know that this war in South Ossetia is somehow connected with the aggression of Washington against Iran, possible bombing of Iran.”

“Washington helped Georgia to take control of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, (because) Washington needs Georgian territory to use for bombing against Iran,” he added.

The US and Israel have long threatened to launch air strikes against Iranian nuclear installations under the pretext that Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has plans to develop nuclear weaponry.

This is while the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran enriches uranium-235 to a level of 3.7 percent - a rate consistent with the construction of a nuclear power plant. Nuclear arms production requires an enrichment level of above 90 percent.

Currently suffering from electricity shortage, Iran has been forced to adopt a rationing program by scheduling power outages - of up to two hours a day - across both urban and rural areas in the country.

When will these idiot warmongers wake up and realize that Israel has much more to gain in making peace with Iran and its neighbors than a war in which everyone suffers, everyone loses and possible nuclear holocaust? Why is it always a double standard; Israel can bomb other countries “pre-emptively? and no one criticizes?
It’s OK for Israel to bomb Lebanon, Palestine and Syria and to have nuclear weapons even though they are not members of the NPT? why isn’t UN sanctioning Israel?

amoo rasool

Ehud Barak Minister of Defense

Israel: When we say attack, we mean it
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:30:56 GMT

ISrael’s Ehud Barak
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Israel is determined to use ‘any option’ to stop Iran’s nuclear program should sanctions fail.

In a Wednesday interview with Al Jazeera television, Barak said while there is still time for diplomatic measures against Iran’s nuclear program, other countries should not remove ‘any option’ from the table, an allusion to the military option.

Tel Aviv and Washington accuse Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of making efforts to develop nuclear arms, and under such pretext have threatened to launch air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

This is while the UN body responsible for monitoring Iranian nuclear activities has confirmed that Tehran’s uranium enrichment is far below the level required for nuclear arms production.

“The time is still for diplomacy and sanctions, but much more effective sanctions. We keep saying that we do not remove any option from the table. I propose to others not to remove any option from the table as well. But when we say it, we mean it,” Barak said.

According to Pentagon officials, Israel conducted a military maneuver over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece in early June in preparation for a war on Iran.

Over 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 jets took part in the exercise, which spanned nearly 900 miles, roughly the distance between their airfields and Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz.

In reaction to Israeli threats, Iran has recently revamped its fighter jets to fly distances of 3,000 kilometers without refueling, which would allow them to fly to Israel and back.

CS/HGH

I think once again this proves that left to their own devices that Iranian society can become more moderate and progressive from within without having to be bombed back into the Stone Age by foreigners. Of note is the support that cleric Ayatollah Shahroudi gave the women on this issue.

amoo rasool

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/09/iran-women-figh.html

Quick Links: Current affairs. Egypt. Iran. Iraq. Israel. Marines in Iraq. Religion.
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IRAN: Women fight back, and score rare victory

Iranian women’s rights activists are celebrating a rare but significant victory today after parliament’s decision to shelve a piece of legislation that would turn back the clock on marriage rights.
In July, conservative lawmakers proposed several changes to the country’s family law that would allow husbands to get “temporary” marriages or marry additional wives without the consent of their first spouse. The changes would have also imposed a tax on the alimony the husband is obliged to pay his wife in case he divorces her.
In a move that would warm the heart of any Washington political consultant, the proposed changes were called “The Family Protection Bill.”
But under enormous pressure from Iranian women’s rights activists and celebrities, lawmakers opted to indefinitely postpone discussion of the bill on the floor of the legislature.
The proposed changes have been the talk of the country. Temporary marriages, or sigheh in Farsi, are religiously sanctioned quickie weddings that can last as long as a lifetime or as short as, um, 30 minutes. They’ve been traditionally popular with male travelers or seminary students who find themselves a long way from their wives for long stretches of time.
Iran’s laws allow men to engage in polygamy but only with the consent of the previous wife or wives. But polygamy is not popular in mainstream Iranian society and frowned on except in certain rural or tribal areas.
According to critics, the proposed changes would have effectively let a man legally engage in prostitution, remarry behind his wife’s back and make it tougher for her to move on with her life if her husband dumps her.
The proposals were sent back to committee for further work. Some warned that they could still be resurrected. Turan Walimorad, an expert on women’s rights issues who often appears on state-run television, said lawmakers had agreed to consult with women’s rights activists before reformulating the changes.
“We hope we can come to agreement to legalize temporary marriage only in exceptional cases, not as a right for every man to engage it,” she said. “Until then, we will try to postpone the approval of the bill as long as we can.”

Dozens of political organizations and nonprofit groups mustered all their energy to fight the bill. On Aug. 31, about 100 women from all walks of society went to the parliament to discuss the danger embodied in the proposed articles. Among them were Shirin Ebadi, the Noble Prize winner; Simin Behbahani, a famed Iranian poet; Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, a film director; Laleh Sadiq, a female race car driver; and Elahe Kolaee, a well-known former lawmaker.
Amnesty International also issued a report calling on Iranian authorities to stop harassing activists trying to fight the bill.
Opponents of the law were helped by an unlikely ally: Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the conservative cleric who heads Iran’s judiciary and who had criticized the proposed changes.
— Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran and Borzou Daragahi in Beirut
Photos: Top, tae kwon do athlete Sara Jamal Khosh (right) of Iran in action against Yang Shu-Chun of Taiwan during a quarterfinal match during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Yang Shu-Chun won the match. (Credit: Michael Reynolds / European Pressphoto Agency); Bottom, Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi (center) leads a group of women heading to the Iranian parliament to oppose a proposed marriage law. (Credit: Iranian Women’s Society)

www.IranDokht.com
By: Ryszard Antolak

Khosrow Sinai

Iranian film director Khosrow Sinai has been awarded the prestigious “Knights Cross of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic”. At a ceremony earlier this year (June 10th) in the Polish capital, the country’s president, Lech Kaczynski bestowed the honour on the Iranian filmmaker in recognition of his services to the Polish Nation, and in particular for his documentary “The Lost Requiem”, made in 1982.

Also honoured were five Iranian citizens of Polish descent, survivors of the “Polish Exodus” living in Iran. They are: Fatemeh Fazelishahir, Maria Bajdan, Fatemeh Wandeh Vashi, Eleonora Barska and Helena Stelmach. Each was awarded the Siberian Cross.

The Lost Requiem tells the story of the war-time arrival in Iran of hundreds of thousands of Poles released from the Soviet labour camps of Siberia. During the two months of April and August 1942, ships crammed with emaciated men, women and children arrived daily at the Caspian port of Anzali. Their condition was desperate. Within weeks of their arrival, thousands had died from malnutrition, malaria and typhus. The healthy young men were evacuated immediately to Syria and Lebanon to aid the allied forces against Hitler. The remainder (mostly women and children) remained in Iranian refugee camps for up to three years before being evacuated to camps in East Africa, New Zealand and India. But a significant proportion decided to remain behind in Iran for good, and their stories are recounted in Sinai’s documentary “The Lost Requiem”.

Such a ceremony in the Polish capital would have been unthinkable just twenty years ago. Until as recently as 1989, it was forbidden to refer to the Polish Exodus in the Russian-dominated Polish media. In the West, things were scarcely better. The British and US governments, who had secretly betrayed their ally Poland to the Soviets at the Tehran Conference in 1943, continued to collude together for almost 50 years to cover up (or obfuscate) knowledge of the events. Almost alone among international filmmakers, Khosrow Sinai laboured to bring the matter to the public domain.

It was an uphill struggle, however. Even today, the film is not on general release and is available only on DVDs distributed privately.

The medal of the Order of Merit is a five-armed red and white cross emblazoned with a Polish eagle and suspended from a dark blue ribbon.

Polish orphans 1942 Bandar Anzali

Khosrow Sinaii film maker born in Sari

http://poetrania.blogspot.com/2006/11/lost-elegy_01.html

Dr Nasser Heydarian

Dr. Nasser and me

Dr. Nasser, world class humanitarian and peace maker…commander of the San Francisco and Saint Peterburg Commandery of the Knights of St. John Hospitaller,

Deputy and Diplomatic Counselor of the World Parliament For Security and Peace

Vice Consul for The UNESCO and United Nations

Advisor to the President of Russia Administrative Offices of Health

Commander Hospitallier for Order of St John’s Hospitaller of Jerusalem

MD Pavalov State Medical University St. Petersburg

MBA Columbia Southern U. Alabama, USA,

PHD British Institute of Homeopathy

Licensed Naturopath Wash DC

Sports Medicine specialist post grad from Military Medical Academy St Petersburg Russia

Countess Tatiana Bobronskoy,descendant of Empress Katherine The Great, Tzarina of Russia
awarded him the medal of the House of Ramonoff for humanitarian service and research for his service in Central Asia.

He was knighted into the Order of St John’s Hospitaller for humanitarian service and research for his service in Central Asia.

Dr. Nasser has raised over six million dollars from NGO, private and public sources to purchase hospital equipment needed in Russia, Central Asia and Iran. He has also procured needed equipment for orphanages and senior assisted living facilities as well as personally modifying many homes of the handicapped in that region of the world to better adapt them to the needs of their occupants.

Stay tuned for my interview with Dr. Nasser.

cheers,

Brian H. Appleton

The Dutch intelligence service, the AIVD, has called off an operation aimed at infiltrating and sabotaging Iran’s weapons industry due to an assessment that a US attack on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is imminent, according to a report in the country’s De Telegraaf newspaper on Friday.

Slideshow: Pictures of the week The report claimed that the Dutch operation had been “extremely successful,” and had been stopped because the US military was planning to hit targets that were “connected with the Dutch espionage action.”

The impending air-strike on Iran was to be carried out by unmanned aircraft “within weeks,” the report claimed, quoting “well placed” sources.

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the De Telegraaf report.

Brian wrote:

what with Bush getting congress to approve $400 million for covert activity, the Dutch claiming infiltrating spys and God only knows how many other foreign secret services, I am left with this comical image of more spys and informants than public officials running the IRI at the moment. I wonder how Americans would feel one day if they woke up and a hostile naval force bigger than any other in the world, was parked off their shore telling them to shut down their nuclear reactors or else? How would they feel if a foreign government made it public knowledge that they were spending hundreds of millions of dollars in attempts to destabilize the US government because they did not think it was legitimate? And after the break down of voting machines in Florida, is our current administration legitmate?

And about sanctions…if for example Bush at the end of his term suddenly declared himself president for life, would you take up arms and risk your life and property to overthrow him? I do not believe we should be punishing people with economic sanctions unless we are prepared to do ourselves what we are asking them to do…the fundamental error of this administration is their notion of pre-emptive strikes nuclear or otherwise…unilaterally taking out leaders you don’t like is vigilantiism and a break down of the rule of law…starting wars whether ostensibly for defence or not is a violation of our constitution, international law, the UN charter and even threatening war as a form of diplomacy is against international law.

Are we the American people really just going to sit by and watch Mr. Bush start another war against a wrongly accused victim of his massive propaganda barrage? The motivation of this administration is to recolonize Iran with a new pro American military industrial complex, puppet plain and simple. The nuclear weapons scare is no more tangible than the WMD scare used to justify invasion of Iraq. Our own NIE report which was withheld from the public for several years showed that plans for development of nuclear weapons in Iran had been abandoned in 2003. The IRI has cooperated with UN inspections voluntarily for years but the West assumes them guilty until proven innocent and of course it is very difficult to prove the existence of something that doesn’t exist.

How many times are we going to fall for this drill? How long is the Fear tactic of 911 going to enrich the weapons merchants while making our planet a more and more dangerous place to live?
amoo rasool

Simin Ghafari

darush

young Darush

young Iren

young pouri banaee and googoosh

young googoosh

young Naser Malek Motie

young Shohreh Aghdashloo and Behrooz Vosooghi

check it out all out at:

http://www.ghadimiha.com/