The Tales from the Zirzameen

Hey Brian,

I got your book and finished reading it this weekend. I couldn’t put it down! I’m truly impressed. Hai fatto bene, figliolo! You write well, and your vivid descriptions and attention to detail are superb.The photographs were great and were a wonderful addition to your commentary. You need to somehow publicize the book, not only within the Iranian-American community, but to a wider public. I’m not sure how you do that; send it to the New York Times book review or Obama or something. My opinion is that you’ve not only written an interesting book, but you’ve performed a public service by calling to attention the fact that Iranians are loving and interesting people with a rich cultural heritage. It’s a far cry from the image of Iranians that is portrayed in the media.

George

2nd review:

Great book – fun read!, March 1, 2009
By J. Afshar

Tales from the Zirzameen is a must read for all Iranian-Americans and a fun read for everyone else. It recounts the context within which the Islamic revolution of 1979 unfolded and the drastic changes it brought about. The book is fun to read and it flows very nicely.

Amidst all the negative sentiments for Iran, it is so refreshing to see Brian Appleton’s fascination and love for the Iranian culture and society. I hope many Americans will read Tales from the Zirzameen to acquire a different viewpoint through which they can get to know the generosity and compassion of the Iranian people.

I thank Brian Appleton (aka Rasool Ariadust) for his great contribution to the improvement of American-Iranian relations.

http://fora.tv/2009/02/25/Azadeh_Moaveni_Honeymoon_in_Tehran#chapter_01

http://www.amazon.com/Honeymoon-Tehran-Years-Love-Danger/dp/140006645X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235601388&sr=1-1

For several years I have been corresponding with author and journalist Azadeh Moaveni author of Lipstick Jihad and newly published Honeymoon in Tehran. Today I finally got to meet her in San Jose, her former home town.

She is an expert at the cultural nuances which make our two cultures different which in the end makes us have a love hate relationship for both. That said better mutual understanding is the key to peace. As an example from my personal experience I recently suggested to a young first time mom who needed a job with flexibility that she should consider realty, only for her to respond to me as if I had insulted her. I then asked another Iranian friend about her reaction and he told me that being a realtor is coincidered low class in Iran. This kind of information can make the difference between successful diplomatic negotiation and dialogue versus failure which is why I am greatful for former diplomat and hostage, John Limbert’s work, with the US Peace Institute, on what American diplomats need to know about the history of US activity in Iran and about Iranian culture and sensibilities.

BHA

Niloufar Talebi Organizer of Iranian Literary Festival, Director of the Translation Project and Editor of the anthology “Belonging,” a collection of exceptional Iranian diaspora poetry in translation.

Poetess
Ziba Karbassi and me

Niloufar Talebi sent a message to the members of Iranian Literary Arts Festival, FEBRUARY 5-6, 2009.

——————–
Subject: DAY 1 was a home run!

Thursday night’s packed audiences came from all over and we had a grrrreat event!

Have you seen all the press?

http://www.sfweekly.com/events/iranian-literary-arts-festival-1332492/

Friday night’s big poetry reading and video screening is going to be CROWDED and fun. If you’re registered, that’s great, if not, we might be able to squeeze you in! Come watch our poets get honored by Assemblywoman FIONA MA, and read their amazing work! 391 Grove street @ Gough, 6:30 - 9 PM
——————–

http://www.shahrnushparsipur.com/

me and distinguished feminist author Shahrnush Parsipur discussing her new novel “Blue Reason” which takes place in Tehran during the time of the Iran Iraq War. Stand by for interview coming soon.

Interestingly enough during the course of our conversation I found out that her ex husband had directed and produced the ’70’s hit TV series “Daijan Napoleon” in Iran based on Iraj Pezeshkhzad’s novel and starring the late actor Golam Hossein Nakhshineh,former stage actor, who had his film screen debut in our movie “The Travels of Pietro Della Valle"; a documentary period piece about the Safavid dynasty in Iran directed and produced by Dr. Parvin Ansary and NIRT in 1975, in which I played the part of Sir Robert Shirley and which I describe in my book.

Small world really,

BA

comment:

“I just saw a screening of Shirin Neshat’s wonderful film “Women Without Men,” based on Ms. Parsipur’s novel. She also acted in the film and did a great job!”

Vida

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjT2IeYSxY4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Evoteforiran%2Ecom%2F2009%2F07%2Fold%2Dcoup%2Ddetat%2Dvis%2Da%2Dvis%2Dnew%2Dcoupiran%25E2%2580%2599s%2Dstruggle%2Ddeserves%2Dyour%2Dsupport%2F&feature=player_embedded

November 19th, 2008: Dr Patrick Hunt and me at his session on Safavid Miniatures; Riza-i Abbasi et al.

me and Jahangir at MIT Bldg 4 Engrng and Science

www.essenceofiran.com

Mullen: Iran has fissile materials for bomb

Associated Press Writer Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer – 30 mins ago

read more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090301/ap_on_re_us/mullen_iran

while this firebranding distortion is passed off as truth, meanwhile Iran wants to develop nuclear energy for generating electricity and is subject to daily sceduled black outs at noon throughout the country to save power for night. The US has the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world. Israel has thousands of nuclear war heads as does India and Pakistan, none of whom are members of the NPT (Non Proliferation Treaty.) Iran is a member of the NPT and has voluntarily subjected itself to years of extraordinary UN inspections which no other member has been subjected to. What of the NIE report (US joint intelligence report) that Bush supressed for several years which stated Iran had abandoned contemplation of a nuclear weapons program as far back as 2003? Unlike Israel, Iran has not attacked any other country in over 200 years. What is the agenda which causes them to be perceived as such a threat by a non stop anti Iranian media propaganda barrage? Could it be because they will not knuckle under to the West and become a colony again of the USA or UK? And another point: Israel is full of pacifists who do not want war on their Arab neighbors nor on Iran. So many Israelis were born in Iran. This is another misrepresentation by the media that Israel is united in its Zionist war hawk stance. The gist of the article once you read past the opening provocative hysteria is that Iran might maybe have enough fissionable material to build the core of one nuclear weapon…so presumed guilty without proof…demonize the enemy then you don’t have to feel guilty when you bomb and subjugate them for those precious resources you want…which by the way do not include the human resource of what the people of Iran want or their level of freedom and rights…"exporting democracy” is a euphamism for taking other people’s raw materials and trying to reduce them to debt ridden consumers of the stuff the multi national corporations want them hooked on…like the former British Empire’s Mercantile System which fomented our revolution in 1776.

http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Iran-Culture-Youth/dp/2913200001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235719182&sr=1-1

Update: Ancient Iran, a pictorial history for young readers

“Ancient Iran” is now available for sale at the British Museum, London and the Smithsonian Museum: Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC.

A segment from the book on the origin of Norouz will be part of the Toronto School Board curriculum online with full credits and the book will be named as a reference source. This is the first step towards our goal of having Iranian history and culture incorporated in the school curricula in Canada.

Massoume Price received a bronze medal from the “Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards” for best non-fiction multicultural book in January 2009, at the Children’s Museum in Denver Colorado in conjunction with the American Library Association Convention.

Order your copy now to get it in time for Norouz

604-602-0067

www.anahitaproductions.com www.amazon.com

Happy Norouz

In Vancouver you can buy the book from Nima Bookstore

#4 – 1558 Lonsdale Ave, North Vancouver, 604-904-0821

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if5eTwaieMw

http://farsijam.com/

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=2TX7ZHVX

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:19:10 GMT


Russian Atomic Agency Chief Sergei Kiriyenko (centre right) and Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aqazadeh (center left)
There is no room for Western concern over Russia’s nuclear cooperation with Iran, says the head of the Rosatom State Atomic Corporation.

read more:

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=86714&sectionid=351020104

http://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/invt/cmc24520

http://isauna.org/

On January 9th 2007, leaders of more than 20 Iranian Students Organizations from various educational institutions all over the United States, declared their common will towards creating a multi-ended bridge among the Iranian scholars to spread knowledge and social awareness in the Iranian-American community.

Emerged thereupon, ISAUNA is now a diverse network of Iranian students and academicians across North America who introduce, implement and support groundbreaking ideas towards improving the social life of the Iranian community in the United States. ISAUNA is a nonprofit and nonpolitical organization.

ISUNA achieves its goals through providing public education, supporting research on Iran and the Iranian society, promoting the Iranian culture and self-awareness and creating a platform for a salutary dialogue among the members of the community.

Here’s a petition to United Nations. The Petition is self-explanatory, please distribute worldwide Lets put Norouz - New Day on UN Calendars

Please accept our best wishes and thanks for your attention to this important request. click here http://www.petitiononline.com/Norouz

February 18, 2009

by Muhammad Sahimi

Since February 2003, Iran ’s nuclear program has undergone what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) itself admits to be the most intrusive inspection in its entire history. After thousands of hours of inspections by some of the most experienced IAEA experts, the Agency has verified time and again that (1) there is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran , and (2) all the declared nuclear materials have been accounted for; there has been no diversion of such materials to non-peaceful purposes. Iran has a clean bill of health, as far as its nuclear program is concerned.

This is not what Israel , its lobby in the United States , and its neoconservative allies had expected. Such a clean bill of health deprives them of any justification for advocating military attacks on Iran . The illegal act of sending Iran ’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council and the subsequent, highly dubious UNSC resolutions against Iran have also not been effective. So what is the War Party to do?

It has resorted to an international campaign of exaggerations, lies, and distortions. This campaign involves planting lies in the major media and on the Internet, making absurd interpretations of what the IAEA reports on Iran , and issuing dire – but bogus – warnings about the speed at which Iran ’s uranium-enrichment program is progressing. Such warnings have been around for over two decades. In 1984, West German intelligence predicted that Iran would make a nuclear bomb within two years.

The campaign uses all the instruments of the U.S. political establishment to advance its agenda. The Bush administration routinely talked about “Iran’s nuclear weapon program” or “Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons,” without ever bothering to present any credible evidence for their assertion. Iran ’s drive for nuclear weapons has become an article of faith even to President Obama, who, in my opinion, is not pro-war. Leon Panetta, the new CIA director, recently said, “From all the information I’ve seen, I think there is no question that they [Iranians] are seeking that [nuclear weapon] capability.” What information, Mr. Panetta? Enlighten us, please.

An important base for the campaign has been the U.S. Congress. Take, for example, the report by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the then chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued on Aug. 23, 2006. The first bullet on page four of the report stated, ” Iran has conducted a clandestine uranium enrichment program for nearly two decades in violation of its IAEA safeguards agreement, and despite its claim to the contrary, Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.”

Not a single word in this statement is true. Iran did not violate its Safeguards Agreement, signed in 1974 with the IAEA, when it did not declare the construction of the Natanz facility for uranium enrichment. The agreement stipulated that Iran was only obligated to declare the existence of the facility 180 days prior to introducing nuclear materials into the facility. Iran did just that in February 2003, and nuclear materials were brought into the facility during summer 2003. The assertion that Iran is seeking nuclear weapon was a lie then, as it is now. No evidence of a secret nuclear weapons program has been discovered. Although the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate released in early December 2007 stated that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, it did not present any evidence that the program existed prior to 2003.

A caption to a figure on page nine of Hoekstra’s report stated that ” Iran is currently enriching uranium to weapons grade using a 164-machine centrifuge cascade at this facility in Natanz.” This was another lie. Neither then nor now, when there are over 5,000 centrifuges at Natanz, has Iran enriched uranium to weapons grade.

According to the bullet at the top of page 11, “Spent fuel from the LWR [light water reactor] that Russia is building for Iran in the city of Bushehr can produce enough weapons-grade plutonium for 30 weapons per year if the fuel rods were diverted and reprocessed.” First of all, according to the Iran-Russia agreement, the spent fuel will be returned to Russia . Second, the plutonium from LWR spent fuel is not suitable for making nuclear weapons. Even if it were, it should not be labeled as “weapons grade,” because converting it to weapons grade is costly, laborious, and time-consuming. Third, the IAEA monitors the Bushehr reactor operations. There is no possibility of overtly or covertly diverting any nuclear materials.

Such lies and distortions forced the IAEA to take the unusual step of sending an angry letter to Hoekstra. Signed by Vilmos Cserveny, a senior official at the IAEA, the letter took “strong exception to the incorrect and misleading assertion” that the IAEA had removed a senior safeguards inspector for “allegedly raising concerns about Iranian deception,” and branded as “outrageous and dishonest” the report’s suggestion that he was removed for not adhering “to an unstated IAEA policy barring IAEA officials from telling the truth” about Iran.

The U.S. mainstream media, and in particular the New York Times, has played a leading role in the campaign of lies and deceptions against Iran ’s peaceful nuclear program. One would think that, after all the lies and exaggerations that Judith Miller and Michael Gordon planted in the Times about Iraq ’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, the Times would learn its lesson. Absolutely not!

For example, after the Nov. 15, 2007, IAEA report on Iran , which, once again, gave Iran a clean bill of health, Elaine Sciolino and William J. Broad of the Times declared, “Nuclear report finds Iran ’s disclosures were inadequate.” This was while the IAEA report itself stated several times that the information provided by Iran was “consistent” with the IAEA findings. The word “inadequate” was not used even once in the report.

Why did Sciolino and Broad – the “top” interpreters of what the IAEA really says in its reports – think that Iran ’s disclosures were “inadequate"? Because, according to them, Iran had asked the IAEA for a meeting in December 2007 to provide information about its P-2 centrifuges, and, therefore, had missed the November deadline. However, the December meeting was about Iran ’s current activities on its P-2 centrifuge, whereas the November 2007 report was about Iran ’s past activities. In fact, regarding Iran’s past activities on the design of the P-2 centrifuge, the same November 2007 report stated, “Based on visits made by the Agency inspectors to the P-2 workshops in 2004, examination of the company’s owner contract [the company contracted to build the P-2 centrifuge], progress reports and logbooks, and information available on procurement inquiries, the agency has concluded that Iran’s statements on the content of the declared P-2 R and D activities are consistent with the agency’s findings.” So, the IAEA said one thing, but Sciolino and Broad claimed a completely different thing. By the way, the article has disappeared from the Times’ archives! Even the Times itself does not believe in it.

But Sciolino did not stop there. After the IAEA issued a new report on Iran on May 26, 2008, Sciolino claimed in an article the next day that the IAEA had expressed concerns about Iran ’s “willful lack of cooperation.” No such words or their equivalent can be found in the report. The report stated that the IAEA was trying to understand the role of Iran ’s military in its nuclear program. Sciolino did not ask any IAEA official why the agency was not concerned about Brazil ’s navy controlling its uranium-enrichment program and limiting IAEA access to its nuclear facilities (in violation of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty). She did not ask any U.S. official why the U.S. was not protesting Brazil ’s violations of its NPT obligations. Instead, she fabricated nonexistent statements about Iran .

The campaign has an international dimension too. The Australian claimed on Aug. 7, 2006, that Iran had tried to import uranium ore from Congo . Nothing came out of this “report.” The conservative British newspaper the Daily Telegraph has made some of the most blatantly false claims. For example, on Nov. 16, 2006, David Blair reported in the Telegraph that Iran tried to get uranium from Somalia ’s Islamic forces, in return for arms. To give his report credibility, Blair quoted UN officials about Iran ’s military helping Somali forces. But his claim that Iran wanted uranium in return included no direct quote. It was just a lie. Even the Bushies did not buy it.

The Telegraph cooked up another falsehood about Iran ’s nuclear program, which provoked an angry IAEA response. On Sept. 14, 2008, Con Coughlin, the Telegraph’s liar-in-chief, claimed that the IAEA could not account for 50-60 tons of uranium, which was supposed to be in Isfahan , where ” Iran enriches its uranium.” As the Persian proverb goes, “a liar has a short memory.” Coughlin had apparently forgotten the simple and well-known fact that Iran enriches uranium at Natanz, not Isfahan (where the yellowcake is converted to uranium hexafluoride). The IAEA immediately issued a statement through its spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming, rejecting the report. Two days earlier, in another article in the Telegraph, Con Coughlin and Tim Butcher claimed that there were “fresh signs” that Iran had renewed work on developing nuclear weapons.

Typically, Coughlin quoted unnamed sources, the existence of whom can never be checked. In other articles in the Telegraph Coughlin claimed a link between 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and Iraqi intelligence; alleged that North Korea was helping Iran to prepare a nuclear weapon test, and said that Iran was “grooming” bin Laden’s successor, none of which turned out to be true.

Then there is the rabid anti-Iran “group” called United Against Nuclear Iran. It is supposedly a “non-partisan, broad-based coalition” from “diverse ethnicities, faith communities, [and] political and social affiliations.” But, the group’s Web site is registered to Henley MacIntyre, who was involved in Republican National Committee/White House e-mail scandal during George W. Bush’s presidency. Its executive director is Mark Wallace, who worked with John “Bomb-Iran-for-Israel’s-Sake” Bolton when he was the U.S. ambassador at the UN. Others involved are Richard Holbrooke, who is now President Obama’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan , and Dennis Ross, a longtime instrument of the Israel lobby. The group has produced a video asserting that Iran has produced highly enriched uranium, a claim that has been debunked thoroughly not only by the IAEA, but also by others.

Another tactic of the War Party has been spreading rumors and innuendoes about the existence of an internal row in the IAEA over Iran . For example, in February 2008, just as the IAEA was going to report that it had clarified Iran ’s past nuclear activities, unnamed “senior Western officials” started being quoted saying that some experts within the IAEA were not happy about the report to be released. It forced the IAEA to depart from its routine mode of operation and have a senior official call Reuters to deny the rumors.

In yet another exaggeration of Iran ’s nuclear potential, much has been said recently about the accumulation of low-enriched uranium (LEU) in Iran . The suggestion is that Iran can enrich its stockpile of LEU to highly enriched uranium (HEU) for bomb-making. This claim has been thoroughly debunked. Briefly, all of Iran ’s LEU is safeguarded by the IAEA. Its conversion to HEU would require extensive new designs, reconfiguration, and reconnection of the centrifuges in Natanz, none of which can evade the IAEA’s watching eyes. Even if Iran could somehow do all of this, it would only be enough HEU for one nuclear device, which would have to be detonated in a test. Going from a device to a bomb is a difficult task by itself.

In the latest attempt to cast doubt on Iran ’s nuclear program, suddenly cyberspace and the mainstream media are full of stories about Iran running out of uranium. Up to now, Iran has been using the 600 tons of uranium oxide, or yellowcake, it purchased in the 1970s from South Africa for conversion to uranium hexafluoride and enrichment at Natanz. The stories are based on a report by Mark Hibbs in Nuclear Fuel (Dec. 15, 2008). The Rupert Murdoch-owned Times of London, another British newspaper in the business of fabricating stories on Iran ’s nuclear program, picked up the story and ran with it. Then there was a third report by the Institute for Science and International Security to the same effect. The argument is that if Iran does not have enough yellowcake and cannot import it, then why does Iran bother to have a uranium-enrichment program, unless it is for bomb-making?

Iran has been constructing a facility in Ardakan, which will come online sometime this year, for processing uranium ore into yellowcake. Clearly, had Iran thought that it would not have enough uranium ore, it would not have undertaken the construction of the Ardakan plant. In fact, in December 2006, Iran announced that there are 1,400 uranium mines in Iran, and last month it announced the discovery of uranium ore reserves at three new sites in central Iran. While many sources put Iran ’s known reserves of uranium ore at about 3,000 tons, the actual number is at least 30,000 tons.

The above is only a small part of all the lies, exaggerations, and distortions of the facts about Iran ’s nuclear program. All the sound bites about the West respecting Iran ’s right to peaceful nuclear technology are just that, sound bites. The truth is, the West does not want Iran to have access to advanced nuclear technology. Now that Iran has succeeded in setting up a domestic nuclear fuel cycle, including designing new centrifuges, the West wants Iran to dismantle them. Why should Iran give up its legal rights under the NPT and its sovereign rights to develop its uranium resources and indigenous nuclear industry?

DreamWorks keen to work with Iran’s Qobadi on Nasruddin
By IQ News-Agency on January 25, 2009

http://iranquest.com/blog/?p=1521

Former

Vice President, Masoomeh Ebtekar during a speech

Exhibit ignores perplexing questions during Iranian king’s rule

By Souren Melikian

read more:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/20/arts/melik21.php

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/middle_east/article5768065.ece

President Barack Obama announced the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Oleg Popov/Reuters

US troop buildup in Afghanistan could be a defining moment
Obama’s order to send 17,000 more troops comes before US has set a clear strategy.
By Gordon Lubold

read more:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0219/p01s01-usfp.html

Dear brian,

Many of you reading this e-mail worked diligently to support President Obama and his call for change. I’m sure you feel, as I do, an almost palpable air of excitement and pride right now in having a man of Obama’s intelligence and integrity in the White House. What I also find remarkable is Obama’s conviction that it is imperative for those who disagree with him to speak out, make their voices heard, and discuss ideas without attacking motivation or character.

President Obama just committed 17,000 more soldiers to fight the war in Afghanistan. For me and the Brave New Foundation team, this decision raises scores of questions that must be addressed about troops, costs, overall mission, and exit strategy. Historically, it has been Congress’ duty to ask these questions in the form of oversight hearings that challenge policymakers, examine military spending, and educate the public. I invite you to sign the petition urging Senator John Kerry and Representative Howard Berman to hold congressional oversight hearings at once.

The President has demonstrated his commitment to plurality of opinion and open debate on issues that impact our country most profoundly. In that spirit, I’m proud that Brave New Foundation will bring you Rethink Afghanistan, a new feature-length documentary I am directing in the tradition of Uncovered: The War on Iraq and Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers. This documentary, which we will release in segments online, will foster the kind of discussion, debate and dissent Obama has called for, hopefully serving as a driving force to help make oversight hearings a reality.

Watch the trailer in which experts weigh in on the consequences of military escalation.

Since the situation in Afghanistan is extraordinarily complex, Brave New Foundation’s goal is to create videos posing some of the necessary questions Congress should ask. Watch the extended version of part one in our documentary.

Without congressional oversight hearings, no one in Washington would have exposed corruption and mismanagement during the Civil War. No one would have caught the excessive military spending during World War II. And there would have been no national stage for a young John Kerry to throw down the gauntlet to Nixon over Vietnam.

Before Afghanistan escalates any further, I believe Congress must inform the public and ask critical questions. Here’s what you can do to get people thinking about the need for congressional oversight hearings:

1. Sign the petition urging Sen. Kerry and Rep. Berman to begin hearings immediately.
2. Send this trailer video to your friends and family and post it your Facebook page and please take a second to Digg it.
3. Watch the full-length version of the video.

We look forward to bringing you more videos that raise these pressing questions, to hearing your concerns regarding this war, and to collaborating with the bloggers who have been writing about these issues at Get Afghanistan Right.

Together, we can help Congress Rethink Afghanistan.

Yours,

Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Foundation team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r54SnuOXrY

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5237243314188407757

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grass-Nations-Battle-Life-DVD/dp/6305773955/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http://www.irantouronline.com/tehran/art-and-cultural-places/malek-library-and-museum-tehran.html

FYI, check the url below for a brief documentary on the Malek Library and Museum, including an interview with my 95-year-old mother talking about the wing she added to her father’s donation and comprising some of her own collection of art.
Please note that the selected objects are not necessarily the best, especially the coins.

Fatema Soudavar Farmanfarmaian

http://www.jadidonline.com/images/stories/flash_multimedia/Malek_museum_test/malek_high.html

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/change_in_israel/?cl=185889627&v=2875

Dear friends,

A shocking new far-right politics is taking hold in Israel and it threatens all we’ve worked for – let’s help progressives in Israel organise and build a fresh new voice for peace:

Take Action Now
It’s a dark day in the Middle East: the right-wing has won the most seats in Israel’s elections, and racist extremist Avigdor Lieberman is now the kingmaker in forming the next government.[1] Lieberman and his fellow leaders are promising to bomb Iran, re-invade Gaza and abandon any ceasefire, stop negotiations and crack down on Israel’s large Arab minority. This could kill all we’ve worked for in the Middle East. But many progressives in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) share our feelings – and they desperately need our solidarity today.

Wherever extremists have triumphed, we have to organise to beat them. Many thought all hope was lost in the USA after the neo-conservatives’ victory – then progressives used the internet to come back from the wilderness, and achieved the unthinkable by putting Barack Obama in the White House.[2] In Israel today, the despair of the old peace camp opens up a powerful moment to build a fresh new voice against hatred and for peace.

Just $10,000 could help two young Israeli activists use the Avaaz model of internet organizing to reach and mobilise tens of thousands of other Israelis this year – $5000 would buy billboards in Jerusalem to launch their first campaign with a splash. Follow this link to watch our shocking short video of Lieberman’s extremist agenda – and let’s donate now to help a new generation in Israel urgently speak out for peace and change:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/change_in_israel

We have a strong network in Israel to work with already, with almost 10,000 Avaaz members and contacts with promising young organisers who are hungry for change. They just need our support to organise across divides, uniting Israel’s scattered constituencies for peace and justice. Many Israelis supported our global campaign for a Gaza ceasefire and joined their voices with ours on climate change, Burma, Tibet and Zimbabwe – now it’s time for us to stand with them.

Even if they are in a minority at first, a strong progressive voice in Israel should make our efforts for the right kind of US and international diplomacy much more effective. We know the forces we’re up against. But beneath the surface we often find Israeli majorities for peace, social justice and pragmatism. Before these elections, when Israel’s government broke off talks and launched the Gaza offensive, a majority polled wanted to renew the ceasefire with Hamas instead, and we’ve seen broad support for a wider peace at many times.[3]

Lieberman’s rise itself demonstrates how effective, targeted organising can shape Israel’s path for ill – now a new generation of Israelis need solidarity from us to mobilise against this extremism, and to advance the values and causes we share. Everyone who donates to help fund this Israeli organising effort will be kept informed with reports on its progress. Watch the short video of Lieberman’s savage campaign now at the link below, and help support a new generation in Israel to organise for change:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/change_in_israel

With hope and determination,

Paul, Graziela, Ricken, Ben, Alice, Paula, Iain, Pascal, Milena, Brett and the whole Avaaz team

Sources:

1. “Key to who will govern Israel: Avigdor Lieberman", Christian Science Monitor (12 February 2009):
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0212/p01s04-wome.html

Ha’aretz: “Unite to block Lieberman’s march on Jerusalem” (1 February 2009)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060124.html

2. See this report from MoveOn.org on the impact of the online organising efforts they pioneered: http://s3.moveon.org/pdfs/moveon_postelectionreport_ah14.pdf

3. See this Hebrew University poll published in December 2008:
http://www.bicom.org.uk/background/opinion-polls/truman-psr-poll–16-december-2008

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Brian,
Do you know Don Laffoon who was the Director of Children’s theater in Iran and worked for Kannon?
He was commissioned by Farah Pahlavi to assume his position. He lives in Southern California and created STOP-GAP www.stopgap.org 30 years ago when he returned to U.S.
My sister Nadia works for S.G. and Don.

Best,
Nahid

Stopgap stages interactive educational plays theatre productions and drama therapy in order to guide
Source: www.stopgap.org

Rasool Aryadust aka Brian H. Appleton

Payvand’s Iran News …

02/13/09

Tales From the Zirzameen: The story of an American falling in love with Iran – continued…
By Brian H. Appleton

Dear readers,

From the time I first announced that I was publishing a book about my experiences in Iran a year ago, my book has finally been published. I had no idea of how long this process takes. Writing a book even if it takes years is not as hard nor as stressful as getting it published. The daunting and arduous task of looking for a reliable and talented literary agent, finding a willing publisher, negotiating a good contract, then the endless rounds of editing, getting or paying for the rights from photographers, trusts and consortiums to use their work, getting high enough resolution photos, lay out, catching all the spelling errors, making an index and a table of contents, cover design, even pagination, felan, felan…it is a huge amount of work and it has given me a lot more respect for the process and the product.

Read more at: http://www.payvand.com/news/09/feb/1152.html

http://WwW.basafa.sub.ir

http://www.jadidonline.com/images/stories/flash_multimedia/Carpet_museum_test/carpet_high.html

Ardeshir Ommani

Dear Friends!
This article appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and has several noteworthy points for peace advocates to consider. There were many other articles on Google and Web News today about Iran , but this one was one of the most objective, in terms of reflecting some feelings and statements of Iranian youth, who appear to be quite sophisticated politically:

[Those at the rally said they welcomed friendlier ties with the U.S. , so long as the relationship did not resemble what many described as Iran ’s subservience to Washington under the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

“We want to have relations with the U.S. and don’t want conflict,” said Reyhaneh Rahcham, a 16-year-old high school student attending the rally wrapped in the flag of the Islamic Republic. “But we don’t need America . We don’t need their support for what we do.”

Another high school student, Omid Jalali, said, “We want friendly relations with America , but we don’t want to be its slave.” ]

Photos of Iranian Revolution Celebrations!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id=5687802&&offset=0&&sectionName=WorldMiddleEast

We encourage you to please read the entire article and keep in mind the Pro-imperialist media slant repeated over and over: Iran is “isolated because of its nuclear ambitions, sponsorship of Hezbollah and Hamas and threats towards Israel ”. While everyone knows that it is the United States and Israel armed with tens of thousands of atomic weapons. The Millions of Iranians celebrating in all cities throughout Iran who came out in support of their revolutionary gains should cause us to question: “Isolated” from whom?

Peace and Justice, Ellie and Ardeshir for AIFC

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-parade11-2009feb11,0,5214248.story

Like Obama, Iran ’s president talks of improving ties
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a rally marking the Iranian revolution, says the nation welcomes ‘genuine change’ but doesn’t touch on key demands made by Washington .

By Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim
6:38 AM PST, February 10, 2009

Reporting from Tehran – Iran’s president today made some of his most conciliatory remarks to date about potentially improving relations with the United States but gave no indication that negotiations might yield changes to Iran’s nuclear policy and support for militant groups opposed to Israel, two key Washington demands.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, describing his nation as “a superpower,” spoke at what observers described as an unprecedentedly large rally at Tehran ’s Freedom Square commemorating the 30th anniversary of Iran ’s revolution.

The Petition is self-explanatory, please distribute worldwide.
Lets make ‘Norouz - New Day on UN Calendars’

http://www.petitiononline.com/Norouz/

Your Excellency,

For several millenniums many nations have celebrated the first day of spring as their new year. Today, nearly 300 million people around the world celebrate the first day of spring as their new year, better known as Norouz (New Day). Nearly all of these celebrants live in UN member nations. Unfortunately, none of the UN calendars or affiliated agencies commemorate this important date as has been done for different celebrations of member nations.

We, the undersigned, request from your Excellency, bearer of the highest office of the United Nations, to kindly authorize the relevant agencies to correct this oversight for the upcoming calendars throughout the UN agencies.

Please accept our best wishes and thanks for your attention to this important request.

Persian Cultural Center, San Diego, California - USA

Comment:

For Tahvil around the world check out:

http://www.farsinet.com/noruz/sal_tahvils.html

Mohsen Rezai

February 5, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist

The Unthinkable Option
By ROGER COHEN
TEHRAN
When it comes to Iran , the choice of metaphor is limited.
“I would never take a military option off the table,” Barack Obama declared during the campaign, a position unchanged since he became president.
“We are not taking any option off the table at all,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at her Senate confirmation hearing.
As for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, he tweaked the mantra this way: “The military option must be kept on the table.”
All three have also talked up dialogue with Iran . But the question, more pressing since Iran fired its Islamic satellite into orbit this week, remains: what in reality is this threat of force and what purpose does it serve?
I’ve read think-tank scenarios that have the United States bombing Iran ’s nuclear installations at Natanz, hitting Iranian military bases to limit the response, imposing a naval blockade and infiltrating special forces from Iraq or Afghanistan . After eight Bush-Cheney years, such plans exist at the Pentagon.
To which my response is: Hang on a second.
The United States ‘ role in the 1953 coup here that deposed the Middle East ’s first democratically elected government lives in memory. Any U.S. attack would propel 56-year-old Iranian demons into overdrive and lock in an America-hating Islamic Republic for the next half-century.
From Basra through Kabul to the Paris suburbs, Muslim rage would erupt. The Iranian Army is not the Israeli Army, but its stubborn effectiveness is in no doubt. Rockets from Hezbollah and Hamas, and newly tested Iranian long-range missiles, would hit Israel .
Chaos would threaten Persian Gulf states, oil markets and the grinding U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan . The U.S. war front, in the first decade of the 21st century, at a time of national economic disaster, would stretch thousands of miles across the Muslim world, from western Iraq to eastern Afghanistan .
It is doubtful that a bombing campaign would end Iran’s nuclear ambitions, so all the above might be the price paid for putting off an Iranian bomb — or mastery of the production of fissile material — by a year or so.
In short, the U.S. military option is not an option. It is unthinkable.
This is the poisoned chalice handed Obama by Bush, who responded to Iranian help in Afghanistan in 2001 by consigning Iran to the axis of evil, rebuffed credible approaches by the former moderate president, Mohammad Khatami, and undermined European diplomacy.
No, the real “Red Line” will be set by Israel .
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s leading candidate to become prime minister after elections next week, has said “everything that is necessary” will be done to stop Iran going nuclear. I believe him.
Never again is never again. There’s no changing that Israeli lens, however distorting it may be in a changed world. That could mean an Israeli attack on Iran within a year. If the U.S. military option is unthinkable, equally unthinkable is the United States abandoning Israel .
That is Obama’s dilemma. Netanyahu is right about one thing. The Iranian nuclear program, which Iran implausibly says is for civilian purposes, is “the greatest challenge” now facing 21st-century leaders. If Obama fails, his “new era of peace” will become the bitterest phrase of his inaugural.
I asked Mohsen Rezai, the former commander of Iran ’s Revolutionary Guards and secretary of one of its highest state organs, the Expediency Discernment Council, how he sees the U.S. threat. “America will not do anything military within the next 10 years,” he said. “What the U.S. needs to do now is regroup, repair, reconstruct.”
And an Israeli attack? “Maybe, but it would be one of its stupidest decisions.”
There is little time to lose. Vice President Joseph Biden and senior Iranian officials, including Ali Larijani, the speaker of Parliament, will mingle at the Munich Security Conference this weekend. They should talk.
But only Obama can overcome the gridlock. He must break with the Bush years in more than words. That requires a solemn declaration that the United States recognizes and no longer seeks to destabilize the Islamic Republic — an implicit renunciation of force.
A threat, in Iranian eyes, can only come from a domineering power, the very U.S. attitude this country cannot abide.
I think the tightened sanctions being contemplated by Obama are a bad idea.
The sanctions don’t work; they enrich the regime cronies who circumvent them. Plunging oil prices are a cheaper weapon. They will concentrate Iranian minds as the economy nose-dives.
Decisiveness is foreign to the many-faceted Iranian system. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader and ultimate arbiter, will not easily be swayed from a course that would shred the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, of which Iran is a signatory, among other disasters. But reason can still prevail.
It was Rezai, back in the late 1980s, who wrote Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, telling him the course he had vowed never to alter — prosecuting the war against Iraq until victory — had to be abandoned or disaster would follow. Khomeini changed his mind. Peace came.
Khamenei’s ultimate duty is to preserve the revolution by being true to Khomeini’s example. Obama might, obliquely, remind him of that.

http://www.picturesofyouiran.com/donate/interviews.htm

The Manjushri ProjectFebruary 04, 2009
Dear Brian,

A ten-year old visitor to the pictures of you: Images from Iran show at the Democratic National Convention said it best:

“It’s showing people how people in Iran are just like us. They’re still people and they do the same things as us, they are just from a different country. Even though they are from a different country, we don’t have to make war against them and we should treat them the same way they treat us.”

Wouldn’t it be amazing if hundreds of thousands of people could see and hear about this exhibit and all come away with the same thought? We know that you share this vision for a compassionate and informed America, so
we’re asking your help to make this goal a reality.

As you may already know, pictures of you: Images from Iran is a free, outdoor exhibit that is open to the American public and designed to communicate the shared humanity between Americans and Iranians. With your help, pictures of you: Images from Iran will be exhibited in Los Angeles for the kick-off to the 2009 tour. Our estimates for the Los Angeles show are that:
The exhibit will be displayed for 10 days About 12,000 to 15,000 people will interact directly with the installation Hundreds of thousands of people will think about the project after hearing about it from their friends and family, seeing new coverage on television or reading about it on blogs and print media.

From there, the support of you and your friends will help us show the exhibit to thousands more across the country during 2009. Together, we are confident that we can reach our goal of 1,000 supporters at the $50 level or higher by March 15. Please take a moment to click on the link provided below to watch our new video and send a gift of $50, or whatever you can afford, today. Then, please forward this email to five people you think share your vision for a compassionate America.
Click on this link to watch the video and donate.

Don’t put this email aside to get lost in your Inbox. It will only take a few (painless) minutes to make your donation and forward this message.

Best wishes for wonderful 2009,

The Manjushri Project Staff: Tom Loughlin, Roxana Alvarez, Tracy Freeman, Caroline Kert, Heidi Trombley and Gillian Field
——————————————————————————–
email: info@manjushriproject.org phone: (970) 349-6733 web: http://www.picturesofyouiran.org

comment:

Thanks so much for the posting about “pictures of you: Images from Iran” on your site. I’m writing to inquire whether you would mind posting the URL for the page with the new video on it. That address is http://www.picturesofyouiran.com/donate/interviews.htm

I really appreciate your postings on the show, which I know have driven people to our website. I look forward to the day when your book is published!

Tom Loughlin
(the artist)

comment:

Dear fellow Iranians,
“Pictures of You: Images from Iran” is a traveling multimedia installation featuring portraits of Iranian citizens and photographs showing Iranians in everyday life. Photographer Tom Loughlin (Dartmouth and Berkeley graduate) wrote this to me:
After visiting Iran in 2006, I felt an obligation to help other Americans recognize the beauty of Persian culture and the humanity of Iranian people. I have traveled to Iran twice more since 2006, and with each trip I feel more strongly that the people of Iran and the people of the United States have more commonalities than differences.
Please take a look at Tom’s breath-taking work: http://www.picturesofyouiran.org/flash/flash.html
The show has been exhibited twice. A touring schedule is being planned for 2009 pending financial support. I hope as fellow Iranians you will consider a donation to Tom’s project - just take a look at what the reaction is to his art - two short video clips:http://www.picturesofyouiran.org/video.htmlhttp://www.picturesofyouiran.com/donate/interviews.htm

Best,Shiva

http://www.facebook.com/pages/AN-ASSYRIAN-EXODUS-Rosie-Malek-YonanEmil-Brikha-Production/45702019339

AN ASSYRIAN EXODUS
The untold Assyrian Genocide of 1914-1918 was a systematic ethnic cleansing of the Assyrian people perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks, Kurds and Persians. Two-thirds of the Assyrian nation totaling 750,000 souls perished in the Ottoman Empire and Northwestern Iran as a result of genocide, starvation, dehydration, disease and exposure to elements while thousands fell victim to kidnappings, forced assimilation, deportation and migration.

The Assyrian Genocide is a missing chapter of world history. For the Assyrian people, it is very difficult to fathom how the genocide of a nation, can so easily be dismissed and intentionally ignored by the international community. To date, the Assyrian Genocide has not been publicly acknowledged.

An Assyrian Exodus video project brought Rosie Malek-Yonan, Emil Brikha, David Yonan and Ninos Aho, four accomplished Assyrian artists from around the world in a common belief, that while the world may not acknowledge the Assyrian Genocide, however, through the arts, the the history of the Assyrian nation can be preserved.

This project is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Assyrian Genocide and those forced to walk the “Death Marches.” The survivors who safely made the unthinkable journey to distant shores around the globe, were able to secure the identity of future generations of Assyrians now living in diaspora.

The text of this video project is derived from the overture of the original full-length piece by the same title, written and performed by Rosie Malek-Yonan, which was previewed in Hartford, CT in August 2008. The stories of An Assyrian Exodus are based on her family’s personal journals and war diaries written during the final exodus of the Assyrians fleeing from Urmia, Iran in 1918.

Presented in English, Eastern Assyrian and Western Assyrian languages, An Assyrian Exodus video project is a Rosie Malek-Yonan and Emil Brikha Production recorded in Los Angeles, Chicago, Sweden and Malta in 2008

A Rare Documentary Film (DVD) The Lover’s Wind

The Lover’s Wind - Baade Saba (DVD) $17.95
A film by: Albert Lamorisse
This is an Oscar nominated documentary film made by Albert Lamorisse, a French filmmaker in 1970.
It is a poetic film which shows Iran’s beautiful landscape from a wind’s point of view.
Filmed from air, this is one of the most famous films made about Iran before the 1979 revolution.
This DVD has both the original English language and a dubbed Farsi version on the Same DVD.

http://www.iranianmovies.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=450

http://www.pezhvak.com/Pezhvakm/212/pezh212b_47.pdf
http://www.pezhvak.com/Pezhvakm/212/pezh212b_45.pdf

WASHINGTON – The “War on Terror” is losing the war of words. The catchphrase burned into the American lexicon hours after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is fading away, slowly if not deliberately being replaced by a new administration bent on repairing the U.S. image among Muslim nations.

Since taking office less than two weeks ago, President Barack Obama has talked broadly of the “enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism.” Another time it was an “ongoing struggle.”

read more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090201/ap_on_go_pr_wh/war_on_terror

Shirin Malek Esmaili

http://www.masoudsoheili.com/IranArt-Painters/00-Iran-Painters.html