August 22, 2003
Eyeranian in Toronto
I'm back in Toronto for the next week or so. This time it isn't for a pleasant event (like the wedding I had to attend last time) or a vacation either. I'm there to spend as much time with my father as possible. I imagine much of my time will be spent at his hospital or waiting for the visiting hours to get to see him. In the little extra time left, I'll be participating at a couple of events:
- First, the 1953 coup commemoration held at U of T. The Coup and Mossadegh's Fall promises to be a great event with some fantastic panelists and speakers, each capable of contributing greatly to the discussion around this historical event.
- The following weekend, The Iranian Association at the University of Toronto (IAUT) has invited me to speak. This is tentatively scheduled for August 30th and is called "Iranians and Political life of Canada". Since I will probably not be able to offer updates during the next week, you may wish to check their web site for any possible changes.
If you are in Toronto during either event, I hope we can meet in person. Just look for the hefty guy with the shaved head!
Meanwhile, I'll miss all our "exchanges" here but look forward to being back by September 2nd to offer more of my random opinions and observations!
August 20, 2003
Yet More Blogs
A few more English blogs by Iranians to introduce you too. I added a couple of them already to my blog roll on right a couple of days back, so you may have already seen/visited them.
Mehdi Mehran Nikoo a university student in Tehran is also SleepWalker. His brother maintains a blog of his own at mehranikoo. Sam Javanrouh has what I can only call my favorite photo blog of all time. Sam is the kind of photographer I dream I could be and I truly enjoy his work on Daily Dose of Imagery . Nima says plenty in his brief posts on In My Head. A blog that is not updated often enough but has a great name is Think Global - Act Local , c'mon Babak, start writing! The same goes for Ve Ri Tas and I Believe. Then comes the blog with one of the longest names I've seen; How I learned to stop worrying and write the blog . Alrighty then! Forbidden is a new blog by Alireza Behnam who also has a Farsi blog. Great job buddy. Evil Asad is a familiar name for many bloggers, his blog is The lost dodo also known as just evilasad.
For those of you who credit me with the inspiration to start an English blog or write to ask for advise, thank you. Please don't stop and I would like to offer a challenge to all Iranian bloggers;
Each of us encourage ONE new Iranian person (friend, family, co-worker, classmate, etc.) to start an English blog and help them set it up. I have little doubt you'd know ONE such person. This is the easiest way for us to double our numbers in a very short period. C'mon it's ONE person, you know you can do it.
Post the address of new blogs as comments here, email them to me or just link them on your own blogs. Let us temporarily turn this very personal and individualistic venture (blogging) into a team effort for sake of expanding our numbers and after that we can all go into hiding in front of our monitors and read each other's thoughts and opinions. Deal?
Gender Detector?
Came across this site via Hoder's blog. The Gender Genie is supposedly a scientific tool to predict the gender of an author, based solely on their writing style and word usage. So, I started the cut and pasting exercise and put a dozen of my posts in there to see how accurate the predictions are. Well, guess what? I'm either a female or a male that writes like a female, otherwise the "genie" is full of crap. Twelve post and I got a 12 - 0 score for female. Just as I was about to give up, I tried with this quote from no other than Ah-Nold himself: "As much as when you see a blonde with great tits and a great ass, you say to yourself, 'Hey, she must be stupid or must have nothing else to offer', which maybe is the case many times. But then again there is the one that is as smart as her breasts look, great as her face looks, beautiful as her whole body looks gorgeous, you know, so people are shocked." Surely the great Schwarzenegger couldn't possibly be any more masculine. Well, guess again. Female, it says! I think the Genie creators need to go back to the drawing board or just perhaps I discovered an appeal to the female voters even the Ah-Nold election camp is not aware of. As for myself, too bad I missed the deadline or I could possibly run alongside Gary Coleman and Mary Carey. What you talkin' 'bout Willis?
Hoder's Persian blog is here: Sardabir- Khodam
August 19, 2003
Rex Abadan
25 years ago, on August 19th, 1978 in the city of Abadan, the oil production capital of Iran, another horrific event took place. Over 400 patrons of Rex movie theater were charcoaled to death when still nameless culprits locked all entrances to the theatre and set the building on fire. Although the tragic disaster was originally blamed on the Shah's regime, faced at the time with an expanding protest movement across Iran, recent years have brought on accusations and evidence pointing to a conspiracy by the religious fanatics as the primary perpetrators of the Rex disaster. Incidentally, the theater-goers were watching Gavaznha (antelopes), a movie seen as critical of the Shah by portraying the lives of country's disfranchised poor and the plague of illicit drugs crippling their communities.
August 19, 1953
50 years ago today, operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency, along with their Iranian agents and followers, put in to action an operation under the codename Ajax. By the end of the day, the popular government of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh had been removed and a military replacement was put in charge. The Shah who had been forced to leave the country a few days earlier returned shortly after and re-instated as head of the Iranian state.
To most Iranians, this days marks the anniversary of a shameful act of direct aggression, where foreign powers decided to ignore the will of the Iranian people and pursue their own interest, even if it meant further casualties and suffering for them, plus raiding of their natural resources. The military coup of August 19, 1953 will not be forgotten easily and unless there's a sense of eventual justice, in addition to restoration of basic freedoms and democracy in Iran, most Iranians will perceive their elongated affliction to be the on-going results of the war that was declared upon them by the aggressors abroad.
There are various events and commemorations across the globe today and this week to mark the anniversary of the coup, as Iranians honor the memory of their fallen leader, the Great Mossadegh.
CIA Documents on the Coup
August 18, 2003
Extradite President-Select!
The weasel you see on right is the man neo-cons "selected" to be the future leader of Iraq. I have written in detail about Ahmad Chalabi and his dubious past, involving corruption, theft and embezzlement charges. It turns out that Jordanian courts now want him extradited to face the music.
It should be noted that he is currently part of the nine man team (who said Bahai's don't get involved in politics?) that rotates shifts as "president" of the occupied Iraq and his role in fabricating stories and facts to justify the invasion is also well documented.
We "freed" Iraq of a bastardly, deceitful, criminal garbage to replace him with this? O' boy.
What Democracy?
Mr. Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri (no relations to Michael of Flash Dance fame or Abdollah, formerly of Evin Prison posse) the "conservative" bigwig, one time presidential appointee of that faction and current member of Rafsanjani's powerful Expediency Council has just announced that he will not be running in future elections because of their unfair nature.
The reasons offered by his holiness presents a limited glimpse into the mindset of a certain crowd and may be a good indication as to why democracy, even in its most basic and limited form, is not possible as long as this mindset is anywhere near Tehran's corridors of power. Mr. Nateq-Nouri says (Farsi Link): "Our electoral system is defective, because the vote of a 15 year old is equal to the vote of a high-ranking religious scholar or the highest authority in the land. I will (therefore) not participate in this or any future elections...".
You see what I mean? In his mentality, there is no way he could ever accept submitting his future to the votes of an "ordinary" 15 or 17 or 20 year old as he believes there's only a limited number of people capable and qualified to "select" the leaders of tomorrow or the way they should govern. In his system, a limited council of "experts" would forever decide all things of importance and even that will have an unelected "leader" overseer to avoid possible "corruptions".
Now you tell me this group will even understand, not to mention accept democracy? Seriously doubt it!
Link via Shadi Shaeraneh
Monday Morning Motivationals
============================================
Throw your heart and all that you have into your endeavors.
If you lose, it will hurt and be upsetting, but if you win,
there is a joy and satisfaction beyond compare. Human
beings were not made to sit still. We must explore, we
must adventure and try. In your own world, in whatever way
is calling to you, GO FOR IT!
============================================
"If you don't quit, and don't cheat, and don't run home
when trouble arrives, you can only win."
-- Shelley Long
"Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life."
-- Sophia Loren"
"If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a
pretty good time."
-- Edith Wharton
"Our greatest fear is not that we are powerless. Our
greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
-- Marianne Williamson
August 17, 2003
New Blogs
Here are a few more English blogs by Iranians. I hope I never get to stop introducing new ones to you. Tech Guru is a blog more focused on technical and IT issues. Vahid writes White Colour and despite his praise for "The Piano Teacher" (I hated that movie), I enjoy his blog. My newest discovery is Hamed Banaei's English Weblog. If I have forgotten your blog or you have one you'd like to introduce to new readers, please drop me a line. Also, if you'd like to start a new blog, let me know how I can help.
August 16, 2003
Homer Simpson Prayers
Dear Lord, thank you for this microwave bounty even though we don't deserve it. I mean, our kids are uncontrollable hellions. Pardon my French, but they act like savages. Did you see them at the picnic? Of course you did. You're everywhere. You're omnivorous. O Lord, why did you smite me with this family? [7G04]
And Lord, we are especially thankful for nuclear power, the cleanest, safest energy source there is. Except for solar, which is just a pipe dream. Anyway, we'd like to thank you for the occasional moments of peace and love our family has experienced. Well, not today, but... You saw what happened! Oh, Lord, be honest! Are we the most pathetic family in the universe or what! [7F07]
Dear Lord, bless this humble meal, and did you hear about Krusty? Whoo, man! I mean, I knew he was a player, but jeez, a kid! (Marge: Homer, that's not a prayer, that's gossip.) Homer: Fine, I'll just discuss heavenly matters. So, how's Maude Flanders doing up there? She playing the field? Ooh, yeah, really? All those guys? [The rest of the family gapes] Amen. [BABF17]
God Appointed "W"
From Here:
"Duty is ours; results are God’s. This is true. We who did our duty to stand firm may have compelled God to have mercy on us so G.W. Bush is president despite losing the popular vote to Al Gore and winning by merely ~500 votes in Florida. God defeated armies of Philistines and others with confusion. Dimpled and hanging chads may also be because of God’s intervention on those who were voting incorrectly. Why is GW Bush our president? It was God's choice."
Thanks NBT
Jim Lobe
Jim Lobe of Inter Press Service has had more than a few articles on what the Neo-Cons such as Michael Ledeen are up to and their role on U.S. foreign policy since "W" took over the Whitehouse. One of my favorites is reproduced below. Click on "Continue..." link. You can also read more of his articles by clicking here.
Veteran neo-con advisor moves on Iran
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - When The Washington Post published a list of the people whom Karl Rove, President George W Bush's closest advisor, regularly consults for advice outside the administration, foreign policy veterans were shocked when Michael Ledeen popped up as the only full-time international affairs analyst.
"The two met after Bush's election," the Post reported cheerfully, quoting Ledeen about Rove's request that "any time you have a good idea, tell me". "More than once, Ledeen has seen his ideas, faxed to Rove, become official policy or rhetoric," noted the newspaper.
"When I saw that, I couldn't believe it," said one retired senior diplomat. "But then again, with this administration, it seemed frighteningly plausible."
Michael A Ledeen, resident scholar in the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he works closely with the better-known former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, has been a fixture of Washington's neo-conservative community for more than 20 years. But he is now out front, in a public campaign for the United States to confront Iran, warning that Tehran will cause Washington problems in both Iraq and Afghanistan and that "the mullahs are determined to obliterate Israel".
"We are now engaged in a regional struggle in the Middle East, and the Iranian tyrants are the keystone of the terror network," he wrote in Monday's Post. "Far more than the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the defeat of the mullahcracy and the triumph of freedom in Tehran would be a truly historic event and an enormous blow to the terrorists."
Along with Morris Amitay, a former top lobbyist for the most powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Ledeen has already co-founded a new group, called the Coalition for Democracy in Iran (CDI), which is pressing Congress to approve a pending bill that would, among other things, provide some US$50 million in aid to both exile groups and opposition forces in Iran.
To Ledeen, whose own contacts with the mullahs in the Iran-Contra affair 15 years ago remain the source of some mystery, Iran is "the mother of modern terrorism". And terrorism has been Ledeen's bread and butter since at least the late 1970s, when he consulted for Italian military intelligence, which in turn enabled him to expose Billy Carter's dealings with the Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya to the great satisfaction of Republicans, who were revving up their campaign against Billy's brother, then president Jimmy Carter.
Ledeen's right-wing Italian connections - including alleged ties to the P-2 Masonic Lodge that rocked Italy in the early 1980s - have long been a source of speculation and intrigue, but he returned to Washington in 1981 as "anti-terrorism" advisor to the new secretary of state, Al Haig.
Over the next several years, Ledeen used his position as consultant to Haig, the Pentagon and the National Security Council under Ronald Reagan to boost the notion of a global terrorist conspiracy based in the Kremlin, whose KGB pulled the strings of all of the world's key terrorist groups, especially in the Middle East.
He was a heavy promoter of the thesis that it was the KGB that was behind the 1981 attempted assassination by Turkish right-winger, Mehmet Ali Agca, of Pope John Paul II, a view he continues to expound today and which also helps explain his contempt for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), whose analysts never accepted the "Bulgarian Connection", as it was called.
In the mid-1980s, when Ledeen was working for the National Security Council, he tangled with the CIA again over his efforts with Israeli spy David Kimche to gain the release of US hostages in Beirut through an Iranian arms dealer, Manucher Ghorbanifar, in the opening stages of what would become the Iran-Contra affair.
But Ghorbanifar did not come through. Despite Ledeen's assessment of the middleman as "one of the most honest, educated, honorable men I have ever known", he flunked four lie detector tests administered by the CIA, which had long warned that the Iranian "should be regarded as an intelligence fabricator and a nuisance".
Undaunted and untouched by the Iran-Contra investigation, Ledeen recorded his experience in Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair, one of more than 10 books he has written on US foreign policy, de Tocqueville, Machiavelli and terrorism, the latest of which is titled The War Against the Terror Masters: Why It Happened. Where We Are Now. How We'll Win.
Ledeen has been no less prolific in his organizational work, although, besides AEI - where he works with fellow foreign policy neo-cons Perle, former United Nations ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Joshua Muravchik and Reuel Marc Gerecht - his main institutional forum over the past 25 years has been the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs (JINSA), an activist group that promotes a strategic alliance between the United States and Israel.
He has also served on the board of the US Committee for a Free Lebanon and has taken an organizing role in CDI. His co-founder there, Amitay, also works for JINSA.
He is also close to key figures in the administration, particularly Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas Feith, whose pro-Likud politics he largely shares; Vice President Dick Cheney's powerful chief of staff, I Lewis Libby; and Elliott Abrams, the director for the Near East on the National Security Council. To that list can now apparently be added Rove, who is as close to Bush as it is possible to get.
Throughout his career, Ledeen has insisted that war and violence are integral parts of human nature and derided the notion that peace can be negotiated between two nations. He was a fierce opponent of the Oslo peace process. "I don't know of a case in history where peace has been accomplished in any way other than one side winning a war [and] imposing terms on the other side," he said two years ago.
He also has expressed little faith in traditional US allies, notably in "Old Europe", which he spent much of the 1980s attacking for being insufficiently anti-Soviet. As Washington moved toward war in Iraq, for example, he even questioned whether France and Germany were in league with al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.
"The Franco-German strategy was based on using Arab and Islamic extremism and terrorism as the weapon of choice, and the United Nations as the straitjacket for blocking a decisive response from the United States," he wrote, suggesting three weeks later, as the US offensive stalled on its way to Baghdad, that France and Germany be treated as "strategic enemies".
For Ledeen, Iraq was only the beginning of the broader struggle against the "terror masters". "As soon as we land in Iraq, we're going to face the whole terrorist network," he told an interviewer in March. "Iran, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia are the big four, and then there's Libya." "You can't solve all problems I grant that," he told the BBC. "I mean, I wrote a book about Machiavelli, and I know the struggle against evil is going to go forever."
(Inter Press Service)
August 14, 2003
Canada's Pride
Canada's health care system used to be the envy of many around the world. The universal services available to all residents of the great white north was also a source of pride for Canadians from cost to coast to coast. It obviously wasn't ever perfect and most certainly the odd patient would find a crack to fall through. But overall the standard of care was equal to what you could expect in any industrialized country and you could be sure of two facts: everyone got the same quality treatment (regardless of their wealth or social standing) and you never had to pay for any of it. Looking at how my father is received and treated as a patient, that entire system has obviously all changed now. Here's a brief look at what happened;
It all started with a rather significant and well publicized speech by none other than Hillary Clinton. Sounds strange? Well, it's not. Hillary, before she started using Rodham again, once made what was seen as a major statement as to (paraphrasing) if Canada can maintain a social health care system for all its citizens, why can't the U.S. do the same? Sounded simple enough. Canada with it's lower tax base and wide spaces to deliver services had managed to maintain a pretty darn good system for decades and looking for a way to cover millions of uninsured and uncovered people in U.S., using Canada as a model seemed obvious.
That speech however, sounded very loud alarms at every HQ of for-profit U.S. institutions and professional association that made billions annually from their customers as their future looked at risk. Something had to be done and the best solution was to make sure the Canadian system either failed or at least appeared less-than-perfect. Suddenly and overnight, a major smear campaign begun. Suspicious groups with benign names were funded in small towns and cities between Halifax and Victoria to oppose various aspects of the system, and a PR machine started an extensive search to find examples of failures all over Canada. There was the MRI patient that didn't get a priority appointment, the patient that had her elective surgery postponed and even the odd poor little kid who received the wrong prescription and had a reaction to the drugs.
This served another group very well: the right-wing Canadian politicians. In particular the new Reform Party taking shape in Western Canada, plus the Axis of Evil of Canadian health care system; Ralph Kline, Mike Harris and Jean Chretien. The first extreme right entities, plus "right light" Chretien were all preaching this fiscal responsibility mantra of the right and needed places to make cuts, particularly if their rich friends were about to get their tax breaks. So the stage was set for the cutting game to begin.
Conservatives Kline and Harris dismantled their provincial systems slowly while Liberal Party's Chrtien started what can be described as the largest program of dismantling the Canada's federal health care system. Conservative and Reformers' motives were clear, they are for transfer of all power to the private sector and never liked a program that resembles socialism. Liberals however, were acting on same motifs plus trying to avenge a historical defeat.
You see, the Liberals Party had originally introduced the concept of socialized and universal health care for all Canadians as early as 1919. However, by the mid-40's, despite holding the power more than any other party in Canada during that period, they failed to deliver on their promise and all but abandoned it citing it was impossible to implement. Then came Tommy Douglas. Known as the father of Canadian health care system, Douglas was a former Baptist preacher who had led his Cooperative Commonwealth Federation to power in tiny Saskatchewan and was busy putting into operation various health schemes to cover his constituents. He started by making cancer treatment a program supported by the government. Next came free medical, hospital and dental care for pensioners and native communities. Polio and mental illness treatments, plus a free air ambulance service to service rural communities was added shortly after and in 1947, Douglas' government implemented their Hospital Insurance Plan, entitling all residents to hospital care without a bill to worry about.
Realizing the final stage of his grandiose venture and bring doctors under his plan however, required much maneuvering by Douglas. It was finally achieved when the Conservative government of Diefenbaker agreed to share the cost of his hospital program and supplied federal funding for it in 1957. Two years later, Tommy Douglas proudly announced the implementation of Canada's first Medicare program. This infuriated the Liberals who watched the rug pulled from beneath them and the little man from Saskatchewan, with the federal help from Tories, managed to achieve the impossible, the task they had proposed but now considered impractical. Forty odds years later, they would get their chance to take revenge on the program they always despised.
Canada's health care system is severely ill and needs immediate attention. Roy Romanow's report is a starting point for all Canadians who care about their once proud system to function again. If it can work in Sweden, France, Belgium and Denmark, universal health care will surely work for Canada and who knows, maybe one day the only western power without one can also get out from the control of special interest groups and implement their own system.
Share Everything
Shadi Sadr reports (in Farsi) that female demonstrators who took to the streets of Qom recently to protest parliament's decision about Iran joining the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women were told that if Iran joins the convention, they'll be forced to share their public baths (and swimming pools) with men. You can imagine the reaction this would have caused in the very religious city of Qom. This of course is not surprising or strange to most leftist activists in Iran, as we all remember how some uneducated men were once agitated and provoked in to attacking any leftist gatherings by simply suggesting that communists believe in sharing everything, including their wives. I recently read somewhere that in Afghanistan there is a very real and widely-accepted rumor about how the wrap-around sunglasses worn by some foreign soldiers are equipped with x-ray vision, allowing them to ogle Afghani wives and daughters. See a common thread in all three stories?
August 13, 2003
Relish This!
Hey You! Relish It, I Said. Relish it!!!
Quote of the month!
Some of us live in the middle-ages, some even further back. This guy should be happy that he lives in only about a year or so ago, where this comment may have actually made some sense:
US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said yesterday: "President Bush has made it crystal clear we do not intend to stay in Iraq longer than necessary. But let me also make this crystal-clear: we are not going to leave until we find and destroy Iraq's capability to produce biological, chemical and nuclear weapons."
Iran's Nuclear Ambitions
One of this blog's regular readers recently wrote me to suggest a topic and more specifically ask for my viewpoint (I'll leave it to him to divulge his identity, only if he wishes to). His topic or question(s) is as follows: "Are you for or against Iran developing and testing its own nuclear weapon. And if so, do you think Iran should build an arsenal of Nukes and embark on developing delivery systems? And if so, what should be the max range of such a delivery system. Should it reach the US?"
Here's my reply, in brief: Should Iran have nuclear weapons? No!. I don't believe ANY country should. In can't think of a single positive development brought to this planet by "Oppenheimer's deadly toy". Atomic and Hydrogen bombs have absolutely no purpose but to devastate and annihilate life. There is nothing of nice nature that can be said about that. I am all for banning ALL such weapons, globally.
If you want to argue for "democratic" countries having them, just look at Florida in 2000 as how vulnerable these "democracies" are in nature and how easily elections are hijacked. Do not give me the "deterrent" argument either, there is no Warsaw pact anymore and I doubt Usama types are too worried about "mass-martyrdom" by Enola Gay II.
But back to real life, I don't see why we should have different sets of standards for different countries. Just look at the immediate neighborhood Iran is in and see the examples galore; A military dictatorship with a government that came to power by a coup, is home to various fundamentalist religious groups, many of them with plenty of power and a history of active terrorism is next door and admits or even brags about it's nuclear capabilities. Yet you never hear anyone (not at least in these parts of the world) question Pakistan's nuclear ambitions or how realistically it can fall into the hands of terrorists. Why? Can any rationale and unbiased soul out there argue against the fact that some of the fundamentalists within the Israeli government and/or power structure are just as dangerous as their fundamentalist counterparts within the Iranian government? Then why isn't the danger posed by the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the region in Israel never a concern? If you need more examples, look at former Soviet states of Central Asia.
Permitted that anything to empower the dictatorship in Iran is not positive, I still can't buy the argument that so blatantly discriminates between countries. So, I am all for a new international standard banning nuclear weapons, period. Until we have that, arguing about which countries should have them and why, the range of their delivery system and restrictions needed to avoid a global disaster, are just secondary arguments that need to be examined along with political and cultural biased imposed by a certain mindset over all others.
Hope this short post has begun to answer your question and provide a starting point to argue various points of view on this. Thanks for your suggestion.
August 12, 2003
Even More Blogs
It wasn't that long ago that an English language blog by Iranians was so unusual and scarce, you would come across the odd one very rarely. I had found a handful and became an avid reader of all of them. Now, it seems as if there are so many of us, it's hard to keep up and I have even re-discovered a few I had almost forgotten about.
Here are a few new and some older ones too. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do:
Sepi is a very talented young writer (not to mention very attractive) who writes That Broken Girl. A group blog with plenty of potential and a very good group of contributors is Free Thoughts on Iran. I enjoy many of the posts there and hope they are successful at what they have put together. Ahmad Anvari has the blog with the most unusual name; /var/log/blog. He also has a Persian blog. A blogger I don't agree with often writes Kalantar Blogestan (Sheriff of Blogestan). The Upper Echelon of Happiness is another blog written by an Iranian woman. I wish there were more of those. Iransara is another of my usual stops in the land of blogs. Babak H Seradjeh is an Iranian-Canadian blogger who owns Scratch Pad, despite his sporadic posts, his blog is a worthy stop. Another occasional blog is Face It. Here's a blogger who writes in English from inside Iran; Plate is maintained by a 'boy' who wants to show the world that their view of Iranians is not very accurate. Mashregh (East) is another group blog I try to read regularly. One of my new favorites is Made In Iran, a title descriptive of most of the above bloggers. Last but certainly not least is Lady Sun who has been MIA for a while and I desperately miss her observations.
Games???
I don't know if I should be upset with these or just enjoy them gently. first one's description says it all: "Angry students are revolting against the leaders of the Islamic Republic. Mission: Kill Them!". Yes, you heard it right. You are expected to shoot as many of the students as possible during their demonstration, although their movements resemble some funky dance more than angry protesting.
Don't feel bad if you are on the side of the students though, this game reverses the pattern and allows you to kill the paramilitary police brought in to crush the student demonstrations.
Links via Wingardium Leviosa
Dad
Dad's condition is more of a roller coaster ride and today had more downs than ups, unfortunately. On the positive side, I got to call him but what do you say from so many miles away and so much out of contact. I think I'm going to T.O.
Thank You!
I want to say a couple of words to all of you who took the time to write me directly, call or leave a message here about my father. It helps a great deal to know how many friends you have out there that care so much. There is no way I could thank you enough and I don't know the words to describe how much they meant. In lieu of saying something deeply profound and trying to make it sound clever, I'll just stop at a simple Thank You.
As for my father, his situation has improved and we are all hopeful that he will be able to gain a healthy recovery. I will keep you updated and appreciate the positive vibes you have sent him, my family and myself. Thanks again.
I will answer all my emails. Promise!
Now click on the image above for yet another 'thank you'.
Tuesday Morning Motivationals
My apologies for the one day delay.
============================================
ACTION always speaks louder than words or plans or goals
because only ACTION gets things done. Take small steps,
but take them today. Call someone. Read something.
Open a savings account. Invest a dollar, take a walk,
talk with your kids. Whatever it is, just do it! Before
you go to bed this evening, take some real, measurable,
positive step (no matter how small) in the direction you
want to go. Then tomorrow, do it again.
============================================
"Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you
intend to do."
-- Liz Smith
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of
choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing
to be achieved."
-- Jeremy Kitson
"It only takes one person to change your life - you."
-- Ruth Casey
"You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your
face, and show the world all the love in your heart. Then
people gonna treat you better; You're gonna find, yes, you
will, that you're beautiful as you feel."
-- Carole King
Racists 'R' Us!
On this day of Thank You posts, I need to thank my dear Condi too. For those of you unfamiliar with Condoleezza Rice, where the hell have you been and what the hell are you doing in my blog???
Anyways, as I was going to say, I had lived my life under a cloud of untruths and it finally took the courage and understanding of Condi to set the record straight and also allow me to get to know myself better. You see, Condi finally revealed that critics of US policy are racist.
So, all this time I had no idea I was a racist and was living in this fantasy life that my other progressive opinions and ideals have somehow not allowed me to be a racist. I was also fooled by the color of my skin, falsely believing that racism is a system that by definition discriminates against people like myself and as such I could be prejudice, but to be racist I needed to be a different shade. That was then and this is now. Now Condi dearest has set my entire universe straight. I now realize that as a critique of US policy, I have become (or always was) a racist. Thank you Ms. Rice!
Strangely enough, this kind of reminded me of that episode of the Simpsons where Homer loses in court (can't remember exactly what he was being tried for) and then turns to his lawyer saying "do something c'mon...play the race card" then angrily waves his fist at him repeating "PLAY IT!". Now if we all played that card every time our guilt became apparent, maybe we could all get positions inside the owner's mansion instead of working so hard in the sugar fields outside. Maybe.
In The News
With all the nonsense cramming our airwaves, here are a few headlines you may have missed:
1 - Engineering experts from the Defense Intelligence Agency have come to believe that the most likely use for two mysterious trailers found in Iraq was to produce hydrogen for weather balloons rather than to make biological weapons, government officials say.
2 - US admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq
3 - CIA 'loots' villa where Saddam's sons died
4 - Americans pay price for speaking out. Dissenters face job loss, arrest, threats.
5 - How To Sell a War (or how Chalabi did it)
6 - Human shield fined for serving in Iraq
Truh or...
Inspired by the great stirical works of Ibrahim Nabavi, I'll be attaching a beeping lie detector to various historical and current characters to measure their honesty. This is part of a continuing regular feature of this blog (1 - 2), under the title of "Truth or ...?"
Tehran's chief prosecutor Said Mortazavi : "Thanks to the Islamic revolution (beep) and the country's constitution (beep) (beep), the Iranian press and media enjoy the highest degree of freedom (beep) (beep) (beep), matched by only a few Western countries (beep) (beep),... In other words, the freedom of the Iranian press (beep) (beep) (beep) (beep) (beep) (beep) can not be compared with those in neighboring countries and the Middle East. (beep) (beep)"
[On the same day, in the news:] TEHRAN, Iran - More than 200 pro-reform journalists held a vigil in Iran, saying they were protesting a continuing media crackdown and a lack press freedoms. The journalists lit candles on Friday to mourn the anniversary of the death of Mahmoud Saremi, a reporter of the official Islamic Republic News Agency who was killed in 1988 by the former Taliban rulers in Afghanistan, and the death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in Iranian police custody last month.
August 10, 2003
Baba
My father suffered a stroke last night and is currently in emergency care. There are some positive signs pointing to a real possibility of recovery and return to a 'normal' life despite the seriousness of what he is going through.
My thoughts are with him and the rest of my family and although I never get to say this enough, I need to say how much I love him. He has been the backbone of our family forever and I hope he can continue being that for many many more years to come. I Love You Baba!
August 08, 2003
Day of Journalists
Some Iranian bloggers have decided to "hang their keyboards" for today (day of journalists) and not write anything in protesting the arrest of their colleagues. Journalists are prosecuted, arrested, tortured and sentenced everyday in Iran for only expressing their opinions. As is the case with Zahra Kazemi, many pay the ultimate price for just merely doing their job. This is why Reporters without borders has called Iran "the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East ". Let us not forget them and work even harder to bring freedom and democracy to Iran.
How Distasteful
This administration has shown an incredible knack for resurrecting some of the most despised characters in Iran by either holding official and semi-official talks with them, or create a larger-than-life persona for them in their spin factory news making machine. Chehregani is an example of the latter and now Manucher Ghorbanifar becomes another example of the former. as the story demonstrates, Mr. Ledeen may have stopped what we all felt was a productive direct exchange with Iranians, particularly Iranian bloggers, but he is certainly still busy weaving his tangled web and finding more and more reasons for us to not only not trust him, but to not trust the administration he so proudly served and continues to have a close relationship with. I suppose he prefers to limit his contact to arms dealers, separatists and monarchists along with close buddies like Rob Sobhani and Pejman Yousefzadeh, not to mention those involved in talks from the other side; Mohsen Rezaei and his despised boss Rafsanjani.
If In Toronto
Truth or ...?
Inspired by the great stirical works of Ibrahim Nabavi, I'll be attaching a beeping lie detector to various historical and current characters to measure their honesty. This is part of a continuing regular feature of this blog, under the title of "Truth or ...?"
"This is the next step for running for governor of California and to bring the government back to the people (beep) (beep) (beep)." (Arnold Schwarzenegger in his speech after registering as a candidate for Governor of California)
"It has nothing to do with Schwarzenegger's decision (beep) (beep) (beep)." (Darrel Issa tearfully announcing why he has decided to withdraw from the race)
Gore 2004?
I believe if the former Governor of Texas continues to lose a couple of more points in his approval rating, we'll see Al Gore throw his hat back into the ring. His recent speech in front of MoveOn.org members was certainly the most candidate-like critique of Bush administration, particularly in the foreign policy area. He certainly has the aura and name recognition, not to mention the fact that he has already won one election against "W", when most voters cast a ballot in his name in 2000. Let's face it, there aren't any serious contenders in the Democratic camp so far as Dean is seen as too far left, which makes Kucinich a member of the Communist Party I suppose (not that there's anything wrong with that). Then of course there's people like Lieberman who try very hard to prove Bob was right. This may also unite some of the folks who belong to "Anyone But Dubya" camp. I can already see the Re-Elect Gore signs and bumper stickers.
You can watch the video of Gore's speech here or read the text here.
The Governator
Remember back in the 80's when Schwarzenegger told Playboy he would never "allow his wife or mother to wear trousers" when they were seen with him because dresses are more feminine? That was then, this is now:
"As much as when you see a blonde with great tits and a great ass, you say to yourself, 'Hey, she must be stupid or must have nothing else to offer', which maybe is the case many times. But then again there is the one that is as smart as her breasts look, great as her face looks, beautiful as her whole body looks gorgeous, you know, so people are shocked." Schwarzenegger in last month's Esquire magazine, shocking many brainy blonde California voters.
August 07, 2003
Other Election Announcements
Almost lost in the hoopla surrounding the announcement of the Terminator as a candidate in the anti-democratic process of recall election of Governor of California, was two other noteworthy declarations.
First, California's lieutenant governor Cruz Bustamante announced he is breaking ranks with Democrats and will run. Bustamante is arguably the person most qualified for the job but it will remain to be seen how this announcement will be taken by supporters and especially donors.
Next and almost at the other end of the country, Jerry Springer announced that he will not seek a senate seat from Ohio. Springer pointed out to his show as the reason for his withdrawal, stating that no matter how serious and important his message would be, he will not be taken justly based on the content of his often controversial show.
I used to love Jerry Springer years before his daily encounter with incest happy hermaphrodites who sleep with their aunt's sheep while their neighbors videotape it as instruction videos for local teenagers. When mayor of Cincinnati, he was probably one of the most progressive politicians in US and as such I would love to see him back in politics one day.
Admitting how his show has made him unpopular with many voters, Springer offered the following; "If the Democrats think it would be helpful, I would endorse Bush." Go Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
[I tried hard to ignore Gary Coleman's "announcement"]
Flight 93
Admittedly, I never bought the "Let's roll" scenario offered as what may have happened to United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11th. I still don't buy this new theory now offered by the government. I think it would be okay to come out and say hey we had three planes smashing into buildings killing thousands and not knowing what happens next, there is yet another confirmed hijacked plane coming towards DC and it is over a sparsely populated farmland, so we shot it down. Although this may not sit well with some of those who lost a family member on that flight (especially one in particular who is reportedly making good money on the speakers circle talking about her husband's heroics), the rest of the population would understand and probably agree with a tough decision, made at a critical time. This administration stole the presidency by promising to bring back honesty and honor to the Whitehouse, maybe now is a good time to start being honest.
August 06, 2003
Shia' Theology
Glenn Frazier has started an interesting conversation about Hossein Khomeini's reported comments and expanding the conversation to Shia' theology.
Glen writes: "I find the theological approach here (which I had not heard, before) fascinating. I'd love if anyone more schooled in Islamic theology could give me some more background on this whole position. Just drop a note and some links in the comment section, here, or write me an email. I'd much appreciate it!
It would be great for the readers of this blog to also offer their opinions and participate in the discussion, as I just did by leaving a lenghty comment there (years of religious teachings didn't allow me to shut up).
Let me (and Glen) know what you think.
Bye Bye Davis!
Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.
My take? Coke or Pepsi?
Happened Today
Conversation in English, between myself and a "concerned" Iranian friend;
Friend : What about this Gay priest thing?
Me : It's Bishop actually, what about it?
Friend : Whatever it is...
Me : More power to him.
Friend : This is not right!
Me : Why is that?
Friend: It's like our Mullahs who sleep with boys and do this gay things.
Me (still not sure what "gay things" are) : How did children get into this...(interrupted)
Friend (Knowing he won't win that argument) : It's against the religion.
Me : I didn't know you were Episcopalian.
Friend : I'm not but I know religion and this is against religion.
Me : Well, the Bishop knows something about religion too and obviously he doesn't feel this is against HIS religion.
Friend : Walks away, grumbling, saying something unintelligible...
August 04, 2003
More Iranian English Blogs
Here are a few more Iranian blogs in English I would like to introduce to you:
Monday Morning Motivationals
============================================
Resolve this week to maximize the QUALITY of your life,
rather than the quantity of items on your to-do list!
Resolve to savor every conversation, and to eliminate at
least one unnecessary pressure. Say "no" to a few
requests; politely decline a couple of invitations. Smell
the roses, notice the sunrise, feel the grass under your
feet. Slow down! Slow down enough to enrich the quality
of your life.
============================================
"Better than a thousand useless words is one single word
that gives peace."
-- The Buddha
"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that
your strength lies."
-- Mother Teresa
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment
to improve the world."
-- Anne Frank
"Nothing happens unless first a dream."
-- Carl Sandburg
August 02, 2003
What If...
Just one post today, something to possibly think about over the next day or two:
Let's just play with historical facts a bit and see what could have probably happened if the CIA didn't topple the popular government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and The Shah had remained in exile or at least out of work. I know there are tons of other factors this notion can not take into account and there are also all those unpredictable events that may have popped up here and there (hey, one crazy man with a single bullet can alter the course) but this is perhaps the most likely scenario:
- Iran would have practiced and learned democracy over the past 50 years, starting with the nationalist government of Dr. Mossadegh and declaring a Republic, then going through various other types of governments and seeing some of the diverse beliefs in assorted posts and governments and eventually becoming that example of freedom in middle-east that others now try to import there by force. No political oppression, prisoners of conscience, torture, Shah's secret police (SAVAK) or IRI's myriad of security outfits and mass executions.
- With all ideologies and political parties present and active, the clergy would have never been able to ride the wave of a popular movement to power, there would have been no revolution in 1979 and the "Islamic Republic" (which in my opinion is neither Islamic or a Republic) would not have existed. There would have been no oil embargo, no hostage crisis, no October surprise Reagan can exploit to win and then obviously no Bush Sr., or Bush Jr.
- USSR would not have feared the "Green Belt" tighten around it's southern borders and would not have invaded Afghanistan. This of course would've meant no help to a "resistance" faction by the U.S., translation: No Afghani Mojahideen, No Taliban, No Al-Qaeda, No Usama (proper spelling), no 9/11, no war on terror and no invasion of Afghanistan.
- Saddam would not have started the Iran-Iraq war and as such there would have been no backing of him by the west, no providing him with biological weapons and other support, no expansion of his army, no bombing of Iranian cities or chemical attacks against its soldiers, no invasion of Kuwait, no desert storm, no massacre of the kyrds, no illegal invasion of Iraq.
Add to this the fact that Iran being the most politically influential country in the region becoming a full fledge democracy would have undoubtedly serve as a model for many of the people of the neighborhood (Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, etc.) to get rid of their dictators and build democracies of their own, bringing peace and stability to a volatile region and prospering culturally and economically as a result.
But no, the Central Intelligence Agency took the order to finance, plan and execute a coup to bring down the government of Mossadegh and re-instate the Shah. Now 50 years later, we still need to justify why we are obsessed about what happened 50 years ago and how such an evil act has changed our lives in most negative way.
Do we forgive? Probably. I am sure once we are convinced our past enemies have changed their ways and now have nothing but good intentions at heart (something we haven't obviously seen yet), we can surely forgive their past indiscretions. Do we forget? Doubt it.
PS : Almost forgot: - No Farah Diba or her son Reza Pahlavi, or maybe Reza Pahlavi actually holding a job and working for a living like the rest of us mortals.
August 01, 2003
Juat a mistake, I'm sure.
Somebody should write to North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and maybe provide them with a better map of Iran. The mustard one below is from their website. Notice what is missing compared to a more realistic one beside it in blue? Wait a minute...now that I look at it more closely, the "ears" part omitted from their image is almost all of Iranian provinces of Azarbaijan. First these guys create a new "opposition figure" in the name of Chehregani who is obsessed with the idea of separation of Azarbaijan from Iran, then you start feeding the world images of Iran that is already missing that big chunk of land. Hmmmm. All this time we were looking at Texas as the source of stench that has taken over Washington DC, while the answer was in North Carolina. Sneaky guys!
Quotes
Here are two unrelated quotes for your review. Make your own private comments wherever you are:
We need a common enemy to unite us. - Condoleeza Rice
We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. - John F. Kennedy