LettersJuly 2007 Part 1 -- Part 2 July 16 Progress in the face of savageryOn Iran photo essays: Hello everyone, I need to ask for a small favor. Next time when you have the urge of forwarding yet another email showing how beautiful Iran has become and how great life is in Iran or how western media doesn't show the real Iran: add this to the list. To be honest I'm as mad at Iran's regime as I am of some people who unwittingly, have turn into Islamic Republic's propaganda machine. Life is not great in Iran because some have built beautiful hotels. Pictures of Iranian food and pastry, fruits or nuts such sunflowers seeds is not a sign of progress. Stoning human beings to death however, is a clear sign of savagery which is religion. I used to play tennis with our great generalOn Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": Great evenning to you from nashville tennesse usa i would like to comment that our beloved general Minbashian was a true hero and my sincere condolences to his family and i used to play tennis with our great general in the french coast around 1980s may god bless your soul general. rest in peace dear General. Tirdad Gharib Interview with MinbashianOn Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": Spehr, Here is the link to the transcript of his interview with the Harvard center for Middle Eastern Studies. It is part of the fascinating oral history of Iran in the twentieth century. What did he do for his country?On Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": If one takes up pen to write about a five star general he must add some of his glorious accomplishments. Given his high position in Iran's most critical pre-revolution years. People would want to know how did he earn that last star -the fifth one. What did the general do for his motherland to earn five stars or was the Shah just drunk when he gave them away? Instead you gave some weak information such as: "He looked like James Bond" Although I think he looked more like Lee Marvin in that picture. Then you end with last paragraph saying: "Readers of Iranian.com who are too young to remember his great service to his country" well, excuse my Alzheimer but could you tell us a bit more about his great services to his country besides writing songs at his young age? Do you think this is an obituary one would write about generals say, Patton, MacArthur or Montgomery? Once you decided to expose his life to us, you got to let us know what did he do for his country as a soldier? How did he prepare Iran's armed forces to face bunch of mullah's only three to four years later after his retirement? The mullahs whose only weapon were cassette tapes and aftabeh? How did the general coordinate the armed forces intelligence so that in case of a foreign intervention or a revolution the military and air force would not wait for orders to come from USA or the British or a sick Shah on death bed abroad? Perhaps you were too young to remember, in which case you should have asked mommy jaan first. Because I am sure the late general himself would not want his name to go to the pages of Iranian history as a five star general who played violin as a hobby. I guess the Iranian version of what general Patton once said is: "old generals don't die, they just retire in back alleys of Paris or drive cabs in Washington, D.C. May god bless his soul, A great man and a heroOn Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": I met your uncle in his house in pahlavi street in Tehran when i was a kid, visiting my friend Phillip, who was residing in your uncle's house. the connecting dot was Dr Khodabandeh who was a major/cardiologist and father of Philip, in the army and friend of your uncle from Shiraz where your uncle and Dr Khodabandeh did their military tour. to me your uncle was a great man and a hero, please accept my condolesent. ps i love the 2 songs that he composed. Four not five starsOn Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": Timsar Minbashian was a 4 star general -- not 5 star. Indeed, the 5th star is given only during wars. In the Shah's army, therefore, there was no 5 star general. Sad rahmat beh gaav!On Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": kir beh kooseh zan -e- minbashian. i served in the fucking shah's fucking army from 1967 to 1969 in kermanshah. i played soccer for a ball club. we went to shiraz for the land force "army" sports tournnament summer of '67. this mother fucking asshole minbashian was the commanderof the 3rd. army which was headqaurter in shiraz. he came, almost on daily basis, not watch us play, but to belittle high ranking officers before all the present at the stadiud. i saw that little shit minbashian from 8, 9 feet away. he looked mother fucking mean! he was a fucking turk, as i understand. (that says it all). motherfucker! he was trash... mother of all trashes. heech shakh'seeyat nadaasht!! gaav! gaav -e- gaav!! sad rahmat beh gaav! he was like... you wanted to throw up every fucking time he open his fucking mouth. he did not directly do anything to me. but right in front of everybody, including women and small children, he would insult a captain! calling his wife names!? i fucking saw that shit my-fucking-self. and ain't no motherfucker ain't gonna tel me no different. that little cock- sucking, american-ass-licking, nappy-hair-ho', gutter-trash, good-for-nothing, bucket of shit was plain bee pedaro madar! he was conceived, born and raised in a barn. goh beh rooheh pedar -e- koss'keshesh. issa hajjizadeh The loss of men like him is so much more tragicOn Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": Baa Dorood Mr. Haddad: From lost and irreplaceable eraOn Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": Sepehr Jan, Where is he buried?On Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": And so thank you for the kind words in this article. Do you know where he is buried? Wish our country had more like himOn Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": I, as an iranian share your loss. Wish our country had more civial servants / patriots like him. Please send me the link to the songs if at all possible. thank you. He was our Aryo BarzanOn Sepehr Hadad's "Five stars": we lost another great man. he was our aryo barzan of great daryoush, we shall miss him. our condolences to his family and all Iranian I couldn't finish any of Parsipur's novelsOn Ramin Tabib's "Perfectly flawed": Of course I can understand people who don't agree with me or cannot even finish his novels. It is all so relative. Depending on the particular time and the particular day and the particular period of our life we are living in, or whatever has happened in our past, one single sentence or one single paragraph or one whole tale can touch our soul so deeply that we can totally relate to it and our breath is taken away by the pure beauty and joy that literature, a good book, can offer to its faithful reader. But we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us." Unbiased compared to BBCOn Iran's Press TV network: I have been reading your articles on ranian.com with interest. I admire your power to articulate your thought process, but sad that you seem unaware of your own country's history. I presume you are Iranian (as I am ). For example, inspite of the tyrany and crimes committed by the Israeli government against middle easterners, you support them as if they are mantel of "freedom" and "liberty". Iranian Press TV which was recently inagurated in Tehran seems to be a good media platform to become familiar with Iran, and Iranians. I have been watching it since July 2, and in my own mind and in comparison with BBC and other media, have concluded that they are unbiased in their reporting and comprehensive in their commentaries. I hope that media helps all of us to become more familiar with the events in the ME - hopefully less bias than the garbage Fox News and other media here in US have been feeding us, and especially help us become more familiar with our own history. Must we butcher a great song by John Lennon in the name of creativity?On Jadugaran's music video, "Tasavvor": What the hell? What is it with Iranians and this need for copycatting crap? Do we need Persian Rap? Must we butcher a great song by John Lennon in the name of creativity? Why can't we ever come up with something original? What is up with that? Or as you'd probably say it " YO, YO, YO WAZUP WIT DAT?" Sometimes I, just for a short moment I look forward to global warming followed by another ice age. These are not generous people. They just like to pretend they are.On Bruce Bahmani's "Apparently, we have some very wealthy [and generous] folks!": Quote: <<I have spoken to several wealthy Iranians (by the way, with huge sums ready and waiting for us to spend wisely), and bluntly asked them the apparently un-askable question. "What do you need to see in order to fund something that would benefit the community?" >> Every time I meet another Iranian I am immediately suspiciousOn Fariba Amini's "Two countries, close and far away": Mr. Bahmani - I attend law school in Washington, DC (a great place for that Town Hall Meeting), and despite my upbringing in a Texan town, I have never felt more isolated than in DC. I feel that my attempts to avoid aligning with Iranian political activists (what true Iranian isn't a political activist, is the first rejoinder, I know) have made me isolated. I attend a prestigious university and although I know several other Iranian students, we don't meet, we don't talk, hell, we don't even like each other. Somehow, and I can assure you I was not raised this way, every time I meet another Iranian (particularly one in my own age group, as I maintain the traditional respect for elders) I am immediately suspicious. "Where is she/he from?" I immediately wonder. "Is she/he Jewish, pro-monarchist, anti-monarchist, a devout Muslim, a political extremist, communist, cynical, depressed, completely clueless about Iran, never been there, hateful towards Iran?" and all of the other various personality and psychology dementias and machinations that post-revolution Iranians are so well-endowed with. I can't tell you the numerous times that I have found an Iranian "friend," only to be asked questions that spurn isolation rather than kinship. I purposefully sought out a landlord who was Iranian (thinking I would get a good deal, I'm zerang of course). His first question to me was "You were born in Iran? Tehran you say? The good part or the bad part?" His Ba'hai relics were strewn about the apartment (another question he asked me), and he was obviously not into finding a "new friend." Why are we like this I lament?! I am jealous of the Arab students in my university, who bond so readily...and even absorb a few clueless Iranians, desperate to be "Middle Eastern" and "have a cause," without falling into a group where they might be tested on basic knowledge of Iran. Not that such a group exists. Anyway, I'm starting to ramble, I suppose because I've felt myself change a lot since I've been in DC. I've become harder, less kind, more jealous, and sometimes hateful...I think that feeling isolated (despite the Iranian-ness you'd think was all around me) from other Iranians in my own age group is a large part of it. I note that I seek out elder Iranians, my parents age, in DC, because I inevitably have more in common with them. I would actually love to speak at a meeting or conference about my emotional experience of growing up an Iranian American, without the benefit of a sense of community. Religious Jews are almost identical to the fanatic MoslemsOn Fariba Amini's "Two countries, close and far away": This is precisely the problem with these guys. Even at the most educated level, they are a bunch of religious zealots, and as such, they have much more in common with Hezb-ollahis/Alqaida (Sp?) than the average liberal like you and I. They look the same, they think the same, they just worship a different (just as stupid) God. The orthodox or religious jews are almost identical to the fanatic Moslems in their thinking, behavior and their violence. May Darwin save us of all from annihilation by these Morons (Jews, Moslems or Christians). How disgusting...On Tehran metro suicide video: How appalling is the video of the suicide in Iranian metro worse still is the recoding on the clip of two people laughing. How disgusting... i wish u would have edited that part at least. Let's just hope that someday we all learn from our mistakesOn Jeesh Daram's "Sir Ruhollah Khomeini": With all due respect sir, you seem to put the burden of idiocy to create the Islamic republic of Iran on the British subjects. I wonder if we ever dare to blame ourselves? is it possible to say that "We, The Iranian" chose to have Sir Khomeini as our leader? is it possible to someday open up our eyes and admit our mistakes and learn from them? or as our culture always call for it we completely deny our blunders and easily and conviniently point our fingers... Let's just hope that someday we all learn from our mistakes and know how to correct them without having to blame someone else. Besides nothing will change unless we change ourselves and that is a hard thing to do for our nation...the old saying "mageh ma chemeh? to khedeto avaz kon" has always been the root of our problems... :))) Bisexual godOn Tinoush Moulaei's "Goddess not God": No blasphemy intended, but what if the Lord is bisexual? Great place to have a kabab picnicOn Ahmadreza Tavakoli's photo essay of Sivand Dam area, "Before being drowned": After viewing Tavakoli's photos of the Sivand Dam, I am convinced that it should be filled to the rim! The waterfront looks like a great place to have a kabab picnic :-) Kheili jaalebOn Ahmadreza Tavakoli's photo essay of Sivand Dam area, "Before being drowned": Aks-haa kheili jaaleb boodan. NR Shamelessly promoting ObamaOn Bruce Bahmani's "Back Barack": Mr. BRUCE! What kind of promise Barack Obama made that any other Democrat candidate didn't? Or you just simply sympathizing the colour of his skin! What good the Democrat version of capitalism did that the republican didn't? Did you say " he gives you hope for better America and better world"? Man! Nowadays, the history is so accessible to everyone! Even youtube can help you to review the historical events. have you heard of "History for dummies"! it's on it's way. Ahmagh! That is why I sent him to you! Because he was talking different!On Mohsen Shams's "Shamelessly promoting Obama": Sorry asking you to help with the Obama campaign upset you so much, that the only option left to you was to spit in my face. I certainly was to trying to spit in yours, even though you live in Canada. But now that I can wipe off what you attempted to say from my inbox, let me say this (about that!); Actually this world has in fact gone "So hopeless" that rather than follow the "red and blue politics crap" as you put it, I thought maybe you needed to know about an alternative or someone whom I have found to be one of the most pragmatic candidates to run for this next opening coming up real soon. Also, I am in fact shamelessly or without shame, promoting Obama as the better candidate. Yes, I am doing that. It's called participating in the process. Something apparently you feel I should not be doing, or maybe something you feel that only you should do. Either way you are wrong. As far as promises, Obama has in fact made several that other Democrats haven't. I would list them, but then I'd be doing your work for you. All I'll say, is before opening your mouth and spewing what you obviously do not know anything about, you should actually use the computer you are sitting in front of, and do some research before crying to me about how Obama is exactly the same as the other candidates. Ahmagh! That is why I sent him to you! Because he was talking different! Of course it is possible he is lying, just like the rest. But so far I like his lies better than the rest. I thought you would too. Clearly I was wrong. Finally, what does History have to do with the future? I know that whole "if you don't know your history you are...." but what does that have to do with Obama? Has he been president before? Has he messed up Iran before? Also, Please, you tell me, out of all the candidates available, are you seriously going to pick one of the others? Lets see, other than the moron (I mean mormon), all of the Republican candidates have been married an average of 3 times, and are complete idiots. On the Democrat side, Hillary us hoping that her sex-addict of a husband will help her woo all the women voters, and to be safe she's saying the exact same things as the Republicans. But NO. I am wrong to suggest that out of all this, Obama is the better candidate. And I should apologize for that to an idiot like you. Well I am sorry, I am sorry for you, that a simple suggestion to mobilize for the upcoming election and be part of it, is lost on you. Then again, you live in Canada, and for that I am truly sorry! Pardonnez Moi! Democrats record shows bloodOn Bruce Bahmani's "Ahmagh! That is why I sent him to you! Because he was talking different!": Hi to you, my man! Well, thanks now for being sorry for me that I live in Canada! What is it to be mentioned. I'm not Canadian and you're not American! then, what are you sweating for? I belong to the world and I have a base in Canada to work and live and contribute to my belief. I spend my time and energy and financial facilities to fight for my belief and I see that my little steps, do work. Whether it's for Iran, Iraq or Chiapas... I just chose Canada for having a humane and more peaceful society. that's all. Mouth piece of gross censorshipOn Toofan Hosseinnezhad's "They're not Ron Paul": Nice article, however, it misses several points, in which I addressed in my piece endorsing Fred D. Thompson. Unfortunately by refusing to publish articles by Iranian-Americans who support the conservative Republicans, Iranian.com has become a mouth piece of gross censorship, a form of censorship that is vehemently inappropriate in a free society. Privately owned groups can choose sides on issues, but when catering to smaller minorities groups such as ours in the United States these types of steps are dictatorial-like and inappropriate. We rarelay donate to campaigns, but...On Toofan Hosseinnezhad's "They're not Ron Paul": Dear Toofan, Thanks for the great article. I have been a Ron Paul Fan since he ran for President as a Libertarian candidate back in 1988. I sincerely hope that we can try and get his voice heard a little more. The main thing that we have to also do is to ask our fellow countrymen to donate to his campaign (which we both know will rarely happen unfortunately). Keep up the great work! Fight alongside womenOn Toofan Hosseinnezhad's "All men?": Before you get too excited in defending the Iranian male society, look at the facts. Iran is a 110% male dominated society and all the rulers and the tyrants who have governed us were male. Iranian women have always strugled to become heard or at least given the chance not to mention same equality as their male counter part. Iranian women have been treated like second class citizens for god knows how long. Now before you get to excited do something about it. Join the women's rights groups and fight along them. The current regime has tried everything to humiliate, suppress and belittle Iranian women but as the events are showing and are becoming visible once again or heroes and revolutionaries are the Iranian lionesses. God bless Iranian women and their strength. It is "men" who oppress women. It is "men" who advocate it. It is "men" who tolerate it.On Toofan Hosseinnezhad's "All men?": "The green text dude" is actually doing a great job with his humorous subtle comments . On contrary to Mr. Hosseinnezhad , I do not see that as "male bashing ". Oppression and degradation of women is taking place in male dominated societies. It is "men" who practice it . It is "men" who advocate it. It is "men" who tolerate it. All because they want to turn women into a "second class citizen" that they can control. Mr. H reminds me of some of those red-blooded white American men who get furious and feel offended when a black man condemns racism or slavery. Thus the white guy defensively shouts: " This is white bashing. I was not even living back then, I am totally innocent, I have never had slaves and on and on ...." We all know the era of slavery in the US is past gone, but the attitude still lingers on. Well Mr. H, you may not be a sexist per se, but I assure you that the majority of the men in the middle east are. We have a culture that nourishes and perpetuates the status quo. we all need to change. More likely a leopardOn Jeesh Daram's "Crocodile tears": You can't have seen a stuffed tiger. They have been extinct in Iran for at least 50 years, probably longer. More likely, a leopard, as the name panthera also suggests. Check Eskandar Firuz's 'Fauna of Iran' . FF Last sightingOn FF's "More likely a lepopard": Actually, the last sighting of a tiger in Iran was in 1968 (39 years ago) in Iran and 1970 (unconfirmed) near Turkey. What I did not add in my article was that the object was in hiding for years and the only reason he had it outside was because he had taken advantage of the revolutionary chaos..... that is why it looked so worn out... I have no idea where he got it from. See some discussions below from Wiki and another source for Genus and Specie name as well as other information: Caspian tiger in the Roman arenas History and extinction The last stronghold of the Caspian tiger in the former Soviet Union was in the Tigrovaya Balka area. Though the tigers were reported as being found there until the mid-1950s, the reliability of these claims is unknown. An exact date of extinction is unknown. Some reports state that the last Caspian tiger was shot in Golestn National Park or some other place in Northern Iran in 1959. There are claims of a documented killing of this subspecies in the Uludere district in Turkey - a few dozen kilometers from the Iraqi border - during the 1970s (see below). Yet other reports state that the final Caspian tiger was captured and killed in Northeast Afghanistan in 1997. The most frequently quoted date for extinction is the late 1950s, but there is almost no evidence to back that claim. It appears this date came to be accepted after being quoted by H. Ziaie in "A Field Guide to the Mammals of Iran." More evidence reflects an even earlier date of extinction. The area of Iran that contained the last Caspian tigers was the eastern region of Mazandaran, Northern Iran[citation needed]. According to E. Firouz in "A Guide to the Fauna of Iran, 1999", the last tiger was killed in 1947 near Agh-Ghomish Village, 10 km East of Kalaleh (Golestn Province), on the way to Minoodasht/Bojnourd. No one really knows for certain....... Much more in the subject there. Very important fact: He's KhuzestaniOn Iranian of the day Mehdi Ghomeshi: The writer forgot to mention one very important fact. Mr. Ghomeishi is a fellow-Khuzestani and has contributed generously to Iranian cultural events. Top priority preventing military attack on IranOn Mahvash Nasehi's "Zire yek saghf": Dear Ms. Nasehi, Thank you for your article. I, like you am all for the top priority .... and that is preventing military attack on Iran and the reason is simple to understand. At the same time, I try to see how other Iran lovers are active on other priorities. You know we are complex and the issues are complex. Trying to convince others that what I think is the priority is actually what we should be concentrating on is not simple. Your analyses are useful and constructive and I hope we will see more of those in the near future. Please help/advice us on the work to prevent military attack on Iran. With best wishes Mohamad Navab Liberating!On Jahanshah Javid's book give-away part phoots, "Taaraaj": It must have been quite liberating! Not anytime soonOn Jahanshah Javid's book give-away part phoots, "Taaraaj": Let me know when you are giving away your porn collection ;-) Cameron Not only movies twisting historyOn UNESCO's new 7 Wonders of the World: Hi Jahanshah, Thanks, Iran is going through a evolutionary processOn Ali Nasiri's "Hold them responsible": You wrote in your letter, that we should tell "Iran's leader to stop their savage killing of innocent Iranians." Except for Zahra Kazemi and the chain murders of 9 years ago, who else has been victim of this "savage killing" as you describe it. It is amazing you use this word on this regime, but I am sure you remained silent during the Shah's regime. The Islamic Republic is not systematically killing (it might be imprisoning those with ties to US think tanks, but it isn't killing them) and yet you use the word "savage" and claim that they have killed more than Ghengis Khan. Can you show proof of that? The Shah's regime had a brutal secret police that dissuaded anyone internally or externally to voice out criticism of the government. Yet journalists from inside or foreign journalists routinely go to Iran, and the people freely express their views of the government, and no reprucssions are made. Of course they will not tolerate civil disobedience, neither do they tolerate it here in the US (look up Reagan when he was governor of California during Nixons time, and see how many Berkeley students he massacred for protesting against Vietnam). Iran is going through a evolutionary process. It had 2,500 years of brutal dictatorship, which has inflicted its mind and it will take time for it to remove those shackles of time. No one claims the Islamic Republic is perfect, but no one should lie and claim they are "savagely killing innocent Iranians." That quote in itself makes you a liar. You are an emotional reactionary. You seriously need to wake up and smell the hookah. Had me smiling and crying at the same timeOn Eslam Anthony Shams's photos of Iran on YouTube: Dear Mr. Shams: Your pictures and your presentation were so filled with love, respect, and a playful joy of life, they had me smiling and crying at the same time for a land I love and respect. I went with you on your journey, and I feel happy and rewarded in the end. Thank you for your labor of love. Initiate court case for inciting genocidal hatred against ALL IraniansOn Qumars Bolourchian's "Merchants of hate": Dear Qumars, I can assure you, there will be troubleOn Qumars Bolourchian's "Merchants of hate": If they ever do try what they've done in Iraq with the people of Iran, I can assure you, there will be trouble. And, that trouble will come from within. There are many, many groups already getting ready. Hit these scum bags where it hurtsOn Qumars Bolourchian's "Merchants of hate": I have one thing to say to the racist assholes that made these T-shirts. They could go and F**k themselves. NIAC, CAIR and every civil rights group should find out who is making these T-shirts and protest in front of their place of business. Give these people hell. Boycott their partners. Many years ago Henry Ford wrote a book demonizing Jewish people in America. American Jews boycotted Ford until Henry Ford was near bankruptcy. Henry Ford apologized for his actions and wrote something complementing Jewish people in America. The Iranian community in America should do the same. Hit these scum bags that make these t-shirts where it hurts. Hit their wallets and put them out of business. If I see someone wearing one of these t-shirts I will give him a bloody noseOn Qumars Bolourchian's "Merchants of hate": If I see someone wearing one of these t-shirts I will give him a bloody nose he will never forget. But you don't have to do that since where I am from we call people like you Bacheh Kambiz. (no disrespect to the editor intended) I let them know that they are promoting hateOn Qumars Bolourchian's "Merchants of hate": I have called cafe press and spoke to sveral people there and did let them know that they are promoting hate and discrimination and their contents are ver racist. Phone: Toll Free 1-877-809-1659 Write: CafePress.com The content Usage Management Please let other know that they can contact Cafe Press. Thank you Hello, war kills peopleOn Qumars Bolourchian's "Merchants of hate": I looked at the pictures of the items you had on IRANIAN.COM. It is very unfortunate to see that some one who is intelligent enough to use a computer, waist "their" time on creating things to promote and encourage war. (the article had 2 names on it) Live Earth was missing one important manOn Siamack Baniameri's "Save the earth?": Live Earth was missing one important man. The King. Not Elvis ... Reza Pahlavi. Censorship in cinemaOn Peyvand Khorsandi's "Taste of censorship": I just read Payvand Khorsandi's appeal in favor of Marjan Satrapi's excellent film. Why Islamic Republic's flag?On Arzhang climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro: Kudos and Congradulations for this Brave and Great Achievement to Arzhang but why did he have to host the Flag of the Islamic Republic on that World Summit??? and not the Sun and Lion or at worst the Iranian Flag without any emblem deemed political. Other things U.S. has done to IranOn Nahal Zamani's "Troubled history": Please add the following to your list: I am all with you!On Majid Boroumand's "Can we trust you?" and NY Times article "U.S. sues Merrill Lynch on treatment of Muslim": Dr. Borumand, They started almost all the wars in this century including both persian gulf and iraq war, and now planning iran war! Now you see why I get mad when this idiot, trader Amil Imani writes an article on this site saying lets go bomb iran with the Israelis help! Israelis are no one's friend, they just use and abuse others through their devilish shrewdness, and steal their lands! I am all with you! If an Iranian had done that to them, they would have crucified him! Here is my point: A fundamental change is necessaryOn D.M.'s "In Iraq, not Iran": I appreciate your feedback and your position on the geography of the video. I also fully agree that education is the key to change and growth in any society. The problem with the IRI is that they are not going to change, become softer on repressive issues and give more freedoms or anything else that our “Hamvatans” who have taken the passive path hope for. We can sit here and hope and discuss all the small changes that will make our society better, but every so often, the regime just takes ten steps back and we are back at square one. LaashkhorsOn Fariba Moghadam's "Mahasti va media": Great review, at last someone with good moral, could point out those "LAASHKHORS" among Iranian commercial TVs. You said what the majorities of satellite’s TV viewers want to say, about this "abduction of Mahasti's funeral", and none sense exaggeration of her art works. Some of those morons in charge of those media whom do not comprehend the difference between a Concert or a Funeral SALE out..!! It is amazing how we can do this some 30 yrsOn Fariba Moghadam's "Mahasti va media": Dear Ms. Moghadam Thank you for the note. It is amazing how we can do this some 30 yrs following immigration and living in a new environment. Mohamad Navab Banoo Mahasti lived with grace and deserved a graceful burialOn Lance Raheem's "Zendehyaad": all i can tell if Mahasti was alive she would be so sad by the way tapesh tv treated her fans i was there at the funeral we drove from fresno to be there but they treated us like bunch of sheeps after they beurried her compeletly they allow people to pass her grave and say their fare well this is not the way then keivan hayedeh 's son comes on tv and says it was the cemetery's law i called them and they said it was all tapesh tv's doing we had nothing to do with it banoo Mahasti lived with grace and deserved a graceful burial her fans should have been able to touch her coffin and kissed her goodbye for the last time shame on tapesh tv they did not even allow people to drink water in LA's heat may God bless her soul. sm You are a good man to do that for your momOn Brian Appleton's "Familiar and beautiful things": Brian, I loved your narration of the family trip to Italy. Very touching and you are a good man to do that for your mom. And like a surprise dessert after a great meal; you finished the article with the "Sounds of Siena at Dawn!" Excellent. Regards, Friends changed so muchOn Nazy Kaviani's "True story": Dear Nazy kaviani' Since I have left Iran in 1983' I have lost so many old friends for so many different reasons that I can totally relate to your true happy-ending story. Unfortunately' I am sure I am not the only one in this case... I wish all my old friends would have turned into such strong accomplished well-known women (like yours) and I could easily Google their names and find them after so many years. The irony is that in the few rare cases where I found them after the passage of too many years' I realized that they had changed so much that I had a hard time to recognize them again. So' I had to let go of my old cherished memories' replacing them sadly with the new image of a total stranger. I always wondered if they were the ones totally changed or it was just me? PS: This is one essay I wrote about my search for a lost friend: What this has to do with Iran and Iranians?On Azarin A. Sadegh's "I have lost a part of my humanity": baa tashakkor valli ammaa: what this has to do with Iran and Iranians? are we using everything now to propagate false information? Yazidis or izadis have their own cultural codes. They are not Iranian and the writer is trying to make this to look like it is a norm in Iran. False begets false. What made it even betterOn Fatemeh Farajmandi's "Shades of home": Ms. Farajmandi's photo essay was great. What made it even better was the fact that the description of location and such were also given with each pictures. This is something I wish all photo enthusiast who post their nice work to Iranian.com do' so we know the locals the pictures were taken. Shah was not more than a puppetOn Masoud Arefi's "We had our guards down": Dear Mr. Arefi: We should remember that the literacy in Iran was not more than 22%. Iran did not have enough Doctors and Engineers to take the tasks in the country. In Mehrabad airport we could see US Airforce and Britain Royal Air Force Planes everywhere. The country was virtually occupied by the outside forces. The ruler of Iran' Shah was not more than a puppet for Americans and British. We are all nostalgic about the past. The reality is something else. We don't have to shit EVERYTHINGOn Naanaam's "Chand kaare kootaah": I'm begging this Naanam khanoom to be a little more considerate about spelling farsi words. If she doesn't have enough farsi literature education' she better gets it' if she actually knows the correct spelings and just uses that strange way of spelling farsi words as a symbol of her over- romanticness' I encourage her to express her exploding emotions in some other way. We don't have to shit EVERYTHING. "Eshghe Laati" should be our national anthem!On Shahkar Bineshpajooh's music: Shahkar Bineshpajooh for President. I love this guy. I heard one of his bootleg CD's over a year ago and fell in love with his humor. I love anyone who's willing to make fun of his/her own self/culture ... particularly from our own uptight Iranian culture where for some reason most people think too highly of themselves! "Eshghe Laati" should be our national anthem! Fond memories of AbadanOn Paul Schroeder's " Memories of an American boy": I enjoyed the article. It brought back fond memories of my experience living in Abadan. The author lived in Abadan just before our family arrived and apparently lived very close to our house at SQ 1046 in New Braim. I would enjoy exchanging information with the author' Paul Schroeder' if you would forward my e-mail address to him. Beautiful memories of NatanzOn Bita Ria's "Rerturning to Kesheh": Dear Bita' I was overjoyed with much exhilaration to have looked at the pictures you shared on Kesheh. My parents' like yours' had left Natanz for Tehran when they were young to finally settle in Shemiran via SaboonPaz khooneh in south Tehran. I was born in Dezashib and grw up in Evian' outside the notorious wall along the Parkway. In fact' my last name Rahni' corresponds to Rahan' a small village south of Natanz proper' which is now in effect annexed to Natanz. And my mother's folks come from Tameh' a small sleepy village at the foothills of the Karkas (Vulture) Mountain' elevation 4200 meters; I climbed it dozens of times. The word Karkas relates to an era in the near past' when there were Zoroastrian burial mounds around Karkas Mountain. The vultures were hovering atop the mounds' hills and the mountains such as above Gonbade Baz' a dome' which is said to be the burial shrine of Shah Abbas Falcon' whom he killed out of anger' but in reality is a Atashkadeh (Zoroastrian Temple). Like you I have many beautiful nostalgic memories of these places in the tranquil Natanz and the surroundings. It aches my heart to see the otherwise good noble name' Natanz' drawn into mud in western media' for the alleged nuclear related activities nearby. No one' including many Iranian compatriots' realize that this township and 70 plus villages and hamlets belonging to its district' spoke middle Pahlavi dialects till recent juncture an many were actually of Zoroastrian faith. Thanks again for sharing. Davood Rahniwww.DrRahni.com If there is one place I love most about Iran is that little villageOn Davood Rahni's "Beautiful memories of Natanz": Dear Davood' wow' i am so happy that you feel that way about the area surrounding Karkas mountains. Because before i go to Kesheh i thought no one cares about that area' and if the US have air strikes on Natanz's nuclear area' the small villages will definitly be targets too. In Iraq/Iran war i was only 3' and back then Kesheh was our Shelter away from all Tehran's bombs' now it's the new target. I think it is so sad too. It's so good that you shared the history of the area with me' i didn't know that the area was originally a Zartoshti settlement' but im very proud to know that. I knew someone important was burried on the mountains somewhere' you can see the place from distance as you are driving towards the mountains' i remember my dad pointing it out everytime we were driving there. Kesheh has a lot of caves. People used to hide there when the arabs attacked or the Qajar or whenever there were wars'...My grandpa says there must be alot of undiscovered places in the area where treasures are burried. Keshe is very old' people are very old' the population is dying one by one each year. My dad's mum passed away this year' and the lovely thing is' they all want to be burried in Keshe. If there is one place I love most about Iran is that little village. However i don't know if i would feel the same way if my grandparents pass away - my childhood is summerised in two words : Mamani and Kesheh. Anyway' your email meant alot to me. I hope if you haven't already been able to go back you can oneday and if you have i hope you continue to do so...and eat lots of Golabi. Postcard from IranHello' Little description would be niceOn Parviz Forghani's "Familiar forms": Thanks for the beautiful photographs. But it would have been nice with a little description under each photo for those of us who are unfamiliar with these places. I hate to profile people' but...On Tinoush Moulaei's "Health fudge": As true as it is for a lot of other people: The fact that a "successful surgeon and a doctor" leaves his area of profession to have a "SHOW" in CNN, tells me and everyone else what kind of a "DOCTOR" he really is. I hate to profile people base on their .....etc.".... you know what I mean!! I'm absolutely sure that for HIM with the expertise he has, CNN pays more!! Do you or are you comfortable with pretx of women's liberation?On women and freedom in America: Kindly I have a question to those Iranians living in America: I am 30 years here in self exile against Iranian regime. I say that so you do not think I am fanatic or someting, or fundamental, but I wonder If Western values is free sex, for men and women, then would you allow your wife or your sister to abide by this law?? Can your wife invite her former boyfriend home while you are present?? I hope no hard feeling, thank you What happened to my best friend?I am looking to find out what exactly happened to my best friend Yaqub Behnia. He was either executed in Shiraz during the mass execution in 1988 or escaped to another country with some help from Adelabad prison's personnel. Long lost friend Mitra SanaiHi there! My name is Martin Paran and I'm looking for my long lost friend Mitra Sanai going back to our student days at the University of Bristol in England. This was back in 1986/87. As far as I know she got married shortly after & moved to Canada so I'm quite sure she's not carrying the name Sanai anymore. Coming on in life and not the youngest any more makes it all the more important for me to find her. If anybody out there knows of her whereabouts & how I can contact her pls. e-mail me I never forgot about himI am a Mexican woman, I live in Baja California Mexico, back in 1978 I met Abbas Jalilehvand, he is from Teheran, Iran, last time I heard about him, he was in Holland, but I would like to know about him. I've done every thing I can to find out any thing, I just want to know if he is alive, if he is ok, that's it, I was in love with him almost 30 years ago. I never forgot. You know any thing? PLEASE let me know. Thanks in advance. I remember eating melons and Samanu from this villageOn Ghasem Ghani's memoir, "A man of many worlds": I have heard the name "Deh Badnoom" or "Deh Badnam" in Sabzevar, Khorasan when I was a little girl from my Baba Boozorg, Mother Boozorg and my Aunts and my parents. I believe my grandfather Haj Mohammad Hassan -- "Haj Mahsan" -- was the owner of the village. I remember eating melons and Samanu from this village. I got to read some pages of this book by accident. I have just ordered this book. Is there any possibilities that the editor of this book to contact me? Reminds me of my personal strugglesOn Fariba Amini's "Two countries, close and far away": What I have in mind is that if we could organize a Town Hall meeting between two campuses of Tehran University or Sharif University and a US campus such as Harvard, Stanford or George Town and bring the issues of Iran, US, Israel and Arabs into dialogue among university students / participants. If you feel this may work so that you can spend some time on this subject, please let me know. I can better formulate the concept / plan if you / another associates could work and sponsorship funds made available. People who have no problem to betray their ownOn Lawrence Reza Ershaghi's "Opportunists, not academics": Dear Mr Ershaghi First let me thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts in writing for the rest of us to read. However I find it so ironic that those who suppress the voice of masses and prevent free media and free debate whenever their power allows them, have no problem to express their own suppressive thoughts on such free and open to all firms. Before any thing else I would like to confirm that you have touched on some very important issues about the state of our country and the mentality of people inside and out of Iran and although I might not agree with all of your assessments but the importance of the points you have raised could not be debated. Let me start my assessment by giving my total agreement with one important point that you made in your assessment. The opposition groups outside Iran are not united. They are mostly are a bunch of incompetent self-centred cronies who have mostly got their own interest in mind and are not at all in touch with the realities of life inside Iran, or what is happening to its people. This is their biggest weakness and as you have rightly put it yourself many of them have lend themselves to other third parties and foreign governments who do not have the interest of Iranian people in mind. I guess every body has his price, as yours was a seat on the Tehran University's board of lecturers. Another very important point that I find my self in agreement with you is the fact that the West and specially US have not yet understood the nature of mullahs and the extent on their duplicity. For the past 28m years the West kept undermining them and refused to admit to their strengths or look for their real weak points and as a result they kept undermining the West and its efforts to deal with them efficiently. But that is another story for another day and definitely out of the scope of this discussion. However as for the rest of your article, I found it to be extremely naïve twisted and so out of touch with the realities on the ground that kept me wondering if your brain have been frozen since 1979 and you have just come out of the state of hibernation. It is so ironic that every mass murderer, suppressor, dictator and fascist always hides behind the masses and claims to be supported by the poor people in their victim society. This was the same about Hitler Stalin Mao and the 13 th Imam. When on the other hand it has always been the case about the true popular leaders that they have always stood in front of their nation and led them Especially when you claim that all the poor people of country are behind these mass murderer and the apposition is only confined to the wealthy people of northern Tehran. I personally find it as adding insult to injury, as you seem to believe just because we do not have a lot of money we must also lack brain and capability to think or evaluate and analyse these events for ourselves, or we do capable of being moderate and wanting to live a free life. Just to put your mind in ease first let me to clear a few things about myself. I have been in Tehran less than 10 times in the past ten years and I have never even seen Niavaran. The last time my family and I went to Caspian coast (Shomaal) was around 25 years ago when it was still affordable for the average Iranian to do so. And I have even been born in the very religious city of Mashhad The next time you come to Mashhad just come to Tabarsi Street and ask for the Javadyye Alley way as that is were my family roots are and my relatives still live. We live a simple but honest life and we do not have a lot of money to splash around. Another important point that I want you to remember is the fact that at the time when you were doing your university education in US of A and living a life of convenience it was me and people like me who went to war and fought Saddam's army. I personally served in 21st Brigade. However I did it out of love for my motherland and not to spread Khomeini's version of Islam or going to Karbala. As it was the case for me and many of my comrades, we saw it as our duty to defend their motherland. We fought for 4 years and brought Saddam's army into its knees. Until 1984 when Saddam agreed to a UN peace accord and even Saudi Arabia agreed to pay compensation to Iran for all the damages of the war. But because of the selfishness of one stubborn man who wanted to go spread his power in the region we were made to fight a pointless war for another 6 years, which killed a generation and devastated our country socially and economically. Now to see someone like you trying to take advantage of our sacrifices and twisting the truth in order to further their own personal ambition really sickens me to the stomach. For the facts that I explained above, it makes me very qualified to be one of the masses and in case you have been hiding your head in your back side for the past 20 years I should inform you that I am not the only one in my social class who thinks like this. I was born in a traditional Muslim family and my parents tried their best to raise me as a "good Muslim" but after 25 years of observing the Muslim hypocrisy and the crimes, which happened in my country under the banner of Islam, I became sick and tired of it and so I converted to Zartosht. Ironically I see my self more lucky than my friends and other people of my generation who are still left in the limbo of carrying the title of Muslim but not truly believing in its doctoring or even resenting it. In your article you made several claims about the fruits of revolution, where it stands and the faith of its enemies. As to an untrained eye or a person who has not actually lived it Iran and is not in touch with the reality of life here you might be able to get away with these claims But to a person like me it is noting but a house of cards and as soon as you pool one card out the whole thing will collapse. But first things first. Before any thing let me to remind you about a few fruits of 28 years suppression that you forgot to mention. Because I believe as a grass root member of this society who deals with its social problems day in day out, that makes me more than qualified to remind you of a few of those out comes 1- More than 10 million unemployed. 2- Double digit inflation 3- Incapability to refine our own oil and having to buy petrol from abroad 4- Record level of drug addicts 5- Record number of young girls who resort to prostitution because of poverty 6- An economy in ruin 7- A grim international reputation, as every body regards us as terrorists 8- Record number of young people fleeing the country to become homeless refugees around the world 9- Child poverty at its highest level. Even worst that the time of Ghaajaar dynasty 10- Ten years of pointless war which left our economy industry and human resources it ruin And this is only the tip of the iceberg as the list goes on and on and on. However may be the most naïve statement that I encountered in your article was the following "The fact that the majority of the country is young is more of an economic issue than anything else, but somehow this is always transformed into a political issue. " In this argument you seem to try to distinguish between the political and economical affair of the country. Which leaves one wondering about the authenticity of your education or the extent that you are willing to twist the fact and close your eyes the facts of life just to serve your own personal interests and ambitions. To any body who have ever opened a book on economy sociology and politic it should be obvious the political and economical events of a country are so inter related that they could only be regarded as one and the same. In fact it is the first and foremost duty of the government, the politicians and leader of any country to make sure that the economy is in a viable and healthy status as everything else is driven from that. Just read The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. What people want from their leaders is good managed economy, which creates jobs and wealth for those who are willing to work for it. They want such economy to first exist and be sustained and then its fruits ( i.e. tax revenue) to be used as basis for building other social institutions and infrastructures such as health education, welfare and a police which serves the people and provides them with security instead of suppressing and beating them up. We do not want our leader to prepare us for the dooms day as we already have got Nostradamus for that. We do not want our leaders to preach religion as we already have the clerics and religious institutions for that. We do not want or leaders and security services to interfere in the utmost private aspects of our lives as we feel we are mature enough to decide for our selves. At the time when we have record poverty in the country we definitely do not want our leaders to waist our money on every shadowy terrorist group around the glob just to buy themselves some useless publicity. As for your assessment of the faith of the enemies of revolution let me clear a few points for you. First of all, MKO was the group who started the revolution and they were the ones who rallied around Khomeini and introduced him to Iranian people. I was there heard all their slogans and saw them in action during the revolution. Now can you claim the same thing? They though that they can use Khomeini to get into power and then push him aside, but Khomeini was more dubious than they have taken him for and in the end he turned the table on them. Just like every other revolution this one's first victims became its own children. However I must admit that I believe that MKO got what they deserve and they deserve what they got, for betraying their people and country and I loos no sleep over their misery and misfortune. As for Saddam Hussein he was noting but a poppet of the West who came to power by his coup against Ahmed Hassan Al-Baker in 1977 (with the support of The West). His time came to an end when he started to bit the hand of his masters and his doom was when he started to deal Oil in Euro instead of American Dollar. An action, which would have inevitably resulted in the breaking of the Petro-dollar-Arms cycle (Now, I leave it to you do more investigation on that). As for the Taliban, their end came when they started to pose a treat to The West by siding with Al -Quade and even more importantly when they were seen as an obstacle to the Caspian Sea oil pipeline to transfer Russian oil to the Persian Gulf. Their end had noting do with the incompetent mullahs. It is simply ridicules and arrogant to try and claim credit for these events (as it is not even attempted by the people in the establishment) Finally, on your remarks about the export of your disaster of revolution and its shadowy allies around the world. These are bunch of opportunist terrorists who are noting but "Magase Dore Shirini". They only coexist with the mullahs because Mullahs pay them well. As we all saw, after the Lebanon's war Hezbollah was paying $1000 per person to the people in South Lebanon. This was the money given to them by the mullahs. The money, which should have been spent to develop our own country's infrastructure, health service and economy instead. The money, which could have tackled child poverty in Iran and help young families to get back on their feet. But instead it was paid to bribe Hezbollah in order to get their support. The support that could neither be useful nor even be relied on. Now it is needless to repeat the same story with Hamas. These are the people who have no problem to betray their own, as they have done it several times before. If you doubt, me just have another look at the faith of Arafat and Rafigh Hariri. Now what chance do you think you have when some one else like Syria Saudi Arabia or even U.S come along and through them a bigger bone, are you really naïve enough to believe that they would still remain loyal to you or are you ready to admit that they would be the first ones to betray you Khomeini was a selfish greedy Indian bustard who had no regard or feeling for this country and its people. That was why he did not feel any thing when he was coming to devastate this land. In fact right to the end, after his policies killed more than one million of our people and destroyed our economy and country's infrastructure still he had no felling of remorse or otherwise and kept being the biter stubborn monster that he was, right to the end.
>>> More July 2007: Part 1 -- Part 2 |
This is an auto-framed archive page last updated Aug 01, 2007. You may find outdated advertising or navigation information. Please report broken links or layout problems. Please click on the above tabs for the new site. Thank You. -Iranian.com