AUGUST 2006
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MESSIANIC
Mahdaviat

Ahmadinejad's ideology of 'global chaos' is corner stone of Iranian state policy
Iqbal Latif

It is argued that "Presidential obsession" with 'mahdaviat' leads Mr. Ahmadinejad to "a conviction that leaves little room for compromise. He thinks that the Mahdi will come in near future as his knight in shining armour? The only missing link that in Presidents opinion delays Mahdi's arrival is that world is still far too peaceful, the degree of clash and disasters that will set the chain of celestial events of 'mahdaviat' have to gather speed. The recent mess in Lebanon by his proxies was a component of that uncompromising ideological fixation... Iranian President is duty bound to help create environ which is conducive to Mahdi return, unfortunately 'universal peace' does not help the prophecies that are integral part of his understanding of the scriptures >>>

PSYCH
Post Iran depression
Shahireh Sharif

As part of an annual ritual this is exactly what I go through after coming back from Iran, having been there for my vacation. A severe punishment to endure particularly for such a petty crime! Talking to others it amazes me how frequently other people can relate to this. For a "silent killer", it is happening to too many of us too often. Ironically, for most of us the quality of the time spent in Iran does not have such a huge impact on experiencing post Iran depression. It seems that coming back is particularly difficult for those of us who have most of our relatives back home even if we have experienced a relatively hard time in Iran (of course, there are exceptional circumstances where this is not the case) >>>

MEN
Players & losers

There's still so much more that needs to be said but I'm done thinking & talking and BEING with Iranian guys, til I find one that can truly be called a MAN
Leily

I'm not going to hurt your head with complicated words & long paragraphs (not TOO long anyway).The only reason I decided to write this artice was to get this off my chest... & offend some Iranian guys. I know there's a lot of articles on Iranian guys and how much they suck. But that's only because they always piss us Persian girls (and everyone else I think) off and do the most stupid things. After spending 10 years outside of Iran, I have dated guys from other countries and even though you can find some real dumbasses & idiots & lowlives in them, I've never seen any that are worse than our own pretty (hairy) Persian guys. I hate to diss people from my own land but it's really getting to me and I need my voice to be HEARD... or at least my article to be read >>>

VIEW
Sanctions, please

Yes to sanctions on the Islamic Republic for refusing nuclear demands
Jahanshah Rashidian

The sanctions must efficiently and directly target IRI’s means of suppression, in a higher proportion, their military plans, its repressive organs and its administration. Once again, the UN should punish the suppressive IRI, but cannot furthermore punish the suppressed Iranian people. We all Iranians should express concerns at the possible adverse impact of sanctions on our people, especially on the most vulnerable segments of the population, such as less protected poor people and children. Attacks on Iranian military installations are not only illegal under international laws, but they would also tighten the dictatorship in Iran and harbour incalculable consequences for the entire region. It costs many lives and seriously damages the national infrastructures. The UN along with the international community must initially try all non-military means to contribute their helps to free Iran from the plague of the IRI >>>

ACTION
Sanctions as a form of war

Stop sanctions and war against Iran
Ardeshir Ommani

The main purpose of sanctions, as an instrument of particularly U.S. foreign policy, is to damage the backbone of the Iranian economy and drown the masses of people into poverty by the way of unemployment and lack of sanitation, transportation, education facilities and health services. By doing so, the United States expects that these shortages of goods and services imposed through sanctions will lead the population to rise up against their own government, and carry out the Bush order of 'regime change'. But as the case of Cuba has proven to the world, this is clearly wishful thinking on the part of the instigators in Washington >>>

PSYCH
Stockholm Syndrome

Are Iranians sympathetic to their captors in Iran?
Tina Ehrami

The whole story about this Austrian woman makes me wonder about Iranians in Iran who had lived through and with the regime of the Islamic Republic. In a sense, the Islamic Republic captivated the country with all the people in it. Only this time the captivators were not strangers who came jumping from behind a bush, but were neighbors, friends or even relatives. With their unnaturally imposed religion, law and values they captivated their own people and turned their country into a dark and damp cellar! After a while the Iranian people being captivated by their captors gave up their fight, their resistance, their revolt against what was happening to them >>>

WORDS
Pure Persian myth

The widespread presence of borrowed words in the Persian language is irrevocable
G. Rahmanian

A spokesman for the Academy of Persian Language and Literature has been reported as syaing that Iranian president Ahmadinezhad has issued a decree banning the use of foreign words and urging to find substitutes for those words. I am not sure what Ahmadinezhad considers foreign words, but I assume he means any non-Persian vocabulary items or expressions that might somehow vitiate the authenticity of the language. This is a far-fetched and implausible proposition which, if taken seriously, will definitely lead the Academy into a linguistic quicksand. Let's take a look at some of the cicumstances surrounding the Persian language for the past thousands of years and see whether such ideas about its cleansing of the foreign words are viable >>>

HEZBOLLAH
The march of 'God's Army'

The threat of the rise of radical Iran and the terrorist organization Hezbollah should be taken seriously by moderate Muslims and Western powers
Slater Bakhtavar

Hezbollah was founded in 1982 with a manifesto of driving Israel out of Lebanon and creating an Iranian-Style Islamic Republic in the multi-religious nation. The organization receives one hundred million dollars annually from the Iranian government to pursue their religious and social objectives. Besides financial assistance they also receive monumental moral, technical and logistical support from the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards. During the recent conflict with Israel hundreds of Revolutionary Guard forces crossed the border of Iran to enter the battle. As confirmation of their presence Israeli forces discovered tens of Islamic Revolutionary Guards among the dead fighters in Southern Lebanon >>>

PLOT
Fabricating terror
Ardeshir Ommani

Details that have emerged from the previously hyped and front-page, wide coverage of the alleged terrorist plot to blow up airplanes between Britain and the U.S., and the patchwork of 'facts' have created more questions than answers, and forced even mainstream publications to throw a different light on the 'thwarting' of another 'terrorist plot'... This episode in London, like many others before it, is a fabrication aimed at restricting civil liberties at home, provoking national chauvinism against Muslim and Arab communities in the West and diverting attention of the public from the failures of U.S.-U.K. foreign policies in the Middle East >>>

NUCLEAR
Siaasate khaavarmiaanehee va hasteheeye Ahmadinejad

Ahmadinejad's nuclear and regional policy
Ali Salari

NUCLEAR
Germany betrays Iran -- again

Israel’s possession of a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them (such as submarines) renders the military power imbalance in the region completely lopsided and proves that it does not need to add to its arsenal in order to defend itself
Reza Mazaheri

During the bloody Iran-Iraq war, tens of thousands of Iranians became victims of Hussein’s chemical and biological weapons. Seventeen years after the end of the war, thousands continue to suffer unimaginable pain and grief. Throughout Iran, many men lie in bed and wait for death, the only way to escape the misery. Today we all know who supplied the Iraqi dictator with the deadly weapons and the means to deliver them into the lungs and the bloodstreams of Iranians. Putting greed before humanity, European and American companies provided the Iraqi army with weapons that have no defensive value, but are designed to terrorize and destroy human life in the most savage way. Germany was of course one of the largest suppliers of such weapons. The same Germany that talked of “diplomacy” then and talks of “diplomacy” now >>>

NUCLEAR
The picture is bleak

If the international community fails to end Iran’s nuclear weapon program, it will be left to Israel to deal with the menace, with all its catastrophic potential
Alon Ben-Meir

The failure of the Bush administration to persuade or coerce Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions for the past six years has increased the menace while decreasing the prospects for a peaceful solution. The United States must now develop a new strategy to end Iran’s nuclear program. Anything less will bring the Middle East ever closer to nuclear conflagration. From the start, Mr. Bush’s wishy-washy approach to dealing with Iran’s nuclear program has permitted Tehran to outwit Washington in the game of brinkmanship and gain the time it needed to make tremendous progress in its quest to acquire nuclear weapons. The administration’s refusal to conduct direct negotiations, obsession with regime change, and preoccupation with Iraq has given Iran the time and the leverage it needed to refuse to negotiate on America’s terms while emboldening it to defy Washington without fear of reprisal >>>

NTP
A semantic exercise
Guive Mirfendereski

The development of nuclear weapons ensures deterrence of the highest order in what is know as the doctrine of "mutual assured destruction." This maintains the peace, if not outright promoting it. Therefore, the development of nuclear weapons by Iran is also a peaceful use of nuclear technology! After all, did not President Reagan call some nuclear ballistic missile or some such thingy "The Peacekeeper?" What is good for the goose, should be good for the gander -- even doublespeak!

NUCLEAR
How I learned to love the NPT

Under the legal terms of the NPT, Iran is well within its rights
Javod Khalaj

With the main stream media maligning Iran and its nuclear program, a discussion of facts is desperately needed. Listening to any talking head on any major American news outlet, and you'll undoubtedly hear someone bemoaning, "Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions." Noticeably absent from all these statements is "alleged." and alleged is exactly what it is, but from the way the MSM presents it, we are left to conclude that Iran is but a few days from creating a Persian Gulf Godzilla. Let’s start off with Iran’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT) >>>

NUCLEAR
Another "slam dunk"?

Sloppy attempt to lay the ground for a potential rush to war against Iran
Gary Sick

The Subcommittee on Intelligence Policy has prepared a report to the House Select Committee on Intelligence that is sharply critical of US intelligence, implying that intelligence agencies are unwilling to draw the appropriate lessons about Iran... If you are going to take on the entire US intelligence community, it is a very good idea to at least get your basic facts straight. On a very quick reading, I found a statement on p. 9 claiming that the 164 centifuges at the Iranian Natanz site are "currently enriching uranium to weapons grade." There is no evidence whatsoever that this is true -- and a lot of evidence that the tiny bit of enriched uranium produced at this site was reactor grade (c. 2.5%? vs weapons grade c. 95%?) >>>

COUPLES
Make her breakfast

More advice to Iranian men
Azam Nemati

I have been observing our men and women behavior since I was very young. Although I agree that most Iranians did not know how to be a couple, I disagree that nowadays they do not. I do not mean to be biased but I am so impressed that some of the Iranian housewives who can not read English do watch Iranian relationship experts and read articles in Farsi about improving their relationship skills. Let's remember that our society for the most part wanted women to be mothers, wives and obedient (which meant follow husband's instruction no matter how stupid). The last one was considered great quality. I believe one can be a great mother, lover and partner if the man has enough confidence to see that an equal partner makes life a lot easier and more enjoyable >>>

IDEAS
Ghatlgaahe degar-andeeshaan

Iran: Graveyard of those who think differently
Massoud Noghrekar

POINT
Bernard Lewis Watch

At a time when nattering bloggers, columnists, traditional conservatives, and even neoconservatives are openly questioning our rightly guided President's mental and psychic faculties, we need you, oh wise and venerable Princeton high priest of neoconservative orthodoxy, to really show us the true straight path to enlightenment, to rally our troops around the "doctrine" that bears your name and directed us so brilliantly in liberating and controlling Iraq. We cannot think of anyone who has been so astonishingly consistent in his prediction accuracy about what would happen after the US invaded Iraq >>>

ADVICE
How did Jews do it?

Dear Hassan, The Jewish people will be celebrating the 5,767th year on this earth! Who would have believed this possible? If anyone had told Abraham that his people would be around this long he probably would have been astounded. Imagine, the Jews did this without beheading anyone, without a single suicide bomber, without kidnapping and murdering school children, without slaughtering Olympic athletes, without flying airplanes into skyscrapers, and without bombing the train or bus station in Spain and London >>>

RIGHTS
Ganji's strikes alone

As was expected not many people responded to Ganji's call for a hunger strike in defense of three political prisoners. This idea did not have the desired outcome for various reasons. Not many people know Ganji and knowing about him alone does not necessarily mean many would agree or even sympathize with his views; whatever they may be. Many Iranians living outside Iran are too busy with their lives and are not concerned with such issues that Ganji raises. For them it is inconceivable to spend three days fasting for those with whom they cannot identify or haven't heard of at all. Ganji does not seem to realize that there are people who do not care which group of politicians runs their country as long as they can lead a peaceful life. Not the peace that Ganji idealizes, but the peace of mind that has nothing to do with the issues raised in Ganji's writings or speeches. They hate provocation of any kind >>>

LEBANON

From Damascus to Beirut

Photo essay: Clear picture of the destruction & Lebanese people's resilience
Hossein Shahidi

Because of the closure of Beirut airport and the destruction of Lebanon’s highway system by Israeli bombardment, I returned to Beirut from Damascus to by bus on Friday, 18 August, 2006, traveling along Lebanon’s byways. The slow journey took us through beautiful villages and small towns that most passengers would not have visited otherwise. Perhaps we need a calamity to remind us of what is often sacrificed in high-speed development >>>

NUCLEAR
Iran 6 - International Community (still) 0

Iran’s non-response -- all of its 23 pages -- was delivered in Farsi. You’ve got to love it...
Guive Mirfendereski

The Iranian atomic czar, the light-complexioned Mr. Larijani (let’s hear it for the shomali everywhere!) summoned the ambassadors of the 5+1 (the pouting US was represented by Switzerland) to the palace and in a regal gesture sent them back to their offices with a document containing Iran’s non-responses to the aspects of the proposal. It is a delicious irony that the Iranians, who are notorious for being late and unpunctual, to demonstrate such sense of time. That cultural shift itself might be in the long run more important than any accomplishment that atomic enrichment could possibly garner for the Iranian psyche. Also noteworthy is that the formalities took place in Tehran -- not Geneva, or Vienna or New York, the institutional venues of Western hegemony and neo-colonial imperial structures peddled as necessaries of “peace and security.” Iran handed its response on its turf, on its terms and at the time of its own choosing and, no less, in Farsi -- and so, Iran 6 -- International Community (still) 0 >>>

RELIGION
Painful thorn

Islam's brutalization of Bahais in Iran
Amil Imani

Islam, the "religion of peace," is anything but peaceful, particularly when it comes to other religions. To the oppressive Islam, there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet: the seal of the prophets at that. Grudgingly, Islam barely tolerates people of the book: namely Jews and Christians: but no other faith is entitled to any fair treatment. In Iran, the force-imposed Islam finds it expedient to extend its limited tolerance to the original religion of the indigenous people: the Zoroastrians. The terrible plight of the Bahais in Iran is particularly heartwrenching >>>

VIEW
Power of paranoia

Iran and Israel: Understanding the Middle East
Elias Daas

The Middle East events including those shaping the future of Iran are not as complicated as they may seem on the surface. We can obtain a clearer more cohesive picture by identifying the prime motivation that drives each player, beyond its facades and pretences. WHAT ISRAEL WANTS: Israel's policy has been quite explicit and clear for a long time. Israel wants neighboring nations that are either backward and chaotic OR are ruled by regimes that are obedient to it. A backward obedient regime would be the most desirable. WHAT THE US WANTS: Number one US foreign mode of operation is to help fulfill whatever Israel wishes. The US has other wishes, chief among them is geopolitical control of oil, but that is secondary to its primary motive. WHAT OTHERS WANT: It is not as important >>>

EXTREMES
Westollahis and Hezbollahis

We see and condemn the crimes committed by both sides
Bruce Roshanravan

This is my response to all mullah lovers and all the blind lovers of the west whose hate of one evil (mullahs) have pushed them to the arms of another one (west and Israel) or vice-versa. These people are the two sides of the same counterfeit coin. The unwise friend wannabes who never heisted to sell their conscience, nationality, identity or religion to the highest bidder. Like the Hezbollahis who are consumed by the obsession of going to heaven by becoming a martyr, where they would drink from rivers of honey and milk or shag virgins at will, the Westollahies dream of living in Hollywood movies, having many blond bimbos as their sex partners and loosing their identity by becoming an "equally accepted" western citizen. Well guys and girls dream on >>>

POINT
No friend of the masses

Unless they stay on their side of Mandela river
Alidad Vassigh

Some dear friends invited me once to go on a pro-Palestine or anti-Bush or anti-Israel - some yapping-dogs-versus-civilization event with plenty of red flags - march in London. It was a breezy, lovely day for walking through Hyde Park and along Piccadilly (I miss London's grey skies). I chatted about religion with the mother of a marching friend, a Pakistani lady. She seemed a quintessential believer: with a smiling countenance, all courtesy and kind words. Her personality and conduct were an effortless Amr-e be-Ma'ruf >>>

IDEAS
Democratic Federation of Iran

If Iran, ever transformed into a federation, can solve not only the problem of identity, that could give the Iranians a stronger sense of belonging and patriotism
Ben Madadi

One thing is for sure. Iran will stay a weak country as long as the problem of identity is not solved one way or the other. And one suggestion, which has worked quite well in India and many other countries rich or poor, would be to have a federal system. Iranian authorities would fear such an idea because of one real reason and another declarative reason. The real reason would be that central politicians would lose power. The declarative reason would be that federation would be the most serious threat toward Iran's territorial integrity. This declarative reason is absolutely wrong as history has shown that federations such as India and the US, let alone many other democratic countries, have been united and very strong >>>

HOMELAND SECURITY
What friends?

Right or wrong, Iranians who were refused entry into the U.S. must have been deemed undesirable or a threat to the security of Americans
G. Rahmanian

This is in response to Saeid Bozorgui-Nesbat who shared his friend's story and the way he was treated at the airport by the U.S. Homeland Security officers. After the usual grumbling about the U.S. policies and chastising the U.S. government, he, as is common among many Iranians, mixed this incident with issues such as Hamas in Palestine and the infamous prison in Iraq and a few others that somehow he believes are all related to his friend's misfortune. While at it, Nesbat could have at least said something about the rights and the misfortune of the common criminals as well. But that does not seem to bother him at all. Who cares about such mundane issues when the highly respectable alumni of Sharif University are in trouble >>>

IRONY
Knowledge droppings

By Omar Khayyam, Knowledge Dropper
The Badder Brigade

Now we’re gonna do some analysis.  What is this big deal about Hossein anyway?  Yazid schooled his ass.  Hossein was like, “I’m thirsty, please give me some water.”  And Yazid went Sir Chop-a-Lot on his ass.  I would argue that the big Hoser (much like his followers) was not all that.  So he got his head chopped off -- but truth be told, anyone can go to Karbala these days and get decapitated, know what I’m sayin’?  Ain’t no thang.  They’re choppin’ heads over there like it’s going out of style.  Dude ... maybe if he had actually done something besides getting killed like a biiiatch, he’d get more respect from the rest of the Muslims.  But if you guys want to worship him, it’s cool -- but it’s not special, ok?  Wanna talk about some Real struggle?  You ever try to find a 900 square foot, two bedroom apartment with no broker’s fee in the tri-state area at the end of the summer?  Apartment jihad -- now THAT is some gangster shit >>>

LEBANON
Hezbollah out on top

A view from Beirut
Michael Davie

For the first time, the Israeli Army was confronted by a well-trained armed group, perfectly familiar with the local terrain, with a very clear ideology to which all of its members totally adhered. Its military intelligence is superior to that of most Arab armies, its theoretical and strategic thinking sophisticated. Its organization and planning is superior and not at all comparable to, say, the PLO’s, or even to Hamas’ or the Al-Aqsa Brigades’. In the field, it does not need sophisticated communications equipment (and thus is less vulnerable to electronic countermeasures). Hezbollah has digested the experience of many wars: the Vietnamese, the South American insurrections as well as the Iran-Iraq conflicts, for example. But also the Yougoslav conflict, and the current Iraqi insurrection. It learnt from the successes and mistakes of the PLO in Lebanon, but also of the Intifadas and the on-going actions in Palestine. Its fighters have no fear of death, quite the contrary, and their commitment to defending their allotted military positions is total >>>

DEMOCRACY
Jonbeshe roshanfekri Part 2 & Part 3

Iranian intellectuals: Challenges & opportunities
Ali Salari

VIEW
3 events, 3 implications

Same shit, different day...
Bruce Bahmani

This week 3 events occurred that separately could have each had implications, yet as usual, they ultimately only amplified that nothing will ever change until free thinkers stop being arrogant cowards, and intellectually wary of one another. Oh for the day when they choose instead to flex their combined grey muscle in unison. The first event was the Sharif University reunion in California, and what was supposed to be just another chance to bang that hot engineering chick you missed years ago, turned sour as those attending from Iran were turned away at the Lufthansa gate at San Francisco International. Being instead led away in handcuffs, held in confinement for a day, and ultimately returned to the airport and shipped off back to Iran. That must have sucked. But Hey! Didn't anyone read the papers? >>>

WORLD CUP
Football and flags

Football has maintained a role in symbolizing the struggle to achieve the respect and recognition of others in the global community
Nasser Amin

A fascinating feature of the captivating spectacle of the recent World Cup is the way in which it illustrates that modern sport has assumed an existential and political function. The performances of national teams in such competitions occupy an imperative role in lives of millions of spectators, providing a special dignity and meaning. Great social significance is attributed to the individual spectator of the sporting event, whether he or she views directly from the stadium or from a further vantage point via mass media coverage. Football has lent a hand to the foundation of a burgeoning spectator culture. In the Western hemisphere, where community and family relationships are in turmoil, the person-to-person closeness engendered by being part of the crowd has provided a valuable surrogate companionship >>>

VIEW
Jihad-fi-sabil-Allah

Sacred crimes
Jahanshah Rashidian

For totalitarian systems, a more intricate discussion is not about whether the crime is ever justified or not, but under which circumstances it should be committed. Inside arguments are just made that the system must be saved in any price; this is the only logic and even moral. In the concept of ideology, there is no logic banning authorities from engaging in or conspiring to engage in any political crime. It is a mistake to believe that the greed for power is the only factor taking over the reasoning faculties of political crimes. As far as we know, the worst dictators, like Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and especially the IRI not only kill to monopolise the political power, but also to impose their ideological purposes upon the society.  They consider the crimes are their justified struggles. Furthermore, they are convinced that they are doing nothing wrong when they kill or order to kill, hurt and oppress people >>>

60 MINUTES
Why now?
Arash Mahmoudi

I just saw the 60 minutes episode with Mike Wallace and Ahmadinejad. The whole interview was nothing but a meaningless argument, Ahmadinejad said the same things since he became the president and Wallace asked the same questions that Condi Rice did in her UN speech. However despite all that, there was one moment that could have potentially impacted the modern history, as we know it. Wallace asked Ahmadinejad, if he is willing to start a direct talk with the U.S and heal the bridge that was broken after the 1979 revolution. This question was huge, although Ahmadinejad ignored it and one might say, “what did you think he was going to answer?”,  I have to say: Mr. Wallace why now? >>>

IDEAS
Ideas whose time has come

A conversation with Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo
Danny Postel

Ramin Jahanbegloo, one of Iran’s preeminent intellectual figures, is currently behind bars in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where he has been held in solitary confinement for over three months with no formal charges brought against him. He is effectively acting as a kind of philosophical ambassador between Iran and the outside world. The following interview was conducted via e-mail in January and February of 2006: You’ve talked about a “renaissance of liberalism” taking place in Iran. Can you talk about this “renaissance”? Where does liberalism stand in Iranian intellectual and political life today? >>>

AMERICA
How to make enemies

To be sure, there are lessons to be learned from humiliating Iranian engineers at U.S. airports
Saied Bozorgui-Nesbat

Here is a perfect recipe for creating new enemies for the United States: Issue visas to the moderates, intellectuals and pro-Western people from the Middle East, enticing them to visit US. But when they arrive handcuff them and send them to jail for a night. Put them in a crowded cell with common criminals to humiliate them. Then, after their dignity has been completely eroded and they are truly antagonized against our land of law, order, and freedom, send them back. If you think that only our adversaries will concoct a recipe like this, think again, since this is exactly what our government did with over one hundred Iranian technocrats who came here to attend a university reunion. One of these people is my friend Mohammad. He is a successful engineer and entrepreneur, who has founded several thriving software companies in Tehran >>>

SECURITY
The cost of paranoia

Ever tighter and stronger and more intrusive controlling of public life and domain is not the answer to terrorism threat
Ben Madadi

The plot that was foiled in the UK scared some people. It was quite stressful for the passengers and their families. The government is banning more and more stuff to be taken on board airplanes, and also checking people more and more to make sure that there won't be terrorist attacks on airplanes. It seems to be reasonable for the British government, and other governments such as the US, to take such measures to protect their citizens. But are they any more than public relations maneuvers! These actions such as ever more controlling passengers and luggage and many many other types of check-and-control measures are quite open to debate, and as I will explain, actually counter-productive >>>

REPLY
From generals to terrorists

A response to Ali Sina’s article “Viva Oriana!”
Arashe Sorkh

Mr. Ali says that he doesn’t call himself an atheist and that: “I see nothing wrong in religions. There is nothing wrong with Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism. If an ideology is tolerant of other beliefs, that ideology needs to be respected.” So he is actually trying to tell us that if there is something wrong with Islam is actually its “intolerance”. Should I inform him about witch burnings of Christianity? Should I remind him of what happens to children raised in Christian religious families? Should I tell him that our history has been formed by renaissance and enlightenment against the holy Bible? Should I tell him of what happens to women in Hinduist Caste system in Asia?  Never mind. This is not classified as “intolerance” since they are only bothering their “own” people. The fact that a little girl born into a Hindu family has to obey all her life to her family with her only crime being “being born into a religious” family has nothing to bother Mr. Sina. After all it is their “own” affair and they are not bothering “others!” >>>

OIL
There's (going to be) plenty of oil

Global oil output to surge 25% by 2015
Iqbal Latif

Oil prices have been severely exaggerated through manipulation. We have been pounding the table stating that there is plenty of supply to meet worldwide demand, and soon those hedge funds that are now driving up the price of oil will be dumping their oil contracts like there is no tomorrow. I am not alone in making this clarion call but certainly ahead of the pack. Recently Steve Forbes, editor of Forbes magazine predicts that skyrocketing oil prices are just temporary and that a massive price collapse will dwarf the Dot-Com crash that began in 2000. British Petroleum recently reported that current oil reserves would last for at least half a century. And contrary to dire warnings that oil production has peaked and the earth is running out of oil, Daniel Yergin-chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates says there will be a large, unprecedented buildup of oil supply in the next few years >>>

WAR
True causes

... of war in the Middle East
Ardeshir Ommani

Today, more than ever before, it is common knowledge throughout the world that the U.S.-satellite state of Israel has violently refused the right of return of some 6.5 million Palestinians to their homeland. It is disturbing to know that the identity card of a Palestinian living in the U.S., Britain or Australia, for example, says nothing about his or her nationality, that is, the individual cannot claim a country as his or her birthplace. She/he is neither an Israeli nor a Palestinian. For those Palestinians confined to the splintered territories of Gaza Strip, with 141 square miles occupied by 1.4 million people, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, life is not better than that in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany in WWII. The settler state of Israel has made sure that no normal and viable economic growth, industrialization, technical and scientific progress and socio-political institutions would take root. The territories and the people of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are under siege by air, land and water every day, all day >>>

DIVORCE
The Iranian downfall

Iranian husbands need to understand that times have changed
Kourosh Arianejad

By the time they reached maturity, where a woman learns relationship skills, many Iranian women were left independent and learning how to survive on their own. Although this independence is a great skill, they come to expect it even after marriage. Very few of the world’s societies are matriarchal, and neither the United States nor Iran are one of them.   The major problem, however, seems to lie with Iranian husbands. Many were raised and even instructed to believe that the male has absolute authority in the house and nobody can voice their opinions if they go against his. The roles of men and women have changed, however, and families are no longer like this in America or in Iran >>>

GANJI
Bedeh bestoon: Akbar Ganji at Stanford
Ari Siletz

During this Sunday's talk at Stanford University, Akbar Ganji devoted a lot of time pointing out the differences between his views and those of his ideological rival Saiid Hajjarian. The audience, some of whom hadn't even heard of Hajjarian, perhaps wondered at this premature electioneering. Highlighting this impression of candidacy was Ganji's clean shaven face. It seems he now knows his revolutionary stubble is too Islamic fundamentalist, so he has adopted a less threatening public image. Ganji's gradual transformation from dissident intellectual to politician is a positive development for Iran as a nation. With his proven track record of courage, sacrifice and shrewd politicking Ganji may turn out to be Iran's first charismatic force for democracy since Mossadegh >>>

BALLOT BOX
See you in November
Ali Mogharabi

As I assumed (or guessed) last week ... "What's amazing is that now the sleezeball politicians, these neocons, these Likud party lovers, these ISRAELIS, only have the agenda to attack Iran and Syria. Amazing when we hear Iran and Syria in every sentence that these neocons are saying. This bombing of Lebanon is the first step towards reaching israel's goal of demolishing my country of Iran." Well, Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker and one of the most well-respected journalists, published his thoughts and findings about the Lebanon/Israel war and why it is taking place. The piece is titled "Watching Lebanon: Washington's Interests in Israel's War". He has provided evidence that yes, this Lebanon crisis is a precursor to an attack on Iran. Amazing, isn't it? >>>

AHMADINEJAD
Help my people
Amir Nasiri

I visited the Iranian presidents blog today and posed my questions to him which I doubt he even will look at any of those questions. In the are where it asked for address information I put down "I don't want to be assassinated". Here are my questions to the president of Iran Mr. Antarinejad >>>

AHMADINEJAD
Despite his looks and stature
Far

Dear All, Just spent the last week in the company of CBS's "60 Minute" crew here in Tehran. I was employed by the local CBS man was as a local Monitor to look after the 9 individuals in the CBS team and we went round Tehran sightseeing and filming for some of the time whilst awaiting the interview. After a very nerve-wracking delay period of 6 days, the interview finally took place on Tuesday afternoon in the main reception room of what used to be Princess Shanaz Pahlavi's palace (the late Shah's daughter) located in the palace complex of downtown Tehran. Despite the fact that I hold no love for this regime and this President, none the less he is a very accomplished speaker and extremely nimble in his responses >>>

WAR
Cheraa eshghaal

Reasons behind the Israeli invasion of Lebanon
Homayoun Abghari

WAR
Bombers and teddy bears
Aras Shahzadeh

The mysterious blanket of night sky, sprinkled with shiny stars and a silvery moon; the rocking horse that will soar high into the skies to meet the glowing sun; the teddy bear that will lie in your embrace, rubbing its cheeks against your soft fingers; Home-made cookies and honey on toast; a father's caress and a mother's light kisses; orange leaves of a spirited autumn, blue mountains and pink flowers. Yes, a child's world is fantastic. It is beautiful and magical. It is sensitive and simple. Yet, children also live in fear and insecurity. Theirs is also a world of tall figures and heavy shadows. They look up in confusion at the lanky forms gabbling away in their own realm, a world unyielding and unfeeling >>>

PETTY
What goes around eventually comes around
S.B.

Like most people I have also been saddened by the news of civilian casualties on both sides of the Israel-Hezbollah/Lebanon conflict. Watching the innocents' pain and suffering and most importantly, the loss of life caused by bombs and rockets on T.V. screen, refreshed some personal, sad and long-buried memories of mine. When Iran-Iraq war started, I had just started 3rd grade, when war ended 8 years later, I was a junior in high school. I experienced Iraqi war planes bombing Tehran residential areas first hand, as so many other Iranians did in other towns and cities. I still remember the reports on radio and T.V. about Iraqi daily missile (rocket?) attacks on Dezful, as well as bombing and missile attacks on Isfahan, Ahvaz, ... >>>

WAR
Poor man's tank & fighter jet
M. Ghorji

On August 9th, 2006, in a meeting of Hollywood luminaries with Ganji, The Israeli Hollywood mogul Haim Saban, asks, "When was the last time you saw a Christian or a Jew put a belt around their stomach, go on a bus, and kill innocent women and children?" I don't know what Ganji's response to this question has been, but I am appalled by the question. This question is not Saban's alone. One can hear it continuously from every major media owned by Zionists such as Haim Saban... No Mr. Saban, Christian and Jews don't need to put a belt around their stomach and kill themselves together with some innocent women and children. They have tanks and fighter jets and cluster bombs and every imaginable weapon to do the job. Why should they kill themselves? >>>

SHIISM
Part 2: Ertebaate taarikhi baa jonoobe Lobnaan

Iran & shi'ites of southern Lebanon
Esmail Nooriala

WAR & MORALITY
Go ahead, support the bastards
Golnaz Motarassed

I keep reading letters and articles of people who are unilaterally against the current regime in Iran. However they are crying for Lebanon. I would like to pose the question, The actions of which party in Lebanon has caused the current situation? It is Hezbollah, this is not a Lebanese organization. It is funded and rooted in Iran, with the beginning of the Islamic Revolution. People want to be moral relativists when they see war  so they are comfortable with their positions. The reality is MORAL ABSOLUTISM. You are against Hezbollah and what they stand for you need to be intellectually honest and responsible and be against Hezbollah and what it has done to Iranian citizens and Israeli citizens >>>

WAR
No war is sacred

Akbar Ganji answers questions from Iranians at UC Los Angeles
Leila Farjami

The attendants asked Akbar Ganji a series of questions in regards to his position towards the neglect towards human rights in Iran, the feminist movement, the mass killings of political prisoners and dissidents during the first post-revolutionary decade, the establishment of democracy in future Iran, and the failures of the reformist movement. I managed to gather some of the most relevant and critical points that Ganji made and I hope that I can offer all of you some truthful and realistic glimpses into his stance on these issues >>>

CRISIS
Toofaan bar faraaze Iran

Storm building around Iran
Hassan Behgar

VIEW
Useful idiots

Islam's best soldiers
Amil Imani

Islam enjoys a large and influential ally among the non-Muslims: A new generation of "Useful Idiots," that Lenin identified as those who lived in liberal democracies and furthered the work of communism. This new generation of Useful Idiots also lives in liberal democracies but serves the cause of Islamofascism -- another virulent form of totalitarian ideology. Useful Idiots are naïve, foolish, ignorant of facts, unrealistically idealistic, dreamers, willfully in denial or deceptive. They hail from the ranks of the chronically unhappy, the anarchists, the aspiring revolutionaries, the neurotics who are at war with life, the disaffected alienated from government, corporations, and just about any and all institutions of society. The Useful Idiot can be a billionaire, a movie star, an academe of renown, a politician, or from any other segment of the population >>>

WAR
Collateral damage is murder

The obvious assumption that the murderers make is that our goals and our lives have more importance than that of any foreigner's
Michael Boldin

Collateral damage is nothing more than a euphemism for state-sponsored mass murder. It is the term given to people killed in military actions who were "not intentionally targeted." In reality, this is pure propaganda. It has always been morally just to protect innocent people against aggressors. But, on the other hand, it has never been moral, nor has it ever been necessary, to bomb cities filled with innocent people. We rarely see the faces or know the identities of those reduced to the status of collateral damage. It is a gray area where the victim becomes less than a person. Interestingly enough, during the Vietnam War, both Henry Kissinger and Robert McNamara used the term "integers" to describe those civilian deaths that they preferred not to have publicized as human beings. Such is the amazing power of doublespeak >>>

MIDDLE EAST
Missing pieces

Will the soul of Lebanon ever return?
Guive Mirfendereski

History sides with Hezbollah, as it has before when they managed to dislodge the Israelis from southern Lebanon. Likewise, the Soviet militarism lost in Afghanistan; the American imperialism (not learning the lesson of Vietnam) is showing again on a daily basis in Iraq the limits of conventional military power. It is time for the lesser folk to make their mark on history of warfare in the Middle East, even if ever so briefly. The Lebanon Crisis points however to a more frightening reality of today’s international relations. There is an abject poverty of leadership, realism, experience and vocabulary. There is no statesman of any moral authority or world experience to put an end to this mayhem. The Syrians are being led by a newcomer with no experience. The king of Jordan has to walk many more miles before he can claim even a tenth of his father’s acumen >>>

VIEW
The new Middle East and the old

Will smashing Hizbollah and installing international peace keepers plus a façade of Lebanese troops on Israel's border - while continuing the usual Israeli bloody bullying of the Palestinians - calm the region and allow people to think moderate thoughts?
Henry Precht

I have been trying to think through what is different and what is the same in the Middle East since I was first assigned to Nasser's Egypt in the mid-1960s. At times during those 40+ years, prospects were pretty bleak for the US, but they always seemed to recover. Is there still that resilience in American policy that will permit us to bounce back? ... Dealing with Islamists has become progressively more difficult because their appeal has spread without ideological competition. Israel's brutality in Palestine and Lebanon - aided by America - is a powerful nutrient for the movement, as is the residue of American brutality in Iraq >>>

PEOPLE
Talyshistan

Life, culture and history of Talysh people
Gholamreza Haghighattalab

Talysh became a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) on 26 June 2005. The Talysh number more than 600,000, of which 430,000 live in Talyshistan, a country included by Stalin's regime in the artificial state of Azerbaijan in 1921. Talyshistan forms now the south-east of the Republic of Azerbaijan, near the Iranian border. The capital of Talyshistan is Lenkoran. Other major towns are Lerig and Astara on the Iranian border. The rest of the Talysh live across the border in the Iranian province of Gilan, in a long strip of territory along the Caspian coast, from Astara to the Rasht area. They occupy a land of sharp contrasts, ranging from the high, forested Talysh Mountains, to the subtropical coastal land along the Caspian Sea >>>

MIDEAST
Unholyland

What is so holy about this land that has brought misery for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike?
Ben Madadi

Watching the tragedy unfold in Lebanon while the United States sits and does nothing, and even encourages Israel to be tough, has had a dramatic effect all over the world. It certainly made me think a lot about what is going on, and the reasons behind so much misery. Europe challenged the Muslims during the Crusades for hundreds of years and at the end European leaders learnt their lessons, went back to their home countries and focused on their mistakes. It would have been an enormous achievement for a European king to conquer the holy land and give to the Christian world as it belonged. It would have been a moral boost for Europe, and definitely a popularity boost for the king, or the kings, to have reached this most holy of all earthly achievements, to reside over the holy land >>>

JESUS
Losing faith

Untying the gordian knot of the Christianity
Doug Soderstrom

Having spent the past forty years of my life studying the philosophical infrastructure of the Christian faith, I have come to the conclusion that Christianity (as understood by Christian fundamentalists) is not a rational system of thought, that the primary axioms upon which the faith is based are inherently flawed, internally inconsistent, to the point that such can no longer be considered to be an ontologically valid theory of life. However, for the purpose of this discussion, it is absolutely essential that the reader understand that the pedagogy of Jesus is something quite different from that of the Christian faith, that the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus (the exhortation that we love God, our neighbor, and our enemy) are discernibly different from that of the dogma associated with such a highly politicized and humanly fallible institution known as that of Christianity >>>

KURDISTAN
Peaceful majority

Some advice to fanatics
Kamal H. Artin

It is time that Muslim and Jewish cousins compete for forgiveness and independent peaceful co-existence to show that their faith is worth being proud of! If they freely choose violence instead, they should be aware that a natural outcome of such a choice might be death or self destruction. It might be very difficult for fanatics to truly accept the existence of others and denounce any form of violence; however, they have no other choice but to behave like the Kurds in Southern Kurdistan, if they plan to be part of a democratic process and help Palestinians to become independent. Since creation of various artificial nation-states in the Middle East by major powers, the Kurdish movement has tried to create a real nation state for its people >>>

IRI
Too evil to have anyone's sympathy

In this tragedy, besides peoples of Lebanon and Israel, we Iranians are the real losers
Ghassem Namazi

A number of articles have been written in support of the Hezbollah or Israel in the past few weeks. Rightly so, many of us are concerned about the civilians on both sides. A lot of innocent people have lost their lives. One can not help but ask what should the role of us Iranians be in the midst of this conflict and the possibility that it may lead to an eventual invasion of Iran. Although facts are scarce in any war, there are specifics that we can be fairly certain about: The Iranian regime provides moral, financial and military support to the Hezbollah. The Hezbollah does not have the know how and financial muscle to acquire 13000 rockets, unknown amount of RPGs, anti tank missiles and a huge arsenal of other military hardware. On its own and without any Iranian support, the Hezbollah is never able to provide such a vast social security service to its people. A social service that Iranians inside Iran could only dream about >>>

SHIISM
Ertebaate taarikhi baa jonoobe Lobnaan

Iran & shi'ites of southern Lebanon
Esmail Nooriala

MULTI-CULTURALISM
Tanavo namake zendegist

Variety if the salt of life
Ahmd Sadri

MIDDLE EAST
Seperate aliens
Nema Milaninia

I'm not going to play political niceities on this one. And honestly, the wrongfulness of Hezbollah's kidnapping of two soliders is irrelevant at this point. Morally speaking, if the subsequent action is so grave and atrocious and disproportional, the initial action cannot be used as a justifying mechanism. The fact of the matter remains: over 900 people dead, 90% of which are civilians, half of which are children, the country has been destroyed, half a million people are now homeless, and for what?... You know what I see in Israel, the US, and in the fact the entire Middle East. I see racism, prejudice, and fear. I see people who are incapable of seeing the other as themselves. I see people who continuously want to divide, distinguish, and destroy >>>

WISH
Pull my eyes out
Mazloom

On Monday night I spent over three hours looking at war pictures and video clips of Israel-Lebanon war. I looked at AP, AFP, Reuters, NBC, CBS, PBS, BBC, Fox News, Fars News, Mehr News, Al Jazeera, bloggers, propaganda websites for Israel and Hezbollah, and on and on. I looked at pictures of babies blown to pieces, half missing torsos, burned bodies, children without eyes, vertebrates without bones, and people without homes. I did it because I wanted to become sick of this world and throw up on it. Instead my brain wiring got short-circuited, and neurons in my head created a looped circuitry. In my head I hear this phrase over and over again all day and night: "I wish Mongolian invaders had pulled my eyes out of their sockets". It's been days and I can't break the loop.

SUGGESTION
Peaceful means

Some might ask; then why hasn't peace been brought to the middle-east?
Payam Shahfari

Among the Jewish communities, there is a significant force of opposition against the Zionist idea. In the Muslim world and even within Israel itself, the majority of the people are extremely desperate for peaceful measures to end this vehement conflict between Israel and the Arab neighbors and to finally bring peace to that region. Some might ask; then why hasn't peace been brought to the middle-east? Well peace has knocked on the doors of middle-east but the leading residents in power, with the blemishing advocacy of external powers chose to remain silent and unresponsive in hopes of it disappearing. The United States government and the Islamic Republic of Iran might equivocate that they are endeavoring to bring peace to the region, but the reality of the matter is that peace in that region will paralyze both of their imperialist activities >>>

POLITICS
War of evils

The two Islamist militant movements, Hamas and Hizbollah, along with Israeli government are responsible for a new human catastrophe in their region
Jahanshah Rashidian

The problem of this region is not one or another part, but both parts; neither can Zionist aggressors nor Islamist jihadists garantee peace and co-existence. The two antagonistic poles have different charges and sacred altars. Hamas’s dream is  the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic republic in its place. It regards the territory of Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as an inalienable” Islamic waghf”,  Islamic assets, which can never be surrendered to non-Muslims. Zionism considers this area as their sacred homeland, where supposedly the early Jewish nation originated over 3,200 years ago. Zionism is another fundamentalist and extremist ideology of the region. It claims all the region to the Land of Israel, ignoring the rights of many vibrant communities who have been living there during the last 3000 years >>>

KEEPING SCORE
Iran 5 - International Community (still) 0

Can anyone explain to me the immutable logic behind the Security Council's one-month long ultimatum?
Guive Mirfendereski

In the last few days, two icons of American diplomacy Jimmy Carter and Henry Kissinger have penned articles that prove wisdom comes only with age and not necessarily with experience or duration of office. Jimmy is the real life version of the Biblical character Job and much maligned former US president who one day, in my opinion, will be elevated to sainthood. Henry, on the other hand, is a Jew from Germany with Machiavellian instincts, one who is probably closer to Lucifer himself -- by the way, all his predictions for the World Cup that he spewed on Charlie Rose came out wrong. Any way, they both have concluded that the survival of Israel as a country depends on the US relations with Iran and, as Kissinger put it, regardless of who is in power in Tehran. Well, even the dimmest of lights shines bright in the dark of despair, says Guive Mirfendereski! >>>

WAR
Battle hymn of madmen in Tehran

Ahmadinejad's Hojjatieh's vying for Armageddon
Slater Bakhtavar

In spite of propaganda purported by apologists and the naïve attention to Iran's presidential elections, virtually all authority lies with an absolute dictatorship under the Velayat-e-Faqih government: a concept dearly advocated and embraced by the founders of the Islamic Republic. Due to disagreement over the Velayat-e-Faqih system, the Hojjatiehs were banned in 1983. Ayatollah Khomeini was adamantly opposed to the Hojjatiehs‚ conviction that Shiites should advocate a more progressive arrival of the 12th Imam. The Imam is a core concept in the teachings of Shiite Muslims. Born Muhammad Al-Mahdi, the Imam ventured into a cave in 941 AD hidden by the Gate of Occultation. Shiites believe that the Twelfth Imam will one day return to lead the religious battle between good and evil when the world has become consummately nefarious. They argue that it is only at that stage that a genuine Islamic Republic will emerge. Since the arrival of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the group has seen a mass resurgence in the government >>>

WAR
Battle hymn of madmen in Tehran

Ahmadinejad's Hojjatieh's vying for Armageddon
Slater Bakhtavar

In spite of propaganda purported by apologists and the naïve attention to Iran's presidential elections, virtually all authority lies with an absolute dictatorship under the Velayat-e-Faqih government: a concept dearly advocated and embraced by the founders of the Islamic Republic. Due to disagreement over the Velayat-e-Faqih system, the Hojjatiehs were banned in 1983. Ayatollah Khomeini was adamantly opposed to the Hojjatiehs‚ conviction that Shiites should advocate a more progressive arrival of the 12th Imam. The Imam is a core concept in the teachings of Shiite Muslims. Born Muhammad Al-Mahdi, the Imam ventured into a cave in 941 AD hidden by the Gate of Occultation. Shiites believe that the Twelfth Imam will one day return to lead the religious battle between good and evil when the world has become consummately nefarious. They argue that it is only at that stage that a genuine Islamic Republic will emerge. Since the arrival of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the group has seen a mass resurgence in the government >>>

WAR
Anti-Dershowitz: Israel's continuum of barbarianism
Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

Every war has its army of apologists and in Israel's case, leading the march is Harvard's law professor, Alan Dershowitz, enjoying open access to the US papers' opinion pages, spinning the horrific atrocities of Israel in Lebanon as legally and morally justified, including Israel's cold-blooded murder of innocent women and children. Thus, in his recent piece in LA Times, Dershowtiz writes: "The Israeli army has given well-publicized notice to civilians to leave those areas of Sourhtern Lebanon that have been turned into war zones." He also writes of "conditionality of civilianity," the premise being that those civilians who do not heed Israel's call to leave and "voluntarily" stay behind are "complicit." A key issue here, of course, what is meant by "voluntarily" when civilians are huddled in their homes with bombs falling around them and all roads and bridges knocked out of commission? >>>

WAR
Lebanon tragedy
Sima Nahan

Last week a friend of mine called just to hear my reaction to the war on Lebanon, she said: "I knew you would be as angry as I am." I know the feeling. I contacted two Lebanese friends myself, just to exchange fits of rage. As I told them, if this situation is making a peace-loving, conflict-avoiding, middle-aged woman sitting comfortably in California this angry I shudder to think of the rage it inspires in people who bear the brunt of this grotesque campaign of violence and -- as ever -- lies. After my initial paralyzing rage I hit the blogs on and/or from Lebanon. Below are some great sites -- and do not forget to check out their links. Please visit them and lend your support. We are in this together, now more than ever, and we must be visible and vocal about it >>>

PISSED
Pakistani priorities

What do the Pakistanis think of their government spending their money on nuclear bombs, instead of on roads, trains, public toilets or sewerage?
Alidad Vassigh

One of the many distressing news items one reads these days is the Washington Post item posted on this site, on Pakistan's plans to build another plant to make more nuclear bombs. It should prompt philosophers to reflect on the nature of human folly, folly in this case being a misapprehension of the nature of security. My own reflection is: Pakistan, you are a piss-hole state, why do you want more bombs? You are a backward, lawless country. Your people barely respect your laws, especially the "high" class of dirty, crooked politicians who just seem unable to keep their dirty little fingers out of the public purse, your women are beaten or burned or scarred if they fail to do the bidding of their primitive men-folk, you are the cradle of Taliban and all manner of other fanatics that desecrate religion as they bomb and murder in God's name - to satisfy their own insatiable thirst for violence and mayhem >>>

WAR

Strong and clear signal

Photo essay: Rally against Israel's attacks on Lebanon and Gaza in London's Trafalgar Square
Hossein Shahidi

WAR
Multiple choice

a) Israel b) Hezbollah c) Ignoring both d) None of the above / rejecting both
Sudabeh Siavashan

Yet another situation which is reminiscent of the war between Hitler and Stalin. Of course, back then, during World War II, these two sides didn't have a clear record so that people could understand their nature; but no one can suggest today that we don't know enough about these two sides. Therefore our positions are, hopefully, informed by this knowledge and based on a kind of future/goals that we hope to see in the region and by extension the world. In the past few weeks, since the war began, we have seen four possible positions. 1) There are some who emphasize Israel's right to exist and to defend itself. They also keep telling us that Israel is the only democratic state in the region and therefore it should be supported. I do not agree with this position but I respect it >>>

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