Archive - Feb 2009

شعر چیست و شاعر کیست؟

قدر دانی و تجلیل از شاعر خوبمان...اقای منوچهر عوض نیا! >>>

We Are the Scatterlings of Africa

Oh, I don't know, must be because Mahmood looked so cute with that African necklace on the homepage that I have Africa on miy mind.

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Happy Birthday, Dear JJ

A tribute to the Birthday Boy of the first week of March! >>>

هذیان

هذیان>>>

pictory: Hollywood Tabloid Features Shah with Wife of actor Bruce Cabot (1955)

CONFIDENTIAL Magazine writes "THE SHAH DID HER WRONG!".  KING OF IRAN WAS ROMANCING THE PRESENT MRS. BRUCE CABOT ALL OVER EUROPE, EVERYBODY WAS ASKING… DID SHE GIVE HIM THE HEIR? (circa 1955) >>>

What is the Story of Stuff?

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. >>>

Dangers Ahead

In conversations with some of my friends in Iran, I find myself bewildered by the extent of their credulity and naiveté about the whole Obama fanfare. Much to my dismay, I find that they are not alone in this. After eight years of suffering at the hand of George Bush’s America, a large majority of the people around the world have psyched themselves into believing that Obama is a qualitatively different president, and that a new era is about to begin in the U.S. under his leadership. It seems to me that a lot of people around the world, especially the younger generation in the developing countries, have become intoxicated -- or to put it bluntly, duped -- by the Obama euphoria>>>

The ‘Fun’ Hoveida Years

During the great oil boom of the 1970’s, the irrational exuberance of the Iranian upper classes and the unquenchable greed of the royalty played havoc with the domestic economy. Hoveida’s half-baked plans for hasty modernization and the Shah’s expensive upgrades for the army, created a number of economical and social dislocations. That deluge of projects, which were unnaturally fuelled by the soaring oil prices, played havoc with the fledging Iranian economy and infrastructure; creating cyclic booms and busts, deficiencies and speculations, inflation and hoarding>>>

جامعهء مدنی يا جامعهء سکولار؟

در پی حدوث انقلاب 57 و تبديل شدن حاکميت ايران به استبداد مطلقهء مذهبی و برقراری سلطهء شرع بر جامعه، و ظاهراٌ بمنظور کوشش برای درک موانع رشد دموکراسی در ايران، يکی از مفهوم های کهن علم سياست که در دههء دوم انقلاب بشدت مطرح شده و مورد بحث متفکران ايرانی قرار گرفت مفهوم «جامعهء مدنی» بود. ما اوج سلطء فکری اين «گفتمان» را در انتخابات دوم خرداد 1376 و بقدرت رسيدن «اصلاح طلبان خودی» مشاهده کرديم. در واقع، دههء 1370 را می توان دههء پيدايش مفهوم سحرآميزی به نام «جامعهء مدنی» دانست که قرار بود پاسخگوی همهء حرمان ها و شکست ها و براندازندهء همهء موانع استقرار دموکراسی باشد. >>>