Archive - May 29, 2009 - Article

False hopes

Just as he is being criticized by those to his right for his emphasis on engagement with Iran, President Obama came under attack from the left, in the op-ed pages of the May 23 New York Times, for just the opposite. Unlike critics from the right who largely concur with the president's stated objectives but disagree with his tactics, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett argue for a full about-face on Iran policy. Obama's current policy, they assert, is doomed to fail unless he repudiates pressure and instead accommodates the Iranian regime and its nuclear aspirations, ostensibly in order to improve U.S.-Iran relations. The Leveretts both misread the Iranian regime and misapprehend U.S. interests>>>

Iran's new millionaires

Guess where was the hottest real estate market in the world back in 2008? If you guessed Tehran, you are right. While we are facing a major downturn in the American housing market, there are places in the world which are enjoying their biggest boom in history. One of those places is Tehran, Iran. Yes Tehran is probably one the most expensive places when it comes to housing. Real estate prices surged by more than 100 percent in 2007, after rising by about 65 percent in 2006 and more than 50 percent in 2005. Meaning if you bought a house in Iran for $100,000 in 2005, it was worth at least $500,000 in May 2008. Assuming a drop of 30%, you are still looking at 350% growth. As a result there are now many new millionaires in Iran and I am talking Dollar Millionaires, not just Rial Millionaires!>>>

موسوی انتخاب من است

از صندوقهای رای فرار نکنید. رای شما هیج منزلتی را برای نظام ایجاد نمی کند. اگرحکومت به دنبال مشروعیت سازی باشد عدم حضور شما بهتربن فرصت را جهت مصادرهء به مطلوب آراء از طریق حضور سیاهی لشکر پدید می آورد حال آنکه حضور پررنگ شما چنین ترفندی را به کلی عقیم می سازد. پس لطفا بیایید قهر نکنیم و همگی در روز بیست و دو خرداد به پای صندوقها رفته و با رای به موسوی بر سرنوشت خود سوار شویم. می دانم که همه خزان زده و پژمرده ایم ولی این را هم می دانم و مرا از بزرگی چون قیصر امین پور یاد است که دل به پائیز نباید سپرد. به اندازهء کافی داغ دل دیده ایم و خون دل خورده ایم. دوست و دشمن از جلو و پشت ما را خنجر زده اند که بهترین گواه آن همین وضعیت فعلی جامعهء ماست>>>

دادن

چهار سال گذشت. محمود کاری کرد که مهرانگیز کار، عباس میلانی و... خیلی های دیگری که با «دادن» به این رژیم مخالف بودند و «دادن» را تحریم کرده بودند، همه میخواهند «بدن». من هم همینطور، با تمام وجودم میخوام «بدم». حتی رفتن به ایران را که معمولاً در ایام عید نوروز بود را به تعویق انداختم که قبل از مراسم همگانی «دادن» در ایران باشم و «بدم» با تمام صحت عقل و با پای خودم دارم میرم به ایران تا در مراسم «دادن» شرکت کنم. و اعلام میکنم که نه کسی من را تهدید کرده و نه اجباری در کار است. بلیط هم گرفته‌ام، زوریخ - تهران و رفتن به شعب «دادن». میخوام «بدم» و فریاد میکنم که میخوام «بدم»، آنهم به یک آخوند 72 ساله. دیگران را هم تشویق میکنم که «بدید».>>>

An Identity Case

The whole thing started in early June when Mohsen, whose Canadian name was Molson, bought a dog—a white Shih-tzu, only three months old. He had recently moved to a new apartment in downtown Vancouver after the separating from his wife. For ages his daughter Anahita had been asking him for a dog. In spite of the fact that it was not at all a good time to get her the puppy, Molson could not resist buying the Shih-tzu when a friend of his said he wanted to give away the puppies their dog had given birth to. Anahita couldn’t take care of a puppy by herself. Neither could his son, a two-year-old who moved around not much better than the puppy on all fours>>>

Defending conscience

Change for Equality on May 2nd reported that six members of One Million Signatures Campaign, the campaign to change the discriminatory laws, were arrested during and after a peaceful demonstration which was held to celebrate May 1st. The police forces attacked the demonstrators even before they congregated and left many of the people with bloody faces. There were more than 150 arrested and among them was Campaign activist Kaveh Mozafari, Jelveh Javaheri’s husband. Jelveh was home when the intelligence forces raided their residence taking everything that potentially might have been useful to fabricate a case for pressing a charge against them including unthinkable and random items such as Jelveh and Kaveh’s University degrees!>>>