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Blind trap

The recent Israeli attack on Ghaza has shown the world that the Middle Eastern peace process is not on the right track. What’s important to note is that neither Israel nor Palestine is gaining from this conflict. Palestinians are losing lives, territory and security and Israelis are losing lives and security. So who’s winning? In whose interest is it for this conflict to continue? By looking at the events around and post the Iranian revolution in 1979, one can easily conclude that the biggest beneficiary of this conflict is the Islamic regime in Iran. The regime has made the conflict a vital survival tool, a life support system if you will. Without it, the IRI regime will be no longer>>>

جنایت جنگی یا تروریسم از بالا

اقدامات لازم برای تعقیب بین المللی حمله اسرائیل به غزه از نخسیتن ساعات آن شروع شد. نامه اعتراض آمیز ریچارد فالک، استاد بازنشسته حقوق دانشگاه پرینستون و راپورتر ویژه حقوق بشر سازمان ملل در سرزمینهای اشغالی حمله اسرائیل به غزه را به سه دلیل جنایت جنگی میخواند. نخست اینکه این عملیات در واقع نوعی "تنبیه جمعی" محسوب میشوند به این معنی که دولت اسرائیل بنام مجازات عده قلیلی از چریکها همه مردم غیر نظامی منطقه ای را تحت فشار گذاشته تا دست از حمایت از حماس بر دارند. این همان سیاست محاصره اقتصادی غزه است که امروز با بمب و موشک دنبال میشود. ثانیاً با بمباران مناطقی که از پر جمعیت ترین نقاط جهان محسوب میشوند اسرائیل به بی مبالاتی در "کشتار مردم غیر نظامی" متهم است. و بلاخره ریچارد فالک (که خود کلیمی است) "تلافی بی تناسب " نظامی را دلیلی دیگر برای اتهام جنایت جنگی علیه اسرائیل میداند. >>>

سكوت علامت «رضا»؟

آقای اوباما از هنگام انتخاب (و حتا پیش از آن) در باره بسیاری از مسایل مربوط به سیاست‌های داخلی و خارجی آمریكا، به خصوص در مواردی كه با سیاست‌های حكومت فعلی متفاوت بوده، نظر داده و سیاست‌های آینده خود را تشریح كرده است. این اظهار نظرها و برنامه‌ریزی‌ها دخالت در سیاست‌های فعلی آمریكا تلقی نشده و مورد اعتراض قرار نگرفته است. در مورد حوادث اخیر در فلسطین نیز آقای اوباما می‌توانست نظر و موضع خود را ابراز كند. او نه تنها سیاست‌ خارجی خود در باره اسراییل و فلسطین را مطرح نكرده است و بلكه از دید انسان‌دوستی نیز تنها پس از چندین روز حاضر شده است در مورد تلفات غیر نظامیان اظهار تأسف كند و از طرفین مخاصمه بخواهد كه از حمله به غیر نظامی‌ها اجتناب كنند. به جز این، او ترجیح داده است در این مورد هیچ سخنی نگوید - و این سكوت در شرایطی‌ كه آمریكا صریحا طرف اسراییل را گرفته است علامتی جز «رضا» نمی‌تواند باشد.>>>

کـــرد ويـــــران، کـــرد ويـــــران

می شنيدم
از لب شيرين پيران خردمند
مستمر  اين برترين و بهترين پند :
آه ای خوش باوران کم سوادِ پر افاده
اين چنين بی فکر و تدبير و درايه
مرز و بوم و مملکت، کردن اداره
آخر ای مستان قدرت ، اين روش  تا کی ادامه؟ >>>

Sunday in Copenhagen

Copenhagen always had a special place in my imagination. It was the first city I saw in the Western world. My visit was brief; several hours between flights gave us an opportunity just to see Tivoli and the City Hall square. That was decades ago. Going there for the second time this summer, I found myself looking for more than what I remembered. My observations were framed by curiosity about several Danish phenomena. What accounts for the Danes’ reputation as the happiest people in the world? Why are they at the epicenter of the bunker mentality against immigration? What happens to a country when it is no longer an empire? What could a nation of five and a half million contribute to global civilization which is also shaped by others with vastly larger populations and resources?>>>

Feeling superior

Iranians can be extremely racist. I was first made aware that Iranians were perceived, by others in the region, as arrogant racists by a Pakistani professor of Islamic literature at Boston University. Professor Rahbar taught in the Religion department and most Iranians took his literature course for an easy grade. He also conducted the Farsi exams which, if passed, made the University wave the second-language requirement for Iranian students. The poor man, who was well-versed in Persian poetry and loved Saadi and Hafez, was routinely ridiculed by his Iranian students. This was mostly because of his Pakistani accent. Although his eccentric habit of cooking curry in his office, in the Theology building on Mass. Ave., did not help either. >>>

Pulse

At the office Christmas party, my boss told me about a new gym that recently opened in the area. On the way back home one day I drove past the plaza and looked up to see a big neon sign announcing the arrival of ‘Pulse’ to my neighborhood. I fell in love with the name. So I punched a reminder in my Blackberry to take my personal pulse to the one down the road sometime soon. We had been out the night before and hadn’t got home till late – the last of the holiday parties eke out every ounce of joy and goodwill. So when the alarm goes off at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of January, I am none too thrilled to remember my New Year resolution. His leg plops over mine – his code for “how about a little”. >>>

40-year-old dream

The Iranian nuclear enrichment program and its potential to create weapon- grade uranium that could be used for making bombs is the hottest topic of discussion among the western powers and international community. In order to better understand Iran’s intention, one must look back to its origin and study the history behind its current activities. Iran’s ambitious plan to acquire nuclear power is nothing new and dates back to the late Shah of Iran. It was his government’s desire to acquire the nuclear technology of the present time. During the past several years, a number of misguided attempts have been made to uncover the truth behind Iran’s nuclear activities>>>

Marked Treasure

Eight paces from the gate,
Sixteen paces toward the wall.
Which scroll speaks of this treasure?
Oh, earth!
If only I could feel your pulse
Or make a jug out of your body.
Alas! I'm not a physician.
I'm not a potter.
I am only an heir, deprived >>>

دلتنگی

تار های دلتنگی ام را
بر در غار دوستی می تنم

باور هایم چه عمیق
بااصحاب کهف به خواب رفته اند >>>

Jews Own America

Jews rule America. America may be a Christian country, but the Jews own it. They own all major banks, control the factories and businesses, and run the stock markets. You name it, and the Jews own or run it. The Jews are out to rule the world. They do it by helping each other and show no mercy to non-Jews. With those thoughts deeply drilled in me before leaving Iran for America, imagine my shock as a total stranger Iranian Jew came to my cousin Jamshid and I in the lobby of the YMCA and asked us for help. Ask us two Iranian non-Jewish students to help him with work? We ourselves were desperate trying to find work. And here I was told how Jews own America and how they help their own. What about this guy? Why don’t they help him? Why would he have to come to us for help? >>>

Cause and effect (2)

One of the problems that is more unique to Moslem countries is what you call a segregated labor force; very low Labor Force Participation Rate, or LFPR, for female population and relatively high rate for male. In modern era, economic progress is not possible without dynamic participation of women. While women constitute almost one half of their population, there is no comprehensive and reliable data about female employment and the gainful participation of women in labor force for Moslem countries. In many of them, women are openly barred from playing an active social or economic role or working in certain fields because of religious prohibition or because those fields are traditionally reserved for men only. Some countries like Saudi Arabia have specific legislations about limits and restrictions for female employment>>>

Live with it

As long as we are alive (and alas, many are not), and we still have a functioning mind and heart, and good friends to remind us of that, we can still live a worthy life: Simply absorb the meaning of the characters inscribed on the Tsukubai (water basin) behind the Rock Garden in at the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto: "I learn to be content". These five words can be understood in different ways, but when I came across them in January, I realized that we, Iranians, got it all wrong when we followed the carpe diem philosophy of Khayyam, when he claimed, a wine cup in one hand and the tresses of his beloved in the other:>>>

احقاق حق

سالها پيش که به ايران سفر کرده بودم، بحث داغ روز اعدام جنايتکاری بود که علاوه برقتل نفس، جرم ديگری داشت. بهمين دليل قبل از اينکه حکم اعدام را اجرا کنند، او را ۸۰ ضربه شلاق زده بودند. من نه تنها از کم وکيف جريان قتل اطلاع درستی نداشتم، بلکه بيشتر تحت تآثير فرهنگ مدنی غرب، اجرای حکم شلاق را قبل از اعدام محکوم، قبيح وغيرانسانی ميدانستم. نه اينکه امروز تغييرعقيده داده باشم و فکرکنم حقش بود و بايد از اين هم بيشتر مجازات ميشد، ولی نميتوانم آنرا قبيح و غير انسانی تلقی کنم. قبل از اينکه به مفهوم قصاص که درست در همين رابطه است بپردازم، بايد به اين واقعيت غير قابل انکار توجه کرد که اگر مجازات جنايتکار بنحوی اجرا شود که مردم بجای عبرت گرفتن، برای محکوم احساس ترحم کنند، يکی از اساسی ترين اهداف مجازات کيفری نه تنها پايمال شده، بلکه نتيجه معکوس داده است>>>

شعر گفتن

شعر گفتن
مثل لخت شدن است.
رنگم باز چرا برگشته؟
این لکه کنار دهان
از آن روزی است که به خودم
دروغ گفتم. و این داغ
از خود سوزی آن شب است >>>