Life

My War with the Americans

This begins with a personal story. For eight years now, I have been at war with a few lunatic Americans currently residing in Colorado, California, New Mexico and Kansas, who have been responsible for several years of harassment, slander, libel, stalking, interference with employment and other felonies. These individuals have all received legal warnings and orders per their ongoing activities but as my lawyers have claimed, when dealing with people who are mentally ill, deluded and incapable of understanding what the law means, you can expect them to continue their illegal activities until they land in jail or have every penny they have taken away from them>>>

روان ملی ما

در کشورهای مردم سالار همه مردم قانونا برابرند و در ابراز اندیشه‌ها و احساسات خود آزاد. به همین دلیل در این سرزمینها«ملت» مفهومی‌ست که از هاله‌ی آرمانی درآمده و واقعیتی اجتماعی به خود گرفته است. اما در کشور ما ملت هنوز یک مفهوم آرمانی‌ست، زیرا یک گروه خاص(در گذشته سلطنت طلبان و امروزه ولایت فقیه گرایان) بر شهروندان ایرانی حکومت می‌کنند. تا هنگامی که ما ایرانیان نتوانسته‌ایم در پیشگاه قانون برابر باشیم و آزادانه نمایندگان خود را برای نهادهای تصمیم گیرنده انتخاب کنیم، هنوز ملتی«در خود» هستیم و نه «برای خود». چرا که اجازه نداریم آزادانه در تعیین سرنوشت خود تصمیم بگیریم و مجبوریم فرمانبردار گروهی خاص باشیم. >>>

Natural Born Grillers

One of the most endearing things for me personally, when it comes to BBQ’ing, is when suddenly the men get all territorial and caveman-ish about the grilling. It’s absolutely hilarious to watch… Sometimes if there are several men present, it becomes a competitive sport and it makes great entertainment… “Me man…me cook food, me feed family” I’m not exaggerating, this is a direct quote from my a friend of mine who undergoes a strange character transformation the second the BBQ is lit. Personally, I’m all for letting the men folk do the grilling, as my talents tend to lie more in the food preparation and table-laying. I’m quite girly in this sense and the idea of standing over a hot grill prodding hunks of meat prompts all kinds of thoughts like “What if I burn myself?”>>>

We, Who Have No Country…

"Istanbul" has always been associated in my mind with two themes: the city which was the destination of thousands of Persians fleeing the 8-year War, and the city which is the residence of Samin Baghcheban, the famous Persian immigrant composer. In the spring of 2006, when all of a sudden I had the chance to visit Istanbul, what preoccupied my mind more than anything else was: Is it possible that Samin Baghchehban will accept a visit from me? … I could not wait to arrive in Istanbul. I called him before my departure, and without any introduction, I said, "Mr. Baghcheban, I am coming to Istanbul. I would be very happy if I could see you!">>>

پرسپوليس، نامی که آخوندها از آن می ترسند!

براستی چرا بايد حکومتی، عليرغم ميل اعضاء يک باشگاه ورزشی و عموم مردم هواخواه يا حتی مخالف آن، بکوشد اينگونه کار به کار نام آن داشته باشد و بخواهد با اعمال زور نامش را عوض نمايد و رسانه ها را تهديد کند که از نام واقعی باشگاه ذکری نکنند؟ به نظر من (حتی به قيمت آنکه بگويند غلو می کنم و شعار می دهم) پاسخ اين پرسش روشن است: «پرسپوليس» ديگر يک نام نيست، يک ميدان است، ميدان مبارزه برای باز پس گرفتن آزادی و عزت ملتی که گرفتار حکومتی ضد انسان و شادی و رفاه است. «پرسپوليس» فشردهء يک تاريخ است، يک داستان بلند چهارده قرنی از مبارزهء فرهنگی ملتی که نمی خواهد زير بار زور بيگانگان مهاجم و پس مانده های امروزشان برود. >>>

عدم تحمل

با اتکا و به اعتبارصدها شاهد و سند , بار ها و بارها گفته , نوشته و نشان داده شده است که تاریخ حدود سه هزار ساله ی ما ( و به روایاتی بیش از هفت هزار ساله ) , تاریخ عدم تحمل و کشتار دگراندیشان بوده و هست. بخش اعظم همین شواهد و اسناد گواه اند که شیعیان اثنی عشری در زمره ی بی تحمل ترین ها و بیرحم ترین ها بوده و هستند. دودمان های صفویه و قاجاریه , و المثنی شان " جمهوری اسلامی " نمونه اند . در میان دگراندیشان عقیدتی ( مذهبی) ستمی که بر بابیان و بهاییان روا داشته شده است بیش از ستمی ست که بر دیگر اقلیت های مذهبی رفته است. برگ هایی از کارنامه ی شرم آور سلسله قاجاریه و حکومت اسلامی نشان از رفتار ضد انسانی این دو دودمان با رهبران و پیروان این اقلیت مذهبی دارند. >>>

Diet & Stardom

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Are you Persian?

Are you Persian? Asked the lady bank teller with dyed blond hair and otherwise very Iranian complexion. I answered “Baale Khanoom, Haletoon Khoobeh?”. Other times I have been asked “Are you Iranian?” It kind of dawned on me that as Iranians living in America, we might be facing an ‘identity’ crisis. Are we Persians, Iranians, Iranian Americans, Persian Americans, or Americans? I have seen all variations used many times. With our beloved homeland country Iran being in the news so often and almost always negatively, perhaps we want to somehow disassociate our selves from anything Iranian thus referring to ourselves as Persians or Persian Americans>>>

The Obliterator

A while ago, the Hilarious Hillary “ate sugar” and threatened to obliterate Iran, the land that has given so much to the world. These contributions along with other images began to haunt my distressed head in seemingly endless spurts. I remembered the day when my friend Ali was driving me around in New York City and I had stopped him in front of the biggest post office in the world to proudly photograph the words of Cyrus the Great that adorns the building: “Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”>>>

Foreign interests

This essay will attempt to determine as precisely as possible the reasons that motivated British hostility toward Mosaddeq’s government. Was there a genuine fear that Mosaddeq was incapable of acting as a bastion to Communist pressure threatening to envelope Iran? Was British diplomacy simply a consequence of American pressure? At what point and why did the British Government conclude that Mosaddeq was ‘unnegotiable’ i.e. that his overthrow was the only plausible alternative?... Although the intention is to focus on Anglo-Iranian relations, one cannot thereby obviate the pivotal role of the United States which profoundly affected the unfolding of events.>>>

I am a Spartan and Proud, Mostly!

I came to the Netherlands with my wife, Kirsten, in 2000. Even before I came here, I was looking forward to going to football matches and watching a lot of football. Here in Rotterdam where I have settled, there are three professional football teams that play in the Dutch first division (Eredivisie). The most well-known of these is Feyenoord which is one of the three top clubs along with Ajax of Amsterdam and PSV from Eindhoven. Then there is Sparta and Excelsior. Since I have been here, I have on many occasions seen all three Rotterdam teams play in their home stadiums. I have also had season cards and followed closely Sparta for three years and Excelsior for a year>>>

The Summer Squeeze

In a vain attempt to get in shape for summer…(and not just summer, I may add) I have shocked my loved ones and done what I promised I would never do. I have gone on a diet. I always believed that if you eat sensibly and make small sacrifices (swapping butter for olive spread, swapping white rice and bread for brown and white potatoes for sweet potatoes etc…) you would manage to strike a balance between ying and yang and create equilibrium in your diet. Indeed this is still true… But for example how do you deal with break-ups or job stress and the like? Well a lot of us are emotional eaters and I would also fall into this category…>>>