Reversal of fortunes

Five hundred years ago, global warming helped create an economic down turn in West and Central Asia and facilitated the European economic rise. Today, might we have a case of reverse fortunes, allowing West and Central Asia to get back to where it was before? Andre Gunder Frank and many other economic historians have told us about “ReOrient”ing to China, and that while the Chinese economy has suffered 500 years of recession, it is only natural for it to make a come back and start dominating the world again. But can the same be said for the Near East?>>>

Brightest star

I mourn his loss. There are some people who believe an actor's death should not be front-page news when there are soldiers and civilians who are dying in faraway lands for greater causes. I don't know a single soldier or a single dead civilian. I do know a lot about war. I've read about it. I've written twenty page papers on the roots and causes of international conflict, the reasons for genocide and ethnic violence, the clash of civilizations. Reading and writing about something isn't as real as mourning the loss of something you know>>>

Effortless energy

The truth is I was a bit nervous at first. After all, it is not often that I have the chance to meet a total stranger whose voice has become a part of my every day routine. Odd as it may seem, this one dimensional nature of fame is an inevitable reality for all successful artists including the one I was about to interview. Adapting to increased recognition and celebrity is an adjustment that Arash Sobhani will most likely have to make in the upcoming years because both he and his band Kiosk have gained significant popularity and recognition recently across the US, Europe and Iran and show no signs of slowing down>>>

عمو ناصر!

من همه ماجرای عشقی تو و شهلا را به خوبی می دانم. ناصر! یادت می آید خانه ی شهلا در خیابان ظفر؟ همان جایی که پستان های داغ و هیکل خوش فرم شهلا را به دهان می گرفتی؟ همان جایی که شهلا بساط تریاک کشی ترا آماده می کرد؟ راستی در همه جای خانه با شهلا عشق بازی کردی و به قول خودت چه سکسی هم داشت. آخر می دانی اگر شهلا سکسش خوب بود به خاطر این بود که با تمام وجودش ترا دوست داشت گرچه می دانست همسری داری و شاید به قول خودش هوویی! شما دو نفر سالها با هم دوست بودید. نمی دانم شاید هم زن شرعی ات شده بود نمی دانم! >>>

I'd give anything to be Bush

How many millions are spent each day on Iraq

How many billions are spent each month

Who is the president kidding when he says

we can't afford to expand health care for children >>>

Apology accepted

Shabeh Jomeh, a social-networking organization of Persian/Iranian-American professionals and Meenoo Chahbazi, one of its members, represented by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs and the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, announced today that they have reached a settlement agreement with a Georgetown nightclub, Blue Gin, resolving allegations that the owner and operator of the Club discriminated against Persian/Iranian-Americans>>>

The Green Circle

The reason of survival of our culture is behind the idea that ordinary people of Iran naturally understand and welcome the concept of function. As I have mentioned before and by the presence of many evidences, there are two factors flowing in every Iranian’s blood streams, humbleness and purpose; and as long as we don’t lose these two pillars of our survivals we should be hopeful to add more brick to our cultural castle with the birth of every single Iranian baby>>>

Thirty Birds

This poem was revealed to me. Let us not argue from whence, whether from the sub- or super-consciousness, and simply accept that, as with the Leila poem, I had no conscious choice or will in its making, only in the editing. It revealed itself with Attar's journey as the central metaphor, but it also revealed the presence of Ahriman/Angra Manyu, Ahura Mazda's opponent. I envisioned him somehow very strongly as Khomeini engaged in a battle with the "songgirl", Forough, for the soul of Iran and the world>>>

Long live the Bomb

The problem arises about what we don’t know and the accuracy of what we assume we know. Knowing the past and the present behavior of the Islamic regime makes it very hard to believe they have abandoned what seems to be their final card to play. The Islamic Republic cannot possibly live longer than it already has without the bomb. In dealing with the mullahs ruling Iran, what you see is not what you get, and what you hear is not what they mean. Transparency and honesty are not their strong suit. So, we need a first-rate sleuth to see through their smoke-and-mirrors, as well as beyond their twisted tongues into their warped brains>>>

رنسانس اتمی و سکوت رسانه ای

مساله این است که خود اروپایی‌ها و آمریکایی‌ها تازگی‌ها به این نتیجه رسیده‌اند که با وجود ریسک‌های زیست‌محیطی انرژی اتمی، این شیوه‌ی تولید انرژی فعلا با صرفه‌ترین شیوه است، ولی وقتی نوبت به کشورهایی مثل ایران می‌رسد یک دفعه از این جور استدلال‌های ساده‌خر‌کن می‌آورند. خود من با کمال تاسف سه سال پیش مقاله‌ای در نیو ساینتیست نوشتم و همین استدلال را برای رد نیاز ایران به انرژی اتمی تکرار کردم و الان هم کی به عقب نگاه می‌‌کنم می‌بینم که اصلا تنها دلیل چاپ این مقاله همین بود و اگر مثلا از آن دفاع کرده بودم امکان نداشت چاپ بشود. من از بابت این نادانی و دربست پذیرفتن چنین استدلالی از مردم ایران عمیقا عذر می‌خواهم.

>>>

هیچ یک با هم

دختر
ایرانی بود یا می‌نمود

با چشمانش
که میان ابر اخم
و شبنم یک لبخند
به نزدیکتر زآنچه می‌دید
و دورتر زآنچه در خیالش بود
می‌نگریست >>>

Nazeris on fire

There is such relief in reviewing a piece of music by Hafez and Shahram Nazeri, mostly because nobody who likes Shahram Nazeri will abstain from buying his latest work, even if I give it a bad review! My review is not a technical one, as I am barely qualified to be a good connoisseur of good Iranian music. I am a listener. The one for whom music is written (sometimes) and produced (always). As listeners, some music we hear with our ears, and some music we hear with our hearts. This man’s voice, and his young musician son’s composition, is something I listened to with my heart>>>