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Baba Taher
Opinion
Agonizing reappraisal
A way for the U.S. to end its isolationist policies in the
Persian Gulf
By Majid Tehranian
The time has come for the United States and its allies to do what in
diplomatic circles is politely called "an agonizing reappraisal."
The failure of "dual containment" in the Persian Gulf policies
of the last few years have now become apparent to everyone except the most
obstinate. Iran and Iraq have not been contained. On the contrary, both
countries have taken advantage of the emerging rivalries of the post-Cold
War era to develop economic and political ties to subvert those policies.
Russia, France, and China as well as the U. S. Arab allies are opposing
military action against a recalcitrant Iraq, while revolutionary Iran under
President Mohammad Khatami is entering into a rapprochement with Europe
and the conservative regional powers, notably Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Despite
its current reconsideration of past policies, the Clinton Administration
has not yet shown a more imaginative approach. Why is the United States
being isolated in this vital region of the world?... FULL TEXT
Politics
Copenhagen conference
Opposition groups meet to express their latest views
A first-hand report from a member of Columbia University's Gulf/2000
-- an internet-based forum of Middle East experts around the world:
Rainy, cold Copenhagen hosted seven Iranian opposition groups who had
announced a multilateral meeting to discuss "Civil Society, Rule of
Law and its relevance to people's rule" in Iran. The meeting was held
in a hall not far from the Iran-Denmark Society at Blagardsgade in a mixed
and highly populated area near the center of the city. The meeting turned
out to be something between a conference with its conceptual limits, and
an opportunity to declare some new positions about Iran.
Some of the representatives of the opposition groups claimed they didn't
know that other groups would br talking and declared that their presence
did by no means imply that they were in a kind of alliance with other groups.
Almost all groups implicitly or explicitly distanced themselves from the
Mojahedin Khalgh Organization (MKO)... FULL TEXT
Outlook
Cooking Up a Reply to Big Mac
The Slow Food movement, concocted by an Italian appalled at the incursion
of speedy eateries, seeks to preserve a universe of tastes in a world 'moving
toward convenience and nothing else.
By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG
|Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
TURIN, Italy-- Some people seek the perfect wave, the 26,000-foot mountain,
Class V white-water rapids. For Rosalyn Voget and Philip Neumann of Santa
Barbara, gourmets and converts to the movement known as Slow Food, the
quest is the ultimate meal....
It was 1986, and McDonald's had announced plans to build a restaurant
on Rome's celebrated Piazza di Spagna, near the Spanish Steps and the building
where English poet John Keats died.
A newly assembled association of Italian gourmets, including Petrini,
was aghast. It organized in opposition... FULL
TEXT
Sehr stupid
BONN, Oct 31 (AFP) - Germany's secret service tried to woo a computer
hacker to break into Iran's state database and steal information about
arms programs, Der Spiegel magazine reported in an article to run Monday.
A man posing as a consultant hired a Berlin student and part-time computer
hacker to gather information on Iranian computer systems early this year,
the magazine said.
Once the student had finished the contract, the supposed businessman
told him the secret service would like him to break into Iran's network
and gather information about any secret arms programs.
The student rejected the offer, Der Spiegel said.
More Letters
* Give Americans the respect we have earned
Christopher Peck writes: I agree with the author of the article "How to
become an American" that each and every person from a particular
country shouldn't be judged by the actions of the people of his/her country
of origins. I am an American veteran of Desert Shield/Storm and also
lived in Saudi Arabia when the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was stormed. To
say the least, Iran as a whole has not been on the top of my well-liked
places list. It is hard to meet someone, though, from somewhere that you
perceive has done a grevious wrong to your country and not be a bit biased.
We almost always judge first, and then figure out the truth later...
I think what I'm trying to say is, that many countries have accomplished
some pretty heinous crimes, but their expatriates shouldn't be held responsible.
Should I hold all Japanese today responsible for the bombing of Pearl Harbor?
That was totally unprovoked and at a time of day to ensure we couldn't
respond very well at all. Were our people in the Embassy in Tehran asking
to be held hostage and their lives threatened? But was the author at fault
for it, since he was born there only? These are criminal actions, to say
the very least. But the U.S. has accomplished similar things in its history,
especially to the Native Americans. We have been worse to them than can
be imagined. Only a few other countries have treated their people worse
(Germany and Russia come to mind). But the world judges all Americans
in the same way, as a people to be hated, yet they want to come here.
We have stood up for what is right more times than not. We are not always
right in our actions, but generally the world is better off with the U.S.
than without it. ... FULL
TEXT
* Film: Ramin Naimi's "Somewhere
in the City"
A noir screwball comedy, that threads the overlapping stories of six
residents of a New York City tenement apartment building. Starring: Sandra
Bernhard, Robert John Burke, Bai Ling, Ornella Muti, Paul Anthony Stewart,
Peter Stormare.
Opera Plaza Cinema -San Francisco
601 Van Ness Ave Tel; 415-352-0810
Mon-Thu 4:20-7:00-9:15 Fri-Sun 2:00-4:20-7:00-9:15
Limited Engagement
November 20th San Jose - Camera Theater
November 20th Sacramento - Crest Theater
Book of the Week
Deer Table Legs
Poems by Katayoon Zandvakili
The University of Georgia Press, 1998
Zandvakili lives in Piedmont, California, and writes for
Publishers Weekly. Her poems have appeared in The Massachusetts
Review, Five Fingers Review, Hawai'i Review, and the anthology
A World Betwee: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans.
Recent
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news
Six villages ruined in Iran quake - radio
TEHRAN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A strong earthquake
which hit southern Iran on Wednesday caused landslides in a mountainous
area and heavily damaged six villages, Tehran radio reported. It said the
quake, measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale, ``caused destruction of 80 to
100 percent'' in the villages in Kerman province... FULL TEXT
Cash-strapped Iran facing difficulty in
repaying foreign debt
TEHRAN, Nov 18 (AFP) - The severe recession in Iran, which has
been exacerbated by rock-bottom oil prices, has left both the public and
private sectors struggling to pay off some 11 billion dollars in foreign
debt. Bankers are seeing a sharp rise in debt defaults and foreign firms
in Tehran have been deluged with requests for delays in loan repayments...
FULL TEXT
Commander says Persian Gulf-bound ships
must report
TEHRAN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The head of Iran's
Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday ships entering the Persian Gulf must
identify themselves to Iranian forces, Iranian state televison reported.
It was not immediately clear if the remarks by Major-General Yahya Rahim
Safavi amounted to a new demand by Iran, which often objects to the presence
of United States forces in the Gulf... FULL TEXT
Iran says weighing U.S. soccer invitation
TEHRAN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Iran's soccer federation
is weighing an invitation to play friendly matches in the United States,
a federation official said in remarks published on Wednesday. ``This proposal
has been sent to us but we have to study it first...We have not replied
yet,'' the daily Zan quoted Nasser Noamouz, manager of Iran's national soccer
team, as saying ... FULL TEXT
Iran welcomes "change" in U.S.
oil policy
London, Nov. 19, IRNA - iran's deputy oil minister for international
affairs mehdi husseini wednesday welcomed u.s energy secretary bill richrdson's
commitment for the free flow of oil across international borders as a positive
signal. "if true, it represents a change in policy," he said.
iran is "happy" to hear that the u.s. supports the non-interruption
of oil supplies, devoid from all political impediments, he told an international
oil confrence in london... FULL TEXT
Hardliners disrupt student gathering-papers
TEHRAN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Hardliners disrupted
a student gathering and prevented a speech by a prominent leftist cleric
in the city of Mashad, 1,000 km (600 miles) northeast of Tehran, Iranian
newspapers reported on Wednesday. On Tuesday about 30 intruders attacked
the Ferdowsi hotel in Mashad, where a gathering of university students was
expected to be opened by Ali-Akbar Mohtashami, a member of the League of
Militant Clerics which backs moderate President Mohammad Khatami, the daily
newspaper Jahan-e Eslam said... FULL TEXT
"Azeez-eh maaee"
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - "Azeez-eh maaee"
(You are our dearest) is a play that tells the story of a soldier who has
been missing for the past nine years returns to a home and family much changed
during his absence ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
Esteeli "most likely" to join
team
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Hamid Esteeli will "most
likely" be invited to rejoin the national soccer team ... FULL TEXT
IN PERSIAN
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Quote Unquote
U.S.: Done more good than bad
We have stood up for what is right more times than not. We are not always
right in our actions, but generally the world is better off with the U.S.
than without it.
Christopher Peck
U.S. Air Force veteran
Letter
to The Iranian
Nov 18, 1998
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When bikes were REALLY cool
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