Pictory

A

Anglophile, Thanks for the clip on Audrey, it brought back great memories of yesteryears.  I heard Tiffany was originally belonged to the Iranian jewler Moazfarrian and then was handed down :)

فقط بخاطر احترام خاص به جیش جان چشم اطاعت می‌شه

اینم چون دیدم اودری هپبورن رو دوست داری. البته خدا نکنه آقای مستوفی حالمون رو بگیره و  بگه: آره بابابزرگم صاحب تیفانی هم بود! مستوفی تورو بخدا یه اودری هپبورن رو خرابش نکن. 

J: I can barely remember

J: I can barely remember them. But people say that my interest in philosophy and ancient history is from them. Grand-dad left a great collection of Iranian heritage with us. We got those out. You know that they were the arms suppliers to the country. The coat of arms has two swords on it.

Ali Mostofi

//twitter.com/alimostofi

Anglo

Anglo, baba aziat nakon eenghadre. I think it's time to remove that picture and put up picture of someone whom we all like, such as Audrey Hepburn, for a while.

A

Ali, 

Did you know, Gholamhossein Bader owned the thrown of Haroon-ol-Rashid, it was a grand chair / thrown used by Haroon, it was one of hte hairloom of the family.

Anyway,  aside from material issues. Abolghasem Bader, the only one I met of  your family was an extremly charismatic person with a great sense of humor. The stories him and my father who went to Darolfonoon together with Sadegh Hedayat and tens of others, is something worth writing about or discussing. I hope you prserved lots of memories from them. My father spent many occasion with him in that garden.  

J: Thanks for explaining all

J: Thanks for explaining all that to all. My grand-dad must have known your family well then. They were an amazing bunch. One of them was a brilliant violinist. Mum knocked down the old house at 72 and built a beautiful one there, which is better looking than the Palace. We had some amazingly old trees there. Yeah I remember my teenage life there. All our stuff has probably been knicked. To date we have tried to get it back but Komiteh will not budge.

And folks please observe a little aghaee and forum manners.

Ali Mostofi

//twitter.com/alimostofi

I agree JD!

A

Very interesting feedback by Mr. Mostofi. It happens that I know the whole truth about this matter. Bader family is indeed Qajar and Mr. Abolghasem Bader, grandson of Nassir-ol-Molk and son of Nassir-o-dolleh (then the Minister of Maaref) was a maternal grandchild of Nassereddin Shah. His Brother was Gholamhossein Bader and a very rich and educated family.  Abolghasem Bader a physician was my father's best friend and all my life I would meet this great man and I never forget his personality and charisma and that is why I kept all the photographs of such great people till this day.   In many occasions my father told us the story about plundering of and annexing of Baders' family garden into Saad Abaad compound by none other than Reza Shah and even forceful ownership of some of the other belongings.   Mr. Abolghasem Bader was an avid antique collector too and lived across from University of Tehran on Abu-Reihan Ave.  I paid a visit to him just before the Revolution and had a rare chance of touring his collections. Mr. Mostofie is correct and right on the money on this issue.

Anglophile: I am the black

Anglophile: I am the black sheep of the family. I have no interest in Anglophiles Freemasons and others. I have my own vision and knowledge of occult. Most of them need my wisdom and they can't get it. It is in my wacky horoscope that I was born with. Some lead. Some follow.

Ali Mostofi

//twitter.com/alimostofi

Angali you need to go to old SAVAK boys' Rehabiliation Center

But, then again you're so out of it, so shameless, so cluless, and happy to be a lacky of Brits and Mullahs at the same time, even a historical rehab center is not going to help you, or your type.

All and all you remain a good water boy (or is it a water girl?). Get up and fetch your masters some water. The Gents must be thirsty. Carry on. Good boy/girl! 

I don't need to go to Pasdars Mr Mostofi

Anglophile: funny you are.

Anglophile: funny you are.

lol. I will take that comment as a joke. You wouldn't believe the truth even if I told it to you, as I did. Go to Komiteh Saadabad or our old house and look for the old documents, if the Pasdaran haven't destroyed them.

Ali Mostofi

//twitter.com/alimostofi

"victim" Mr Mostofi?

We built it Saadabad.

My ancestoral home before it was sold to Reza Shah for a token sum. Not much to see other than tourist attractions. My great grandad on my mother's (Bader) side owned it. And there is a garden there called Baghe Bader. Later no 72 Saadabad was built and then that was taken by Hezbollahis and made it into a Komiteh. So yeah we have been a victim of two major waves.

Ali Mostofi

//twitter.com/alimostofi

A

Dear Arash,

You did a great job in this video, sorry I forgot to tell you earlier. The garden is indeed one of the best gardens in Iran and a nice place to escape from the traffic and the crowd. 

D

Dear Arthimis (jaan),

You know, I agree with your sentiments and no argue about what you in your heart believe to be right. In fact when I was writing that a king needs to die by his sword, Agha Mohammad Khan came to my mind and indeed he was a great patriot. You think I am funny and thanks for the compliment. However, trust me I had a very good life in Iran, far above the average, with great access to the top elites of the time. My father had lots of respect for Qajar as a dynasty and as much for the Shah although none for his father. So, despite your remote diagnosis and wigi-board conclusion, none of us had any trauma because of the two regimes. I have been to Saad Abaad meeting the Shah in several occasions in 1969 and quite a few other matters. My father and grandfather were so close to the kings of Qajar that would surprise you. Luckily the current regime could not inflect any damage to us (my family) either, because we are incorruptible. So, my observation is completely objective and I give it to you and your conclusion, that I am a perfectionist. 

I look at any powerful position as a variation of a managerial and leadership role. In that capacity the leader is the ultimate authority and he or she must be vigilant of the team and their conduct.  A king with all that power should make it clear from day one, that “I do not tolerate corruption”. If he fails to convey that message properly then he should abdicate and step down and pass the baton to someone else. None of our kings and rulers has ever made that clear to their courts and we can see the results. Their team's corruptions ruined the kingdom too.

What I want to see in Iran is that the next person on the top  make this one issue clear, the corruption. In the absence of corruption we would have retained and improved everything that we have lost in the past three centuries and beyond. That is my expectation of the king and I am no servant of any king or president anyway, nor compliment them for what they have not achieved. Reza Pahlavi is a prince, but look at him and the type of charlatans he has gathered around him! He seems like a nice guy, but I made observation of people around him. I think before Shah left, he should have made Farah his replacement. After all she was an Empress wasn't she? You just don't pack up and leave.  We just don’t want to learn that corruption is the mother of all of our failures and Cyrus knew that.

During both dynasties, they were numerous great men and women in our country and there are many today. They all look up to their leaders for protection from deception, theft and despotism. A king is duty bound to provide all of that or else abdicate. I think the whole beauty of being a leader of a country is to be truly ready to die for it.

Thank you for sharing your opinion with me. I want to make sure once again that you and Red Wine, two very educated persons, are not upset with me. I told you how I felt because I believe in the 3 metaphysical values of the ancient Iranians.

Regards

Thank you Jeesh Daram

Thank you Jeesh Daram Jaan... LOL

But seriously, I appreciate your vey well thought and very well written response!

Respectfully ,here are few responses to your last comment:

First of all, Your level of expectation from Iranians (or any human being for that matter!) of the past and present is extremely high and unrealistic! For love of God, You are talking & Judgging Iranians and especially of that era and not even Iranians of present time with access to computers, world wide web , internet and beyond!!!

I'm sure you know or at least heard or read about this: When Agha Mohamad Khan Qajar took power, There was no country called Iran with any boundry and/or central government!!! This academically uneducated man with his High level of intelligence , his great worrier like courage and vision unified & created Iran as what was for your ancestors (which by the way I don't know who they were and what they did or didn't do for Iran and Iranians!) , and what is still today for  You and I!!! His following Qajar children , followed the path of his great vision by sending their kids and other Iranians on horses to France that took months getting there just to get education and bring it back to Iran for you and me!!! (Can you imagine the experience of those Iranian kids of that era and conditioin in such an advanced country like France not knowing the language to even have a basic communication?) They did all that for the love of Iran and Iranian people who had NOTHING! No Oil, Not any natural resources to grow as a nation... (So please next time when you insult & bash Qajars like millions of other ungrateful Iranians, please also remember also future generations of Iran owe their very existence & national Idenity to Qajars irrespective of their later failures due to uncontrolobale outside pressures and forces , the advanced Super Powers of those times with Heavy weapons of mass destructions of those times, money and technologies against a very backwarded nation and country called Iran that was starting to get somewhere in the world with no money and no national resources which is a different topic for debate...

When You insult & bash Pahlavi Dynasty which includes Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah, please also remember everything and anything you and I are today is again mainly Thanks to them on so many levels that are also another topic of debate...  

In your humourous insults and bashing of both Dynasties , please also remember what condition the country and people were in those times!!! What condition and education we as a nation had & still have today in 2012!!! Are you kidding us here Sir! Your are indeed a funny guy... Don't look at yourself and other few!!! We are not Germans, Our Kings & Queens were not either, even when they tried to act properly like their European counter parts , our own Iranian people ultimately sabotaged & back stabbed them and all their efforts... Mohamad Reza Pahlavi is the biggest example of our recent history... Dear Jeesh Daram, You are a Perfectionist and have way too much expectations of Iranian people, That is unrealistic and that's exactly where you run into big problems here ....  

And believe me , you didn't hurt my feelings! We can agree to disagree and If anything, judging by the way you comically insult "Qajars & Pahlavis" it seems that you have been more hurt than me in general about their reign & exictence in general... It's a widely known psychological fact that many comedians and those in the world of satire iirespective of their funny humour also suffer from depression!

Anyway, None of us is resposible for what another person did or does in life, be it our Fathers, Grand Fathers or even ancestors... We are only responsible for our own thoughts, words and actions in past, present and future!

In hopes of a Free & Prosperous Iran and a Better one for all of us Iranians... 

Best Wishes,

R 

...

افسوس و صد افسوس بر این بی‌ خبران،این نا بخردان، این مردمان و این دل‌ شکنان . . .

Was Shah a good or a bad person is irrelevant

Arthimis,Or should I hurry up and address you as Arthimis Jaan like Iranians do here to signal friendly fire?  No, I did not hate the Shah. I had no respect for his establishment which he was the leader of.  That is precisely why so many Iranians hate Qajars, and that is not because of any particular king, rather the establishment. In other words people have been as  instrumental to ruin the Shah, as was Pahlavi’s bad management and decision making.  Naturally, people always target the top dog and not the petty thieves and idiots below him. You can’t expect people after three decades sit and evaluate Pahlavi dynasty by pointing to Tayyeb Haj Rezaie or Taymour Bakhtiar, etc.  One has no choice but referring to the Shah as the symbol of that regime.  I am an objective freelance writer and I happen to believe that end will justify the means. 

Pahlavi dynasty was a failure, Turkey was a success. IRI is a failure, Turkey is a success. Qajar was a failure and so was every one before them. We as a nation have not produced anything democratic since god knows when. We still have to refer to Cyrus and Darius as the last democratic ruler we ever had. Going back that far is such tragedy.

When people here at Iranian.com say “Shah”, they are referring to him, his wife, sisters, brothers but most importantly to 150,000 top army officers and ministers and members of the parliament and top  bureaucrats in government offices and the bad teachers and corrupt police, etc. That is what Shah means and that is what Qajar meant. That is what talking about Nixon or Bush means. It does not mean a clinical seven- orifice-examination of one person, rather it means the era that one had so much control to make a change in the course of history.

A little eulogy by you for Qajar and Pahlavi really offers absolutely nothing to make the future of Iran any better, nor all the books that have been written that are dime a dozen. What makes your statements stand, what makes Shah good, and what would have made Qajar admirable, would have been handing down a country and rule, better than what it was during their reign. We have been consistently getting worse and drowning more in our vortex of idiotic centrism and fatalism.  Today, we are nothing more than a bitter divided nation bragging about things we have not accomplished, charities that we do not give and ambitions that we don’t have. Given that, there is not an ounce of difference between a person who is from a Qajar or Pahlavi family, it means nothing and by merely pointing that out can be a moral liability than an asset. Because you are intending to take the responsibility of a dynasty on your shoulder, but regardless of your zeal and good intentions, you are not qualified to do that or to rewrite the history. No one is. Even Reza Pahlavi cannot justify his father’s acts, let alone you and I.

I hope I did not hurt your feelings, as that is not my intention. What I am saying is without criticism you cannot correct corruptions and misinformation and falsehood. When we intend to criticize an establishment we always point at the top man, otherwise, Nassereddin Shah was a very good man too (or as Reagan would’ve said “he was a very good friend of mine”). In particular Ahamad Shah was a very nice young man with many good intentions. But people rightly criticize all the despotic dynasties that we have put up with throughout our history until this very minute.  Ones who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

So, yes Shah was a good man but he led a club of thieves that sold the country on his behalf, the very same way that the Qajars did. Good kings die by their sword to defend their country at least symbolically. Shah should have stayed and died in Iran along with 150,000 other people to save Iran from the clench of the next dynasty. Do not try to falsify his reasons for the escape, we lost ten times more because of his abandoning the kingdom, his so called "Empire". He was ill, yes, but so were many other people. He was a bad leader and a very bad manager because he put together and gathered a team of tyrants and fornicators around him that followed him out of the country with loaded suitcases and now they go and interview BBC and say “I told his Imperial Majesty, but he did not listen” Do you want to know what I call these leftover vultures? Call me.

..

..

Jee.. Daram, You seem to

Jee.. Daram,

You seem to be an educated and at times a very funny blogger...

However, as a direct descendant of "Qajar" Dynasty (Note: No one knows me here, but I only bring this "title" up once again to prove to you that one can still be fair in his or her judgements about facts ...) I disagree with your assessments & analysis of Pahlavi dynasty and Late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in specific.

You see, without any exaggeration, on a personal level, had it not been for Pahlavis and if Qajars would have stayed in power (at least till 1979) , My family and I would have been in much higher places in terms of status & Money..., but we weren't ! Thank God, we had a great respectable Middle Class life style during the Shah's regime like so many millions of other Iranians in Iran...

Your analysis of some hypocrits & traitors around Shah and "Darbaar" is correct, but Shah himself was not what you & other people like you portray him as & with so much bitterness & venom unfortunately! 

Was Shah perfect? Of course not ! Was he lost in his own Grandeur, Yes he was, perhaps! (any Iranian or other human being in his position would, trust me...) Did he make some very big mistakes, sure he did....

But at the end of the day, with all his imperfections, he was a True Iranian Patriot and had the best of Iran & Iranian people's interest in his heart and soul... and he did his best to his limits and capacities... If he was an evil man like "Khomeini, Khamenei & I.R. people in general..." He would have killed thousands of innocent and unarmed Iranian people before leaving Iran in those days, just like the way I.R. has been in the past 33 years!!! History & the entire world is his witness and in his favor about this ...

Those Iranian traitors in Shah's regime who perhaps hurt you and people like you in Iran were the lowest scums of the earth who change colors in one day for their own evil interests in any ruling regime in charge ... That is probably the real reason why you hate and bash Shah himself so much instead of traitor Iranians in his time and regime that still exist to this day, unfortunately...

As I said before , HISTORY IS THE TRUE JUDGE OF SHAH HERE, Not You and Not me!! Please don't let your mind, thoughts & ego, Your false personal hate of him to be your guide and blind your fair path of judgement ! I'm sure You are smarter than that ...

Best Wishes,

R 

Reza Shah

did not "live off people" based on the family he was born. Nor was Shah both did a great deal for Iran. A leader is absolutely vital to a nation. For all his problems Shah did earn his pay ten times over.

A

Arthimis, 

Regarding the palaces of the Pahlavi’s, the issue hovers around their taste and not what they deserved. But generally speaking the entire Pahlavi dynasty's vision was more of cash as current assets type of clans, rather than other tangible and non-tangible assets. On the other hand the new dynasty, the IRI, is more of an equity distribution of the loot. Their success is because they have distributed the cash more evenly among the thieves. Pahlavi’s should have gone one layer lower and deeper into the society and hence they would be here today. The 20/20 vision can hurt our hindsight sometimes.  "I told his majesty, but he did not listen" ( a typical comment of former regime's elites).

The question is when

we'll be able to see the palaces that the alliance of reesh-o pashm made for themselves during their reign of terror, I mean divine rule. I guess since most of them are on private islands, we'll never know.

Wow, those brutal, brutal Pahlavis

they had a Mercedes and even a lunch menu. Dictators!!!

Thank God we got rid of them.  Now I realize that everything that has happened in the past 33 years is justified.  Getting rid of that lunch menu was essential to our "independence" from Zionists and imperialists. 

Dear anglophile: The true pitiful thing in this day and age is…

That we still have people as 'kings and Queens' that are living off people solely based on  the family they were born to, though in many ME nation including our own, they are in their position thru the force of gun barrels.

   Just because the Buckingham is grander, it does not make it any more legitimate.  The facts, as I believe it, these folks  are living off people and ought to get a real job to support their lavish life style.  

Perhaps one day we will have Queen Elizabeth make her income tax a public record and see how much property tax she pays for the Buckingham and the guards that she employees to stand guard.

'Hambastegi' is the main key to victory 

Mehrdad

My dear fellow I thought you were sharper than this

آقای میز، این کاخها در ۱۹۷۹ ساخته نشده بود.

برو خدا روزیتو جای دیگه حواله کنه. 

Everything is sacred

Esfand joon be careful with your crystal ball - it may crack LOL

This palace was the palace of its time.

Back in 60s or 70s how many mansions were sprung in US?  Biggest mansions were plantations of Washington, Jefferson and White House.  Tiger Woods wasn't even born and Bill Gates was living in his parents garage!

If Shah had stayed this palace would've been either renovated and added or multiple other mansions built across Iran in line with piling up money of the Pahlavis and the architecture of 80s, 90s, 2000s and beyond. 

Everything is sacred