ITALY

Layers of beauty

Layers of beauty

Photo essay: A history so old, a culture so complex

by Keyvan Tabari
08-Dec-2008 (2 comments)

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TRAVELER

Sketches from Italy

Scratching the surface a bit deeper

08-Dec-2008 (2 comments)
Italy is deceptively familiar. We have seen it in the movies, heard its songs, tasted its food, and read about it. Yet Italy’s history is so old and its culture so complex that my grasp will always remain inadequate. This much I knew as I embarked on my seventh visit to that land. All I could hope for was to scratch the surface a bit deeper. These sketches are meant to pull together my fleeting impressions of the place and its people as I looked for the whole by experiencing its diversity>>>
persian westender
08-Dec-2008 (7 comments)
Repost with a minor change and PS. >>>
Faramarz_Fateh
08-Dec-2008 (25 comments)
Over the last 8 years, I have been F'ed by G. W. Bush so many times that I should be pregnant. >>>
Cheezaki
08-Dec-2008 (one comment)
"A word in Spanish" by Elton John. 1988.>>>
Mehman
08-Dec-2008 (5 comments)
پدیده جدید وزنه بردار جهان باز هم از ایران طلوع کرد! >>>

“Strategy of Tension”

smhb

Creating an "Arc of Crisis": The Destabilization of the Middle East and Central Asia

Global Research / Andrew Marshall
recommended by smhb
08-Dec-2008 (4 comments)
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MAJIDI NOMINATED FOR GOLDEN GLOBE

Darius Kadivar

'Song of Sparrows' Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film

IRNA via Payvand
recommended by Darius Kadivar
08-Dec-2008 (one comment)
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GLOBALIZATION

New Challenge

Shifting Iran's balance of power to a more moderate direction

08-Dec-2008 (9 comments)
The current animosities between the US and Iran governments superficially are claimed to be rooted in the Iranian nuclear program and the support of international terrorism by the rulers in Iran of. Yet, more research of non-dedicated media will reveal that the central disparity between Washington and Tehran is the West’s refusal to take in Iran as a trade partner and its denial of Iran’s yearning to become part of the globalization brotherhood. Certainly there are those elements in Iran who wish to keep the status quo and maintain a deregulated economy, which tremendously serves to enrich them. But, the more practical politicians in Iran realize that globalization is a world reality and they want to be a part of it>>>

Still angry!

Shirin Vazin

Inside Iran's Fury

Smithsonian magazine / Stephen Kinzer
recommended by Shirin Vazin
08-Dec-2008
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TERRORISM

از قرطبه تا بمبئی

سم مهلک تروریسم استشهادی اسلامی که در این چند ساله بکام جهان ریخته شده معجونی التقاطی است

08-Dec-2008 (8 comments)
این هفته مسافر آندلس بودم. رقص صحنه های خونین بمبئی را در شهر زیبای قرطبه بروی شیشه تلویزیون دیدم و بیاد عملیات خرابکارانه چهار سال قبل در ایستگاه قطار آتوچای مادرید افتادم و شبی را که در آتن به بیخوابی و دغدغه به تماشای حوادث اسپانیا و نوشتن بسربرده بودم.1 بعد وقایع یازدهم سپتامبرهفت سال قبل و صبح شومی را بیاد آوردم که مرا مانند منجنیقی از برج عاج نوشتار های تخصصی به دنیای مقاله نگاری پرتاب کرد. اساتید ما همیشه واژه ژورنالیسم را در برابر کار جدی آکادمیک بکار میبردند. ولی جای تردید نبود. وقتی بناممان انسانها را در ساختمانهای تجاری و ایستگاه های راه آهن و هتلها قصابی میکنند و دینمان را به آئین خون و مرگ مسخ میکنند دیگر چه جای نوشتن برای گروه معدودی از هم ریشان دانشگاهی است؟ در این چند ساله نوشتن برای مخاطبین عام را نه تنها راهی برای مقابله با خشونتِ نیست انگارانه تروریسم اسلامی بلکه تسکینی برای اعصاب و روان خود در این جهان ناآرام نیز یافته ام. البته کار با نوشتن تمام نمیشود ولی شاید بعضی کار ها با آن شروع شود. >>>

PAHLAVAN

Keeping balance

Pahlavans like Takhti exemplified the necessity of maintaining balance

08-Dec-2008 (8 comments)
Truthfully, wrestling is not one of my favorite sports, it is a little messy for my taste, and the idea of two semi-naked, sweaty men twisting around each other never appealed to me. To make it worse, I should admit that my technical knowledge of this sport does not go further than some generalities. However, I know its cultural value, its place in Iranian culture, and its relevance to Iranian life. But while reviewing Marcello Di Cintio Poets and Pahlevans, I learned a lot more about this sport, its technique as well as its social and cultural value. The author, a young Canadian poet and a semi-professional wrestler, makes two tripsto Iran to record various local techniques of wrestling. In this quest, he stumbles over a poet’s grave next to almost every wrestling pit, in remote villages of Iran, which functions as a shrine>>>

HISTORY

Downhill since

Mongol plague and Shia take-over of Iran

08-Dec-2008 (19 comments)
The new Khan of the united Mongol tribes (Genghis) was rapidly expanding eastward into the Chinese territories, but apparently; he was considering Iran more as a potential trade partner towards Europe, rather than an immediate target. Therefore, Genghis was astonished when the riches of a Mongol caravan were confiscated by the border guards of Iran, and all the 200 merchants and guards were executed. He sent another group of emissaries directly to Khwarizm Shah’s court with a plea for retribution, but they too were killed! In response, the angered Mongol chief sent a massive army of 200,000 murderers into Iran.The first wave of Mongol invasion (1220 to 1224) destroyed most of the Khorasan cities (the cradle of Farsi civilization), killing millions and enslaving millions more! All eastern centers of Iranian culture, agriculture and business were irrevocably destroyed or devastated>>>

POETRY

A Word of Warning!
08-Dec-2008
When nations are under pressure
Dogma rules the day and it goes unquestioned
Established views become final
Protected from any challenge
In these circumstances
Those who do not go along
And offend the conventional views
Take a serious risk >>>

Warning!

Monda

Cell Phones Fry Memory

MotherJones
recommended by Monda
08-Dec-2008 (5 comments)
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