Archive - Apr 2008 - Article

Time to talk

The world is anxiously watching the US and Iran as so many of the issues confronting the international community and our citizenries are currently held captive by our inability to work together to resolve them. Terrorism, military nuclear capabilities, energy, Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma are all major issues confronting the US and the world. All of these challenges are intrinsically linked with Iran and none can be sufficiently addressed or resolved without an appreciation for Iran’s role in each>>>

Dominating others

Published during revolutionary times in Iran in 1979, Missing Soluch is a 500-page tribute to the socialist ideas that so enthused the Iranian intellectuals and writers of that period. Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, who comes from a village in the north-eastern province of Khorasan, has worked in agriculture, as a craftsman, and in theater in Tehran. Published about ten years after the revolution, his longest novel and perhaps the longest existing Persian novel, Kalidar (10 volumes), earned him a permanent place in the history of Persian literature. Kalidar, is about the simplicity, dignity and bravery of ordinary people in a village in Khorasan>>>

The Pomegranate Path (3)

Back at Ollie’s house his mother was brushing her long, silky black hair after having taken her evening shower.Sitting at her vanity mirror in her house robe and slippers, she looked intently at the fine lines which in the past few years had begun to form around her eyes.Even now at forty-nine, she was a fine-looking woman by anyone’s standards. Every night, she meticulously went through the same routine of applying an assortment of expensive creams and lotions to her striking face and gorgeous neck.No one could ever accuse her of not trying her very best to hold back the toll that the hands of time inevitably inflict upon every once young and once beautiful woman.She wasn’t entirely convinced that her regimen of beauty products was having the desired effect, but at least she wasn’t giving up without a fight>>>

صدوهشتاد و نه پله*

از صدوهشتاد و نه پله به پایین می لغزم...
یک: همسرم که تیرباران شد
دو: جفتی که مرا واگذاشت
سه: پسرم که دو خانه دارد
چهار: خواهرم که در زندان زاد
پنج: برادرم که بی نشان مرد
شش: تار شدن چشم هایم
هفت: اندوهان تبعید. >>>

189 Steps

I trip down 189 steps...
One: my wife executed in Tehran
Two: my mate leaving me in Venice
Three: my son living between two homes
Four: my sister giving birth in prison
Five: my brother buried in an unmarked grave
Six: my failing eyesight
Seven: my sorrows of exile >>>

Joy vs. suffering

I wish to start this article by first making sure readers fully understand what culture is and can fully distinguish nations, races, tribes, ethnicities, etc….. from cultures. Culture is generally defined as the “Pattern of Human Activity” or as they say here in America the “Way of Life”. It is important to know that several cultures can co-exist within the same country or amongst the same race or ethnical group, even if those cultures are in conflict in many aspects, as long as all follow the same established civil rules>>>

Know thy challenger

For geopolitical as well as geostrategic reasons any Middle East policy which does not encompass a detailed long term policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic is a costly exercise in futility. This hypothesis can best be validated by a simple dissection of the events in Lebanon, Israel, including the territories, Afghanistan and Iraq. In every instance the clash of the Islamic Republic’s agenda with those of the West has bogged down any meaningful progress. So the germane question that comes to mind is why such a knowledge deficit about a country as important as Iran?>>>

تصادف با شیر

کم کم دارد جزئیات به یادم می آید! من هم یادم نیست از کجا می آمدیم یا کجا می رفتیم. همین قدر یادم هست که ماشین را در دنده ی خلاص گذاشته بودم، گرم اختلاط بودیم و سرازیری جاده ی"پهلوی" را که "مصدق" شده بود، و هنوز مانده بود تا "ولی عصر" بشود، آرام به پایین می لغزیدیم، که ناگهان اتفاق افتاد. نزدیک بود قالب تهی کنم. آره! یادم هست که جیغ کوتاهی کشیدی که بیشتر شبیه به یک ناله بود، انگار که بگویی؛ خدایا! یا عجب بدشانسی! همان وقت بود که متوجه شدم چیزی پیچیده در یک چادر، روی کاپوت ماشین می لغزد. مثل این که در آن لحظه هیچ کداممان جلو را نگاه نمی کردیم! تعجب من هم از همین بود. در درازای چند ثانیه ای که ترمز کردم و پایین آمدم، صدها فکر در ذهنم می چرخید.>>>

…و

"من شعر نمی‌نویسم: واقعیت‌ها را می‌نویسم". روژه‌ویچ می گفت. روژه‌ویچ آزرده و عاصی. ۱۹۶۹. تقریبن چهل سال گذشته است و این حرف او هنوز طنین سنگینی دارد. در جهان مصنوع ما، جایی که هر چیزی بر صحنه‌‌ای آراسته می‌شود تا "واقعی" جلوه کند، مردم به ناظران بی‌تفاوت و ناتوان واقعیت فروکاسته‌اند. بمباران اطلاعاتی و تسلط تکنولوژی بر بیشترعرصه‌های زندگی اجتماعی (ماشین مَجاز‌سازی) کمتر رمقی برای درگیری رگی و خونی با واقعیت باقی گذاشته است. در این جهان بازگشت به واقعیت شرط اساسی بازگشت به خویشتن و در نهایت کشف دوباره‌ی شعر است. >>>

Cowboys and Iranians

It is a very sad day in Iranian history when an American presidential candidate needs to threaten to “obliterate” Iran so as to be elected. The question that every Iranian needs to ask: “Why has Hillary suddenly transformed into a testes endowed nuclear warmonger?” Is it the fact that the largest economy of the world, which is driven by the military industrial complex and uses 25% of the planets oil, has concluded that only Iran stands in its way to controlling 60% of the globe's known petrochemical reserves? Or, is it because it is only Iran that stands in the way of the apartheid-like behavior of the Zionists?>>>

The Next Majlis

On April 25, a second round of voting will determine the remaining eighty-eight seats of the Iranian Majlis. The first round, held on March 14, decided 202 seats and was considered a defeat for both the reformists and President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad. His reaction to the setback -- the dismissal of Interior Minister Mustafa Pur-Muhammadi, responsible for conducting the election -- is indicative of the difficult times ahead for the president and his allies, whose public and official support is steadily diminishing>>>

The Spider Killings (17)

Azadeh and Roxanne had just finished washing Yassi’s body at the mosque. It had been a grueling task. Azadeh remarked to herself that in death, Yassi resembled her more than she had during her lifetime, her body covered with cuts and scratches like her own. They had never looked so much like sisters. Except these wounds had not been self-inflicted and they had been deadly. Exiting the mosque, a feeble and trembling Azadeh was supported by Roxanne on her way home. The older woman had been at the side of the young girl almost exclusively for the past two days.>>>

You and Us

You, when you make love
you demand comfort
a bed of cedar
and a special mattress support
Us, when we make love
it is easy to arrange
with sheets, how great!
without sheets, just the same. >>>

Premonition

“Would you like another one?” The man sitting at the bar offered the woman next to him.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?” Uma replied in a seductive tone while playing with the empty glass in her hand.
“I enjoy your company. I like to prolong our exciting conversation.” He responded.
“I have every reason to be skeptical of your intentions.” She sneered.
“That’s because you’re cynical. I like that in a woman.” >>>

Shrinkage

There have always been lots of talk about Iran's present, and past, sizes. Which size is the true size of this country, or empire, called Iran, or Persia as it used to be called internationally? Iranians seem to feel sorry for having lost large territories that used to belong to the Persian Empire. Many Iranians blame the Qajar for having lost the territories. Others hate the Arabs for having invaded the Sassanian Empire some 1300 years ago, for having started it all. There are many Iranians who blame almost everybody for Iran's present size, from its past rulers to its neighbours, and to Western powers in general. There is a lot of myth to all this contention and lost pride!>>>