Archive - Sep 16, 2008 - Article

In Iranian eyes

The findings of the WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO) and Terror Free Tomorrow (TFT) surveys offer two messages to those wanting to see change in Iran's policies: (1) Iranians want their government to talk with the U.S. about specific issues and approve of their government's making policy concessions on both regional issues and its nuclear program in order to achieve normalized relations with the U.S. (2) At the same time, Iranians are relatively content with their government's responsiveness to their needs. The shortcomings many Iranians perceive in their economy are not widely blamed on President Ahmadinejad's government. While most Iranians reject the idea of a religious autocracy, most are not unhappy with the way they see their leaders being chosen and governing the country>>>

The Iran I saw

As painful as it may seem to the nearly three million expatriate Iranians in Diaspora and their few million brethrens, highly educated westernized elites and technocrats inside Iran, there are independent studies that if a national referendum were to be held in Iran today that the majority of the people, against their own long-term interests and without their cognizance, would still cast their ballots in favor of retaining the current Islamic Republic, perhaps with some in-house reforms. When the conditions are ripened for a fundamental political change, as history has repeatedly indicated-the case in point is the overthrow of the Pahlavi Dynasty- a society would rise to rid itself of the incumbent system, irrespective of the hitherto harsh repressive measures imposed on it>>>

Welcome to London! Just kidding.

A few weeks ago I returned from close to four months of fieldwork in Iran conducting research for my doctoral thesis. However, I and the 460 other IranAir passengers were caught off guard by an unwelcome greeting from UK immigration officers. As we set foot off the airplane, our passports were checked, an experience I have never had flying in from other countries. Having just spent hours in Imam Khomeini airport, I was witness to the thorough and professional examination of passports and Visas; thus, I could not understand the logic behind this act except harassment of those who decide to fly with IranAir. >>>

حرکت بیباکانۀ پوتین

آیا روسیه ، با یک ارتش دو میلیونی ، تکنولوژیِ پیشرفته نظامی-فضائی و هزاران بمب اتمی قصد دارد گرجستان را ببلعد؟ آیا پوتین همانند استالین ، می خواهد گرجستان را زیر چکمه هایش خُرد کرده و به بقیۀ جمهوری های جداشده از اتحاد جماهیر شوروی ، پیامی بفرستد؟ آیا پوتین از اینکه آمریکا از یک طرف گرفتار جنگِ عراق و افغانستان و از طرف دیگر در یک بحران شدید اقتصادی دست و پا میزند ، فرصت را برای اعمال نفوذ مناسب یافته است؟ با اتکا به تفسیر متخصصین آمریکائیِ جمهوری های جدا شده از روسیه شوروی ، علت اصلی درگیری آمریکا و روسیه در گرجستان ، انرژی (نفت و گاز) کشورهای همجوار دریای خزر می باشد و در این رودر روئی ، پوتین موفق شده که بوش را مات کند. >>>