Archive - Jun 3, 2010 - Article

New global balance

The balance of power that has reigned in the international system since the end of the cold war is undergoing profound shifts. Iran’s agreement with Brazil and Turkey on 17 May 2010 over the treatment of its enriched uranium, and the sanctions that the United States wishes (through a United Nations resolution) to impose on the Tehran government over Iran’s nuclear programme, reveal this system’s deep cracks. The change can be measured in the way that (as an editorial in Le Monde noted) discussion of issues such as nuclear proliferation, which used to be confined to permanent members of the UN Security Council, now finds countries from the global south playing a key role>>>

برای یک دوست بسیجی، پاسدار یا نمی دانم حزب اللهی

یادت می آید سالها پیش در ورودی شهربازی گریه من را در آوردی چون روسری به سر نداشتم و دختر خالم مانتواش کوتاه بود؟ من فقط 8 سال داشتم! آیا به خاطر داری در ورودی فرودگاه مهرآباد به من باز هم حمله کردی چون شلوارم کوتاه بود؟ من 10 ساله بودم! می دانم خاطرت نیست که هر بار با دوستانم به بیرون میرفتیم شبح تو ما را دنبال می کرد تا خاطرات شیرین جوانی را در کام ما تلخ کند!>>>

Fireworks

Daddy,
Last time we watched the fireworks,
The earth didn't shake.
The windows didn't break.
And my little sister they didn't awake.
>>>

انقراضِ زمین

می‌ خواهم بدانید ،آری
و به خاطر بسپارید این اخطارِ انکار ناپزیرنده یِ شوم را
که انقراضِ نسلِ آدم را این بار
نه خشمِ خدایان،
نه دسیسه یِ طوفان،
                  >>>

Tale of many cities

From the fairyland airport of Faro, in the pristine Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, I flew over the lofty white peak of Mount Everest and landed in Delhi. Under the gray blanket of smog comprised of dust, car fumes, and smoke from the many open wood-fires that served as heaters for the poor on this cold late November evening, the capital of India palpated with the chaotic traffic of buses, carts, trucks, motorcycles, rickshaws, hand-pushed carts, and pedestrians who spilled over into the roads where the broken sidewalks ended unexpectedly. Nobody paid attention to the police at the intersections who flailed their arms to conduct the movements in directions which were blocked anyway>>>