Archive - Jul 8, 2010 - Article

All Smiles

If any issue hovered over the Obama-Netanyahu tete-a-tete, it was the question of prioritization. For Netanyahu, the issue seems clear: as he said at the outset of his public remarks at the White House, "The greatest new threat on the horizon, the single most dominant issue for many of us, is the prospect that Iran would acquire nuclear weapons," and the rest of his comments flowed from that opening statement. These words suggest that Iran is, without doubt, the most important issue for Israeli security, though not necessarily the most urgent; Netanyahu did not imply that decisions on assessing the efficacy of sanctions need to be made very soon, nor that decisions on preventive military action are imminent>>>

The fight continues

This time of year, every year, I remember. On the evening of July 8, 1999, I slept in the dormitories of Tehran University when it was attacked. We woke to the sounds of the Basiji as they screamed at us in the name of a god who was merciless. They beat us to a pulp. The sounds of that night have never faded from my memory. Students were battered, their bones literally broken like branches pulled from a tree. There were shots fired and the sound of breaking glass filled the night air. Students screamed in disbelief and horror as their sense of security was forever shaken>>>

جدال بر سر دانشگاه آزاد

کشمکش برسر تصاحب و کنترل دانشگاه آزاد و ارزش افسانه‌ای مایملک آن که طرفداران احمدی‌نژاد آن را ۲۵۰ هزار میلیارد تومان برآورد می‌کنند، در هفته‌های اخیر شدت گرفت و سرانجام با دخالت شخص خامنه‌ای موقتا آرام شد. طرفداران احمدی‌نژاد عزم کرده بودند به هر بهایی شده این دانشگاه را از چنگ هاشمی رفسنجانی و عوامل او بیرون بکشند و در این راه از همه اهرم‌های ممکن کمک گرفتند>>>

In Defense of English

As far back as January 9 1978 native English speakers used the word “Farsi” to denote the language spoken in Iran. I make this assertion because I contacted the Library of Congress for references to the word “Farsi” in general interest American newspapers prior to the 1979 Iranian revolution. The top image above is of page E10 of the Chicago Tribune dated January 9 1978. The writer says in the column on Iran, “The official language, Farsi, is spoken by only about 60% of the people.”>>>