OPINION
Obama must strongly embrace a cold-war-style strategy of containment
by CSM
Calls are rising in the West for tougher actions against Iran, especially after a mob attack on the British Embassy in Tehran, Iranian plans to kill a Saudi envoy in Washington, and the latest report on the country’s nuclear program. Some Israeli leaders are again beating the war drums for an attack to prevent Iran from making atomic weapons. The US Congress wants to cripple Iran’s economy by punishing any country that does business with its central bank
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THREAT
American Enterprise Institute admits: Iran threat Isn't that it will launch nuclear attack
by MJ Rosenberg
Suddenly the struggle to stop Iran is not about saving Israel from nuclear annihilation. After a decade of scare-mongering about the second coming of Nazi Germany, the Iran hawks are admitting that they have other reasons for wanting to take out Iran, and saving Israeli lives may not be one of them. Suddenly the neoconservatives have discovered the concept of truth-telling, although, no doubt, the change will be ephemeral. The shift in the rationale for war was kicked off this week when Danielle Pletka explained what the current obsession with Iran's nuclear program is all about
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FACEBOOK
I say, come down from your lofty pedestals
I have a few Islamic clerics, mullahs, on my list of Facebook friends. They are fun to be connected to. Physically, their distinguishing features are a black or white turban immaculately wrapped around their head and a long beard they call
mahasen, nice qualities. Sometimes during a conversation, they will move their turbans up or down to draw attention to themselves, or to signify their control of the situation, or simply to scratch their consecrated heads
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GOOGOOSH
نگاهی کلی به برنامه ی "آکادمی موسیقی گوگوش"
بالاخره بعد از یکی دو هفته کلنجار با خودم تصمیم گرفتم ترس و محافظه کاری را کنار گذاشته و آن چه که در این مدت در برنامه ی گوگوش موزیک آکادمی دیدم و درک کردم را بیان کنم. قبل از شروع می خواهم از تمام دوستان خوبم که از طرفداران خانم گوگوش هستند خواهش کنم یا این مطلب را نخوانند یا سعی کنند با دیدگاهی منطقی به کلیت داستان فکر کنند
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NERUDA
و هنگامی که تو ظاهر می شوی
صدای همه ی رودخانه ها
در بدنم طنین انداز میشوند و زنگها
آسمان را به لرزه در می آورند،
و جهان از سرودِ ستایش پر می شود
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POETRY
زیبا رشید دلآرا
اینجا ست دزد
برده از هیئت
یك جفت سنج
برای؟
خواب یا بیداری؟ آشپزخانه یا مهمانی؟
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VIEW
Iran and the Nuclear Weapons Club
by Patricia DeGennaro
The very countries calling on Iran to scrap their nuclear program are armed to the teeth with their own nuclear weapons. The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Israel are all nuclear powers. Germany, the Netherlands and the rest of the NATO countries are "sharers" of nukes kindly supplied to them by the US. Together they could destroy all of mankind ensuring that no life will exist on this planet for, lets say, the next several million millenniums
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CONFRONTATION
Why it is NOT a good idea
Some of us seek to argue for a soft landing for US-Iran relations through things like serious mutually beneficial and peaceful dialog, and discussion, and well, for lack of the these days rarely used term, diplomacy. Having seen how entrenched Iran is after 32 years. If there was a chance to overthrow the current system and move it back on track to democracy, I think a pragmatic, less idealistic person would say, that time has passed
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WEST
by Barbara Slavin
The Islamic Republic of Iran is now more isolated than it has been since the 1980s, but it also has a greater capacity to respond in ways that could disrupt the world economy - affecting the price and supply of oil, for example. Iran has more mature asymmetric capabilities to carry out acts of violence abroad through groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. And it has more missiles that could attack Saudi oil fields, as well as a steadily growing stockpile of partially enriched uranium that could be turned into nuclear weapons if Iran so chose
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FREE SPEECH
بیانیهء جمعی از شاعران ،نویسندگان و کوشندگان سیاسی برای دفاع از آزادی بیان
by Supporters of Free Speech
ابراز نظر علی میرفطروس، پژوهشگر تاریخ ایران دربارهی حکومت و براندازی آن بشکل جراحی نظامی، بهانهای برای «منتقدان شرمگین» رژیم شده است. این گرگانِ در لباس میش - به عمد - از درک کُنه نوشتهی این چهرهی سرشناس ادبی و فرهنگی ناتوان میمانند تا بتوانند چراغهای سبز چشمکزنشان را از دور و نزدیک برای حکومت روشن کنند. بساط توطئه، ترور شخصیتی، جوسازی و خاکپاشی به چشم مردم را میگسترانند و با فریاد «واسلاما»، «وامیهنا» به ترویج تفتیش و سانسور آن هم درجهان آزاد میپردازند
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STORY
با عصبانیت فریاد کشید: پنجاه درصد چی بودی؟ کپ اوغلی؛ من از صد در صد هم بیشتر شهید شدی!
درست یادم نیست که چه جوری در سال ۶۶ سر از "کمیسیون پزشکی تعیین درصد جانبازی شهدای زنده" در آوردم؛ اما مطمئنم که داستان خنده داری نداشت. کمیسیون هفتهای یکبار بعد از نماز و ناهار، پنج شنبهها جلسه داشت. بجز مقام ریاست که خر مذهبی بود؛ بقیه ما همان عصر پنج شنبه دوره پوکر داشتیم. دکتر باقر الاسلام یک هفته در میان، پولمان را در پوکر روبسته میبرد
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STORY
رهبر کبیر انقلاب 11 فوریه ایندولند، آن شب آرام و قرار نداشت. یبوست مزمنش عود کرده بود. چهار شبانه روز بود که مرتب دستشوئی میرفت ولی موفقیتی در بر نداشت. کمیته ویژه ای به ریاست فرمانده سرویس های اطلاعاتی و پلیس مخفی در پی یافتن راه علاجی برای درمان ولو موقت بیماری فیلد مارشال دیگو فرناندز رهبر مادام العمر ایندولند بود
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VIEW
Why the UK Embassy was attacked?
The disgraceful attack by hardline Basijis - the same group that beat and killed peaceful demonstrators in Iran in 2009 - against the British embassy in Tehran appears on the surface to be a response to Britain's role in imposing crippling sanctions on Iran. The US and the EU are preparing new sanctions on Iran, including potentially Central Bank and oil sanctions. And there has been an onslaught of computer viruses, assassinations of Iranian scientists, and several Iranian facilities have blown up in just a few week
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NUCLEAR
Miscalculations could clear path to war or a nuclear Iran
by Joschka Fischer
All attempts at negotiations have led nowhere, with Iran continuing to enrich uranium and improve its nuclear technology. Sanctions, while useful, work only in the very long term, and a change in the balance of power within the country is not foreseeable in the short term. So it is only a matter of time – and not much time – until Iran’s neighbors and the international community will confront a fateful choice: either accept Iran as a nuclear power, or decide that the mere prospect, as it becomes more realistic, is leading to war
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