NUCLEAR
Sanctions are something the regime cannot ignore
DW: Talks between the so-called 5+1 and Iran in 2011 failed to yield any progress whatsoever. So are this weekend's negotiations just an empty exercise? Meir Javedanfar: I think the talks are important for both sides. President Obama is facing an election in 2012 and needs to show that he gave diplomacy a chance. And on the Iranian side Ayatollah Khamenei is facing the toughest economic sanctions the Islamic Republic has ever been confronted with, which could lead to the collapse of the economy. The regime could not survive that
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VIEW
This weekend if you're not busy, why not head on over to Turkey for some fun? You too can stay at a nice hotel, have some surprisingly good Turkish food, see the sights, and try your hand at the new casino being set up for Iran, the US, and some other lesser countries who will irresponsibly gamble the futures of their peoples away with misguided attempts at what we can only call posing
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FOOTNOTE
Review of Asghar Farhadi's Oscar rival
I saw ‘Footnote’ with a dear friend of mine. Neither of us is Jewish, or speaks Hebrew. Nor has either of us seen an Israeli movie before. While still young at heart, neither of us has been exempt from the tyranny of time or biology. Our interest in seeing this film had more to do with the fact that (a), it did compete against ‘A Separation’ in the foreign language category of the 2012 Academy Awards, and (b), from what we had read about its plot here and there, it had a theme familiar to both of us
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MEDIA
Islamic Republic “Journalism” at its best
This morning, an Iranian-based website entitled “Young Journalists Club,” whose slogan reads, “The Largest Persian Language News Agency In the World,” published an article with the following headline: “When the Veils of Deception are Rent Asunder: Membership in the Misguided Sect of ‘Bahaism’ as a Chief Condition of Employment with a Document Enclosed as Proof”cThe Article goes on to introduce a UK based website named “You and I” and notes that the efforts of its editors, who are directly financed by the “Royal Elements"
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STORY
Short story winner in UK writer's competition
That year autumn started with gusts of winds carrying dust, bits of hay and stench of dung. Dark-grey clouds gathered and frowned over the village. Flocks of carrion crows invaded the rooftops, branches of trees, and edges of the walls – cawing incessantly. The village folk were agitated because they were going to commemorate Ashura. Morose-looking, bearded young men were dressed in long, black shirts. Women, wrapped in black chadors, scurried silently in the narrow lanes and alleyways
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