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Varda Bebar

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Sacred Varanasi

For centuries, life in India has been shaped by two different religions, Hinduism and Islam. They were not any less divergent in their prescription for the afterlife. Burning in hell is the ultimate damnation in Islam, while the Hindus seek the liberation of their soul in the very fire of the funeral pyre. It was not so much theology as the rituals of India’s religions that, presently, attracted me to its sacred Varanasi>>>

Unaffordable

Exact estimates vary, but in the next few years Iran will be in position to detonate a nuclear device. An aggressive theocracy armed with the bomb will cast a dangerous shadow over the region’s political transition, but the consequences will not be limited to the Middle East. An Iranian bomb is likely to unleash the most divisive partisan discord in this country since the 1949 debate about who lost China. In the end, neither the turbulent order of the Middle East nor the partisan politics of Washington can afford an Islamic Republic armed with nuclear weapons>>>

Cash Crunch

By devoting much of its oil and gas earnings to public cash payments, Tehran is locking itself into a situation where it has little margin for error if its hydrocarbon revenues decrease. If oil prices decline -- or, more important, if the United States and its allies can dissuade countries and companies from paying for Iranian oil (Washington has no objections if they receive said oil, only if they pay for it) -- then the Islamic Republic could face serious problems paying for the checks to which the Iranian people are rapidly becoming accustomed>>>

زیبا تا زشت

در این که آمنه کاری بزرگ و انسانی کرده و مانع از آن شده است تا کسی در حضور دیگران و دوربین‌های تلویزیونی انسان دیگری را، صرف نظر از جرمی که مرتکب شده است، به عمد و آگاهانه کور کند تردیدی نیست. ولی آن چه که کمتر در این قضیه مورد توجه قرار گرفته این است که چرا خانم بهرامی باید در وضعیتی قرار گیرد که مجبور شود در مورد سرنوشت مرد جنایت‌کاری که به صورت او اسید پاشیده است تصمیم بگیرد>>>

گرگ و چوپان

بعد از حوادث 22 خرداد سال 1388، تعداد زیادی از بره هایی که در این بازی شرکت داشتند در این مدت به صف گرگ پیوسته اند. میگوئید نه! به قول مش قاسم تا قبر آه! آه! آه یعنی فقط چهار انگشت فاصله است و نباید دروغ گفت. در این بازی هم مثل تمام بازی هایی که تاکنون در ایران صورت گرفته، زرنگترین بره پشت سر چوپان بدون برو برگرد در دور بعدی بازی گرگ خواهد شد. شک نکنید. این را تجربه چند هزار ساله زندگی اجتماعی ایرانیها میگوید. >>>

Iran's Stunning Unpopularity

Iran's favorable ratings are in a "freefall" across the Arab World, with Iran's behavior in Iraq, Bahrain and the Arab Gulf region being viewed negatively by most Arabs. These are a few of the key findings of an Arab American Institute poll conducted by Zogby International during the first three weeks of June, 2011. The poll surveyed over 4,000 Arabs from Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates>>>

Don't Do What We Did

A revolution that started with the fifth generation of freedom organ 'Google' should not end up with an “archaic ideology” that is obsolete and outmoded in modern times. The only way to gain proper freedom is to liberate oneself from the yokes of doctrine; otherwise Egyptians will be looking at another revolution in a few years, like Iran today. The romance with the Islamic Republic has fallen and is maintained by the terror of state oppression, so will Egyptian romance with the Salafis and Akhwans>>>

Comedy of Errors

Seeing Shahrokh Moshkinghalam on stage dressed up as Zohreh, the Goddess of Love, evokes an eerie sense mystery. We think of honeyed speech and gazelle like body movements as female, but the actor in Moshkinghalam knows better. He drapes the goddess’ glamour wear over his masculine flat chest and judiciously sidesteps trying to imitate a woman’s voice pitch. With reddish curls tumbling from his head down to his waist, he appears as a mesmerizing, and oddly beautiful, not-quite-human entity>>>

...می شود

می‌شود كه دوباره در آن كافه‌ی خاكستری نشسته باشی و آن دو چشم بارانی، به جای میز بغلی كنار تو نشسته باشد و دست‌های گرمش را روی دست‌های تو بگذارد و صدای خنده‌های شادابتان سرِ همه‌ی میهمانان كافه را برگرداند. حتا می‌شود كه دستش را زیر چانه‌ات بگذارد و تو را به سوی خودش بكشد و لب طلایی‌اش را در میان لب‌های تشنه‌ی تو گم كند>>>

Shoring Up Assad

Unfortunately, if Iran has its way, Assad won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Iran has reportedly provided an emergency financial lifeline to the regime in the amount of $5.6 billion as billions pour out of Syrian banks by nervous depositors seeking safe haven in Beirut or Istanbul-based banks. As I reported earlier, intelligence analysts have irrefutable proof that Iran has dispatched advisers from its domestic secret police forces (The Law Enforcement Service or LED) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) to take over direct supervision of anti protest suppression>>>

The Ancient World War

Sassanian Iran and Byzantine Rome were possibly the only two empires on earth to be “hyper-powers” during late antiquity; the Greek speaking Christian Romans (or Byzantines) dominated the countries of Italy, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor (Turkey), Armenia, western Mesopotamia (Iraq) and the Balkans. The Zoroastrian Sassanian Persians ruled an empire that included parts of India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, eastern Mesopotamia and Tajikistan. These two empires were neighbours and bordered each other from the time of their individual establishment>>>

قهر قهر تا روز قیامت

فردا که آمدی
یادت بماند
پوست کاغذی خوشبوی آدامسم را بیاوری
که رویش عکس خروس داشت >>>

چرا بشر تصمیم گرفت زنان را تحقیر و کنترل‌ کند؟

من هم معتقدم که صد‌ها هزار و شاید اگر اغراق نباشد میلیون‌ها ایرانی به‌طور عمومی می‌دانند و بی‌شک در حین زندگی در ایران متوجه شده‌اند که بی‌حرمتی، اجحاف و حتی خشونت نسبت به زنان وطن‌شان وجودی عمیق دارد ولی شاید کاملاً نمی‌دانند این پدیده مختص ایران و شرایط اقلیمی و فرهنگی آن نیست و در حقیقت یک پدیده قدیمی جهانی است>>>

تکه‌ای از زندگی رعنا

رعنا رفیق اهل اسلوی من بود. تازه از بیمارستان آمده بود. چند شب پیش همه‌ی قرص‌های داخل کمد آشپزخانه‌اش را خالی دهانش کرده بود تا به قول خودش از زندگی سراسر غم و رنج بارش آزاد بشود. با خنده گفتم: «خب پس چرا هنوز زنده‌ای کله‌پوک؟» با خنده‌ی بی‌صدایی گفت: «دوست پسرم خیلی زود فهمید و مرا به بیمارستان رساند.» آخ از دست این دوست پسر احمقش!!!>>>