PARTICIPANT

Serving the Motherland

International Congress of Iranians Abroad

by Ardeshir Ommani
02-Sep-2010 (32 comments)
Upon our return to the U.S. from a trip to Iran attending the Second Great Congress of Iranians Abroad, held in Tehran August 2 and 3, 2010, I decided to give a call to a long-time political friend and a peace activist to inform her about the success of the gathering and AIFC’s plans to hold a public meeting to report on the event. In this Congress about 2000 Iranian professionals, doctors, engineers, economists, financial analysts, etc. participated to get to know each other and discover the areas they can contribute in the developments of their motherland>>>

IRI

رقابت با ولی فقیه
by Hossein Bagher Zadeh
02-Sep-2010 (3 comments)
موازی‌سازی در جمهوری اسلامی یکی از مشخصات غالب این نظام بوده است. از دولت «امام زمانی» چندماهه مهندس بازرگان که با حکم مستقیم آیت الله خمینی سر کار آمده بود تا دوران خاتمی و پس از آن، این پدیده ظهور داشته است. تنها در دوره ریاست جمهوری هاشمی رفسنجانی، موازی‌سازی کمی تخفیف یافت. مهندس بازرگان از دخالت عوامل نامسئول در حکومت می‌نالید. بنی‌صدر از کنترل نهادها موازی عاجز ماند و مقام خود را در مصاف آنان از دست داد>>>

POINT

Bomb First, Worry Later

Those who support an Israeli attack on Iran are indistinguishable from Israel's worst enemies

by MJ Rosenberg
29-Aug-2010 (43 comments)
Few of the major proponents of bombing Iran are arguing that it is necessary for US security -- let alone that a bloody blowback against Americans is a risk worth taking. No, at this point, the argument is all about Israel and the threat an Iranian nuclear weapon might pose to it. That is why virtually all the personalities and organizations agitating for war are strongly identified with the Israeli right. And that is ironic. Imagine the Republic of Georgia deciding that the best way to defend against Russia is by bombing Moscow and then seeing what happens next>>>

VIEW

What would Cyrus do?

UK must not lend the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran

by Peyvand Khorsandi
29-Aug-2010 (3 comments)
A Thai woman boarding a flight at Bangkok's airport is caught with a sedated tiger cub in her luggage. Stuffed in a bag with, er, cuddly tiger toys, this tiger was revealed by the X-ray machine to have a beating heart. The woman’s identity is not being revealed as police quiz her about her final destination which, of course, had to be Iran, the most bonkers country on earth. Why was a 31-year-old Thai woman smuggling a tiger into Iran?>>>

PRISONER

Let her come home

Activist Shiva Nazar-Ahari remains in prison

by Kalameh
27-Aug-2010 (4 comments)
Shiva Nazar-Ahari’s family is gravely concerned about the fact that her court date has not yet been scheduled despite the fact that she has been in temporary detention for nearly a year. Shiva is a journalist, human rights defender and women’s rights activist. A court hearing had been scheduled in June but was postponed for unknown reasons. Shiva is currently being held in the women’s ward at Evin prison. This member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters has spent over 100 days in solitary confinement>>>

ALARMING

بزرگ‌ترین جلاد جهان

در مورد اعدام‌های مخفیانه اخیر در زندان وکیل آباد مشهد چه می‌توان گفت؟

by Hossein Bagher Zadeh
25-Aug-2010 (3 comments)
موج اعدام باز در ایران بالا گرفته است. در چند سال اخیر آمار اعدام‌ها مرتبا رو به افزایش بوده و موارد متعددی از اعدام‌های گروهی گزارش شده است. اکنون خبر می‌رسد که خصوصیت «مخفیانه» نیز به این اعدام‌ها اضافه شده است. تعداد کسانی که در زندان‌های جمهوری اسلامی در خطر مرگ به سر می‌برند عددی چند هزار نفره را تشکیل می‌دهد. جمهوری اسلامی ظاهرا عطش سیری‌ناپذیری برای کشتن دارد و در برابر اعتراضات جامعه جهانی راه‌های تازه-ای برای ادامه کشتار خود پیدا کرده است: قتل مخفی و گروهی>>>

POINT

Do we want life to go on in Tehran?

This story is anything but finished

by pedestrian
25-Aug-2010 (4 comments)
These days, when I talk to my friends in Iran, hardly anyone, even the most politically active, talks about politics anymore. I’m certainly not claiming that my friends are a representative of the entire Iranian population – they certainly are not. But it was at first somehow disappointing to hear them disregard the latest political news the way they did. When just months ago, they were the ones filling me in on things I might have missed. Now, even when I bring up things like “did you read Mousavi’s latest letter?” or “did you hear about so and so’s outrageous prison sentence?” They are quick to change the subject>>>

MIDEAST

Ma bi’asser

Lessons for life from Lebanon

by Hossein Shahidi
25-Aug-2010 (2 comments)
The positive interpretation of ma bi’asser is probably not far away from the concept of ‘Lebanese resilience’ that one hears so much outside the country and witnesses it inside. As an Iranian, I have found this interpretation quite refreshing. An Iranian journalist visiting Lebanon not long after the Israeli invasion of 2006 told me about meeting a family outside the ruins of their house in south Lebanon. ‘That was our house,’ the father had said, laughing and pointing to the heap of rubble nearby, rather than telling a tale of misery, inviting sympathy, or pity.>>>

VIEW

It would mean disaster

Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities

by Marc Lynch
23-Aug-2010 (8 comments)
Jeffrey Goldberg has come away from his research convinced that the Obama administration is serious about Iran. But if the administration's strategy fails to stall Tehran's alleged drive for a nuclear weapon, then the president may face a terrible choice. Would Obama be willing to move to military action? If not, Goldberg suggests, it is increasingly likely that Israel will take matters into its own hands. I strongly doubt that Obama would choose to launch a pre-emptive war against another Muslim country in the Middle East. Neither do I believe that Israel really intends to do so>>>

MOSSADEGH

A Few Good Men

Recollections of Hedayatollah Matin-Daftari, Mossadegh's grandson

by Fariba Amini
23-Aug-2010 (2 comments)
Matin-Daftari has recently published a book on his father, titled Papers and Documents from the Nationalization of the Iranian Oil Industry to the International Court of Justice, 1951-1952. I had a chance to speak with him in Paris, on the eve of the anniversary of the 1953 coup. Dr. Matin-Daftari speaks about his grandfather and recollects the time he spent with him in Ahmad Abad where the Prime Minister was exiled by the Shah until his death.>>>

MEDIA

Predicting War

Speculating over the possibility of a strike is dangerous

by Shaun Jacob Halper
20-Aug-2010 (3 comments)
Is there a happier journalist last week than The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg? So much ink has been spilled discussing, critiquing, and debating Jeffrey Goldberg's Iran piece, a calculation of the very high probability of an Israeli military strike against Iran in the coming year, you'd think Goldberg was determining Iran policy himself. All this is set against a backdrop of right-wing hysteria over the mosque in lower Manhattan and the supposed failure of liberals to understand the true nature of the threat of Islamofascism>>>

BUSHEHR

Going Critical

Iran's nuclear reactor starts up

by Simon Henderson & Stefanie Peterson
20-Aug-2010
At a ceremony this Saturday near the southern Iranian coastal city of Bushehr, Russia will begin the process of loading fuel rods into Iran's first civilian nuclear reactor. Theoretically distinct from the rest of the regime's disturbing nuclear program, the Bushehr plant nevertheless remains a major international concern. The low-enriched uranium in the fuel rods would, if diverted, substantially increase Iran's existing stock of the material, which many suspect is already being used to develop nuclear weapons>>>

FRAUD

Have you checked your phone bill?

Immigrants and long distance phone companies

by Nader Habibi
20-Aug-2010 (2 comments)
Keeping in touch with family and friends back home is part of the weekly experience of most immigrant families. It is not unusual to find families that spend $50 to $100 on international phone calls. While the market for long distance service is very competitive and the growth of internet has helped reduce the cost of international calls in the past ten years, some long distance companies engage in unethical practices that are hardly noticed by customers. Please check your phone bill carefully and take action if you observe any fraud and overcharging>>>

BOMB

What do those idiots in Tehran expect?

How much brinksmanship will Israel tolerate?

by Patrick Clawson
18-Aug-2010 (25 comments)
Robin [Wright] is right (forgive the pun), and Jeff[rey [Goldberg] is not, about the timeline for the Iranian nuclear impasse. Robin is wrong, and Jeff is correct, that a crisis will come unless we find a way to stop what Director of National Intelligence James Clapper describes as Iran's "inexorable" nuclear progress. Iran reactivated its nuclear program more than 20 years ago. Its approach has been that of the tortoise, not the hare. If Iran is in a nuclear arms race, it is a marathon, not a sprint>>>

MOSADDEGH

«مصدق» در گیومه!

آقای مصدق نازنین، خیلی حرفها دارم که برایتان بنویسم

by Nadereh Afshari
18-Aug-2010 (89 comments)
شما درست روز 14 اسفند ماه 1345 از این دنیا رفتید. خیلی برایتان متاسفم. مخصوصا بعد از آن همه بیماریها و تنهاییها. بابا هم متاسف بود. برای همین هم کلی نوشته و بریده ی روزنامه برایم به ارث گذاشت که شاید اگر آنها را نداشتم، لزومی نمیدیدم این نامه ی بلند بالا را برایتان بنویسم. ولی خب، بعد از کلی کشمکش، دست آخر تصمیم گرفتم حرفهای دلم را صاف و پوست کنده برایتان بنویسم. مثلا نامه ای بنویسم و آن را در یک بطری شیشه ای بگذارم و به دریا بیاندازم>>>
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