Mr. Khamenei is no good

For many years, Sayyid Ali Khamenei has ruled the country ostensibly to establish a virtuous society, promote equality among Iranians, provide prosperity and security in this world and ensure salvation in the other, and fight for egalitarianism and the cause of the downtrodden abroad. In practice, however, he has promoted wickedness instead of virtue; a cult of personality instead of equality; poverty, arbitrary rule, and engineered elections instead of prosperity, security, and the rule of law; and international brinkmanship and support for terrorism instead of peaceful diplomacy. Mr. Khamenei is no good for Iran; worse for the world; and a disaster for the religion>>>

Revolutionary rot

Too often we underestimate the sustainability of morally bankrupt regimes that have mastered the art of repression coupled with financial co-optation. In the cynical words of a scion of a powerful clerical family, who told me once: "When you have control over the oil revenue, you can run this country with a few million supporters and 20,000 people who are willing to kill and die for you." Maybe, though that formula did not work for the shah. There is some wisdom in the old adage that Iran's largest political party is the hezb-e baad, the "party of the wind." Iranians have historically gravitated toward where the most powerful political winds are blowing>>>

Dear Mahmoud

June 12th was the anniversary of the day that you and your military junta staged a coup. Fed up with previous four years of your presidency, our people came out in masses to vote and IR leadership decided to ignore this and choose the path of undemocratic means to dismiss their hopes. You know it. We know it. The world knows it. You were selected. If not – if you really claim to have earned the landslide 63% votes of that 85% high turn-out – why then, ever since, your government is using the most harsh methods to suppress the peaceful dissents?>>>

Pushing the boundaries

On the first anniversary of the Green Movement, there is a high level of uncertainty regarding the future which could only be evaluated by going towards the past. By now it is almost self-evident what engined this social transitional force. The Green Movement is a child of a social transformation in Iran which has started long before the rigged election on June 12th, 2009 and mostly initiated and supported by the young generation to reorient the country towards a modernization process>>>

Time of Death

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Alive and Important

What are the results of the struggle of the opposition movement in Iran? Not failure. Externally, the movement has inspired Hillary Clinton (with the direction of some of the State Department's staffers, and perhaps our letters to them), America's foreign policy has evolved from the false dichotomy of "invade or ignore (Bush)" to one of fostering developing democratic movements through the use of technology and a "Three Cups of Tea" outreach process to people in Iran, Sudan, Cuba, Venezuela, and China. This process will take while, but internally, as a direct result of the Green Movement, the regime is getting weaker>>>

Guilty as Charged

Within the Revolutionary Courts, three judges – Abolghasem Salavati, Mohammad Moghiseh and Pir-Abbasi – stand out for their role in presiding over joint and individual trials involving hundreds of defendants. Although some of these trials were held in public, the three judges remain shadowy figures. It is unclear what their legal backgrounds are, or how they came to be appointed. There are no pictures of Moghiseh or Pir-Abbasi, and they do not appear at public events. Pir-Abbasi’s first name is not even known>>>

Complex Women, Simple Men

“Copie Conforme” is a film by Abbas Kiarostami which means that it’s s-l-o-w. Slow enough to make you fidget in your seat. Slow enough to take you back to the days of the interminable scenes of couples-- walking apart from each other and not talking—in those excruciating Antonioni films of the sixties. Slow enough to give you time to wonder about the nature of cinema. Should it be entertaining? Should it encourage reflexion? Can it be boring? Then, because it is a film by Abbas Kiarostami, “Copie Conforme” goes way beyond that first impression. >>>

من و چهار شوهرم

به گونه ای تصادفی، مقاله ای در مجله «مری کلر» با عنوان «چند همسری در اسلام» نظرم را به خود جلب کرد که به دیدگاه های یک روزنامه نگار عربستان سعودی به نام « نادین البدیر» پرداخته بود. در این مقاله آمده است که نویسنده فوق تلاش کرد تا با خلق یک ادعای خیالی پر هیاهو به واقعیت دردناک و ضد انسانی چند همسری در اسلام انتقاد کند. به عنوان یک ایرانی به ذهنم رسید که ماجرای فوق ربط زیادی با جامعه ایرانی ندارد ولی ... در بهت تاسف باری متوجه شدم که برداشت اولیه ام از واقعیت به دور است>>>

Sherlock Holmes Daughter (8)

Paul said Christie’s condition hadn’t changed. She was still under observation in a windowless hospital room devoid of sharp objects, lacking a television set or even electrical outlets. I said I wanted to go see her, but Paul insisted she didn’t want any visitors. Maybe she didn’t mean me and Paul was just mad about my going over to Katie’s. Hiding my feelings was hard work, but it had to be done. If Paul sensed that I had fallen in love with Katie, her appraisal value would suddenly double and the love triangle stalemate would be broken. There was only so much Christie’s illness could do to forestall his leaving her for Katie>>>

Letter to the Sardar

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Winners and Losers

This fourth round of sanctions plus one UNSC presidential statement makes five UNSC actions against the fundamentalist regime regarding its suspected nuclear weapons program. UNSC resolutions are INTERNATIONAL LAW. All these UNSC resolutions are demanding the fundamentalist regime to stop its uranium enrichment. 1. The biggest winner is the Obama administration. The Obama administration’s diplomacy was able to convince Russia and China, two states that have been close to the fundamentalist regime, to vote in favor of this resolution.>>>

خامنه‌ای سرنوشت علی را برای خود رقم می‌زند!

کار شبیه سازی در حکومت ایران به اوج رسیده است. روحانیان حاکم بر ایران از حد مجتهد و نایب امام به مراتب فراتر رفته‌اند. اگر روزی آیت الله خمینی نایب امام زمان بود و به نام او حکومت می‌کرد، در طول زمان او از این مرحله گذشت و به سر حد امام معصوم رسید. لقب امام که در ابتدا مفهوم «پیشوا» را برای او به ذهن می‌آورد کم کم جایی برای او در ردیف امامان شیعه باز کرد و احکام او، حتا در ارتکاب جنایت و خشونت، لازم الاتباع تشخیص داده شد>>>