VIEW

Beyond Mousavi and Karroubi

Who's really running the Green Movement

by Mehdi Khalaji
07-Nov-2009 (4 comments)
Nearly six months after the demonstrations that followed June's disputed presidential election, Iran's pro-democracy "green movement" is as strong as ever. Rallies took place in downtown Tehran today, having been in the works for months through Twitter, blogs, and word of mouth. Iran, it seems, is on the verge of having a new, unified opposition party. But the solidarity on the streets hides wide -- and growing -- splits within. The ostensible leaders of the movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, and Mehdi Karroubi, are former high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic who would likely keep much about the Islamic Revolution in place>>>

BIRTHDAY

راه طي شده

آقاي رئيس جمهور، شما داريد همان مسيري را مي رويد كه شاه طي كرد

by Meir Javedanfar
07-Nov-2009 (5 comments)
اين نامه را به مناسبت پنجاه و سومين سالروز تولد برايت مي نويسم. راه درازي را از سال 1956 بهمراه خانواده ات از زادگاهت روستاي ارادان به شهر تهران طي كرده اي: آنروزها تنها يك سال داشتي و خانواده ات مانند بسياري ديگر به اميد و با آرزوي موفقيت فرزندانشان از آن روستاي كوچك و بستگان خود بريده و به پايتخت مهاجرت كردند. آنها خود را از خانواده و نعمت نزديك بودن به آنها را محروم كردند و به شهر جديد و غريبي مهاجرت كردند تا شايد فرزندانشان فرصتهاي بهتري برايشان فراهم شود>>>

POINT

Death to No One

Iran has become the world's poster child for the deficit of democracy that plagues many nations

by Bitta Mostofi
04-Nov-2009 (2 comments)
Today, marks the 30th year since the 444 day Iran Hostage Crisis began in 1979. On this day the media traditionally offers us images of burning American flags and effigies of Uncle Sam. We are reminded of the great chasm of mistrust and misunderstanding that has marked the last three decades of US-Iranian relations. But in the past year both Americans and Iranians have asked for something new. We have elected a president that promises to pursue diplomacy and Iranians have given birth to a popular democratic movement. So, we should not use this 30th anniversary of the hostage crisis to simply re-live tragedy and tension>>>

SATIRE

Private Parts

Public discourses in modern Iran

by Homa Katouzian
04-Nov-2009 (3 comments)
The first half of the 20th century minus the Reza Shah period is unique in the whole history of Persian literature in the amount of satire, lampoons and invectives which were published largely though not entirely through the press, and usually with a political motive. It was characteristic of Iranian history that the fall of an arbitrary state, often even the death of a ruler, led to division and chaos. The first quarter of the twentieth century was a period of revolution, chaos and coup>>>

OFFER

Half and Half

Let Iran keep half its own enriched uranium and send other half to Russia for enrichment

by Ardeshir Ommani
02-Nov-2009 (6 comments)
The U.S. and its western allies are recklessly close to shattering the hopes of the world’s progressive and peaceful humanity by its plan of ordering Iran to hand over eighty percent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) in one bulk shipment. Under the cover of conceding to provide Iran with a certain quantity of 20 percent uranium for use in its clinical medical reactor, the U.S.-France demand, was in fact, actualization of the age-old dictum of denying Iran its right to uranium enrichment, by taking the process out of Iran’s hands>>>

SLOGANS

بازگشت شعار "نه شرقی، نه غربی"

و مساله "ولایت فقیه"

by Reza Hiwa
02-Nov-2009 (one comment)
شعار‌های امروز جنبش باید میکروب زدایی و خانه تکانی تاریخی کنند. باید مفهوم "ولایت فقیه" را صبورانه، بی توقف و سازش، و با احترام به دگراندیشی برخی برادران اندرون جنبش، افشا و رسوا نمود، باید با مدرک و استناد به سی سال استبداد و کشتار بر منبی و بفرمان "ولی فقیه" صدمه های تاریخی این اصل من در آوردی را بر ملا کرد، تا انقلاب به سرقت رفته شدمان راباز پس گیریم. باید برای مردم روشن کنیم که برخلاف دروغ های "ولی فقیه" و بوقهایش، سکولاریسم به هیچ وجه بر علیه هیچ دینی نیست>>>

POINT

Stuck in Bush

Why Obama's Iran policy will fail

by Dilip Hiro
30-Oct-2009 (44 comments)
Barack Obama has not drawn the right conclusion from his predecessor's failed Iran policy. A paradigm of sticks-and-carrots simply is not going to work in the case of the Islamic Republic. Here, a lesson is readily available, if only the Obama White House were willing to consider Iran's recent history. It is unrealistic to expect that a regime which fought Saddam Hussein's Iraq (then backed by the United States) to a standstill in a bloody eight-year war in the 1980s, unaided by any foreign power, and has for 30 years withstood the consequences of U.S.-imposed economic sanctions will be alarmed by Washington's fresh threats of "crippling sanctions.">>>

RELIGION

کدام «راه راست»؟

از صراط مستقيم تا نوانديشی مذهبی

by Esmail Nooriala
30-Oct-2009 (4 comments)
پيدايش هر مذهبی (در داخل دين ها) نشان از پيدايش نيايشگاه (بعنوان سازمان مرکزی) و دينکاران (بعنوان کارکنان آن سازمان) دارد و اين مجموعه خود را حاملان و نگاهبانان «راه درست» می دانند، و تا آنجا که زورشان برسد ديگران را وادار می کنند که فراروايت ايشان از «راه راست» را بپذيرند و هرکس هم که نپذيرد «کافر» محسوب می شود و آنکه از روايت سرپيچی کند «مرتد» و، در همه حال، مستوجب عقوبت مرگ. هم اکنون در زندان های ايران کسانی به انتظار مرگ نشسته اند که گناه شان خروج از اسلام و پيوستن به دين مسيحی است!>>>

GEITHNER

The Manchurian Candidate

Be careful what you wish for

by oktaby
30-Oct-2009 (44 comments)
A young man with little known accomplishment or track record other than voting no to Iraq war as a jr. senator of Illinois, becomes U.S. president ‘against all odds’. He was supported by the richest in the U.S. and around the world, morally and financially. Was a superstar long before getting elected and a megastar afterwards. He is smart and talented for sure with immense self confidence, 'charisma', and the world's largest known fan club to booth. He inherited a cluster from the little Bush for sure but has spent several trillions of tax dollars and overwhelmingly to key players of Wall Street and Corporate world in an effort 'to revive the U.S economy'>>>

VIEW

Target Russia

The end of "Death to America"?

by R Tousi
28-Oct-2009 (4 comments)
"The Russians are microwaving our brains." The comment of my corner-shopkeeper in Tehran reflects a widely-held view about the state's use of powerful jamming signals to block foreign media. The blocking of key communication links has played a big part in the violent crackdown that followed Iran's election. The possible health risks of these newly installed devices have even been raised inside Iran's majlis (parliament); Zohreh Elahian, a member of the national-security and foreign-policy committee, responded to reporters' questions about a possible increase in miscarriages by promising that the figures would be examined>>>

POINT

A Culture of Death

We must establish a society where life has more significance than death

by Fariba Amini
26-Oct-2009 (88 comments)
Thirty-one years ago, a few months after the 1979 Revolution, the generals and close associates of the Shah, including his long time PM Amir Abbas Hoveyda, were shot to death without trial. The crowds cheered. When the father of the Rezai brothers, was asked to fire the shots, he refused. He was not a killer even though three of his own sons, members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, had been killed under the Shah. One of those generals was Hassan Pakravan who had long been retired at the time of his execution>>>

CONFUSION

نهضت پرابهام

هر جا افرادی با گرایشهای مختلف دور هم جمع شدند و هركدام چیزی گفتند دمكراسی پدیدار نمیگردد

by Ramin Kamran
20-Oct-2009
متأسفانه برخی ابهام این جریان را حسنش میشمرند و مدحش را میگویند، تحت این عنوان كه حركت را فراتر از جبهه گیری های معمول سیاسی قرار میدهد . یا چندصدایی بودنش را میستایند كه به هر سخن و فكری فرصت ابراز میدهد و هیچ گرایشی را از خود نمیراند. باید به آنها یادآوری كرد كه دمكراسی به سخن گفتن همگان میدان میدهد ولی خواست دمكراسی از میان همهمه زاده نمیشود و كلام روشن و محكم میخواهد>>>

IRAN-U.S.

Obama's deal is no deal

Striking a quick bargain of an undemocratic nature with the Iranian regime

by Jalal Alavi
18-Oct-2009 (15 comments)
The hardliners in Iran, for example, are in dire need of improving their international image, so as to be able to annihilate the reformists who are rightfully challenging their rule; mend relations with Russia, which were badly damaged as a result of their recent disclosure of a second nuclear facility in Qom; and thus avoid the possibility of further UN sanctions, which could truly jeopardize their grip on power. The West led by the United States, on the other hand, is in dire need of stability in the Middle East; Iran’s assistance with the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan; and a steady flow of oil and gas. Thus, a “grand bargain” can be said to be in the making>>>

OUTLOOK

نظامی که دیگر نبود

جمهوری اسلامی چاره ای جز سقوط در بستر سپاه نداشت

by ramin ahmadi
16-Oct-2009 (12 comments)
رژیم جمهوری اسلامی دیگر وجود خارجی ندارد، هرچند بسیاری هنوز در شوک حوادث ماه های اخیر به سرمی برند و این تغییر رژیم را نمی بینند. از این رژیم تازه می توان به عنوان «حکومت اسلامی» نام برد. نظام حکومت اسلامی با نظام پیش از خود تفاوت هایی اساسی دارد: اولا ً «نظام جمهوری اسلامی» مشروعیت خود را از انقلاب بهمن ۵۷ و مشارکت میلیونی مردم و رای آنها می گرفت. نظام «حکومت اسلامی» فاقد چنین مشروعیتی است و به رای مردم تکیه نکرده و نخواهد کرد>>>

REMINDER

The Death March

It is a folly to consider the nuclear negotiations and human rights concerns as mutually exclusive

by Hadi Ghaemi
16-Oct-2009 (2 comments)
More than a hundred detainees have been on trial for the past two months in what have been widely condemned by human rights organizations as "show trials" without minimal adherence to standards of due process and fair trials. The defendants are a mixture of well-known personalities, regular street protesters, and a small group who were detained before the election and accused of connections with opposition groups. The inclusion of the latter group, arrested in April 2009, well before the June 12 election, in trials connected with post-election unrest has been somewhat of a mystery until now>>>
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