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ELECTIONS
09-Feb-2009 (77 comments)
With Khatami officially in the race, the Iranian presidential campaigns will begin in earnest. Never before has an incumbent Iranian president faced such a serious challenge. But in spite of Ahmadinejad's abysmal handling of the economy, he is far from defeated. The Iranian presidential elections will not be democratic by Western standards, but they won't lack excitement or fierce competitiveness. Khatami had earlier declared that he would only run if he was given guarantees by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, that his candidacy wouldn't be rejected by the Guardian Council, the body that vets candidates, and that he would be able to govern if elected>>>
DIPLOMACY
07-Feb-2009 (18 comments)
Today the strategic landscape has changed, and most experts agree that Iran has become a regional power. It is perhaps the only local actor in the Middle East that can contribute to the stabilization of Iraq and Afghanistan and facilitate the United States’ exit from its current crisis. Since the balance of power has greatly shifted in its favour, Iran can neither be omitted in the Middle Eastern equation nor can it be manipulated or coerced as in the 1950s and 1980s. The world needs Iran to stabilize the region and to contribute to international peace and security>>>
MONEY
07-Feb-2009 (6 comments)
Looking at how best to spend the now $900 Billion planned by the Obama administration, where to put it, seems daunting to say the least. The thing that almost everyone of the Keynesian persuasion agrees, is that what you don't want to happen is nothing. That lesson was learned from the banking bailout under the much criticized and worse, ongoing TARP program. Banks that were failing, were given Billions in cash, only to pay each other ridiculous bonuses for precisely failing at the helms of some of America's finest financial institutions. Some merely built up their own cash reserves. Not much made it to outright lending, as was hoped>>>
UNCOOL
07-Feb-2009 (3 comments)
هر سال، به بهمن ماه که می رسيم، می بينم که عده ای، برای يافتن مقصران و مسببان «بدبختی ملت ايران»، به سنگ اندازی و پرده برافکنی و گنجه گشودن و رسيدگی پروندهء مرده و زنده مشغول می شوند و، در دورانی که باخت مسلم سی سال پيش همهء ايرانيان در برابر رهبری اسلامی ـ آخوندی انقلاب 57 موجب تداوم بازی «کی بود؟ کی بود؟ من نبودم!» شده است، می کوشند تا مادر مرده ای را ـ درست و غلط ـ بيابند و درازش کنند؛ و اگر نمی شد خوب درازش کرد با شعبده بازی کاری کنند که اين توهم در مردم بوجود آيد که طرف دراز کردنی است.
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IRAN
05-Feb-2009 (22 comments)
Now that the recent election in the US is over with, there is another important election on the horizon. Namely the election of the next President of Iran. Once again this coming June 12th (oddly enough George Bush Sr's birthday), Iranians are forced to once again contemplate their unwinnable dilemma of staying away from the polls, or voting. Staying away seems unpatriotic. But voting means having to pick the lesser of 2 equally evil choices, courtesy of the all knowing and all seeing and all self involving theocratic dictatorship that really runs all of Iran's affairs from behind those scantily see-through skirts of the mollahs>>>
IRAN-US
05-Feb-2009 (12 comments)
آقای احمدی نژاد, رییس جمهور حکومت اسلامی, که بارها خود را "مطیع, فرمانبر و عامل" ولی فقیه, آیت الله خامنه ای اعلام کرده است, در پاسخ به در خواست باراک اوباما, ریاست جمهور امریکا, مبنی بر کنار گذاشتن "ابراز دشمني" از سوی حکومت اسلامی و برقراري "ارتباط دوستانه" با امریکا بار دیگر سیمای خود بزرگ بین, عظمت طلب‘ ستیزه جو و عوامفريب حکومت اسلامی را به نمايش گذاشت. يکروز پس از ابراز تمایل رييس جمهور جديد آمريکا براي مذاکره با ايران، محمود احمدي نژاد در سفر استاني اش در جمع مردم کرمانشاه، به اوباما چنین پاسخ داد: "اگر دولت جديد آمريکا به دنبال تغيير سياست هاي گذشته است بايد از ملت ايران عذر خواهي کند و تلاش کند سابقه سياه و جنايت هايي که عليه ملت ايران مرتکب شده اند را جبران کند.>>>
POLITICS
02-Feb-2009 (26 comments)
Like many other Iranian-Americans, I was so proud and happy to see one of our own, Goli Ameri, first run for Congress and then later be appointed to a high-level position in the State Department. But just as the last 8 years have been a lesson in discarding political naiveté, it has also been a rude awakening to see how ruthless and ambitious politicians can be – even if they are Iranian-Americans. The election of Obama is not just a rejection of past policies to me, but also a rejection of ethnic policies: I much rather have a black president that stands for the values that made this country great, than an Iranian-American President that would pursue and defend the ruthless and backward policies of the Bush crowd>>>
REVOLUTION
02-Feb-2009 (4 comments)
هر ساله، به ماه بهمن که می رسيم، بی اختيار، ياد معلم سال آخر مدرسهء ابتدائی ام می افتم که، با گام زدنی همچون انشتين، راهروی بين دو ستون ميز و نيمکت ها را می پيمود و برای ما مسئله می گفت و ما بايد تا آخر ساعت جواب مسئله اش را دو دستی تقديمش می کرديم: «خانه ای داريم که هوس کرده ايم خرابش کنيم و عمارت نوئی را بجايش بر پا کنيم. قيمت مصالح ساختمانی دو هزار تومان است و قيمت کار کارگر روزی 10 تومان. اگر عمليات ساختمانی دو ماه طول بکشد خرج اين کار چقدر خواهد بود؟ و يادتان هم باشد که ماه سی روز دارد!» و فاتحانه می خنديد. و من با خود فکر می کنم که سی سال پيش کدام نابغۀ رياضی می توانست جواب مسئله مشابهی را بدهد که آن روز معلم تاريخ پيش روی ما نهاده بود: «مملکتی داريم که شاهی دارد به نام محمد رضا شاه و نخست وزيری به نام اميرعباس هويدا... >>>
WAR CRIMES
02-Feb-2009 (9 comments)
آتش بس شکننده ای بر غزه حاکم است. در صورت پیروزی جناح راست اسرائیل تحت نخست وزیری بنیامین نتنیاهو در انتخابات آینده احتمال تجدید خشونت در غزه نیز افزایش خواهد یافت. با گسترش روز افزون مستوطنات یهودی در کرانه غربی و تکه پاره شدن این منطقه توسط شاهراه ها و راهبندها شاید "راه حل دو کشوری" که متضمن ایجاد دولت مستقل فلسطینی در کنار اسرائیل است و از سوی میانه روان (از مذاکرات اسلو و نقشه راه بوش تا طرح ملک عبدالله و تأیید اخیر پرزیدنت اوباما) پیشنهاد شده است کم کم از دایره امکان خارج شده باشد. جناح راست اسرائیل راه حل را در صلح نمیبیند. آنها رویای دولتی سربازخانه ای مانند اسپارت باستان را در سر میپرورانند: جنگ دائم و پیروزی دائم توسط ملتی جنگجو. برخی از آنها حتی رویای ناممکن تبعید جمعی فلسطینیان یا سایر جنایات جنگی علیه آنان را هم میبینند. >>>
REVOLUTION
01-Feb-2009 (39 comments)
Thirty years have now passed since the stern, bearded visage of Ayatollah Khomeini graced our television screens decrying the many "ills" of the West and its allies. It was a revolution few, if any, at the time had anticipated, one participants and observers alike still endeavor to properly understand. Khomeini's image, which has since become a kind of shorthand for the West's first encounter with the forces of radical Islam, continues to arouse fear and hostility. But 30 years on, that turbulent time in Iranian history continues to leave Western audiences perplexed, with little comprehension of the forces that incited crowds to chant "Death to America." >>>
VIEW
01-Feb-2009 (18 comments)
Contemporary challenges to the ancient regime came from an understanding of the modern Western ways, and culminated into the Constitutional Revolution (1906), near abolition of monarchy (1925), Tudeh and National-Front movement (1952) and finally the 1979 revolution. After the collapse of IRI, the following forces will try to build cohesive national or regional systems, by recruiting the young masses of society around their ideas and ideals. As currently IRI does not allow free expression of thoughts and flourishing of ideas, upon its collapse; it will again be a mad rush to fill the power vacuum and reach the top.>>>
IRAN-U.S.
31-Jan-2009 (22 comments)
President Obama has promised to restore the United States' moral authority in the world. In order to do so, the new administration should revise U.S. foreign policy that has proved a political failure and undermined respect for international human rights. Topping the list is the U.S. policy of regime-change toward Iran. The policy has failed to bring any tangible changes in the Iranian regime's behavior. Instead, the policy has harmed the Iranian people's demands for the rule of law and respect for human rights. Since December, Shirin Ebadi, the only Muslim woman ever to receive a Nobel Peace Prize, has been suffering at the hands of radical Islamists>>>
MKO
31-Jan-2009 (18 comments)
If MKO members are expelled from Iraq, these middle-aged men and women, who have not been doing anything but worshiping Maryam and Massoud five times a day for the last few years, will have to go mostly to European or Arab countries. Some Arab intelligence organizations from Saudi Arabia and Jordan and also the Israelis are already doing on site job interviews with them to use their talents against Iran. Those who go to Europe will definitely have to lay down their arms and organize into a political organization. European Union decision to take them off the list of terrorist organizations is just for this purpose>>>
IRAN
29-Jan-2009 (114 comments)
I have a dream that IRI officials apologize to the Iranian people and surrender themselves to justice for the crimes against humanity they have been committing in Iran for the last 30 years. Apologizing for destroying Iran’s infrastructure, ruining its economy, isolating it, oppressing its people, imprisoning and murdering them, exiling them, taking their freedoms away, taking them hostage in order to promote their own brand of Islam, for making the entire world an enemy of our country, for destroying Iran’s image and reputation, for abolishing the values it once stood for, for taking Iran back to the 7th century, for applying barbaric laws and for leading the world in stupidity and savagery>>>
NUCLEAR
27-Jan-2009 (38 comments)
The new US Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Susan Rice, has vowed that the Obama administration intends to pursue “vigorous diplomacy” to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons. According to Obama himself, such diplomatic overtures will be complemented by a principled “carrots and sticks” approach conducted, presumably, in concert with the EU and -- potentially -- China and Russia, who have traditionally been less willing to really press Tehran to comply with its NPT obligations. Clearly then, the Obama administration needs to immediately to reach out to these powers, as well as the broader international community, to make the case that a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic is simply an unacceptable prospect>>>
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IRANIANS OF THE DAY
| Person | About | Day |
|---|---|---|
| نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
| Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
| Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
| احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
| گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
| Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
| محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
| Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |