Op-Ed

Happy hardliners in Tehran?

The Obama strategy offers the hope that Iraqi politicians will be motivated to deal with their country's problems... Iran, on the other hand, presents a different set of challenges. A major U.S. effort to engage Iran is inevitable, primarily because the United States must reverse the common perception -- in the United States and around the world -- that Washington is at fault for the lack of progress on the Iran front. The United States is going to have to make a major effort to show that it is prepared to walk the extra mile for compromise. Washington has not been able to secure support for greater sticks against Iran; it can only gather such support if it is seen as also offering carrots. In other words, on the Iran nuclear issue, carrots are the only way to get to sticks.>>>

Love over hate

By the US electing Obama President, the world that has been waiting patiently for a different America, is happy and elated to welcome the United States back into the community of nations. It has been a very sad and troubling eight years, not only for the rest of the world, but for the US itself: two wars launched, with neither over; ecology, environment and sustainability all undermined and devalued; the worst financial calamity in a century, nourished and nurtured by "casino capitalism"; international treaties and conventions torn up; torture rationalized; detainees whose guilt and crime have not been proven, disappearing beyond judicial reach; the rule of international law weakened; enemies emboldened, while allies were undermined>>>

Comrade Obama?

The word socialist has been bandied about more in the past few weeks than it has since the early 1990s. John McCain was asked whether nationalising banks was not tantamount to socialism – remarkable, a mainstream network airing the s-word in an interview with a US presidential candidate. In Britain the word socialism is regarded as a terminal virus the Labour party sneezed out in 1994 when the then opposition leader Tony Blair ditched Clause 4 -- along with its commitment to “the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange”. After Labour came to power in 1997, its use was phased out. Now that capitalists themselves are forced to accept that a system that rewards complete bastards, for being complete bastards, is doomed, “redistribution of wealth” and “socialism” are out of their cages>>>

America's better half

On November 4, America made history once again by generously embracing Barak Obama as its first African-American president. In this election more the 53% of Americans cast their votes for Obama (more than any other Democratic presidents since World War II with the exception of Lyndon Johnson in 1964 who gained the sympathy votes of the people after Kennedy’s assassination). To better understand and appreciate the magnitude of what happened in this U.S. election we should notice that it was only 53 years ago that Rosa Parks bravely refused to give up her seat on a public bus to make room for a white passenger and by doing so she ignited the Civil Right Movement. Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which legally prohibited racial discrimination, African-Americans were treated like second class citizens. >>>

پيوند مهلک فقه و فسا د

نخستين وضعيت را می توان در گرايش های بيمارگونه و غيرعادی مردمان به عوالم به اصطلاح «معنوی» و «روحانی» متجلی ديد که بکلی با روابط عادی فرد مؤمن با آفريننده ای که به آن باور آورده تفاوت دارد. در اين ساحت بيماری زده، شخص مؤمن به سوی افراط در خرافه کشيده می شود و فقيه نيز چاره ای ندارد که ـ اگر بخواهد در ميدان بماند ـ به نيازهای او پاسخی مناسب دهد. امروزه، با همۀ انکارهای ظاهری که از جانب فقهای اصلی مطرح می شود، نمی توان دست داشتن آنان را در مورد مقولاتی همچون چاه جمکران، مطرح شدن ظهور قريب الوقوع امام زمان، چله نشينی های زايندهء اختلالات روانی، تأکيد بر کرامات و معجزات روزمره در رسانه های گروهی و آثار باصطلاح هنری، تبديل فقها به صاحبان کرامتی معادل پيامبران و امامان، گسترش فالگيری و نذر و نياز و سفره انداختن ها و زيارت رفتن ها، ناديده گرفت. در همۀ اين مقولات، فقيه (در صورت های مختلف آخوند و روضه خوان گرفته تا خود ولی فقيه که از دستارش و آب دهانش معجزه و شفا می گيرند) نقش مرکزی را بازی می کند و خود منشاء رشد سرطانی ناشی از تسلط نهادی کارکرد از دست داده و در حال فاسد شدن بشمار می رود.>>>

Moving forward

The American voters proved me wrong. They proved my scepticism that they (almost 75% white population) would not vote for a black man. I am actually glad that I was proved wrong and that Americans proved that they have so quickly moved so much, from slavery, and then segregation, to even electing a black president in such a short time; short for human social progress that is. America is great because of its ability to progress, evolve, and become a better and better place. We can say so much about this election and there is indeed a lot to say. People my type do not usually get excited about much, especially individuals, and very often pretty much about anything. Others get excited, and then get disappointed. When you don't get excited, you have less chances of disappointment too. Life seems a bit more boring like this. But it is a much safer place when you take the boring approach>>>

ترکمنچای دوم

هدف از مذاکرات بین کشورهای همجوار دریای خزر تقلیل سهم ایران در دریای خزر از 50% طبق قرارداد 1940 به 11% می باشد. درصورت موفقیت این مذاکرات تمامیت ارضی ایران دوباره خدشه دار خواهد شد و ضررات ناشی از آن به مراتب سهمگین تر از قراردادهای ننگین گلستان و ترکمانچای خواهد بود. زیرا که در کل 11% سهمی که برای ایران در نظر گرفته شده منابع نفتی وجود ندارد و در نتیجه عقد قرارداد جدید دست ایران از تمام منابع عظیم خزر کوتاه خواهد شد. دو مقاله زیر تفسیری در این مورد به کوشش تیمسار آریان پور و آقای سازگارا می باشد که مکمل یکدیگر می باشند. مقاله آقای سازگارا موقعیت فعلی را ترسیم می کند و مقاله تیمسار آریان پور تاریخچه خزر و موقعیت آن در دوره پهلوی را. آمار ارائه شده تکان دهنده هستند. اگر دست روی دست بگذاریم و از این فاجعه جلوگیری نکنیم عواقب آن دامنگیر چندین نسل آینده خواهد بود. متاسفانه اکثر ایرانیان از این خطر آگاه نیستند.>>>

Night of hope

Not much has happened to me as an Iranian, a foreigner in this country for the past thirty years. A few fights and angry exchanges here and there, but I have been left alone for the most part. I came to a very “blond, blue-eyes” region in America with black hair and dark skin, but managed to make way more friends than enemies right off the bat and was treated well. I kept thinking about that while I watched tears rolling down Jesse Jackson’s face tonight. He was born and raised here in this country. I kept thinking of what he may have gone through, what he heard, endured, how he managed to keep it together and how hopeful he was when JFK came onto the scene. I kept thinking how proud he must have been to walk with Martin Luther King and how he dedicated his life to equality>>>

Unprecedented challenges

The next U.S. president will be a wartime president. Developments in the Middle East almost ensure that either John McCain or Barack Obama will have to manage one or more wars involving the United States or its allies in the region. The challenges posed by the Middle East are legion: "fragile and reversible" security in Iraq; military fallout from a possible Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program; the destabilizing consequences of a nuclear breakout by the Islamic Republic; a new round of violence between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) -- this time in the West Bank; an Israeli military intervention in Gaza to halt renewed rocket attacks, preempt a Hamas military buildup, or crush the nascent Hamas government there; and the possibility of a second Hizballah-Israeli war>>>

Republican defeat is imminent

The '08 Presidential race has highlighted the crisis within the Republican party. From the surprisingly successful Ron Paul campaign to the stillborn McCain campaign, it's clear that the Republican party has reached a turning point. While populist demagoguery has been rampant in both parties since before I was born, it wasn't long before that when the Democrats had a foothold on working class ideals and the Republican party was dominated by such characters as Barry Goldwater. Ronald Reagan changed all that, starting a trend that reached its zenith in 2000 with the abortion that is the Bush presidency. While this, like any trend, was destined to reach an end, the religious right in this country and the Republican party were SO indulgent that they spent this cultural capital far too quickly for their own good>>>

Proud New American

Never mind that America’s readiness for Obama is largely due to the fact that George W. Bush was the most incompetent president in the history of this nation. Never mind that her readiness for an African-American comes from the fact that the economy is in the most difficult crises of the past century. Never mind that the Republican ticket is weak and lacks vision. Never mind that Obama has much more money than his opponent. The truth is that America is changing. It is changing both demographically and ideologically thanks to new Americans like me! New Americans, who think globally and reject the kind of patriotism that is blind to the welfare of the world. New Americans who refuse racial and gender prejudice not only because they find it unjust but simply because they find it passé, obsolete>>>

Redefining the game

Ever since Iran publicised its nuclear fuel cycle plans in 2003, western experts have tried to downplay its rate of progress in nuclear engineering. The Iranian scientific community is often viewed as technologically inept. Relatively minor obstacles have been portrayed as next to insurmountable. These arguments are now growing increasingly false – Tehran is adding centrifuges faster than the UN security council can step up the pressure. Time is not working in the favour of the west. Iran is making good progress in many key areas of nuclear engineering. Presently, it has some 4,000 operational centrifuges at its facility in Natanz. This means that it is learning about the intricate art of connecting a large number of centrifuges with a vast amount of pipework while maintaining everything under vacuum>>>

On eight

This morning, in my daily ritual of visiting Iranian.com, the random advertisement box which for some time now has replaced the heading of this site took my attention. I have trained myself to ignore the large advertisements in the heading of Iranian.com and have come to accept that the large advertisement which overpowers the site is a reflection of the times in which we live. The economic man in consumer capitalism has no choice but to buy the idea of choice through advertisement, market himself in an economy where everything is measured by cost and profit, and become a self-responsible individual in a market that needs political intervention to insure profit. But this morning, a day before the elections, what caught my eyes was an election advertisement which presents the election consumer with an uncanny union of the smiling Republican and Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates>>>

Please don’t undo my “I do”

On June 17, 2008 I married my partner of 12 years Elizabeth Kristen. Before the signature on our marriage license was dry, the religious right had put Proposition 8 on this year’s ballot. Our closest friends, coworkers and family members bore witness when we announced that we would be together for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part -- not till the voters do us part. It is the job of the California Supreme Court to interpret the California Constitution, which they did in their May 17, 2008 ruling. Seven California Supreme Court Justices, (six Republican Justices and one Democratic appointed Justice) ruled that all Californians, regardless of their sexual orientation were protected by the state’s constitution>>>

Greater Middle East Initiative

The “Greater Middle East Initiative,” originating in the United States and subsequently embraced, and renamed as “Partnership for Progress,” by the G8 nations in June 2004 in Sea Island, Georgia, aims to address the sources of socio-political and economic backwardness in the region, loosely identified as encompassing the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, Israel, and possible Afghanistan and Pakistan. Focusing on economic reform, good governance, women and minority rights, civil society institutions, and democracy, the project contains all the essential elements of the so- called Modernization paradigm, whereby the political and economic facets of modernization processes are linked together in a comprehensive approach that is thoroughly faithful in the paradigm’s quest for globalizing its main ethos of universal democracy, rile of civility, and economic liberalization>>>