Op-Ed

Lesser evil

While America's Fuehrer tours the palaces of his moneyed-buddies in the Middle East, ranting incessantly -- and stupidly -- about Iran... and the inconceivable and "personal" promise of regional peace, the present Democratic pretenders to the Pennsylvania Avenue domicile, who also anticipate dominance over a Reichstag just a short jog away, deliver soft blows at each other as if all these non-sense, non-issues really meant anything. Anything relevant, that is, to the chaotic economic and foreign policies that define the sorry state of our nation these days!>>>

Messing with your mind

The propaganda aimed at social change through creating new norms and values is being directed more and more towards children. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, this new target group was selected in an earlier stage, in the early 1980’s when the new babyboom was old enough to go to school and learn about the values of the Islamic Republic. Schoolbooks had changed, resulting in text books with stories derived from the Qoran, carrying values of martyrdom, submission to Islam, our brotherhood with the Palestinians and last but not least the fight of the good (the Islam) against evil (the West)>>>

Hidden cash

The existence of corruption is fundamentally a philosophical problem and has roots in human nature and ethics. Though from a political perspective, this writing is concerned with the percolation of corruption throughout political life. I seek, here, to outline the causes of political corruption, with a focus on Iran. Political corruption is widespread in Iran almost to the proportions of an endemic disease. The modus operandi of Iranian political life requires a recipe of bribery, nepotism, cronyism, secret deals, and financial collusions, among others, camouflaged by the rhetoric and visage of Islamic justice>>>

Are we ready for democracy?

If we want to change policy, we have to change the present circumstances, the clichee iranian type. We can change that, by changing the medias attitude. It is us in the west, who have to draw the media´s attention to the, let us call it a fact, that Iranians are Democrats and deserve to be supported. But a fact is something, which needs evidence. Every Iranian can proove and contribute by taking time (5 minutes), just clicking in the survey... I will pass on the results to the media in Germany. Despite the survey naturally may not be representative, it could be seen as a very small step>>>

Back to the future?

Kianoosh Sanjari, a human rights activist and an ex-political prisoner himself, demonstrated against the human rights atrocities in Iran by showing his protest in a gathering together with Amnesty International in front of the Norwegian parliament in Oslo on January 12th. It is an alarming fact that the number of death sentences in Iran are on the rise, comparing 177 death sentences by hanging in 2006 to 298 in 2007. Not only is there a rise in the number of death penalties, there also seems to be more cases of “alternative penalties” like amputating limbs or pushing people off cliffs>>>

At what price?

Dear Mr. Taheri, and alike, we know that you, like all of us here in the west, have to earn a living and pay rent -- but at what price? You are willing to provoke conflicts where there are none with consequent bloodshedding just because you are against the present regime in Iran? Maybe, we Iranians of the diaspora that earn a living by legitimate means and working our asses of to make ends meet, should also set aside a fund where we can contribute to these has-beens so that maybe they will not commit these stupidities and just sit at home and SHUT UP>>>

Defying conventional wisdom

I just returned to the United Stats from an exciting short trip to Iran. One thing that grabs your attention more than anything else when you travel to the major cities in Iran is overcrowding, best displayed by chaotic traffic and the proliferation of residential high-rises. Almost everyone complains about this social evil and how the presence of others in big cities like Tehran has made his or her life miserable and how other people do not deserve to live in Tehran>>>

Caramius

Yea…I remember it well. I had wished for him ever since I was incarnated onto earth 68 000 years ago for the first time. But his conception by the ‘Holy’ took a long time and his essence took even a longer time to take form. Caramius was born at the break…at the break of the first light. Just like myself and just about this time. I can still see the flashes and the absolute light surrounding everything. I am not talking about the kind of light that the sun produces…no…it was another kind of light. It had substance…the light was heavy…it had warmth…it even had a smell>>>

Never mind the bomb

The irrefutable fact is that the Jihadist belief of Islam itself poses existential danger to the world. Beliefs energize and direct actions. Beliefs are as indispensable as the air we breathe. Even an atheist is a believer, with his own system of disbelief. Not believing in anything is mental breakdown. There is something about humans that demands a belief. A belief can be anything or a combination of many things; it can be well-defined and even rigid, or a loosely put together hodge-podge with considerable latitude>>>

A night at the Oscars

Beating all the odds, it was the 36 year old Iranian born, Pantheon Xeroxes and her 110 minutes documentary called “Iran, the Land of Hydraulic Cranes” that won the Oscar last night for the best foreign language film... Born in Tehran as Zahra Hazrati Islampanah, she fled Iran at the tender age of 25 as a passenger in a British Air Lines flight from Tehran to Stockholm. Upon arrival she dyed her hair blonde and changed her name to Pantheon Xeroxes to better blend with the Swedish crowd>>>

Offering for a cause

The reality is that the suicide bomber is taking part in an act of self-sacrifice. He is killing himself (and the mostly innocent around him) as an offering to the gods. The gods in this case are nothing but his cause or the cause of his people. He and his people live in a time of unprecedented calamity. Unlike the subjugated peoples of the past, the suicide bomber is aware of his predicament and also knows the perpetrators. Thanks to the Information Revolution, the oppressed are no longer blessed by ignorance. They are world-savvy and often educated. By offering himself the suicide bomber is attempting to convince the gods to change for the better the circumstances under which he lives>>>

Sacrificing the innocent

After the coming to power Mohammad Reza Shah, intense criticism of his father's rule began. The clerical establishment, like ants, began to wreck the nation’s democratic foundation and every aspect of modern life, enlightened thought, progress and liberty, became a toy in the hand of repressive powers in Iran... After the 28 Mordad coup d'état in 1953, the mullas insisted on their significant share in the revolt, and this was only possible by suppression of the Tudeh Party and Baha’is. The furtive and renowned preacher, Hujjatu’l-Islam Muhammad-Taqi Falsafi, has stated in his memoirs that his sermons against the Baha’is took place with the prior consent of Ayatollah Borujerdi and Muhammad-Reza Shah>>>

«ناکجا آباد»

تصور و اميد به فردای «بهتر» نه تنها امروز «بد» را قابل تحمل می سازد بلکه، بصورت «رانش» بسيار کارآمدی، زمينه را برای خروج از اکنون و حرکت به سوی آيندهء بهتر فراهم می سازد. بدين سان، صرفنظر از اينکه محتوای «ناکجا آباد» را کدام جهان بينی و آئين و دينی بسازد، خود وجود اين تصور حاصل روياروئی انسان با جهان هر دم ديگرگون شونده است و آرزوی او برای اينکه بتواند از پای بندهای وضع موجود برهد و خود را به وضعيتی برتر برساند. >>>

Strait facts

Iran's release of the video taken on the morning of Sunday January 6th in the Straight of Hormuz, clearly debunks Pentagon's hype of depicting a routine patrolling operation by the Iranian Navy as an act of unfathomable aggression against the United States. Timing of this so called 'provocation' incident in the Persian Gulf just before Mr. Bush's trip to the region was also very convenient as he went on reminding the world and all the client Arab states in the region during a press conference in Israel yesterday that they must fear this menacing "threat to the world peace" and prepare for a joint U.S./Israeli action to deal with Iran>>>