Op-Ed

A swift change

Last Sunday, my good friend Bill invited me to be his guest at the final round of the LPGA Safeway Classic tournament. The ladies were in town, playing at what I've come to call Bill's 'alternate residence" or, if you prefer, hangout: Columbia-Edgewater CC. This annual event provides the Portland married male population a live opportunity to find out what our 39th president, Jimmy Carter, meant by 'committing adultery in the heart," for this bevy of talented golfers do an extraordinary job to help choreograph the stage for lust. But fear not, I won't get into the subject of lust, or a dissertation on why these LPGA girls really rock beyond the promotional PR. Nor is my subject the current top player in women's golf, Lorena Ochoa, the winner this time ˆ her third consecutive victory after the recent crowning as Lady Top Gun. >>>

Total control

The Islamic Republic of Iran has the dubious distinction of executing more children, those under the age of 18, than any other country in the world. Such is the plight of the Iranian people. Iran’s ruling Mullahs are clustered around major factions such as the conservatives, the moderates, and the so-called reformists. Yet, the differences among these factions are tactical rather than strategic. One and all share the same overarching goal of defeating the “Crusader-Zionists” by any and all methods possible, bringing about the “end of the world” Armageddon, and thereby creating the requisite conditions for the appearance of the Hidden Imam, the Mahdi, to assume his rule of the world. >>>

نقد نظر یا نقد شخص؟

می دانید که زندانیان سیاسی برخی اوقات برای فرار از شکنجه و فشار بازجویان اطلاعات سوخته ای را به نشانه همکاری خود در اختیار بازجویان می گذارند. چرا حال که به انگیزه شناسی و روانشناسی آقای میلانی در برخورد با پلیس سیاسی پرداخته اید، لااقل احتمال چنین عملی را از سوی ایشان نداده اید؟ شما آگاهید که بخاطر فشارهای وارده در نظام های سرکوبگر، مبارزان سیاسی به علت "انسان" بودن و در نتیجه دارا بودن حدود مختلفی در تحمل فشار و شکنجه های جسمی و روحی ممکن است در مراحلی برخلاف نظرات واقعی خویش مطالبی را بیان کنند، بنویسند یا آنکه برای رهایی از زندان ندامت نامه ای را نیز امضا کنند. >>>

طالبان های اروپائی

هفته گذشته روزنامه نرکیس آله هاندا که در شهر اوره برو سوئد و در تیراژ حدود 100000 نسخه چاپ میشود عکس های مستهجنی از محمد پیامبر مسلمانان چاپ کرد که دقیقا نشانگر اهدافی خاص میباشد از آنجائیکه به افکار طرفداران عقیدتی با این مسئله برخورد و این نکته را میشکافند؛ در اینجا بدان پرداخته نمیشود . بلکه لازم است در رابطه با ادعای دروغین آزادی بیان برای چاپ چنین چیزهائی در سوئد و مخصوصا این نشریه که خود من با آن تجربه ای دارم پرداخته شود.>>>

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

It was around this time 2 years ago, actually in June, when my good friend Fardad and I, went on a short hop business trip to New Orleans to attend a tradeshow. With all of the news surrounding the Big Easy since, and the somewhat uncertain road back to normal life and the living, I thought it might be a good time to make a travel recommendation to all of you. Suffice it to say, a visit to New Orleans is always in order, always a good idea. After you have been to this wonderful place, just once, you will understand a couple things. First, nothing but nothing will dissuade the indomitable character of New Orleans, not a pissant bitch-named-Katrina storm, not flooding, not un-maintained failing levees, not an inept FEMA, not even God. There is simply too much pure sensual spirit in New Orleans for that.>>>

Me and the Campaign on Vozara Street

When Lyda left, we were all quiet... We were thinking about her ill-fated marriage and her silence in facing the separation... When we passed Haft Hoz Bookstore, we saw the members of the security forces surrounded by a crowd of people. Ehsan told me jokingly: "They are going to arrest you now." I was wearing no make up and I was distressed, my mind still occupied with Lyda’s black eye. So, I laughed. A chador-clad policewoman came charging towards me and said: "Come with me for a few moments." >>>

Freedom does miracles

Farhad is not just an ordinary friend. I have known him since high school. We were also roommates at college in Iran in the early 1970’s. While a Junior at college, he was arrested by Savak (Shah’s secret police) for distributing political pamphlets, put into prison, and sent to the Army to serve a mandatory 2 years service. I lost touch with him for over 25 years. A few years ago while visiting Iran , a mutual friend invited me to a college reunion in Tehran and it was there that I saw Farhad again. He told me the story of his life and how he was able to finish his engineering degree after completing his term in the army, how he was briefly detained again after the revolution, and how he began working like a ‘normal’ person, as he puts it, in the engineering and construction field.>>>

Cutting one's nose to spite one's face

The Post's unquestioning service to empire is all too familiar. Back in the 1980s, the paper made a habit of playing stenographer to the Reagan administration as it justified its murderous intervention in Central America. Reagan falsely claimed that the US had to train and arm the despicable Contra rebel army against Nicaragua because the country's leadership was channeling Soviet weapons to neighboring El Salvador in a bid to destabilize U.S. client states in the entire region. The Washington Post editorial writers never wavered from that fabricated line, not even when they feigned outrage at the scandalous Iran-Contra scheme by Reagan's subordinates to fund the war on Nicaragua in violation of a Congressional ban. >>>

خرد عشق ورزيدن

يکی از نام های شناخته شده در فرهنگ ما «مجنون» است؛ هم به عنوان نام ديگر «ابن قيس» ی که عاشق زنی به نام «ليلی» می شود و قصه ی عاشقی اش بر سر زبان ها می افتد، و هم به عنوان صفتی برای آن ها که عقل درستی ندارند. اين کلمه از عربی به فرهنگ ما آمده و در آن فرهنگ به معناي «جن زده» بکار می رود و به کسی نسبت داده می شود که حرکات عجيب و غريبی انجام دهد که با رفتارهای عادی مردمان زمانه اش همخوانی نداشته باشد. >>>

The first mammal

In moments of statistical introspection, I wonder if LA Dodgers fans are generally Pahlavi supporters. The occasional Shah picture posted on huge Westwood billboards, and the handful of TV stations time capsuling pre-revolution Tehran are tempting bits of data. San Francisco Giants fans, on the other hand, are likely pro-Mossadegh, though I lack the evidence of billboards. Needless to say, Giants rule and Dodgers suck, but it is nice occasionally to brawl with facts and reason. Two meticulously researched books by Oxford scholar Homa Katouzian hit the ball right out of the ballpark for the Giants.>>>

فرمودید کودتا یا قیام؟

از روزی که آخوندها در ایران به فکر تکیه زدن بر مسند قدرت افتادند من هم و غمم را متوجه مبارزه با آنها کردم و نیازی هم ندیدم که هر بار ابراز مخالفت با رژیم اسلامی را با زدن گریزی به گذشته همراه کنم و هر بار انتقاداتی که همیشه به دستگاه آریامهری – در زمان بیا برو اش – داشته ام مکرر نمایم. هرگز تصور نکردم که وقتی از روشنفکران ایراد می گیرم باید توضیح بدهم که این ایراد متوجه مخالفت آنها با حکومت استبدادی نیست که من با آن همصدا و یکدلم بلکه از این روست که آنها به وظیفه روشنفکری خود عمل نکرده اند ...>>>

What's gone wrong?

When my daughter’s friend told me a couple of weeks a go, that her socialist lesbian friend has a poster on her wall saying: “We are all Hezb’ Allah Now!” I said: “my God! (And I am an atheist) something has gone fundamentally wrong.” I asked myself, what are they trying to do, mocking socialists? Or, are they simply brainwashed? What is this world coming to? This young woman has all the necessary ingredients for fighting against political Islam and Hezb’ Allah. First of all she is a woman.>>>

مذهب عليه دين

يکی از تضادهای عمدهء اجتماعی را می توان مابين دو پديدهء «دين» و «مذهب» يافت؛ دو پديده ای که ، بنا به تعريف، هر دو بر بنياد يک پديدهء سوم به نام «ايمان» شکل می گيرند. اما وجود اين تضاد آنچنان بديهی نيست که تصور کنيم همه از آن مطلعند. حتی بنظرم می رسد که اکثر ما به تفاوت ماهوی بسيار اساسی اين سه پديده، که اتفاقاً اکثر مشکلات ما از خلط ماهيت آنها ناشی می شود، توجه چندانی نداريم. لحظه ای پيش خودتان به اين سه مقولهء مفهومی بيانديشيد تا دريابيد که اغلب يا آنها را يکی می گيريم و يا نمی توانيم دقيقاً تفاوتشان با يکديگر را توضيح دهيم. >>>

ضد ولایت فقیه

راهی كه در این كتاب برای براندازی نظام اسلامی عرضه شده ساده و روشن است. اول به داو مبارزه پرداخته شده كه پایهٌ نظریه پردازی است، بعد به استراتژی كه تابع هدف است و در نهایت به سازماندهی كه تابع استراتژی است. این روش در جهت منطق تاریخ معاصر ایران كه نبرد بر سر تعیین نظام سیاسی است و در جهت خواست یك قرنهٌ مردم ایران كه دستیابی به دمكراسی است حركت میكند. نظام حكومتی امروز ایران با سلب حاكمیت از مردم، با تعریف خود به عنوان ضدلیبرال و مذهبی واروی خود را هم كه نظامی دمكراتیك و لیبرال و لائیك است، تعریف كرده است >>>

Azerbaijan in Iran

Iran was not supposed to be a country of the Persian, or the Aryan, nation, because the Persians are just about half of the population, or maybe less, and there is neither an Aryan nation or an Aryan race to build a country upon. But it could be just like any country, a union of peoples or nations, where there is no preferred one, and each nation within the country can decide about their own affairs in case they wish to. Breaking up countries is too costly and not worth any attempt, but discriminatory policies of authoritarian regimes are creating the right atmosphere that over time lead to social discontent that can overflow and cause serious problems at any moment.>>>