Features>>> Archive
AIDS Photo essay: Dr. Kamiar Alaei and his team's revolutionary effort in Iran to try to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS Have you dreamed of going to Iran and actually making a difference? I mean we all try to go in the summers and visit our families, visit all the historical sties, and eat lots of delicious homemade food; but haven't you wondered what it would be like to actually be a part of the society there and observe things up close? ... Well here is your chance... Read on! >>>
We've committed not a wanton act
Is Iranian music worthless?
As of late, I have been reading quite a bit of emotional "Vaaveila" from our fellow iranian.com contributors regarding the increasing likelihood of an imminent US military attack on the IRI. While I think (and hope) that this threat will never go beyond heated rhetorical muscle-flexing between the USA and IRI and will most likely end in some sort of cop-out, here are three analgesic thoughts and reflections in case I turn out to be wrong >>>
It's 12:15 p.m. and I rush downstairs to the small cafeteria owned by this Koran man, known as "Charlie". The safe foods to eat off of his menu are cold sandwiches normally. But today, I have a stomachache and some sort of nausea, caused most likely by simple anxiety. You know... the every day stress. I ask him for just "white rice". I already have maast, or plain yogurt, in the fridge at the office upstairs, which I had bought one day recently from Ralph's when I had my first "Kateh-Maast" attack. This is the third time I am getting just white rice from Charlie this month and he is clearly getting annoyed since "just white rice" is not exactly doing business for him >>> ART Photo essay: Latest works by Ali Dadgar
Today is Tasooa. I went for a walk, the whole god damn city was closed, but there were people everywhere, mostly walking. There was light traffic and at least three dastehs on the march. People were giving free food and drink everywhere. I even saw some goddesses with make-up and latest fashionable clothes as well. My observation: this is far in North Tehran where rich and educated people live. Now if they are like this, holy cow... what is going on in deep in the south? Which one came first? Chicken or the egg? Did government indoctrination cause this degree of religiousness? Or are these people basically religious and the currnet government is the government of the people by the people for the people?
I hear the footsteps of an imminent attack I am sick. I have all the physical symptoms of a large scale food poisoning. I double over in pain and sit down like that. What did I eat? Where did I pick up this virus? I haven’t eaten anything, and I haven’t left my apartment for 24 hours. What is wrong with me? I slowly begin to realize that I’m not physically ill. Something sinister and powerful is eating away at me, making me feel this way. What is it? It downs on me swiftly and irrevocably. I am sick because I think. I am sick because I feel, I worry, I fear. This is the plight of all Iranians who have a conscience and mediocre sensibilities. Something really serious and ominous is taking shape and happening and there is nothing we can do; or is there? I live in a state of schizophrenia, swinging between the deep feelings of love and responsibility for Iran, feeling indignant and angry at anyone contemplating attacking Iran, or keeping it from growing and prospering, and yet, feeling helpless and angry at a regime that has made Iran both the ghoul and the laughing stock of the world >>> YOUR LETTERS In response to Daniel M Pourkesali's "Poking into a far larger hornet's nest": THANKS FOR YOUR BRIGHT ARTICLE. YOU ARE RIGHT BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THIS TIME THE POKER WILL NOT SURVIVE. I AM AN IRANIAN AMERICAN. A 51 YEAR OLD FEMALE. IF BUSH DECIDES TO INVADE IRAN MY TICKET IS READY. I WILL DIE FOR MY HOME COUNTRY NO MATTER WHAT. SO HE BETTER THINK TWICE >>> More letters
I hear the footsteps of an imminent attack I am sick. I have all the physical symptoms of a large scale food poisoning. I double over in pain and sit down like that. What did I eat? Where did I pick up this virus? I haven’t eaten anything, and I haven’t left my apartment for 24 hours. What is wrong with me? I slowly begin to realize that I’m not physically ill. Something sinister and powerful is eating away at me, making me feel this way. What is it? It downs on me swiftly and irrevocably. I am sick because I think. I am sick because I feel, I worry, I fear. This is the plight of all Iranians who have a conscience and mediocre sensibilities. Something really serious and ominous is taking shape and happening and there is nothing we can do; or is there? I live in a state of schizophrenia, swinging between the deep feelings of love and responsibility for Iran, feeling indignant and angry at anyone contemplating attacking Iran, or keeping it from growing and prospering, and yet, feeling helpless and angry at a regime that has made Iran both the ghoul and the laughing stock of the world >>>
You won't find me under the clothing What is there to confess? That I love you like my land? That you are my land? That I want to take you in, to take me in? That I love you and I see the right from the wrong? That I am a misplaced name in your notebook? That I am afraid of feeling this dependency, that I miss you because I do miss you. I am afraid of finishing my journal and leaving you in between my letters, and my words. I ask myself what is this joy, this suffering, this longing for you. A person who will not come to pick me up from the station, who has no idea who I am even if he came, how I don't dress up, how I don't sit in an armchair, how I express myself, how I never remember birthdays, and anniversaries, how I find valentine's day a money wasting celebration, how I drive in a highway, how I clean the kitchen, and the bathrooms in my home every day, how is the taste of my cooking, how my fingers peel in spring sometimes, and how easy it is for me to arrive >>>
Sheema Kalbasi incorporates the Iranian understanding that poems should express and contain the unity of the mind, the body, and the soul Every culture and its arts have their strengths; however, within those strengths can also stir the seeds of weakness. One the strengths of Western culture has been the growth of a secular consciousness. The mindset has opened an exploration and questioning of existence that can offset limits that more dogmatic views of life can create. Artistically, this can be seen at its best in the works of T.S. Eliot that are perhaps the height of poetry within the realms of the secular rational perspective. In many ways, we have spent the decades since Eliot attempting to approach the levels of his creations. In consequence, there has been new limitations placed on serious Western poetry, ones in which the mind is acknowledged but often seen as alienated from its surroundings, the body is denigrated, and the soul is ignored. This inability to reconcile the soul and body with the mind is one of the reasons Western verse in many cases tends to be flat and sere with more concern in how it is constructed than in what it is saying >>> HERITAGE Documents: How crown jewels came to be the property of the NATION trhough the efforts of Iranian modernists -- and an American The question of the crown jewels is reminder of a little known yet very significant episode in Iranian history. It is gratifying to know that despite western propaganda about how we owe everything to the Greeks we 'barbarians' (as Greek tourist guides describe Persians) protected our crown jewels in law long before (just under a 100 years) thanks only to a bunch of young Iranian modernists. Yet their memory and devotion to duty has been villified by recent generations because of envy, lack of understanding of history and perhaps blind ambition >>> DAMAVAND Photo essay: I have climbed many mountains, and though I find them all beautiful, big or small, this one has a special place in my heart Damavand towers magnificently 50km North east of Tehran, and as a child I would gaze endlessly at it’s mesmerizing permanent snow-capped peak, whether it be from the slopes of Dizin, the drive down to Shomal. If I was lucky, I would be treated with a glimpse of its beauty whilst in Tehran, although, unfortunately that has become a thing of the past, thanks to pollution >>>
Nomad-sedentary relations and pre-Islamic Arabs It is interesting that people like Mr. Nooriala are making the effort to research and find new explanations for the age old question of “Why did the mighty Sasanian Empire fall to the Arab Armies?”. The attempt to break the already established paradigms (such as “Eslaamiyun” explanations that he seems to have set up to refute) are also much appreciated. However, the whole argument suffers from fallacies in using secondary sources and sweeping disregard for primary ones, and starting the argument from a defensive position, in effect asking for refutation. However, these are not the reasons I have decided to write these few lines. The matter of the fall of the Sasanian Empire is not a simple one and surely cannot be answered by short essays and spiteful commentaries. Much like the “Fall of the Roman Empire” on which Mr. Nooriala bases his argument, the fall of the Sasanian Empire has tens of explanations, and unlike what he presents, the most accepted version is not the Eslamiyn version, in “preparation and falsification for 1400 years” >>> PROTEST Iranian expatriate community answers the call to action against war with Iran in unprecedented numbers PROTEST Photo essay: Anti-war rally in Washington DC PROTEST Photo essay: Iraq war memorial
Engaging in diplomacy with Iran will affect its internal politics, in a way that the current US Administration has failed to understand The other night, over dinner in a cozy little tavern, I was engaged in a maddening discussion with my colleague from Norway on a recent Time magazine cover headlined "What war with Iran would look like." Even with the recent Democratic Party victory sweeping the nation, I argued there is still talk that Bush may have time to get his invasion plans for Iran in before his presidential timeline expires. If this proves true, then for this hyphenated-American, it's a hard thing to stomach. I will admit that I am frightened to think of the consequences. If we all buy into Seymour Hersh's concepts of Iran as the next Iraq, then what about my aunts and cousins who still live in Tehran and can't get out in time? For many months now, Mr Hersh has filed ongoing reports on the Bush Administration's purported plans for an air strike within Iran. The Bush administration repudiated and cited Hersh's reportage as "wild speculation". But the potency of this argument has lingered around like a wet, stench odor >>>
This is President Bush’s call to war on Iran -- Operation Galio or false flag at work It would be naive to think that ‘outsourcing’ is a new phenomenon; at least the kind we see in Iraq today can be traced back to the 1940’s. In 1947, the National Security Act created the CIA. Little known or discussed is the fact that one of the fist acts of the National Security Council was the subversion of Italian democracy. In 1948, Italy was leaning towards a leftist government. Washington spent millions of dollars on propaganda to ensure that the election results were consistent with US desires. While the US bullied its way without resorting to violence, it later came to light that the CIA had organized a secret paramilitary army of 15,000 troops in Italy called ‘Operation Gladio (derived from the Latin gladius meaning sword) with hidden stockpiles of weapons and explosives ready to resort to violence in the event that the elections did not go Washington’s way >>>
We tend to wait and see what happens. I highly recommend we stop waiting. It is three in the morning. I woke up in sweats in the middle of the night and I can't go back to sleep. Why? Because I am worried that my motherland is going to be attacked and I sit here in my comfort home and watch while my relatives, my country man are savagely killed under bomb attacks? I said to myself I am not going to be silenced about this. But that is just me one voice. What about the one million Iranian living in North America and almost over half million living here in United States? I have no statistical figure on hand but I can assume that the total combination of Iranian assets here in United States is over a trillion, with a purchasing power of over billions. But do we have a lobby group or state representative? Do we have special interest group? Haven't you noticed after living so many years in here that United States is ran and controlled by special interest group as well as lobbyists? >>> OBSERVER Photo essay: Northern Iraq
Empires and nomads
Ahmadinejad's deteriorating nuttyness
How many times have you asked a child, "sweetheart what do you want to be when you grow up?" Most kids answer an astronaut, firefighter, policeman or a doctor, but do you ever hear a child say, "I want to become a urologist" or even worse a "proctologist?" Don't take me wrong I know how important this field is, but what is it that triggers someone to pursue such career? These are the morbid thoughts that keep me awake during the day. While we are at it let's have an illustration: How does a proctologist respond on his first blind date with a beautiful girl in a fancy restaurant, while the dinner is being served she asks: "so what do you exactly do for living?" and he has to hesitantly reply: "I am a proctologist!" Mother of Jesus, that puts shiver into your spine just to think about itt >>> Painting + Photography SOPRANOS Video blog: Today I thought I'd do a piece to the camera for you instead of an article
The significance of finding a home in diaspora America maybe the world's last remaining super power, but she could still greatly benefit from Iranian-American influence and leadership. The United States census data indicates that Iranian-Americans are among the most highly educated people in the country. With their high level of educational accomplishment and a median family income that is twenty percent higher than the national average, Iranian-Americans contribute substantially to the U.S. economy. It is now only realistic for us to recognize that our contribution to a country that has given us a second chance to pursue our dreams is not in vain. Iranian-Americans must believe that they belong to America without having to compromise their background, and culture >>>
Would Iran's mullahs use the Bomb? Perhaps the most compelling dismissive argument is that the Mullahs would never dare to use the bomb, since it would be suicidal to do so. This argument is just as flawed as the rest. The "mutual deterrence" argument may work in state-to-state confrontations. It apparently has worked in the past and the hope is that it will work in the future. However, the mutual deterrence argument fails when a non-state entity is the adversary. The Mullahs don't have to lob a bomb at Israel or at anyone else to inflict huge harm. They can pursue their cause of death and destruction by simply providing their killers with dirty bombs in a suitcase. Given the Mullahs' fanaticism and Machiavellian nature, they would come up with a myriad of clever schemes to achieve their objectives >>>
I see you as my supply of shoes to amble through my own memories I want to forget about the heartaches in the world. I want to think of you, just now, just this minute of writing to you, for you. Let me. As if nothing existed before knowing you and nothing will come after. Between my hands and my heart is a drop of dew. Hold it. Don't spill it. Take it into your mouth. Drink it. It's my longing for you. Now I feel fortunate. You haven't let the distance of coasts twist my devotion to your presence. I want to believe it is a fruitful season. A season when I can sleep next to you and dismiss all rationalizations, the insanity, and displaced relationships. I love your insights, your outlook, your not restricting yourself to places, to people, to earth, to life. I am unlike you. I restrict my self to places and that make me journey beyond time. I restrict myself to people and that makes me leave or want to break free. I restrict myself to earth, that is why I don't drink wine >>>
Lessons from three temporary lovers You spent three days with me, my legs and yours entwined, your tongue against my neck to start and every iteration of pleasure to follow. Something about it being finite made it hotter. Of course it did, as neither of us could stand to stand still and there's something so still about infinity. Just that it goes on forever makes it depressing. And so is love depressing, love in the traditions of longevity and monogamy and matrimony. I much preferred you to love, I preferred the desperation that comes of only three days together. Ironic that we chose the desert as our meeting point; the choice of such vast, open space may have been a sublimation of our true desire for each other, a geographical manifestation of a physical impossibility >>> TRAVELERS Photo essay: Gifts from Iran THE BAND New video & songs proves this sister act is making history and sweet, kick-ass music
The Iranian economy What a difference a year makes. It was in mid 2005 that Ahmadinejad won a land-slide victory (62%) in the presidential election. As a presidential candidate he had promised to improve the lives of the poor and the lower classes by “putting petroleum income on people’s tables”. His campaign motto was “it is possible and we can do it”. Son of a blacksmith, Ahmadinejad was the fourth child of a working class family with seven children. He was brought up in the rough and poor neighbourhoods of south Tehran. He is therefore familiar with the problems facing the poor families and has tried to fulfil his election promises to them by increasing the minimum wage (under pressure was later reversed), the pensions, consumer loans for low-income families, loans for small enterprises in underdeveloped regions, and other popular projects. He has also been travelling around the country approving construction projects and distributing largesse >>>
Interview with composer Reza Vali It is a rare pleasure that you encounter the realization of a potential you had only imagined possible. Hearing Reza Vali’s Nayshaboorak (Calligraphy No. 6) was one such pleasure. For all the hype about “celebration” of cultures and “dialogue” between this and that, those of us who spend our lives commuting between cultures know that works that are grounded in real knowledge of different artistic traditions are still quite rare. In music, what is generically called “world music,” while certainly not wanting in raw talent and freestyle thrill, lacks the formal cohesiveness that one associates with classical traditions. It is the exploration of the wide open area afforded by the rigor and nuance of the highly developed musical traditions of Iran and the west that Reza Vali undertakes. The result is not only novel but a delight >>>
Iranian Men: User Manual Throughout years of writing for iranian.com and other publications, I have received enormous amount of emails from women married to Iranian men with a wide range of questions about their husbands. And just about all emails follow the same theme: why does my Iranian man do the things he does? For some reason American wives of Iranian men, who read my book or articles, have got it in their heads that I somehow have access to the only copy of "Iranian Men: User Manual!" The questions are often entertaining and sometimes plain weird. The most compelling questions come from women who date Iranian men >>> HUMOR Cartoons
President Bush is ignoring the tragic lessons in Iraq Three years ago my then 5-year old son learned a valuable lesson about life which he still vividly remembers to this day. On a hot summer afternoon, he along with a couple of other boys came upon a hornet's nest hidden inside the hedges lining the perimeter of our residential neighborhood. Not long after poking and hitting it with wooden sticks, the boys were attacked by a swarm of angry hornets that chased and stung them in multiple places. After tending to his injuries and calming him down with some antihistamines, we spent the rest of that evening talking about respect for other species. One could argue that the positive outcome of that awful incident was that the boys gained some valuable lesson and are much wiser for it. But after listening to Mr. Bush's 'State of the Union' address last night, I'm not sure the same can be said about our commander-in-chief >>>
"We are Iran" reinforces the impression of a vibrant civil society chafing at the bit and ready to jump and flourish In recent years, we have seen the publication of a large number of books on Iran, whether memoirs or historical, literary and political studies. "We are Iran" is different from any of those. This is a book about ordinary Iranians as seen through the eyes of the country’s many bloggers, mainly young people who are voicing their hopes and anxieties through their writings. Its editor and (skillful) translator, Nasrin Alavi, has compiled a sample of their blogs in such a way that readers can come to their own conclusions about the fabric of the Iranian society based on the opinions of those who were either very young or not yet born during the turbulent days of the Islamic Revolution >>>
There is no easy answer Who: At the moment, Seyyeds run Iran, propagating their Empire. Their self-acclaimed moral prerogative, is that they are related to Halabi Qureshi (aka Mohammed), who himself was brought to world attention, thanks to the abdication of the High Priest of Iran in the 7th Century AD to Christianity and then eventually to Halabi Qureshi. Ancient Iranian mythology (referred to by Christian historians as Zoroastrianism), speaks of an Iranian traitor; that creates a new revolution and overthrows the Iranian Empire; but much later is overthrown by a true Iranian. Will: The next word in the question is "will". The word "will" immediately links ones mind to "will power". The inspiration behind will power has to be Iranian, and there we see the Iranian nation reading Ferdowsi to be inspired with Iranian nationality >>> WINE Photo essay: Weekend trip in Sonoma and Napa, California's wine country You are not a casual affair I want to wear you like a pair of earrings so that your touch leaves me short breathed, so that when I brush my hair aside and look at myself in the mirror, you smile back at me, with your lips upon my ears. I am not your jealous lover. I am not your keeper. I am not your fragments, fractions, your feelings; I am not your relentless answer to be alive. I am not your other half. You are complete without me. Your hands are kind without holding mine. Your eyes are bright without the need to absorb the light in mine. You don't need to read my letters to see my reflection. You make my blood simmer without undressing me. Hundreds of thousands of people have crossed my path, hundreds of thousands of texts have been read by my eyes, hundreds of thousands of times, rain has washed my body, yet I want your smell to drop me on my feet >>> TRAVELERS Photo essay: Monbéliard, southeastern France
... bring a piece of heaven and paradise into this dark and gloomy world Let me rip my heart out of my chest with my bare hands, and offer it to you as a gift of love...a gift of our union. Let me find my way to my place of power ... .on a reef ... in the middle of the transparent waters of the ocean ... then stretch my arms out and shout ... I LONG FOR YOU ... having the angels as my witness, bringing out the word to the Lord and making him aware of my passion. Let me touch my own face ... touch my lips ... wet my lips ... in search of your taste. Let me approach insanity by consuming each tone and rhythm in a savage Tango ... losing the air in my lungs in an absolute state of yearning. Let me go mad in my loneliness ... when imaging you ... >>>
Freedom-loving countries must unite and assist Iranian people to end this embarrassment to humanity The Honorable George W. Bush President Of United States, As one of the remaining senior Iranian Imperial Ambassadors with many years of service in his majesty's Foreign Office I unequivocally and unconditionally am in favor of regime change in Iran without classic warfare, I further believe by adopting the correct strategy this could effectively be achieved by United States Government stepping up its support of the Iranian Opposition Groups within Iran and outside Iran, together with a complete blockade of Iranian ports and economic routes combined with total economic sanctions, and targeting the Islamic Republics' heirarchy. I support and respect the aspiration of Iranian people for a free secular democracy and human rights. I further declare that: >>>
At the start of last week many Iranians were working towards preventing war between Iran and America. However, given the events of the past week it is no longer prevention of war but the stopping of war that we have to start working on. It is now a whole different ballgame. For those of you that are deluded into thinking that this will lead to regime change for a better Iran you on the wrong side and need to think hard about what being Iranian means to you. Many of you hold American passports and when you got that passport it was required that you pledge allegiance to the American flag and be prepared to take up arms to defend America, which also means taking up arms when America conducts military operations that are not defense in nature >>>
On the hanging of Hussein, and the death of countless of Iraqis citizens and 3,000 American soldiers
Becoming a shy circle
So, so solitary soliloquy
Your absence takes over all other reality PEOPLE Photo essay: Public baths in Tehran These are some photographs from Tehran public baths. I'm not sure if all of them still exist. Also, not sure if after a US military attack, any of these locations will be available again >>>
A new coordinated policy approach against Iran It is commonly said that the United States has no Middle East strategy. That may not be true much longer. The United States has begun to establish the framework of a new coalition strategy in the Middle East that could rebuild tattered alliances, shift attention away from the Iraqi catastrophe, and provide a touchstone for policymaking that could appeal across party lines. The organizing principle of the new strategy is confrontation with and containment of Shia influence -- and specifically Iranian influence -- wherever it appears in the region. US allies in this endeavor are Israel and the traditional (and authoritarian) governments of predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. One unique feature of this otherwise unremarkable set of long-standing friendly governments is the possibility that the Arab states may subordinate their hostility to Israel at least temporarily out of their even greater fear of Iranian/Shia dominance of the region >>>
You-know-who's dog
They planted me, watered me, and yet I came out blue Do you read my story, the story of my love, a love so deep that it is needless of your physical presence? Has there ever been a lover who has traced your essence in the air and kissed your lettering every chance she gets. Have you ever had a lover who sits patiently for you to take her in your dreams if not in reality, who wears you like a bangle, and to whom she is like a devotee to Lal Shahbaz Qalandar? Today is not as quiet as yesterday. It is five in the morning. The lights reflect the loss of energy. The city has written its dreams, wake up and reveal to me what items form your place of peace but before that, do know I don't tremble from the pain of not having you. I tremble from the thought of having you and losing. I don't want to be just another woman you direct your days next to. No, I don't want to add Sheema to your days. I need this constant presence, your presence, learning you >>>
Could it be that Iranians are such a helpful nation, that most of us expect others to offer help when help is needed, and that we consider it, not a favor, but indeed their duty? There’s a peculiar phrase in Persian, “My hands have no salt,” which refers to having done much for others without receiving the due gratitude. This old cliché may have originated from the times when the best favor you could do others was to feed them, be it the sick, the poor, or anyone else in need of attention. But, if you forgot the salt, not only would your efforts be unappreciated, but also you might hear them complain that you are indeed a bad cook. My grandmother strongly believed that her hands had absolutely no salt and even went so far to say, “Every time I do something for others, not only is there no gratitude, but they throw stones at me,” I thought she was being melodramatic, after all, there must be someone who had shown her the appreciation she deserved. As I grew older, and in my pursuit of happiness for all, the pleasure I drew from helping others prevented me from evaluating the responses I received. In fact, if it weren’t for a comment my husband made, I might have never noticed what was missing or make the connection to my grandmother’s phrase >>> COUSINS Photo essay: Davar Ardalan's bookreading in Palo Alto takes me to Abadan
Why a military attack, a revolution or invasion will not cause Iranians to greet you with open arms Regime Change -- this term has been heavily assaulted by the neocons, thank you for putting yet another word on the politically incorrect blacklist! -- has to have some kind of acceptable and human-friendly tool. And no, in this case the saying "all means justify the goal" does not count. So an external military intervention should remain far away from our list of options. Back to the feasible tools or means to achieve political change in a human-friendly and enduring way. A lesson in Public Policy that I always find useful is: social change -- thus including political change -- is a process and not a project! Dear reader, remember what I wrote earlier about letting the words rain on you, this would be a good time to do just that. Process, NOT Project! The reason why I emphasize so much on this is nothing more than a reaction after hearing and reading these words hundreds and hundreds of times spoken/written by politically engaged Iranians: >>>
I found out that 87 nations of the world have some green color in their national flag For decades historians and economist and political scientists have been trying to pinpoint the cause(s) of what makes some nations of the world successful in many ways and others to be struggling. One thing we know is that being a rich country does not guarantee democracy or economic success, take Iran or Saudi Arabia or Iraq as prime examples. So if wealth of a nation does not bring democracy and happiness then what does? Some believe that theocracy is the cause of a national failure while others blame geographic location and some blame foreign interference as the cause of their misery. Regardless of how true or false any of the above factors might be however none of those reasons can be taken as one major common denominator that would make such nations of the world to be categorized either as a success or failures >>>
Democracy takes a very long time to be built and democracies are not necessarily supposed to be the same The first attempts on democracy in Iran were made more than a century ago. Ever since Iran has failed to establish itself as a democracy and pro-democracy movements have been busy talking, not so much being able of anything else. Recently there were talks of Khamenei being seriously ill, or even dead. Seriously ill he may be but it turned out that dead he is not. Any eventual death of Khamenei would probably mean his swift replacement by someone else within the Islamist circles. The Islamic regime has become quite old and experienced. The regime has evolved and entered into new stages. Enemies within have been skilfully decapitated or neutralised. The Islamic regime has become able to focus almost exclusively on external threats, being confident of its internal dominance. They are not wrong >>>
Against imperialist war, for Iran workers Irrespective of the outcome of this latest stage in the US-Iran conflict, the events of the last few days stress once more the urgency of building a principled campaign - not only against the threat of war, but in defence of Iranian workers, women, students and national minorities. Of course, in the UK, Hands Off the People of Iran (HOPI) is not the first campaign to oppose war against Iran, nor is it the only one acting in solidarity with the struggles of the long-suffering peoples of Iran against the theocratic regime. However, it is the only campaign stressing that these two aspects (against war, against the regime) must be inseparable parts of a single campaign. In October 2006, Action Iran, Iran Solidarity and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII UK) merged to form a single organisation, called Campaign Iran. Totally missing from their material - as it is from Campaign Iran’s statements - is any criticism of the Islamic Republic >>>
In the morning, I reveal secrets to my readers, study politics of peace, and at night I read bedtime stories, kiss goodnight in one room and make love in another before solving mysteries in my dreams I am truthful to you, to my pen, to my readers. You can call these pieces part of my autobiography, a fiction, horridly remembering the past for the future, or study of self. I don't think I am leaving a scent out of my memory. You are more than an invented literary character to me. You mysterious in your soft blue are leaving an impression hard to not notice. You know, I think I have daily rendezvous with you. One that you never arrive at, one where I find my reflection winging away in the wind, one that I try to let its aromatic fragrance flow through my body when I write to you. Maybe I write not to lose my memory or when I am older and losing the memories, to look at these writings and wonder who was this great presence whose name hasn't promised of love, and my pictures, frames, home-made videos, and journals don't show his face, don't reveal his name >>>
I had forgotten the way it felt to be lifted
The newspaper on her long green skirt, and 176 people in Iraq
Inspired by Moshiri’s “Soghateh Yad”
I was born
I know the odds of lost to found
Taraaneye penhaan
Where is YOUR heart-belt?
I saw these pictures and I paused for a moment
Flying into the sky of your mesmerizing thoughts
Neither direction is mine
(for Mahmoud Darwish) EDUCATION 2nd grade Persian textbook from 1960
NEWS ANALYSIS: Washington DC -- The head of US Naval forces, Admiral James Glenstone acknowledged that an unusual war game with Iran exposed the vulnerability of the Patriot missile interceptors systems, claimed to be the best in the world. In a rare gesture of engagement last month, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Forces proposed to conduct a test run of Iranian Shahab missiles against the world renowned Patriot anti-missile batteries in the gulf region. After heated diplomatic debates, US agreed to conduct a non-binding indirect engagement "aimed at US show of force and lowering potential loss of human life" on the side of the Iranians as a result of a possible confrontation. US military officials confirmed that the test took place in the morning of January 8, 2007 in international waters of the Persian Gulf >>>
Most Iranians are Muslim. But being Iranian is more than that.
They wanted to see him dream a little Three generations of women sat him down and with a concern on their faces that could only come from being women and from caring a lot about love, told him that he was going to have to pay attention to the possibility of intimacy. The way he was going, he was not leaving any room for that. A woman was going to want him to share of himself. He was a young man, they told him, and he ought to be in the middle of it, in the middle of all the things he could do only when he was young. He could see the young man they were talking about, and he wanted to tell them that he also liked him. He had a very soft spot for him, and he was sure that whatever young woman he was in the middle of it with liked him very much and that their time together was meaningful. He wanted to tell them that he was looking at that young man and young woman from high above >>>
Let’s look at few common medications and their side effects Working in health care and pharmaceutical environment for over 2 decades, listening to the commercials about new drugs and medications, I wonder if these new drugs are beneficial or more harmful to human body. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a physician but I have enough common sense to analyze the effects and side effects. Just look at TV commercials and you be the judge. Oh yes, if you think I am making these up, just log into drugs.com and see for your self. Now and days people are caught in the middle. Should they stay with old remedies and have a life span of 40 or should they take these medications and deal with more problems? So the question is: To take or not to take? >>>
I find myself in my old neighborhood, in front of the old house As the plane makes its approach toward Mehrabad I realize I have no feelings what so ever, at least not on a conscious level. There's nobody waiting for me here, nobody I want to see. Tehran smells of petroleum and earth, dry earth. It's early in the morning and as the taxi drives me to my destination, I look at the empty streets and read the store signs and billboards. Sweepers in their Gitmo-colored uniforms spread the street dust into the air with their long brooms. The driver looks tired. Fortunately he is quiet too. No curiosity as to where I'm coming from, and how long I've been there, or other bullshit like that. Thank God >>> MARTYRS Photo essay LIFE Poem & photo essay: London sky
Using the same illegal tactics to justify a war against Iran Has anyone told you or Bush that it's the year 2007? And that with this course of action we are only taking steps backwards on our evolutionary path and regressing? If you are so patriotic about this lovely country then you should respect and maintain what the forefathers of this country implemented by sacrificing their lives for you and your God-fearing yet war-promoting clique to live in, with freedom. But know this, by reading your rhetoric you have brought many Iranians closer. In fact, I thank you, as you have enlightened us as to what your people think, this gives us more reason to unite and unity is something that we as Iranians lack. See? We try to learn and better ourselves from each experience. To counter the inactivity of brains like yours, we will use our peaceful method of communication through the web considering we don't have a true voice in the mainstream media still >>>
You walk and my feet hurt Do you think I will lose interest in you? Or you will have enough of me writing our story, enough of my sensualist mind? The truth is I don't want to keep you, or my love for your incredible presence will turn into an obsession or will fade away. You consist of three things to me, soul, clarity, and dry skin and I to you am an average, in the form of an effectively stereotyped Middle Eastern woman. You don't realize when I turned fifteen my purity of conduct abounded me like my region. Emotional attachment to me is like an unsuspecting mating selection in the streets of Tehran. I choose you. I study you because you have wounded my poetry, a subject that had brought the most charge and energy into my life. Now you are my subject and I encourage you into my intellectual pursuit, and into shaping, forming as many types of clay as I want. You haven't fathered my child. I can leave you, or love you on my terms without hesitation >>>
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