The Iranian Features
August 14-18, 2000 / Mordad 24-28, 1379
Today
* Shah:
Free elections, 1979
* Truth:
We have to lie
* Hijab:
Gooshzad
Recent
* Iran-U.S.:
One planet, one people
* Iran-U.S.:
Amazed
* Politics
:o) Hamvatanaan-e araaghi
* Poetry:
Sobhgaah-e hameh-porsi
* Poetry:
Majnoon has no pride
* Poetry:
In Australia
* Poetry:
Andooh-rang
* Poetry:
Third coast brunch
* Poetry:
Persian princess insania
* Opinion:
Sea of opportunities
* War: Lingering pain
* Cover
story: Beauty of nothing
* Editorial:
A ten-letter African country
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Friday
August 18, 2000
Shah
Free elections, 1979
My last audience with the Shah
August 18, 2000
The Iranian
The Shah kept silent for a short moment... A servant came in with a
tray on which were a medicine flagon and a glass of water. The Shah bolted
a pill. Then he leant against the back of his seat and spoke in a very
soft voice, as if he were gathering wool: "The time is coming for
me to withdraw. I have served the nation to the best of my ability and
I think that I have done a lot of positive things. All foreign leaders
admire our achievements. The country is ready for democracy. I have the
intention of giving to Iranians the freedom of expression and all other
liberties >>>
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Truth
We must lie
To survive
Shahriar Zahedi
August 18, 2000
The Iranian
On the customs of Persians, Herodotus writes: "Their sons are carefully
instructed from their fifth to their twentieth year, in three things alone---to
ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth. The most disgraceful thing
in the world, they think, is to tell a lie; the next worst, to owe a debt:
because, among other reasons, the debtor is obliged to tell lies."
So it is safe to assume that there once existed among the Persians,
a certain preoccupation with honesty and truthfulness and maybe that was
a part of what set them apart from other ancient peoples and contributed
to their rise and glory in the olden days.
But then what happened? >>>
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Hijab
By Mohandes
August 18, 2000
The Iranian
Thursday
August 17, 2000
Iran-U.S.
One planet, one people
American scientists visit Iran
August 17, 2000
The Iranian
From Alan Hale's travel diary to Iran. Hale, co-discoverer of Comet
Hale-Bopp, led a group of American space experts to Iran last month to
attend an international conference.
... As I expected, the Iranian people continue to be very warm and friendly
towards us. We continue to be beset by those seeking autographs and conversation,
and I've politely had to tell one gentleman that I'm not quite the expert
on gravity waves... Overall, a confirmation and continuation of my perceptions
last year of the Iranian people's being friendly, intelligent, and industrious.
I expect nothing but more of the same as we continue through the rest of
our week here >>>
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Iran-U.S.
Amazed
"Never did I think I would visit Iran"
By Doug Biesecker
August 17, 2000
The Iranian
About two years ago, Alan Hale, co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp, invited
me to join a group that was planning to view the solar eclipse in Iran.
I immediately jumped at the chance. I think because I knew about the desire
to improve relations between the U.S. and Iran, but also because I wanted
to find out what it was really like. After all, I had read the newspaper
accounts about the newly-elected, reform-minded president and I knew about
the exchange of wrestlers between the two countries >>>
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Politics :o)
By dAyi Hamid
August 17, 2000
The Iranian
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Wednesday
August 16, 2000
Poetry
By Esmail Nooriala
August 16, 2000
The Iranian >>>
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Poetry
Majnoon has no pride
By Zara Houshmand
August 16, 2000
The Iranian
Majnoon has no pride;
me, I have no place to hide.
Fingertips on keys
punch holes in boundaries
between two worlds
and the wind whistles through shamelessly,
shamelessly >>>
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Poetry
In Australia
By Laleh Khalili
August 16, 2000
The Iranian
She
My mother grows lemons and marigolds
........in her exile garden
........and hangs her laundry on sunny clotheslines
My mother drinks her bitterness down with tea
........and finds joy in pistachio green >>>
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Poetry
By Mehdi Moazzen
August 16, 2000
The Iranian >>>
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Poetry
Third coast brunch
By Ali Mohajer
August 16, 2000
The Iranian
Muriel sat watching in the corner,
playing with the paper,
hiding in the pages.
She's a sad one. Always
wearing black or brown >>>
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Poetry
Persian princess insania
By Leyla Momeny
August 16, 2000
The Iranian
I am america-girl:
britannica irania
persian princess insania
lavash skin, aquiline nose,
my heart emerged as a golden oud,
well-mannered and traveled,
have reached the skirts of Isfahan >>>
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Tuesday
August 8, 2000
Opinion
Sea of opportunities
... if large and small states cooperate over the Caspian
By Hooshang Amirahmadi
August 15, 2000
The Iranian
History suggests the wisdom of stronger states bearing responsibility,
when possible, to secure against the perils faced by weaker states in the
region. States could gain from respecting and assisting each other in developing
their comparative advantages. In a region where the advantages of interdependence
are prominent, focusing primarily on competitive advantage is inappropriate.
The approach should be to gauge the competitive advantage of the region
as a whole, and within that, to address the comparative advantage of its
parts. The interdependent destinies of the Caspian Region and the oil industry
means that both will suffer if problems are addressed unilaterally. Regional
co-operation is necessary not only for environmental management, but also
for the installation of pipelines, among other development projects >>>
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War
Lingering pain
Victims of war laid to rest, but not the memories
Photos by Ali Khaligh
August 15, 2000
The Iranian
Thousands of mourners gathered before parliament Monday to bid farewell
to 300 soldiers killed during the eight-year war initiated by Iraq 20 years
ago. The coffins, many of whose remains have only recently been recovered,
were draped in the Iranian flag as young and old paid their respects >>>
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Monday
August 7, 2000
Cover story
The beauty of nothing
Bronze sculptures
By Parviz Tanavoli
August 14, 2000
The Iranian
My 1965 sculpture exhibition at the Borghese Gallery in Tehran generated
nothing but criticism and hostility, but one item endured and went on to
earn recognition, proving to be the beginning of a new phase for me. In
the upper part of this composition was a plastic circle enclosing the word
heech (nothing) also in plastic and shaped in beautiful Persian
script. Below were hands, executed in plaster, grasping a copper grille.
I cannot say what it was the impelled me to create this piece -- whether
I was anxious about having reached a point of nothingness and was trying
to ward off the tendency, or whether I wanted to succumb to it and bring
it to realization as a creative source >>>
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Fiction
A ten-letter African country
Short story
By Mehdi Nasrin
August 14, 2000
The Iranian
One of my college courses was "philosophy of biology". I could
never overcome the urge to skip it. I did not attend even once. At the
end of the term, half an hour before the last class, I was sitting in my
room trying to find a ten-letter African country whose fifth letter was
G, when somebody knocked on my window. I drew the curtain aside and saw
my Arab friend, Ahmed, standing behind the window on the emergency exit
stairs. I opened the window for him.
"Don't you want to get your door bell repaired?" asked Ahmed
>>>
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