THE IRANIAN
TIMES
Wednesday, March 25, 1998
Farvardin 5, 1377
No. 442
Abu Saeed
Headlines
* Life: The woman back home
* Iranians of the Year: Artists, academics,
sportsmen
* U.S.-Iran: Ties slowly
improving
* Letters: Amanpour: "Corporate stooge"
* The Web: Daftar-e Honar
* Satire: Operation Desert Oil
Index
| * Iranian of the
Year: Artists... * Iran-U.S.: Improving * Haj: Harassment * Features: Rite of spring * News: Arms smugglers * Community: Do something * Economy: Bye bye OPEC? * Dollar: Unchanged * Sports: Sportsmen * Arts: Mr. Showbiz * The Web: Daftar-e honar * Help: Videographer needed |
* THE IRANIAN:
Woman * Nostalgia: Fardin * Satire: Oil * Poetry: Moshiri CD * Letters: Amanpour * Classifieds: Sportestan * Book: Epigrams * Events: Iran symposium * Photo: Obaash * Music: Sandy * Quote: C++ |
* Click here to pay for new subscription or renewal *
Send articlesIRANIAN OF THE YEAR
Scientists and Academics of the Year
THE WEB
* Daftar-e Honar: This bi-annual journal is among the very best published abroad. Their Internet version only offers the front covers of past issues, it seems. Still, well worth a look. Who knows, you may subscribe. http://www.daftar-e-honar.com/daftar/
Thanks to Reza Farahani <davood@ix.netcom.com>
Any interesting web sites you would like to suggest?
Email us at Times@iranian.com
IRAN-U.S.
* U.S.-Iranian ties slowly improving , (AP) - U.S. scholars attending a seminar in Iran were surprised by the warm reception they got -- from the people and the government. They weren't frisked at the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, for example, and they shared a meal of spicy lamb and rice with the deputy foreign minister. ``I didn't have one word of hostility aimed at me. No one was trampling on any (U.S.) flags,'' said Roscoe Suddarth, a former State Department official who heads the Middle East Institute. ``We were treated with great courtesy, and I would say even deferentially.''... full text
* U.S. weighs allies' concerns over Iran, (Reuters) - The United States is weighing carefully the concerns of its European allies and Russia as it debates whether to impose sanctions on foreign energy firms for investing in Iran, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. The officials, who asked not to be named, said the White House has not made a decision on the vexed question of whether to punish foreign oil companies for their Iranian investments and may not do so for weeks... full text
HAJ
* Iran says its pilgrims in Saudi Arabia harassed, (Reuters) - Iran said on Wednesday its pilgrims in Saudi Arabia had been harassed and urged Saudi authorities to prevent what it called provocations against them. ``According to reports a number of suspicious elements ... have insulted Iranian pilgrims at the holy shrine of the Prophet, seizing their holy Korans and prayer books forcefully. In some cases they have also forced out Iranian pilgrims from the holy shrine,'' the official news agency IRNA said... full text
* Interior minister to visit Saudi Arabia, (Reuters) - Iran's Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri left Tehran on Wednesday for Saudi Arabia on an official visit to the oil-rich kingdom, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said. It said Nouri was due to hold talks with Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz... full text
FEATURES
* Iran's rite of spring, (Los Angeles Times) - Friday was the first day of Nouruz, the Persian spring equinox celebration. The holiday begins when the sun enters the sign of Aries and continues for two weeks. It's a joyful holiday, a sort of combination New Year's, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July and spring break. During the Middle Ages, it was celebrated throughout the Arab world and as far away as Spain. Today it is primarily Iranian again, being observed in Iran and Central Asia and by the Zoroastrians of India... full text
* Officers in exile plot Saddam's fall, (The Independent) - General Wafiq Samarra'i, who then headed Iraqi military intelligence against Iran, paints a chilling picture of President Saddam's use of chemical weapons, culminating in a plan to put chemical warheads on missiles fired at Tehran, the Iranian capital, in 1988. He says the Iraqi leader was worried that poison gas, being heavier than air, would keep low and Iranians would be able to surviveby sealing doors and windows and getting into high buildings.The plan devised by Iraqi military staff officers was first to send in Iraqi fighter-bombers to strike at Tehran. General Samarra'i says: "They planned to bombard the city with bombs which would break all the glass in the windows. This would allow the gas to spread." ... full text
* Days Inn's Persian-American restaurant, (Washington Post) - Think Days Inn restaurant and you think pancake combo, not bulgogi and shish kebab. But two local franchise-owned Days Inns have coincidentally leased their restaurant space to operators serving ethnic specialties. One Korean (in College Park), one Persian (in Arlington), these motel restaurants are destinations in themselves... full text
NEWS
* Two conspired to ship parts to Iran, indictment says, (New York Times) - Offering new details of what the government says was a plot to illegally supply missile parts to Iran, a federal grand jury Tuesday said that a wealthy Northvale military equipment purveyor who was arrested earlier this month had a co-conspirator in Singapore. The grand jury issued an indictment Tuesday asserting that Daniel Malloy, 40, the owner and president of International Helicopter Inc., conspired with Joseph Balakrisha Menon, 55, the owner of Singapore-based Heli-World Aviation, to ship to Iran 20 batteries needed to power the country's stock of deadly Phoenix air-to-air missiles.
* Russian spy agency linked to Iran, (Washington Post) - Russian intelligence agents for the past several years have quietly recruited scientists here to go to Iran and teach Iranian counterparts how to build missiles to carry deadly payloads as far as 1,200 miles, Russian and diplomatic sources said. Russians and foreigners said that officials of the Federal Security Service, Russia's intelligence arm, recruited the scientists at Russian technological institutes and weapons factories for work in Iran. The contracts, however, were negotiated in Iran between the scientists and their hosts -- apparently to insulate the security service and the government in Moscow from responsibility... full text
* Israel: Iran's stance on terror is unchanged, (Ha'aretz) - Israeli security officials are convinced that there has not been any change in Iran's support for terrorism, despite an article published in The New York Times on Saturday reporting that Iranian President Mohammed Khatami had sent Clinton a message vowing that Iran would no longer support terror groups that oppose the Middle East peace process. "The message was intended to improve Iran's image in the West but does not express a basic change in Tehran's policy on terrorism," one Israeli security source told Ha'aretz... full text
COMMUNITY
* Do something: Each year, the BRICK Award in the U.S. honors ten outstanding leaders under the age of 30 who use their talents to take action that measurably strengthens their local communities. Each of the ten winners is awarded a grant to support his/her community work: the national grand prize winner receives a grant of $100,000 and the nine other winners each receive a grant of $10,000. Applications are due May 1, 1998. For more information: see Do Something's website at http://www.dosomething.org or call 212-523-1175 or email brick@dosomething.org
Thanks to Sussan Tahmasebi < stahmase@acog.org>
ECONOMY
* Martin Wolf: Opec's last stand, (Financial Times) - This merely shows the fragility of the cartel. In the longer term, sustained low prices should lead to faster growth in demand and lower expansion in potential supply. This would make it easier for producers to gain the income they desire, without feeling constrained. This should, in turn, make it easier to run the cartel. But the fact that prospects must be analysed this way demonstrates how right Simon was: oil is not running out - and is not going to do so.... full text
DOLLAR RATE
Unchanged at 502
* To send money to Iran, the rate is 502-510 tomans per dollar, depending on how much you wish to send.
* To send money out of Iran, the rate is 514 tomans per dollar.
Source: Sehaty Foreign Exchange, call in U.S.: 602-595-0777 or 500-288-8881. Preferntial rates for readers of The Iranian Times. Mention this code: BAJ 07
ARTS
* Mr. Showbiz review: "Taste of Cherry" - However much we may have doubted it in the last decade, there is a future for movies as an art form-as something other than entertainment, publicity, spectacle, audiovisual anesthesia-and its name is Abbas Kiarostami. Though we've seen little evidence of him here in the States, Kiarostami has for years now been highly touted as a master; the Iranian "new wave" he spearheads has been the film festival flavor of the decade. Kiarostami's Through the Olive Trees was given an eyeblink of a release in 1995; beyond that, Jafar Panahi's cuddly The White Balloon and Mohsen Mahkmalbaf's folkloric Gabbeh are all we have seen to judge Iranian film by. And though all three films were interesting and diverting, they were ultimately modest achievements... full text
* Iranian films in Washington DC: A festival of some recent Iranian films is planned in Washington, DC, during March/April 1998. The films are shown at the 300-seat Meyer Auditorium of the Freer Gallery. Tickets are free and can be obtained (up to two per person) on a first-come-first-served basis one hour prior to the program. Films being shown: March 8/13: Leila (Dariush Mehrjui), March 20/22: Det Means Girl (Abolfazl Jalili), March 27/29: Gabbeh (Mohsen Makhmalbaf), April 3: Beyond Fire (Kianoush Ayyari), April 5: A True Story (Jalili), April 17: The Abadanis (Kiarostami), April 26: Taste of Cherries (Kiarostami).
* "Taste of Cherry" U.S. screen schedules from the official Zeitgeist Film site... click here...Thanks to Payman Arabshahi <payman@fermi.jpl.nasa.gov>
HELP
Videographer needed in Bay Area
Videographer and photographer needed for Shahrzad Dance Academy's Noruz dance concert on March 28, 1998. Must have experience in creative arts (not just commercial work), and good equipment (or access to it). If interested contact Shahrzad Dance Academy at shahrzad@pacbell.net or call at (510)724-2425 ASAP! Thank you.
THE IRANIAN
Life: The woman back home
By Ramin Tabib
Sia is getting married, that is the big surprise. Not to an ordinary bride though -- a bride specially packaged and prepared in Iran. This is the man who swore he would never go back to Iran, the man who as he exited Iran, looked back only in anger at what he considered had been a kick in the butt.
- Sia, have you seen this girl?
- I've seen pictures, and I've talked to her on the phone. She's so sweet. ... Go there
NOSTALGIA
SPORTS
"Dream Team" IRAN -- World Cup tickets now available!
Sportestan
Publishing (USA)
ish@sportestan.com
Tel: 650-473-9792
SATIRE
Operation Desert Oil
* Solved: The mystery of the never-ending conflict between Iraq and the U.S... click here
Got something to make us smile?
Send it to Times@iranian.com
POETRY
* Fereydoun Moshiri on CD
Fereydoun Moshiri's poetry reading last October in Berkeley, California, is now available on CD. For more information and orders, contact Radio Havaye Tazeh at: 415-673-4726.
* Contest
Omar Khayyam Poetry Society invites you to enter our poetry contest. Prizes: First place $100, Second $75, Third $50. Winners will be announced and printed in THE IRANIAN in June 1998.
Subject: Longing places, memories, love
Format: Poems must be in English and emailed to <matteof@msn.com>. Include your name, address and phone number.
Deadline: May 10, 1998
Entry fee: $5 for up to three poems. You may send cash or check payable to R. Macroberts. Send to 1045 Walnut Grove, Rochester Hills, MI 48306, USA.
CLASSIFIEDS
Seeking artist to draw for Sportestan site
We are looking for an artist who can draw sketches for Sportestan in color. The person we are looking for is a freelance artist who can take our old pictures and make a water-based drawing in color. There is some superposition work involved. The artwork will be the drawing of two people standing next to each other. We are looking for a talented person and we will pay him/her based on a modest budget we have. Perhaps a college artist who is about to graduate and would want to do this as an internship yet we will pay.
Email ish@sportestan.com
Tel (U.S.): 650-327-1919
LETTERS
Amanpour: "Corporate stooge"
I should have known . . . Amanpour and Khatami: Iranians of the Year -- what trite nonsense or
albeit a joke. What kills me is that Iranian women feel obliged to
recognize Amanpour as "Adam hessabi" -- she is nothing more than
a corporate stooge . . . you're SOUND ASLEEP. She has her scripts edited
and is told what to say. Frank Pakbaz
<admin@2build.com>
Mom, help your son
Million thanks for your article about HIM Farrah Pahlavi ["From empress to net surfer"]. Unfortunatly, it was much too short. I personally wished to know more about her and about her plans concerning our motherland, Iran. She has been silent for many years; but, many Iranians wish her to take steps forward to help her son. Her experience and her knowledge of Iranians and international personalities could be a real help to Reza Pahlavi. A mother is by far more trustful than many of those fake people who are surrounding our heir to the Iranian crown. Also, I would like to thank Mr. Sepahbodi for what he has been doing during these years in exile. He is a genuine patriot, a courageous man, and one of the rare diplomates that we Iranians must be proud of . He must be respected for always courageously holding his noble priciples. Keyvan P. <KeyvanP@aol.com>
BOOKSTORE
Book of the week
Borrowed Ware : Medieval Persian Epigrams
Dick Davis / Hardcover / Published 1997
See feature in THE IRANIAN. Click here
THE IRANIAN Bookstore
EVENTS
* Symposium on Iran, in Houston: The James III Baker Institute of Rice University, Houston, Texas, is organizing a symposium on Iran, April 2, 1998. The speakers include Congressman Lee Hamilton, Hooshang Amirahmadi of Rutgers University, and Bruce Ridel, Special Advisor to President Clinton.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Araazel-o-Obaash
* Basically, four "laat-o-loots"... poor guys... full image
Got any interesting photos?
Send
them to Times@iranian.com
MUSIC
Sandy, "Boro Baba" and "Cobra"... these guys kill me! Just listen to the lyrics.
(Get RealAudio)
Greatest pop CDs ON SALE!
QUOTE UNQUOTE
C++
- You speak Farsi to her?
- Yeah.
- What do you say? I mean, you speak C++ better than Farsi.
Ramin Tabib
"The woman back home"
The Iranian
March 25, 1998
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