Google Must Be Held to Account

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Amil Imani
by Amil Imani
28-Apr-2008
 

It is one thing for Google Earth to depict the map of the world as is and another thing to manipulate it. It is one thing for any business to market its product and it is another thing to peddle something it does not own.

Google Earth has arrogantly violated the universally upheld norms by arbitrarily taking it upon itself to name the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Gulf. With a few strokes of the keyboard, Google Earth has obliterated from the face of the map a greatly-cherished historical and cultural heritage of an ancient people. One wonders what motivated this blatant action of Google Earth: a simple arrogant exercise of power or capitulation to the financial rewards offered by those who aim to further their world standing at the expense of others.

Appeals by hundreds of thousands of Iranians and others to Google Earth to retain the longstanding designation of the waterway as the Persian Gulf and delete the newly-minted Arabian Gulf from the map have gone unheeded, thus far.

Demanding that the name of the Persian Gulf be retained goes beyond the fact that the Persians are rightfully proud of their heritage and strive to preserve the integrity of the historical documents that reference it as such.

For the record, the name Persia has always been used to describe the nation presently known as Iran and its ancient empires since 600 BC. Also, the Persian Gulf is an apt name for the body of water that abuts Iran for over 2000 kilometers while about a dozen recently-created Arab Sheikhdoms and Emirates border the Gulf on the other side.

Without disparaging the Arabs, Iranians wish to retain their non-Arab heritage and strongly resent any attempt at denigrating or changing any aspect of their Iranian identity. Even inside Iran, the Iranian people have been constantly fighting and opposing similar attempts by the brutal dictatorship of the ruling IRI regime. The Persian Gulf occupies a pivotal place in the Iranian history and culture.

The historical and geographical name of the Persian Gulf has been endorsed and codified by the United Nations on many occasions and is in use by the UN, its member states, and all other international agencies worldwide. The last UN Directive confirming the name of Persian Gulf was issued on August 18, 1994.

On almost all maps printed before 1960, and in most modern international treaties, documents and maps, this body of water is known by the name "Persian Gulf", reflecting traditional usage since the Greek geographers Strabo and Ptolemy, and the geopolitical realities of the time with a powerful Persian Empire (Iran) comprising the whole northern coastline and a scattering of local emirates on the Arabian coast.

It is worth mentioning that the name of Persian Gulf has been admitted in all the live languages of the world, and all the countries throughout the world name this Iranian Sea, Persian Gulf. Even our Arab neighbors do not need to alter a historical name to have a gulf of their own, because there has been a gulf in their own name previously mentioned in the historical and geographical works and drawings, which is presently called the Red Sea (Bahr Ahmar).

Iranians worldwide, as well as all people interested in preserving the integrity of historical and cultural records, are deeply affronted by this arrogant action of Google Earth. Acquiescing to practices of this sort is tantamount to appeasement which only serves to whet the appetite of aggressors and violators. Precedence may pave the way for a torrent of infringements on every aspect of every people’s cultural, historical, and other heritage.

It is our hope that all enlightened and fair-minded people who value the preservation of humanity’s diverse heritage raise their voices and compel Google Earth to restore the rightful name of the Persian Gulf to the waterway.

Contributing writer Amil Imani is an internationally known writer and essayist, who has dedicated his time to research on Iran’s noble heritage. If you are a reporter or producer who is interested in receiving more information about this issuer or this article, please email your request to
 
Dr. Iman Foroutan
Member of the Board and Spokesman
Iran of Tomorrow Movement (SOS Iran)
imanf@sosiran.com
(714) 280-3579

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Khanoomha, Aghayoon:

by FL (not verified) on

Khanoomha, Aghayoon:

Biyain hameh baraye in aghaye Kordestani naameh benevisim
- fosh o mosh ham nadim ha-
va begim, shoma keh Irani hastid va kheili ham az in babat sar boland, in esm ra dorost kon
va dorostesh ham hamoon "Persian Gulf" ast,
in case keh shayad faramoosh kardeh bashid ya nafahmideh bashid keh Google oono avaz kardeh!

These are the addresses to google, perhaps the first one in California would be the best address to send it to, anyone knows actually where he is working?

//64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:oRyBov5-HTAJ:...

Vali ghorboon-e dahanetoon fosh nadin ha faydeh nadareh keh hichi, neshoon mideh keh ma bitarbiyat hastim -- keh neestim.

Taazeh khoshetoon mioomad yeki baratoon nameh midad , hala baraye harshi, va behetoon fosh midad? Nah digeh!

Man mikham benevisam, vali yek dast seda nadare!

Ba sepaas,
FL


Abarmard

lol Mash

by Abarmard on

I can't stop laughing reading your post. Thanks


Kaveh Nouraee

Mash.....

by Kaveh Nouraee on

We are in agreement more than you think.

We shouldn't ignore this. You are right. But because these SOBs are attacking from every angle, we have to decide what will be the most effective counter attack.

I'm looking at this as though Iran is being attacked with a knife. She is being stabbed and cut from head to toe. Some of the wounds hae resulted in massive hemorraging, while others are less severe, and still more are like paper cuts.

In this analogy, these SOBs have inflicted massive wounds to our homeland, and energy that should be focused on those potentially fatal wounds are instead being focused on the smaller cuts and bruises. That doesn't mean they are less important, just that those cuts will heal faster. But it won't matter if we don't repair the greater damage that has been done first.


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To AnonymousShiraz

by Anonymously (not verified) on

Are you an Arab lover or just see your own benefit to defend Islam? As for the first part of your comment; Nothing makes me laugh more than the armchair patriots and clowns who want to send the "scum" of Islam back and who hate Arabs so much; I have to inform you Dear Shirazi that I lost my right leg in war(Iran-Iraq war) and I will give my other leg for my country and not for Islam. I didn't fight the Iraqies for sake of Islam because Islam is the number one and the worst enemy of Iran and Iranians. Open your eyes and see what your Islam did to Iran and Iranians in the last 1400 years then you will laugh at yourself with your childlish attitude.


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JJ

by Babak85 (not verified) on

Why did not you publish any of my posts?


mash

Kaveh....

by mash on

 I Really do appreciate what you are saying and it is true that WE HAVE TO GET OUR COUNTRY BACK but is it not also true that we have to do eveything we can in any which way we can to slow these blatant actions by all  whom try so very hard to come at you at all possible angles? By standing aside and just allowing these S.O.Bs just pick away at everything IRANIAN we are saying that it is O.K. THINK ABOUT IT, IS IT O.K? Would you allow it if the Bastards in charge would just go to Ferdosi's Araamgah and just take it down like Reza shah's Araamgah. However way felt about Reza shah is not important but these S.O.Bs are trying to take down IRAN not just the Freeking Monarchs. IRAN, PERSIA, THE VATAN, """"BACK HOME"""". I Personally have great affection for MY "HOME". I just wish that the world come to their SENSES and Stop this madness. I am not picking on Mr. Kordestani or anyone else for that matter I am just to the point that I can not sit back and say MR.GOOGLE. OR FILL IN YOUR BLANK" GO AHEAD AND JUST SHOVE IT IN AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE, AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH" .  Kaveh jaan I have great admiration for your coments but forgive me if I can not agree with you FULLY on this ONE INSTANCE, SIR. I know how I felt as a child standing next to PASARGAAD or walking around TAKHTE JAMSHID or going to KHALIJE FARS  or standing and admiring the Bam citadel or  for the fist time fully understanding BOYE JOOYE MOOLIAN AYAD HAMI YAADE YARE MEHRAMAN AYAAD HAMI.  DO YOU GET MY POINT KAVEH. Sorry if I am rambling but it has to stop somewhere. Thanks for your time.


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Join Wikipedia

by Anonymous20000 (not verified) on

Please Join Wikipedia. Articles like Persian Gulf and etc. need your help. Learn the rules of Wikipedia and help other Iranians.


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Where were these Iranian patriots when Saddam invaded?

by AnonymousShirazi (not verified) on

Nothing makes me laugh more than the armchair patriots and clowns who want to send the "scum" of Islam back and who hate Arabs so much. What did you people do when Iraq invaded Iran from 1980-1988? Who defended Iran against Saddam? Did the people who defended Iran then consider Islam to be "scum"? I don't think so...And all this time, their beloved Uncle Sam and European governments gave Saddam the chemical weapons he used to kill Iranians and the satellite intelligence to know where to drop his bombs. Do you hear these people say one peep now against Uncle Sam's plans to follow-up on Saddam's work and attack Iran again?

Let me guess: they're going to say that the war was the IRI's fault and Iraq was not to blame. Iraq was innocent and the devil IRI had all the responsibility.


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Stop Genocide of Iranians and Iranian culture

by Iran and Iranian (not verified) on

It is a Genocide. Iranians can get the country back by exposing this Genocide.


jamshid

Kaveh N.

by jamshid on

I agree with you. However Omid Kordestani and others are Iranians too and therefore have their "share" of role in what's happening.

I must add to your note regarding the interesting term Pars-ectomy. I think the Islamofascists are gradually doing "antything pre-Islam - ectomy", sorry for lack of word. They are doing the same to the Kurds and Azaris and anyone else. As though the entire nation, be it Farsi, Kurdi, Azari or whatever didn't have a pre-Islamic history.

However most of Iran's ethnic groups strongly beleive in their none Persian (or Persian in some cases), but in all cases, pre-Islamic ties to their past.

We Iranians are having the last laugh, as all the Islamofascists attempts to dismiss our past history has only back fired and flamed a passion and a strong interest in that very same past.

Let that be a thorn in their eyes.


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No worries

by shirazie (not verified) on

We are what we are, by over reacting we play into their hands.

In 1983 National Geographic ran a one hour show about sea creatures of Arabian Gulf. Confused the hell of the Americans ( easy to do). Grad students ran to libraries to find this Arab Gulf. The name did not change.

The USA navy guys also call it Arabic Gulf (cause they can only visit the Arab part of it).

Are there any doers at Google? only VP's? Ask you self can you live w/o Google?

ANSWER: we have in the past.. Google will go the same way as Yahoo. No product- therefore you are a fad


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Final solution

by Anonymously (not verified) on

As long as 99% of Iranians are in favor of Arabs by worshiping their backward Arab religion, Arabs will get more ruder than they are. The only way to solve all those problems is sending the 1500 years old scum(Islam)back to Arabian Lands.


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sitting in a meeting of the

by Anonymousmm (not verified) on

sitting in a meeting of the Persian Gulf's states under a big sign written" Arabian Gulf.

This is treasonous. His Iranian citizenship should be stripped away from him and he should be impeached.


Kaveh Nouraee

The Water is Important, But Home is More Important

by Kaveh Nouraee on

People can be critical of Omid Kordestani or Salar Kamangar, of the BBC (which I'm sure has Iranians in positions of importance) and others. However, before we can legitimately and credibly make such statements, we have to look at our role as a nation in these developments.

Mr. Rashidian is absolutely correct in his description of the goals of not just the Iranian Cultural Revolution (more appropriately the De-evolution), but the 1979 overthrow of the monarchy. Their "mission statement", if one were to exist, involves the gradual removal of everything that is Persian/Iranian, then replace it with its Arabo-Islamic counterpart.

In other words, a Pars-ectomy or Fars-ectomy.

Hamvatan, we have to get our country back first.

Although the proper name Persian Gulf is of great importance and must be protected, it is not the foremost of priorities. We can win the fight to ensure that the name remains the Persian Gulf, but unless we unite as a people, we will lose our motherland even more than we already have in the past 30 miserable years. I hope I am not alone in believing that that is more important, regardless of where we live. There are some of us who haven't seen Iran except in photographs for 20, 30, even 40 years, but when we talk about Iran, we refer to it as "back home".

The Persian Gulf will always be the Persian Gulf, and we will make sure it remains that way for us, our children, and our children's children.

But let's get our Persian Iran back first.


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Google Must Be Held to Account

by Babak85 (not verified) on


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It only takes one min. to call them and express your outrage.

by Babak85 (not verified) on

DO IT FOR IRAN PLEASE.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: +1 650-253-0000
Fax: +1 650-253-0001

//davidjeffers.thevanguard.org/299/geography-...


mash

Mr. Rashidian..

by mash on

  Thank you for being you.  Arabization of our beloved homeland has been going on for many of centuries and has come to the state that it is in because of I.R.I.  Khalkhali wanted to bulldoze Ferdosi's Araamgah, went to takhte Jamshid and tried to demolish the very essence of our heritage, he went to pasargaad and called koroosh " Doroghin and a homosexual" and thanks to our hamvatans in Fars he was pelted with stones and sent back to his safehouse in Ghom. Khamenei tried to shorten the Norooz and do away with Chaharshanbe soori. These are the same people who put someone in charge of Tehran university that has no educational credential other than what he had leaned in ghom and his finely placed turban. I would really appreciate all of these fine ARAB WANNABEES to pick up and move to the homeland they want to have right along side of their saudi inbreds. IRAN IS FOR IRANIANS NOT FOR ARABS. If google is calling Khalije Fars " khalije arab" is because it is O.K by the very government that has asked them to censor the internet for them. Thank you Mr. Kordestani............ 


jamshid

Shame on these two

by jamshid on

Shame on these two Iranians:

Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Google Global Sales & Business Development

Salar Kamangar, Vice President, Google Product Management

Mr, Kordestani and Kamangar, we know you must both have heard about the tens of thousands of complains Iranians have sent to your company. Shame on you both for being in such high and influential positions in Google, and having done NOTHING regarding the "Persian Gulf" naming issue.

I am ashamed that you two carry Iranian names. I am ashamed to call you Iranians.

//www.google.com/corporate/execs.html


Mehdi

As long as Iranians are so divided among themselves

by Mehdi on

As long as Iranians are so divided among themselves nobody is going to respect such a group. Currently a few million people in Israel have an extremely loud voice in the world (look at Israel Lobby) where they can easily violate any human rights and get away with it. None of these people stands up to correct their leaders. Yet Iranians are constantly fighting themselves among even when clearly instigated by those who are only there to benefit from it. Nobody is going to respect us if we don't even respect ourselves.


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it's not only google

by MRX1 (not verified) on

take a look at european media, specaily notorious BBC which calls it "Gulf" this must be the only body of water in the world that has no name according to BBC! If we had a nationalist progressive regime they would have not been able to get away with it. In any case,we are beyond that now. the only solution is to call sea of Oman and Arabian seas, Iranian sea. Unfortinately the only lanaguage Arabs understand is force.


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to: Jahanshah rashidian

by Maryam Hojjat.ph.d (not verified) on

I agree with you 100%. You are absolutely right about these mullahs, I can not wait to see them out of IRAN!
P.S. I always enjoy your articles and your view on most of the topics. That is spirit of a true Persian (Iranian).


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to Kaveh

by Maryam Hojjat.ph.d (not verified) on

Thanks for your response. I was not aware of all ramifications. It is an idea. I believe from monetary speaking all true Iranian are ready to contribute to this cause, all we need to do fundraising for the law suit cost.


Jahanshah Rashidian

IRI's hidden name

by Jahanshah Rashidian on

The long-term objective of The Islamic Cultural Revolution imposed in 1980, is to root out any
aspect of non-Islamic identity from the society by introducing a
greater portion of Arabo-islamisation in our culture and language. It
is to promote the existing “Parsi” into a pure Arabo-Islamic language, terms, names, and even geographical names.
The process aims a negation of Iranians national identity--the case
which was once imposed by Muslim Arabs, when they occupied Iran about
fourteen centuries ago.

Persian Gulf is also a thorn in the eyes of the Mullahs's regime. It is not an accident that Ahmadinejad was sitting in a meeting of the Persian Gulf's states under a big sign written" Arabian Gulf.

The regime has no guts to arabise the Persian Gulf, but dose not really mind if others do that, even though its rival Sunnite states.

 


Kaveh Nouraee

Maryam...

by Kaveh Nouraee on

First of all, who is going to pay for those attorneys? Iranian or not, I wouldn't expect them to drop their current revenue generating caseload for a civil ethics matter and on top of that, handle the matter pro bono.

Secondly, Google cannot be prosecuted, as they have not committed any crimes per se. If anything, this would be a civil matter, perhaps falling under the category of intellectual property.


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Law suit

by Maryam Hojjat.ph.d (not verified) on

Where are those powerful Iranian attornies? They need to take action immediately by taking Google Earth to court and legally prosecute them. This is USA not IRAN where LAW & order speaks.

long live IRAN & TRUE IRANIAN


Kaveh Nouraee

Google Schmoogle

by Kaveh Nouraee on

We all know that the correct name is the Persian Gulf.

What I am seeing is that there is some jackass at Google who has made this change of their own volition and having the time of his/her life at the expense of hypersensitive people who are giving the matter the wrong kind of attention.

This kind of thing has happened from time to time over the years and it has always resolved itself fairly quietly. We know we are not Arab, yet as a nation we allowed our motherland to be taken over by those who have gradually Arabicized our country with antiquated, impractical ideologies and isolationism.

Yes, what has been done is wrong, and should be corrected immediately. However, this needs to be handled in a manner that does not give any detractors the ammunition to say that labels take precedence over substance.


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If no one should have any

by PersianGulf (not verified) on

If no one should have any commitment to follow the UN protocols, Iranians could also start fabricating names for the international body of waters the way they prefer based on their own taste, International benefits and interests. We can start with the Arabian sea / Red sea, calling it the IRANIAN SEA and or the Gulf of Oman as the Gulf of Sistan...

Is that what we as a world looking for?! A world with no commitments in UN compromises! what an anarchy it is going to result!

Arabs as well as all international respected media need to understand we can do the same to them, if they are that firm to distort the historical- international geographical names.

I believe all we as Iranians are demanding is nothing but being loyal to the international geographical names based on the UN as the valid reference.

I submitted a link about a book on Persian Gulf published by Center for Document&Diplomatic History called "Persian Gulf" providing a careful review of the existing old and historical maps from about 3000 B.C to 2000 A.D on the Persian Gulf's name history since it was registered as Sinus Persicus until the formation of the UN and the state nations.: //www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9648403449/...

If 5000 years of documented history for that body of water regardless of the UN confirmed name is not enough for the media to ignore a totally fabricated name in 1960s brought up by Gama Abdolnaser(//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Gulf), then the issue is not the factual data.