Iraqi President Speaks Persian

روزي که براي اولين بار بعد از جنگ عراق اتحاديه عرب تشکيل جلسه داد؛ هوشيار زيباري وزير خارجه کرد عراق به عنوان اولين وزير غير عرب در آن شرکت کرد. حدس مي زدم که اعراب ناسيوناليست حسابي اعصباني شده باشند و حس کنند که عراق ديگه يک کشور عربي کامل نيست؛ نمي دونم حالا که هم نخست وزير ۱۰ سال توي ايران زندگي کرده هم مرجع تقليدش ايرانيست و رييس جمهورش آينده -آقاي جلال طالباني-هم کرديست که مثل بلبل فارسي حرف مي زنه چه احساسي دارند. اينجا مصاحبه آقاي طالباني را گوش کنيد.

اين داستان خريداري شدن چندتن از روزنامه نگاران سياسي و اجتماعي که سابقه کار براي روزنامه هاي اصلاح طلب دارند؛ امروز از دايره پيچ پيج هاي خصوصي خارج شده و يک حالت نيمه رسمي به خودش پيدا کرد. در وبلاگ چگونه زن شدم امروز اطلاعات دقيقتري منتشر شده . البته من هيچ اشکالي نمي بينم که اگر کسي واقعا فکر مي کند که آقاي هاشمي رفسنجاني کانديداي مناسب براي رياست جمهوريست به ستاد وي کمک کند و حقوقش را هم بگيرد. اما فکر کنم صداي بعضي ها به اين علت در آمده که اين آدمها به عنوان روزنامه نگار که ظاهرا بايد بي طرف باشند؛ دارند پول مي گيرند که به نفع کسي که الزاما هم باهاش موافق نيستند مطلب بنويسند. در هر حال راست و دروغش گردن خود اين بلاگ. يک کار که ميشه کرد رمزگشايي اسمهايي است که به صورت مخفف آمده. شايد ج.گ منظور جعفر گلابي باشد که توي آفتاب يزد مي نوشت و سعيد.ل و صادق.ز و محمود.ش به ترتيب بايد آقايان سعيد ليلاز و صادق زيبا کلام و محمود شمس الواعضين باشند. چيزي که خيلي براي من عجيب است بي توجهي ستاد آقاي هاشمي به نتايج معکوسي که انتشار چنين اخباري مي تواند در سطح جامعه داشته باشد است؛ به نحوي که همه هزينه هاي انجام شده را مي تواند به هدر بدهد..

Read this response by Dr. Soroush and tell me he doesn't kick butt with that blunt language and prefect wording.

Million dollar pain..

Just coming back from Million Dollar Baby, great performance of Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman, but maybe for the first time in my life-I don't know how many times I have thought some thing has been my first time-I really felt I was paralyzed the moment she asked for her life to be ended..It was the ultimate feeling of depression, so severe that I thought I couldn't breath for a moment or two, yes I know it is only a movie, but some times-I am not justifying I am just writing what happened- some times one could be so deeply effected by a movie that it is hard to distance yourself from the character, I guess that is how you know a movie is a good one. Despite the depressing ending of the movie, I am happy I saw it because now I have some one to cheer for tomorrow night at the Oscars..

I will vote.

read the complete article...

و از همه اینها مهم تر اینکه در طول بیست سال تلاش یک گروه مهم از کارشناسان سازه در وزارت مسکن و شهرسازی ایران برای رسیدن به استانداردهای ساخت و ساز ضدزلزله هرگز اجرا نشده است. مشکل فقط دولت نیست، مشکل این است که سازندگان خانه ها و ساکنین آنها به تنها چیزی که فکر نمی کنند امنیت خانه شان در مقابل زلزله ایست که تعداد قربانی و زیانهای مادی اش در طول سال یکی از موضوعات مهم شهرنشینی ایران است. مطمئن باشیم حتی اگر دولت هم به زور بخواهد مردم را وادار کند که بخشی از هزینه ساخت خانه شان را برای مقاوم سازی آن صرف کنند، تمام عقل و هوش ایرانی بکار می افتد تا از زیر این قانون فرار کنند و خانه شان را ارزان تر بسازند. مشکل زلزله در ایران فقط یک مشکل جغرافیایی نیست، مهم ترین مشکل زلزله مشکل عقلانی است،
Here is the who artilce.

My blog is giving me this look as if I have to write some thing today, I just like to say no I don't HAVE TO, What I really have to do is to finish this bloody paper for Monday. I want to watch the Oscors with a relative peace on SUnday night. Okey? For now if you feel like it just sign another one of those not so useful petitions here. And also read this report on BBC PERSIAN.

سخنراني رهبر معظم انقلاب

فرض كنيد استاد وسط درس گفتن، دستش را در بيني‌اش مي‌كند، شما علم را از او ياد بگيريد، چرا اين كار را از او ياد مي‌گيريد؟.... در همين راستا اگه آدم انگشت وسطش را هم به همه عالم و آدم نشون نده بهتره.

A good one from Omid Memarian..

fتاجیک مشاور رییس جمهوری واستاددانشگاه : «دموكراسى در اصل چيزى نيست جز فرهنگ تحمل. دموكراسى يعنى تحمل غير خودى، يعنى تحقق تكثر اجتماعى و فرهنگى، يعنى تحمل سخنانى كه در چارچوب گفتمانى ما معنا پيدا نمى كند و تحمل رفتارهايى كه در چارچوب معيارهاى ما معنى ندارد و همه اينها لازمه اش فرهنگ است.» اين جامعه شناس افزود: «اگر از من بپرسيد مشكل دموكراسى در ايران با همه ديرپايى كه در تاريخ دارد چيست، به شما خواهم گفت «فرهنگ دموكراسى در جامعه ما تعميق پيدا نكرده است....با وجود اينكه سخن از دموكراسى بسيار مى گوئيم اما در عمل مى بينيم مستبدان قاهرى هستيم. چه در منزل، چه در محيط دانشگاه و چه در جامعه مى بينيم كمتر اتفاق مى افتد كه خلاف گفته هاى خودمان را پذيرا باشيم. اما در همان حال سرود دموكراسى سر مى دهيم و بحث هاى دقيقى از دموكراسى مى كنيم.» «دموكراسى را بايد از خانه و مدرسه آغاز كرد...(شرق

14 years imprisonment for an editor of a newspaper and blogger!!!

I mean how stupid are these people in Iran's judiciary? This one is just great!! 14 years of jail for an editor in chief of a local newspaper in Province of Geilan who had an active blog as well. Let me guarantee right here that this verdict is so awful and out of line even with the right wing Ayatolah's standards in Tehran that this will be overturned, but still we have to do all we can to capitalize on this as much as possible, so they regret such vicious moves from now on. This is just outrageous. Here is the English news and Persian one.

For my friends from the Province of LORESTAN, Abtahi said:

جمعي كه آنجا نشسته بودند خيلي هاشان فاميلشان با پسوند "وند" بود و ظاهراً وند هم از خصوصيات فاميل لرهاست. دعوا كه بالا گرفت يكي از لرها گفت: همين بس كه خدا هم لر است. چون او را خداوند مي گويند با پسوند "وند". به اينجا كه دیگه رسيد بحث بين آنها تمام شد.

Negroponte New National Security Director: I'm Sleeping Sounder Already!

I love this post about the new National Security Director, by Steven. You can read more about John Negroponte in Counter Punch.

AlterNet,

Mr. Zack Pelta-Heller interviewed me a while ago and I never heard any thing again, now he is finally back with this interesting article on blogging in Iran in AlterNet and in it he has quoted me as well.

Another sad earthquake in Iran.

6.4-magnitude quake near Zarand, at least a few hundred people are dead and the number is low only because the area was not a populated one. I am just so fearful of the day that such powerful earthquake happens in Tehran or..Just don't want to think about it..Here are the latest reports. BBC English, ISNA, BBC Persian, These pics also came in just now and These.

Presidential Election(5)

دم اين الپر گرم که کار ما را کلي آسان کرد. اين 30 دليل راي دادن به معين را بخوانيد. البته پيشنهاد مهندس بهزادی هم براي اصلاح طلبان غير دوم خردادي خيلي مهم است و مي تواند به صورت موازي پيگيري بشه و به باز شدن فضا کمک کند. اساس بحث اين است که بايد فعال با انتخابات برخورد کرد.

How was Shajarian's concert?

Raha asked about the concert. For some one who has been out of Iran for 4 years, traditional music is a way to keep the nostalgic feeling going for a while. That is why I generally like his concerts. In terms of the performance, I should say that I loved the first part before the break, but the second part seemed a bit repetitive, and I am not an expert at all but some of my friends who came to the concert have similar opinions, One is Nazli and the other is Nikan. In Malkut's blog, in the lower right side of the page you can see this very interesting collection of Shajarian's best works, Including "Monajat ee Rabana".

ايرانيها به داشتن داماد شجاعي چون امام حسين افتخار مي كنند

اين عاشورا عجب داستاني دارد در فرهنگ ما. از قمه زني که ارتجاعيترين رسمهاست تا عزاداري دخترهاي خوشگل با آرايشهاي تند و پسرهاي تيپ زده و از همه بامزه تر زرتشتيها. بي خود نيست که مي گويند روابط فاميلي نقش مهمي حتي در سياست ما بازي ميکنه. اين هم ميهن زرتشتي ما گفته زرتشتيها هم براي امام حسين گريه مي کنند چون امام حسين داماد ايرانيهاست............ .سيبستان هم يک چيزهاي خوبي نوشته.

P.S : look at this latest verison of mourning as well.

NAMEH.

"Nameh" is among a few publications left for intellectuals in Tehran. This article talks about a strategy that real reformists and opposition could adopt in the up coming presidential election in Iran.

آقا هي به نيک آهنگ زنگ مي زنيد؛ اين هم نتيجش.قابل توجه روکسانا و تيم

Shirin Ebadi!

I am happy that finally Shrin Ebadi is making use of her Nobel Peace Prize. This Article in The Independent is a good start.

Going to Shajareian tonight!

After I heard my Father has to have an open heart surgery- As my Mom tires to calm me down and says: " It is not "open",they have new methods"- I can't concentrate on any thing, I have this book that I have to review for Monday and I am still stuck in the first pages. I am always like this, when I have some thing serious to think about, even though I can't do any thing toward it, but still I will become incapable of doing any thing else, it basically halts my daily life, remind me to erase this if I went for a job interview, my future boss doesn't need to know this. One thing I am doing tonight however is to go to a concert and listen to Shajarian and Ali Zadeh, Masters of Persian music and relax a bit after all that has been going on this week.

اين آق بهمن لينک داده به مقاله فرخ نگهدار و حسابي ازش تعريف کرده. 6 ماه پيش بود که اتحاد جمهوري خواهان در تورنتو از فرخ نگهدار و چند نفر ديگه دعوت کرده بود و من هم چون يک رگ جمهوري خواهي دارم مجري جلسه بودم. آقاي نگهدار خيلي بيشتر از وقتش حرف زد ولي تحليلهاش واقع بينانه بود. در اين مقاله اخيرش هم به يک موضوع مهم غير مستقيم اشاره کرده:آقای خامنه‌ای! بسیاری از صاحب نظران و تحلیل‌گران و سیاست ورزان ایران، علیرغم منع شما و قبل از برباد رفتن فرصت‌ها، به طراحی راهبردها و راه کارهایی پرداخته‌اند که ما باید در قبال سیاست تازه امریکا در پیش گیریم. بیگمان از تعاطی همین اندیشه‌هاست که طرح یک سیاست سنجیده تدوین خواهد شد. ؛ اين مطلب غير مستقيم به اين واقعيت اشاره مي کند که اگر نهادهاي مدني و تخصصي فعال باشند حتي در حوضه سياست خارجي هم مي توانند تاثير گذار باشند. اين را گفتم که بگم حرف يک روز قبل آق بهمن در مورد دکتر معين و مشارکت از اين جهت قابل بحث است که مسله ما امروز حل شدن مشکلات به دست حاکميت نيست بلکه قدرت مند کردن جامعه براي وارد آوردن فشار به حاکميت است تا آرام آرام اين حاکميت به مطالبات پاسخ دهد. حالا پرسش اين است که در افتادن با حاکميتي که رييس بخشي از آن معين است آسانتر است يا احمدي نژاد و لاريجاني؟ به زبان ديگر ؛رأی دادن به اين‌وری‌ها برای رأی نياوردن آن‌وری‌ها؛ علي رقم همه تلخي ها هنوز هم دليلي موجه است چرا که اگه همين الان دولت را دست مهندس سحابي هم بدهند تغيير چنداني ايجاد نميشه ولي دست کم راه تنفسي باقي ميگذاره هم از نظر مالي و هم سياسي و اجتماعي.

اين عکس را شهر کبک که بوديم توي يک رستوران با حال و کوزي توي کوچه پس کوچه هاي سنگفرش قسمت باستاني شهر از يک قاب عکس گرفتم . لبخند اين بچه خيلي با حاله.. نيست؟

يکي از ويژگي هاي ايراني ها اين است که دعواها و اختلافات شخصي که به طور طبيعي وجود داره را بر هر چيزي از جمله کار جمعي ترجيح مي دهند؛ مثلا اگر با يک نفر اختلاف دارند ولي توي يک کار گروهي با همون آدم هم راي هستند؛ اون اختلافات باعث مي شه که سنگ اندازي کنند يا راي مخالف بدهند؛ اين اخلاق خارج از کشور و داخل کشور هم ندارند حتي شايد در اينجا بدتر هم باشد. شما اين وضع را هم در جمع سران حاکميت مي بينيد و هم در اپوزيسيون. خودم هم در خيلي مواقع البته مستثنا نيستم.

I remember when I was in Iran 5 years ago, Some young people in Tehran specially, had started to celebrate Valentines, At first I didn't like it and I thought it is going too far in copying western customs and that we can have our own day of "love", obviously people didn't listen to me and this custom became very popular in Iran perhaps and partly because of the oppression of the system on male-female relationship and that people wanted to react, yesterday I was shocked to see that this new wave of youth in Iran is so powerful that even Mr. Abtahi in his blog posted a picture of a love sign on Valentines day, on top of that when I got home around noon yesterday, I saw this beautiful flower box at the door step of my house, I was surprised and immediately reached for the card on it and it was from the one that I love and loves me in return. So now, I am completely pro Valentine, don't you just love this flower box and selection of its colors?

Shie haa va Iran.

ّّاين خانم روبين رايت يک مقاله نوشته که با توجه به راي بيشتر مردم عراق و پيروزي شيعه ها که دوستان نزديک مقامات جمهوري اسلامي هستند؛ تمام برنامه هاي بوش براي حاکم کردن يک عده سياستمدار سکولار که زده ايراني طرفدار اسراييل و آمريکا باشه؛ به هم خورد. حالا من نميدونم ما بايد خوشحال باشيم يا ناراحت؟ البته من شک دارم که کردها و سني ها و کلا تجربه ايران به اين جماعت اجازه بده که يک ولايت فقيه ديگه اونجا درست کنند ولي در کل فکر کنم هر کي توي ايران حکومت کند-حتي سکولارها- بر حفظ منافع ايران بايد هواي دو گروه را در خارج داشته باشه: پارسي زبانها و شيعه ها.مسعود بهنود هم در اين مورد نوشته

Here is why I respect Bill Clinton.

Main stream news media is US are not interested in most of these stuff, but if they really want to tell American people about the roots of terrorism, they should at least report what their own President said. We should do our part to make sure more Americans read this. Clinton in an extensive interview in Davos Switzerland a few weeks ago said:
"Clinton: ... Iran's a whole different kettle of fish—but it's a sad story that really began in the 1950s when the United States deposed Mr. Mossadegh, who was an elected parliamentary democrat, and brought the Shah back in—[comments in background—Rose says "CIA"] and then he was overturned by the Ayatollah Khomeini, driving us into the arms of one Saddam Hussein. Most of the terrible things Saddam Hussein did in the 1980s he did with the full, knowing support of the United States government, because he was in Iran, and Iran was what it was because we got rid of the parliamentary democracy back in the '50s; at least, that is my belief. I know it is not popular for an American ever to say anything like this, but I think it's true [applause], and I apologized when President Khatami was elected. I publicly acknowledged that the United States had actively overthrown Mossadegh and I apologized for it, and I hope that we could have some rapprochement with Iran. I think basically the Europeans' initiative to Iran to try to figure out a way to defuse the nuclear crisis is a good one.

You can see the full interview here. He is the first president to ever acknowledge and apologize for 1953 Coup Deta, And what a loss in the side of Iran that missed the great opportunity of March 2000 to normalize relationship with U.S. It was such a big mistake that President Khatami also publicly expressed his regret that he was not allowed by the supreme leader and right wing clerics to respond to that move by U.S back then. Here is the Persian version of the news.

Ice bed in Ice Hotel

Here is one of the pictures inside Ice Hotel, basically you get a sleeping bag on top of this mattress which is warm and you sleep in it. As it is evident the bed is about one meter tall and completely made of ice.

Revolution

These two pictures say a lot about a revolution and its remains after 26 years of a theocratic rule. First one is an unstoppable crowed of millions, men and women with moderate covers or even with no veil. Second one is 26 years later today, where people are called to gather and commemorate the revolution and support the regime in city of Isfahan were the population is over 4 million. The revolution had genuine support of millions and was to bring freedom, democracy and equality. Non have been achieved after 26 years and we as Iranians are looking back and perhaps still in disbelief ask ourselves why?

Back from vacation, 22 Bahman

I am back from Quebec trip, it was fun and I relaxed. I'll write about Quebec city itself later. Tomorrow is an important day for Iranians, both the majority that perhaps don't celebrate it or perhaps even regret that it ever took place and the small minority that still celebrate it. But I am ironical among those who do celebrate it or at least am reminded that I have to celebrate it. As many of you know I was born on Feb 11th 1979 which is 22 Bahman 1357 in Iranian calendar. The day that revolution fully defeated Shah's regime. This year I am turning 26 with the regime. No parties, just gana go out for a quiet dinner maybe. Let me also thank all of you for sending e-mails and leaving messages on Orkut and saying happy birthday.

Off to Quebec city. might not be able to write for a few days

پگاه فردا داريم ميرم استان کبک براي ۵ روز . در شهر کبک ۲ هفته فستيوال زمستاني برگزار ميشه. انواع مجسمه هاي يخي در بخش باستاني و مرکزي شهر ساخته شده است. دومين هتل يخي جهان هم در کنار شهر کبک ساخته شده و يک شبي هم اونجا مي مونيم. اين هم چند تا عکس از وب سايت. ولي قبل از اين که برم واجب شرعي را به جا بيارم و يک اظهار نظر سياسي بکنم. آقاي خاتمي دوباره ژست روشنفکري گرفتند و فرمودند تا مشکل سنت و تجدد در جامعه حل نشود هيچ مشکل ديگه اي هم حل نمي شه. هيچ آدم عاقلي نمي تونه با چنين کليي گويي مخالفت کنه؛ چون نه تعريف سنت و تجدد را معلوم کرد نه راه حل را. ولي حالا فرض کنيم که مشکل را بايد با تجدد کامل حل کرد. يکي از نشانه هاي تجدد هم به نظر من استقلال فکري زنان در جامعه است. يعني اگه مثلا خواستند يک اظهار نظر سياسي بکنند به شوهر ؛ برادر بابا و پسرشون نگاه نکنند و افتخارشون اين نباشه که با مردان خانواده هماهنگ هستند. حالا شما خانم زهرا اشراقي نوه آقاي خميني و زن رضا خاتمي را با فرح پهلوي مقايسه کنيد. کدوم متجددتر و مدرترند؟ زهرا اشراقي که پارسال در يک مصاحبه گفت محمد خاتمي-برادر شوهرش- مثل لاکپشت ميمونه و عملا نشون داد که هيچ شباهتي به پدر بزرگش نداره يا خانم فرح پهلوي که با آن همه ثروت و شهرت در مصاحبه با بي بي سي گفت: ؛ارتباط من با فرزندم ارتباط خیلی نزدیکی است طبیعتا من همیشه با ایشون صحبت می کنم و در مورد مطالب سیاسی نظرشون را می خواهم که من هم در همان راه قدم بردارم؛

ميخوام بگم وقتي محتوا سنتي باشه ديگه زن شاه و آخوند نداره؛ ولي نسل جديد اگه تغيير کرده باشه-که کرده- شامل نوه آقاي خميني هم ميشه.

pic

For the longest time I wanted to post some pics here and I couldn't figure it out since I am a genius! Finally I found a smart person to show me how, and since that smart person celebrates xmas I got my first xmas gifts ever. I know it is one month late but I like this pic and Jon Stewart-the author of the book- so much that I'll post it anyways. So this is me with the best xmas gifts ever! Loved that book and the rest of the gifts(iPod and CD..).

Bush's State of the Union and Iran

Okay mostly same old stuff, but regarding Iran, Bush made two changes this time, first of all he singled out Iran and didn't put it near Syria or any other country, and also Iranian people were addressed separately:" And to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you." , Some body tell this guy the best help he can give is to stop supporting us and shut up for a while. But overall my feeling was that he tried to distance him self from the recent strong signals and news about plans to attack Iran, He also stated he was going to work with EU in their negotiations, all this in my opinion is only an strategic change in tactic to ease the pressure, but he certainly has his hidden agenda developing simultaneously. But it is partly an achievement of the reactions to Seymour Hersh's article that showed there is little room for maneuvers like a new wave of war threats at this time. One other claim that Bush keeps repeating is that Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism, even if we stick to the definition that Bush has for terrorism, Saudi Arabia is the biggest sponsor of terrorism. They funded Al Quida for almost 15 years and some elements of Saudis continue to sympathies with them and they are the primary sponsor of insurgency in Iraq because in their eyes a Shia controlled Iraq is as if Iraq is no longer part of the Arab world. Whereas Iran was really the only country in middle east that desired this election to go forward peacefully in Iraq. Nevertheless we have to continue pressuring our own government to give up plans to enrich uranium and cooperate with EU and in the other hand raise awareness among North Americans that war and quick attacks will only help the Iranian right wing fundamentalist Mullahs.

P.S: For sure read the Article in Global Agenda by Ervand Abrahamian here. It basically makes the very basic arguments that I and so many pro-reform pro-peace Iranian activists and blogers have been making.

بابک و لاريجاني

بابک خيلي با حاله. دلم براش تنگ شده براي همين چند روز ديگه داريم مي ريم منتريال و سرشون خراب مي شيم. اين مطلبي که از خاطرات لاريجاني در آورده خيلي خنده دار بود. به قول ياسر آخرشم با اين تحريم هاي نصف ونيمه لاريجاني ميشه ريس جمهور. راستي اين عکسها را هم ببينيد .براي اولين بار در يک مراسم دولتي به جاي دو قاب عکس کوچک از آقايان خميني و خامنه اي؛ يک عکس بسيار بزرگ از آقاي خامنه اي که تمام پشت صحنه را اشغال مي کند نصب شده است. کل هيکل خاتمي که در برابر عکس ايستاده است به انداره دماغ و دهن آقاست..

Not for my Persian readers..

Okay, I know most of Iranian readers would get really tiered reading these lines, since it is a very old story, but what can you do when people-non Iranians- see you in class and ask you "what is the difference between Iran and Iraq?" she is a political science major as well and I didn't have time to explain at the spot so I told her to read my Blog:
Iran is a country which was established 2500 years ago, 600 B.C to be exact. The first famous dynasty was established by Cyrus the great and he and his successors expanded the Iranian empire from India in east to today's Israel/Palestine territory. People in Iran mainly spoke Persian and they still do, for that reason Iran in English was called Persia till 1920, then Iran's Government changed it to "Iran" in UN names to be more inclusive, since more than 30%-40% of Iranians do speak other languages on top of Persian, Like the Kurdish in the west, or Turkish in the north west and some Arabic which is spoken people in the south. The rest of middle east including %80 of Iraq, people speak Arabic and they would be Arabs. Yes more than 90% of the population of both Iran and Arab countries are Muslim, But Iranian Muslims are from a fundamentally different fraction or school of thought called Shia-which you hear these days on news about, Shias in south Iraq- and the rest of them are Sunnis which are about 90% of the population of the Muslim World. The 10% Shias are concentrated in Iran(60 million), south of Iraq and some in Pakistan. Therefore Iranians have their language-Persian-, their religion is nothing like the Sunnis-although it is Islam- and their calendar and ceremonies-religious and national- are different. Let alone the political culture and history that is certainly very distinguished. More questions? Let me know...