What are Neo-Cons up to these days, vis a vis Iran?

They think they are "cheering on Iranians to topple the regime!" They come up with little pep talk of "fight on the good courageous people of Iran" and they perhaps think that beyond our little polite smiles we do not read their intentions. Perhaps they cannot even recognize that our silence is in the spirit of unity and in the interest of our country. At the same time they seem to be trying to silence, or make non-credible, voices for Iran who preach peace and engagement. This is how ....

Also, see:

• Iran's Nuclear Program. Part I: Its History
• Iran's Nuclear Program. Part II: Are Nuclear Reactors Necessary?
• Iran's Nuclear Program. Part III: The Emerging Crisis
• Iran's Nuclear Energy Program. Part IV: Economic Analysis of the Program
• Iran's Nuclear Energy Program. Part V: From the United States Offering Iran Uranium Enrichment Technology to Suggestions for Creating Catastrophic Industrial Failure
• Iran's Nuclear Energy Program. Part VII: Are Referral of Iran's Nuclear Dossier to the Security Council and Resolutions 1696, 1737, and 1747 Legal?

At the same time, the Iranian authority should know that their little nuclear bluffs are NOT going to rally us behind them; that putting Iran in antagonistic situations, which will only underline and highlight the Western hypocrisies, WILL NOT make us align with them!

We will handle hypocrisies of Iran and Israel and the 5+1 SEPARATELY; each in its own context! The "imperialist" project is no longer an excuse for IRI's atrocities. And IRI's atrocities are no longer an excuse for the military industry complexes of USrael, and their colonial vendetta of anti-terrorism.

Ahmadinejad VS. Academia

Approaching 16-Azar (Rooz-e Daneshjoo; day of university students), the coup d'etat regime has intensified arresting students with the slightest inclination for reforms. Increasing reports suggest Ahmadinejad's regime is gearing for massive lay-off of university professors that do not fit the regime's bill of fundamentalism!! Of course, students are also gearing for massive protest, should their professors be forced to retirement or be banned from academic practice.

The "cleansing" of universities began 3 years ago; when in a controversial speech amongst university students, Ahmadinejad stated: "Today, students must shout scorns at a president who allows liberal and secular professors be present in universities." After this radical statement, conditions for firing and retiring prominent university professors was set. After this speech the following professors were banned from teaching in Tarbiyat-Modaress university (a post-graduate university in Tehran, with particularly strong philosophy and humanity programs).

I have not been able to find links to academic activities of all, but notice the fields of research from which these individuals are purged. It seems that Ahmadinejad is intent on getting rid of anyone who will hold him accountable to political history of the middle east, challenge his revolutionary claims, or raise issues with his illegal practices on the international and domestic fronts (labour, human rights, trade ... and criminal justice)

(This list is by no means complete, there are many more ...)

• Saeed Hajarian; Philosophy
• Mohsen Kadivar; Philosophy
• Mohamad-Taghi Ahmadi; fired because he protested to the firing of other colleagues
• Abolfazl Shakoori; Political Sciences
• Hashem Aghajari; head of History department
• Masood Ghaffari
• Hatam Ghaderi

The following were forced to retirement with the excuse of "low performance", or accused of spreading "velvet-revolution theories":

• Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari
• Mohammad Ashoori, professor of criminal justice
• Hasan-Ali Doroodian, professor of civil rights
• Iraj Goldozian, professor of criminal justice
• Amir-Naser Katoozian, professor of civil rights
• Mahmoud Erfani, professor of contract laws
• Abulghasem Gorji, professor of Islamic laws
• Hosein Bashiriyeh, Political science
• Hadi Semati, international relations (see his views on nuclear issue [Persian], his positions seems very similar to what was proposed and agreed to by Iran in the recent Geneva meetings.)
• Homayoon Elahi, professor of Middle East and Persian Gulf
• Ahmad Sayee Safayee, Third-World politics
• Mir Jalal-Kazzazi, Classical literature (!!)
• Reza Reis-toosi, political science, specializing in history of petroleum economics
• Ezatullah Araghi, professor of labor law

Now the second wave of forced retirements has begun. In the first months of the illegitimate government, the following prominent professors of law are let go and BANNED from academic jobs:

• Mohammad-Reza Ziyayee Beygdeli, emeritus professor of international law, head of the department of law and political science in Alameh University
• Ai Azmayesh, Professor of international penal law, and criminologist
• Hossein Sharifi Taraz-Kouhi: professor of human rights
• Mohammad Mohammadi Gorgani: head of the department of human rights in Alameh Tabatabayee University was let go last year!
• Morteza Mardiha: professor of law and political sciences of that university was let go last year too.

(See a related article in English)
(See Dr Soroush's report on militarization of Tarbiyat Modarres, after Ahmadinejad's first election and and older report from Sarmayeh, before it was banned)[Persian]

Behzad Nabavi: 10 day off from prison on 800K bail

Before being given a mini-vacation (on over 800,000 dollars bail, the 68 year old Behzad Nabavi--one of the first revolutionaries and companions of Khomeini--was given 6 years of jail for his role in "instigating unrest". It is funny that he was arrested a few days after the coup d'etat. Even if he wanted, he didn't get the opportunity to provoke unrest!

You might want to consider that the bail for one of the most notorious drug-traffickers of Iran was set to 200K.

Nabavi is scheduled to undergo a coronary artery surgery upon return to prison. (He also underwent another operation while in prison.)











Cut 1: He is saying that his only concern was for his wife; because she is not political. He says that when he was young and in prison, he was single, so he had little care, he was in prison for 20 months and no worries, but now ...

Cut 2: Then he says when they were moving her in the car (after court session) he sees his wife yell from afar behind the gates: Behhzaaaaaaaad; he sends her an air kiss and gets in the car.

Cut 3: Then when the car passes by, he sees her (who was not political) run in front of the car and show him the V and yell, don't worry, we will win! This surprises him tremendously, but also that she starts pointing finger at guards that "If one strain of hair is lost from his head", he then laughs that he has got no more hair to loose, "she will interview with every single media channel" ...

This is a GREAT video; in this joking family session, Nabavi's making it abundantly clear that he is not planning to give up--that his only concern, his family is now in this with him and fearlessly behind him. He is poking fun at the dictators whose chain of 6-year jail term sentences to these leaders of reform is aimed at deterring people from activism. Nabavi is giving a personal example of how the least political housewives are now radicalized into action, and have learned their ways of modern-resistance: neo-resistance ... Media is the Message!

Kurd student ranks first in Iran's university entrance exam

Entering the Iranian public universities is a prestigious event, especially if you rank #1 amongst over a million participants in a 6 hour (that's how long it was in my days) race to give correct answers to a multiple-choice questionnaire, testing you for every minute detail of what you have had to learn during 4 years of high-school.

In my days, 1989, we would start preparing for this at the beginning of the last year of highschool. Preparation meant taking "concours" classes, private tutors, and practicing a gzillion multiple-choice tests. (I was never a very disciplined and studious kid, so I hardly did any of that; but this is what my rich friends did. I was lucky to not be studious or else I would have envied their financial means; because there was no way in hell my parents would hire me a teacher to practice Modern Math or Literature! I was allowed to 10 sessions of tutoring (for my whole last year); and that was only to ask them questions that I could not solve myself. (I learned many years later that the tutors respected me for this and thought I would succeed academically, despite my poor performance in school!)

The year of my concours, 1989, is what makes this story particularly and personally significant for me. The story is of a boy (Rastegar Rahmani-Tanha), in a rural city (Javanroud) in one of the kurdish provinces of Iran (Kermanshah). It seems he was born in the same year that I graduated from highschool. Technically, he could be my son; since I have friends, classmates, whose children were participating in this year's concours. But it is none of the children of my wealthy fussy friends who have been developing ulcer over how their kids will rank, but this rural boy who has ranked #1. He has his highschool diploma in Math & Physics and has now ranked #1 in the Life Science competition. He has also ranked #1 in the foreign languages. He wants to become a doctor and serve his people. He attributes his success to hard work: 12-hour long study days and incessantly practicing test books.

I wish to put cynicism aside for a minute, and ignore the fact that IRNA has run this story, and ignore the possibility that this is another one of Ahmadinejadist's propaganda games. I wish to ignore the story on Tabnak, that is very different from IRNA's version as well.

According to Tabnak, Rastegar graduated from highschool 6 years ago (in this case, he cannot have been born in 1989); did not participate in concours for 3 years (Rahmani refuses to talk about his reasons); participated and ranked #30 in the Math and Engineering competition (still a very high honour) but could not go to university as he had to do his military service; and that his record-breaking performance in this years concours made the Organization of Evaluation of Education (the organization that holds concours) suspicious--because he had a low highschool GPA--and made him repeat the exam. He performed well in the second exam as well, thus granted full honors.

The Kurdish bloggers are jubilant. I too want to be happy for the triumph of this boy and share the joy this news is spreading in Iran's Kurdestan--where the ghost of Ehsan Fattahian is still hovering; where Zeynab Jalalian, a 27 years old woman, is scheduled to be killed one of these days.

Truth is, Iran's rural and poor regions often produce some of the most resilient and best talented citizens of the country--this is why despite the brain-drain which has been happening for at least a thousand years--Iran never depletes of creativity and intelligence.

Hilarious: Ahmadinejad's greeted with the Shah's anthem!

This is the official report from IRI's TV.

Ahmadinejad arrived in Carracas with Soroude Shahanshahi!

shaahanshaahe ma zende bada ... I don't remember the rest of it; I hardly had time to learn it in school, then revolution happened!:))

Shirin Ebadi's Nobel Peace Prize: CONFISCATED by Ahmadinejad's government.

Times:

"Iran’s hardline regime has confiscated the Nobel peace medal and diploma of Shirin Ebadi, the human rights lawyer who is one of its most potent and outspoken critics. Her bank account has also been frozen on the pretext that she owes $410,000 in tax.

The seizure of the award, unprecedented in its108-year-old history, caused outrage in Olso where the Nobel peace committee is based. The Norwegian Government summoned the Iranian envoy to protest, and the committee said it too would be registering a formal complaint.

“Such an act leaves us feeling shock and disbelief,” said Jonas Gahr Stoere, Norway’s Foreign Minister.

Iran’s action was unacceptable, said Geir Lundestad, the committee’s secretary. “A laureate has never been treated like that. Even political dissidents such as [Andrei] Sakharov and [Lech] Walesa were better treated in their countries,” he added, referring to the Russian dissident and Polish trade union leader who won the prize while living in the Soviet bloc." (read the rest)

Here's an interview of Ebadi with the Persian Deutsche-Welle. The news has outraged not only the Norwegians but also the Iranian community. Ebadi's life has bean threatened for a long time, but the Iranian regime has been tightening the screws by making those threats more explicitely and also putting Ebadi's family (her husband and sister who are in Iran) under tremendous pressure. What makes this case even more disturbing is that the coup d'etat regime has confiscated her property out of her safe box in the bank! This mounts to bank robbery. Once again, Iran is witnessing a violation of property rights, on top of all violations of privacy. Thieves, Crooks and Liars ... sums up Iran's rulers!

Watch a video of Ebadi's acceptance speech .

Who is Iran's envoy to IAEA Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh (PhD)?

Reportedly, Soltanieh is a former nuclear scientist (I don't know how one can become a former scientist) from Utah State University (none of whose faculty is doing Nuclear physics). A mini resume of his past and present responsibilities is available from United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Soltaniyeh was appointed as a senior member of the nuclear negotiation team in December 2005, and introduced as Iran's representative to to IAEA at that time. About a year ago, he was interviewed by LA Times. In this interview he did not ooz out any deviation from the official line presumably dictated by the supreme leader's estate. As far as I can recall, he has only recently emerged as the front-man for Iran's nuclear negotiations.

I cannot find ANY other information on this gentleman, neither by English nor by Persian key words. I am specifically interested in knowing that as a "nuclear scientist" who has apparently supervised a few theses, what field of research he has specialized in. As a US-educated "scientist", former or current, one would expect to see a clear CV of this gentleman or some form of electronic foot print. At least you would want to know when he graduated, who was his PhD supervisor, what his credentials are. Could he be one of those many fake PhD cronies of Ahmadinejad? After all, if someone survives Ahmadinejad's administration for almost 5 years, then he must have exemplary obedient character.

If you have any information about this gentleman (other than his "secretly talking to Israel"--which was reported by Haa'retz), please share.

==================

I have to make it clear that I AGREE with Iran's government's stance, to NOT TRUST Russia and France about their commitment to providing Iran with nuclear fuel. I think the compromise of keeping the fuel on an Iranian Island, in possession and under surveillance of the IAEA, was a great one. Iran has also agreed to send away some of its uranium, but not all of it; and that exchange be done on Iranian soil--to be sure the replacement (20% enriched uranium) IS delivered to Iran before they export theirs (5% enriched uranium). Considering that El Baradei HAS pulled the rug from under Iranian negotiations BEFORE, leaving Khatami's administration (the reformists that Ahmadinejadists have been trying to get rid of) in cold, I cannot trust him--despite all his apparent "defense" of Iran's right to nuclear energy. The 5+1 is treating Iran in the same way that the Iranian regime is treating its citizens; assume guilty unless proven otherwise! And this is why I am finding it so hard to blog these days ... as an Iranian, I feel caught between TWO enemies: my government, and the 5+1+Israel!

Lover's Wind: Iran in 1969 through Albert Lamorisse's lens

See here for more details, and perhaps a better video ratio.

Now that Maziyar Bahari is free, let's see what kind of reports he did

The funniest quote: I could smell them before I could see them.

Mohammad Mokhtari: Martyr of Words

This is the resume of Mohammad Mokhtari, the Iranian poet and writer, and one of the 80 victims of the rouge messianic employees of the IRI's intelligence ministry who claimed their murders justified under the "necessity" of defending the Islamic regime! His resume is rich of literary contributions; and rather free of politics. This is why his death highlights the nature of the beast that is running Iran today.

Translated from his official website.

1942 Birth in Mashhad

1969 Honor graduate of Persian Literature

1969-71 Military service

1971 Joined the Foundation of Ferdowsi's Epic of Kings

1972 Married thw painter, Maryam Hosseinzadeh (two sons, Sohrab & Siyavash)

1976 Published three poetry books (Dar Vahm-e Sandbad-in Sinbad's illusion; Ghasidehaye Haviyeh--Ballad of Haviye; and Bar Shaneh Falat--on the shoulder of the plateau.)

1967-79 Publishing poems in magazines Negin and Ferdowsi

1979-80 Published poetry collection She're 57--Poetry of 1979; Taught in Dramatic Arts of Tehran University; collaborated in publication of Literature collection Bidaaran.

1980-81 Editor of Kanoon-e Nevisandegan-e Iran; collaborated with Shamloo on Ketab-e Jom'eh; Edited poetry collection Bahar & Vaghe'eh--Spring and Event--which was destroyed at the time of his imprisonment in this year. In this year, he was prohibited from holding any governmental jobs--that includes academia.

1981-84 Composed poetry collection She're Zendan--Prison Poetry, which he had to memorize because he was denied pen and paper. These poems are still unpublished, except for a handful published in Karnameh magazine. During his imprisonment, his name was removed from the publications of research on Ferdowsi's Story of Siyavash.

1985-87 Composed Manzooneh Irani--Iranian Rhymes.

1986-89 Joined the editorial of the magazine Donyaye Sokhan; Composed and edited poetry collection of Khiyaban-e Bozorg--The big Street; Published Hemaseh Dar Ramz O Raze Meli--Epic of the mystery and secret of nation; and Ostooreh Zaal--Paradox and Unity in National Epic.

1992 Joined the editorial staff of magazine Takapoo; Edited the anthology of 70 years of Iranian contemporary love poems; published Zadeh Ezteraabe Jahan--Born in Global Anxiety (translation of 150 poems from 12 European poets)

1993 Published literature criticism Ensan dar She're ma'aaser--Man in Modern Poetry

1994 Published translation of Tsvetaeva's biography.

1992-95 Composed Majmooeh Vazne Donya

1995 Spent 9 months in Canada and the US and gave lecture series on Persian literature. Published Barge Goft O Shenid--a page of conversation in Canada.

1996 Published the biography of Akhmatova

1997 Published the biography of Mayakovsky; and the biography of Mandelstam; started preparing several anthologies of Iranian contemporary poets.

1998 December 2nd; kidnapped and brutally killed by operators of the political faction from whom Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was appointed to power.

One Case, Two Murders: Niloofar Beizaie remembers Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar

Tomorrow is the 11th anniversary of the brutal slaying of Dariush and Parvaneg Forouhar. Dariush Forouhar, a Mosaddeghist, Minister of Labour in the provisional government after 1979 revolution, and the leader of The Nation Party at the time of his assassination (22 Nov 1998), was confronted at his house by 18 fundamentalist renegades of the Intelligence Ministry (During the reformist government of Khatami). They entered the house to investigate the case of a theft involving their car. Then, they separated Dariush and his wife Parvaneh, and stabbed them to death! The killers, who were later interrogated, but never prosecuted, considered themselves the "obedient soldiers of Valiye Faghih (i.e. Khamenei); that carried out orders to eliminate these blasphemous enemies" thus claimed "innocence" ... The religious fatwas for elimination of these political opponents were issued by some of the most stern supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Mesbah Yazdi; Jannati; Khaz'ali and via Mohseni Ejeh-i to Ali Fallahian (all mullahs!) ... Accounts of interrogations of this murder (as one case from the chain murders of Iranian writers and intellectuals) were made available by Khatami's ministry of intelligence that admitted to the involvement of its employees. However under pressure Khatami could not see the case through to thorough justice. Although those responsible for the killing were known, their sentence was commuted by a judiciary system that kills teenagers for accidental crimes they commited in self defense. A key witness by the name of Sayeed Emami was killed in prison, and his death blamed on suicide!

The play below that was staged in Germany (Frankfurt) on Nov 1, 2009 is an enactment of Foruhar's murder case. It was directed by Niloofar Beyzaie.

Persian Chicks Goin' International: Laleh PourKarim

I was listening to Radio and heard this song (Live Tomorrow), which struck a cord with my mood of the day; and then I realized the singer is Iranian (by birth). Laleh Pour-Karim is my new find. Potentially, she can become my Tori Amos! (as I am slightly bored with Tori)

Here's Laleh's official web site.



See other Iranian-Swede ladies introduced on this blog before.

The lesson of strength Roxana Saberi learned from women in the Iranian prison

Before "Neda"; Iran's female icon of resistance was born 193 years ago

Tahere Ghoratol-Eyn; born Zarin-Taj Ghazvini.

She was born in 1816; to a religious family where the father and grandfather were high-priests, with traditional respect and power bestowed on Iran's priests, for they were the systematically schooled ones; before the Quajars embarked on importing Western modernity to Iran, slowly shifting the Iranian education system from theoretical to practical, from theological to pragmatic.

She was "killed" at the age of 36 (1852); arrested for blasphemy and executed by the torturers of the Iranian court, by suffocation. She was not hanged. The executioners of Mahmud Khan the sheriff stuffed her mouth with cloth, chocking her to death and dumping her body in a well.

Tahereh was a poet--a published woman; a rarity for women in those days, when the Oxford colleges did not even tolerate cleaning women entering through the main enterance of the Gentleman's campus.

Tahere was BEAUTIFUL, and anecdotes suggest the king had an eye for her; but she refused joining Nasereddin's shah's Heram; she was an intellectual to the core.

Tahereh was well versed in texts and theories of Islam. A truly "academic" woman, perhaps the first of her kind, to separate from her husband over academic disagreements, and move to Iraq, at the age of 29, to pursue her research and education in presence of Seyed Kazem Rashti. (Here, I am not interested in, or going to discuss the religious sects to which she was connected; for they are irrelevant to the topic.)

Tahereh's biggest challenge to the religious patriarchy was to be so highly educated in religious matters and YET shock the gentleman's establishment, who had accepted her because of her high intellect, by unveiling herself in their presence (in 1848). The shock was particularly grand BECAUSE of Tahereh's high honors in religious sciences, that had elevated her to a quasi-saint state. On the day she became the first woman to publicly unveil, she called for celebration of the moment of liberation from the chains and restrictions of the past. She wasn't executed for her unveiling, of course. After all, the Quajars were not religious monarchs, but "modernist" ones; they brought to Iran Cinema, Gramaphone, and technical university (dar ol fonoon). They tolerated Tahereh and her followers until Babis, to whose movement she belonged in a leading role, rebelled and planned an assassination of the King (Naser al'ddin Shah) a few years later. It is then that executions of the Babis began, and Tahereh was amongst the "dangerous blasphemous" to go. Of course, religious in Iran is, and has always been, a political tool; excuse if you will, to oppress the other at will. Proof for Tahereh's blasphemy was abundant: she called for equality of men and women!

Listen to one of her poems in Persian:

A Beauty Mark - Sahba Motallebi

Endnote: poem link from this weblog (Persian).

And here, a nice essay by Niloofar Baizai (Persian).

Moving on

This was on the sidebar of Neo-Resistance since the beginning of Ahmadinejad's Coup D'etat.

I am now going to move on from this topic and start, again, looking for gems or stems under rocks or shadows.

Four years ago, I blogged to counter neo-Conservative's propaganda machine and open a window to the full half of Iran's glass. Today, I blog because the actions of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during and after the election have left little doubt in my mind that he seeks a fascist state. I oppose any military action or economic sanction against Iran. We must press Iran on its human rights record. The nuclear issue is a red herring.

To all those who feel eternal victims of British plot

Some Anonymous visitor of my blog has left me an interesting link: The Corruption Perception Index. (CLick here to see the interactive map; the larger the number, the lower the perception of corruption-ranked index.)


Interestingly, this person also seems to blame the British for all perils of the world. For example, he started by commenting about how Khomeni's father was a Brit; and hence all the misery that ensued! The likes of him visiting my blog are common; and luckily they get bored after a couple of reject-ions. But this person left me a link to this map to illustrate how UAE's corruption index ranking (30) was lower than Israel (32) and Italy (68) and Iran (168).

Because of this person's I-am-a-victim-of-British-evil mentality; I started looking at the ranking of some British Colonies:
New Zealand 1
Singapore 3
Australia 8
Canada 8
Hong Kong 12
Ireland 14
UK 17
USA 18
Cyprus 27

It's an interesting map! But I hope the Anonymous commenter will take home the message that It is not the Brits who are responsible for all evil in the world. The sooner the Middle Easterners STOP their victim mentality, the sooner peace and prosperity will come to them.

IRNA reports: the out-closeted Ahmadinejad's First Lady is an "engineer"!

So her name is: A'zam OlSadate Farahi; and she is referred to as 'mohandes' Farahi; meaning that she is an engineer. Let's see what IRNA has to brag about:

They start the report by bragging about the "hot" treatment Italian press has given her appearnace in rome. First, they cite the coverage the RIGHT WING paper LaStampa has given Iran's First Lady: that she is a mechanical engineer and mother of two. Apparently she has delivered a letter from Ahmadinejad to the Italian government [Perhaps seeking their advise on ow to become a corrupt and industrially successful religiously crazed post-fascist society :) ]. According to IRNA, citing the Italian report, Farahi has spoken "energetically", but refusing to go to the podium. [From what I saw, she seemed to be reading very timidly and like a school child!] According to IRNA quoting the Italian right wing paper, she has spoken about how Iran can serve as model, that under religious guidance and traditions, has a higher immunity to hunger problems elsewhere. [True, Islamic culture is very food-friendly and has several guidelines for ensuring your neighbors are not hungry. People HAPPILY share food; and in fact to not share food is considered RUDE and repulsive. When I fist came to the West, I was shocked by the idea of pot-lock party; eat your own sandwich, pay for your own food culture.]

IRNA also quotes from Courier della Serra: "surprising appearance of the first veiled First Lady in Rome, where people are used to fashionable world First Ladies."

Then IRNA's report becomes hilarious, talking about how Italians have written that Farahi is a symbol of Iranian women, in a country where Marziye Dastgerdi can become a minister; that she is not just a shadw of her husband but a "political" personality because she has an engineering degree [I keep thinking about all fake PhDs Ahmadinejad's cronies had]; and then the bomb quotation from the Italian paper: "In Iran, 60% of university students are female, and Shirin Ebadi, the winner of Nobel Peace Prize is another symbol of this complex society". [so this citation makes me think: What the hell? IRNA and Iranian government have been harassing and threatening Ebadi for YEARS; and her life's under threat, now they are citing Italian press talking about her as a SYMBOL and equating Ahmadinejad's servant to Ebadi, who stands on podiums of the world to decry IRI's crimes?!!]

So, what has this "independent political figure with an engineering degree" has said? According to IRNA (citing the wife of Rome's mayor, Isabella Rauti) Mrs Farahi spoke 5 minutes which seemed within the framework of the summit's agenda; and in her speech she said that her husband has taken steps to help women claim their rights! Citing the Italian official news agency (ANSA): Farahi has said that Iran is piloting a project that strongly supports breast-feeding and within-family cooperations. She has emphasized women's rights and has stated that the husbands must guarantee food, clothing and housing for their wives.

(news code on IRNA 793603)

======= Thanks to Parvati, here's what the Italian Press has had to say About Ahmadinejad's wife.

LaStampa Headline: FAO - first ladies in Rome. Ahmadinejad's wife.

A short text and a few pictures of different first ladies including Ahmadinejad's wife with the following caption:

"Lady Ahmadinejad.

Mme Ahmadinejad during the summit of the First Ladies of the Non-Aligned Nations at the headquarters of the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN) on 15th November 2009 in Roma.

The wife of the Iranian president, in black chador and fumè glasses, launched an appeal to have food and medicines guaranteed in the Gaza Strip, then proposed Iran's example for food security in families and attacked «the mercantilist attitude to the exploitation of resources and the policy of occupation and arms-racing», declaring it responsible for poverty and hunger in the world.


Italian quasi-official press agency ADN-KRONOS:

IRAN: AHMADINEJAD'S WIFE IN ROME FOR FAO SUMMIT, HER FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE

Rome, 15 nov. (Adnkronos) - Signora Ahmadinejad, wife of the Iranian president, is in Rome to participate in the second summit of the first ladies of the Non-Aligned Nations movement which opened this afternoon at Fao. Mrs. Ahmadinejad, in dark glasses and black chador, is seated between the representative of Namibia and the empty chair of the Iraqi delegation. Since her husband was first elected president in 2005 Mrs. Ahmadinejad, who has a degree in engineering, three children and a very conservative political stance, had never before appeared on public occasions on her own.


3-line headline from big centre-rightish daily "il Corriere"

• Iranian political refugees in Italia protest: «the government should send her away»
• Ahmadinejad's wife to the first ladies «Capitalism is the cause of poverty»
• First public speech by Azam al-Sadat Farahi at the FAO summit, completely covered by a black chador

So ... they started it with execution of a Kurdish prisoner

NUMBING D I S G U S T ...

Shame on IRI ... SHAME ...

Ehsan Fatahian becomes the FIRST political prisoner executed after Ahmadinejad's Coup D'etat

Read more on it in Kurdishrights.org

You know my stance on nuclear issue; now here's my take on minority issues:

1) My heartfelt condolences and solidarity with all my Kurdish and Baluchi friends and fellow countrymen. In their plight for equal rights I stand with them.

2) The charges of Kurdish or Baluchi separatism ARE RED HERRING TOO. As far as I know, the kurdish and Balushi activists are not seeking sectarian divide; just a little recognition of their rights; and a little attention from the central government that is WASTING away the wealth of that country, keeping these marginalized, border-dwelling people DEPRIVED of not only right to educate and develop in their own languages; but also of the slightest economic development that can assist them change their own human condition.

3) I CONDEMN any form of violence against ANY minority or faction who chooses to not belong to another country. Frankly, with this latest crime against the Kurds, I don't know why they should care to stay under the Iranian flag.

4) As a member of the Persian/Shiite majority of my country am UTTERLY ASHAMED of the crimes committed against the minorities of my country.

...
...
...

Googoosh

Clip from Dar Emtedaade Shab, 1978 (Along the night) ... things that led to the Islamic Republic of Iran ... pity! She, Faegheh Atashin, known as Googoosh, was/is a great star. I didn't know pre-revolutionary Iranian film had this much flesh! Here's her official web site with lots of cool pictures.



And this is for Iran, now, ... She still sounds GREAT after 30 years!

No; Khamenei's savagery is getting worse ...

In this video, people are chanting in support of Karoubi, and then he gets out of the car.


In this video See Khamenei's savage guards:


So my earlier hypothesis is REJECTED! These savages have totally lost it ...

But here is the spirit of hope and courage:

On the eve of 13 Aban Rally: Ayatollah Montazeri apologizes for the event of taking the American diplomats hostage.

13 Aban; November 4th, anniversary of the "Hostage Crisis"; Day of "daneshjoo" (student); people are preparing for it on their roofs:

Ayatollah Montazeri has issued a statement in response to inquiries of his followers, in which he regrets the price Iran has had to pay for the hostage taking event, and the dive that Iran has taken in America's public opinion. He states: "A country's embassy is part of its soil. To occupy the embassy of a country that is not at war with us, is a declaration of war. It is wrong. Many of the young students who were involved in the event have also now recognized that it was wrong." (an example is Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who has issued an official apology for raiding the American embassy in November 1980. This statement by Montazeri is the closest to an apology ever issued by any of Iran's "revolutionaries". Here, he explicitly states that at the time he was behind Khomeini on this (as they feared, or were led to believe that the US was planning another 1953-style coup d'etat in its embassy), but that he now regrets that.

In response to other questions about Iran's relation with China and Russia vis a vis the West, Montazeri has also criticized the Iranian government's blind trust in Russia; and its blanket distrust of America. Montazeri has also mentioned the role of Israel and the Israel Lobby in the US representative bodies, to compromise the prospects of resuming diplomatic relations between Iran and the US. (This is TRUE. The carrots and sticks strategy has never and will never work with Iran. And I am afraid, I will have to agree with that Khamenei that Americans have not been smart to pass "sanction-if" resolutions while waiting for Iran's response! That move has jeopardized ALL trust, putting Ahmadinejad in a really IMPOSSIBLE corner to bend to their demands. And today, Angela Merkel has just made it even worse. What kind of logic governs America baffles me! It sometimes mirror the logic of Iran's worst fanatics.

Coinciding with this, one of the reformist parties has issued a warning based on rumors that in tomorrow's rally, some (on the fascists' side) might conspire an attack on some embassies [I presume China and Russia, although it is not specified] and then to blame it on the reformist greens. This organization is stressing the necessity of remaining peaceful and not reacting to the provocations of the fascist forces of Basij and Sepah. Of course, there is plenty of evidence for the government's explicit intention to AGITATE the anti-Ahmadinejad forces. There is not a day that some ex-IRGC commander or Ahmadinejad minister does not give a speech in some Iranian university. (These events are often attended by and spiced up with vocal and creative forms of reformist student's protest. However, the government's efforts to frustrate the protesters into violence has so far failed).

These young kids must be commended for their restraint.

The commander in charge of Tehran security has issued a statement that the only authorized rally will take place in front of America's embassy. Interestingly, the leaders of both sides (i.e reformist leaders like Mousavi & Karoubi) and coup d'etat IRGC government have been all encouraging tomorrow's rally. I suspect, that in line with the recent show of "mathematics gold Olympian criticized Khamenei in his face and was not killed or arrested"; tomorrows rally, and perhaps the Greens' slogans in criticism of Ahmadinejad or Khamenei will be tolerate; perhaps a nod in the direction of national unity and reconciliation, that despite all tough words, the leaders of Iran on BOTH sides need and wish for.

We shall see ...

Tehran will no longer be the capital; and this is a good thing.

The idea to move Iran's capital from Tehran is not new. Teran is the largest city oft the Middle East, with a day-time population of over 12 million, ranks 16th on the list of the most crowded cities of the world. Tehran has an archaeological history that dates back to 6000 BC; but most of its fame and fortune comes as the Qajar monarch, the brutal Agha Mohammad Khan-e Ghajar, declared it capital in 1795. At that time, Tehran was just a village, but on the skirt of beautiful mountains, with one of the most heavenly waters of earth. (On wikipedia, you can get an overview of the city, old and new.) To the epicureans that Quajars were, Tehran served plenty of pleasure.

In one of the latest meetings of the expediency council (headed by Hashemi Rafsanjani), the 20-years long plan to move Iran's capital from Tehran was put on track. The summary of the issues discussed and resolutions passing through the Expediency Council's is as follows (Persian here): (please note that no where on their web site could I find and EXPLICIT news about the Tehran-move. If you see it, please hint to me).

1. Choosing suitable locations for balanced distribution of residential and business quarters in a manner consistent with economic, social, political, cultural, security and defense considerations.
2. National and provincial developmental undertakings in border regions, via economic incentives; strengthening the infrastructure, suitable population distribution and strengthening the security and defense forces with regards to threats. [don't say from whom!]
3. Reorganization of service industries, and population distribution with considerations for management of natural disasters, accidents, water resources and respecting the geological conditions, in order to increase the safety index of vital and essential infrastructure in population centers, cities and villages.
4. strengthening cooperation, national unity and social bonds by increasing the level of development (towse'eh) across the country by creating poles and centers for development(towse'eh).
5. Transferring the political centers of the city to suitable locations to improve and correct the population distribution across the country to the end of projection [doesn't say WHICH projection!]
6. Balanced development of villages and small towns to prevent uncontrolled migration to provincial capitals.

ُThis, translated to "human" language, means:

• Tehran is built on a disaster time bomb (many new housing developments have taken place on ticking fault lines; against the unequivocal objection of Iranian geologists and urban planners--corruption and violation of expert regulations are so grave that top notch urban planners are quitting their profession in disgust and depression--not to forget Kian Tajbakhsh, the Iranian American urban planner who has received a 12 year prison sentence!!).
• Tehran is a political time bomb, with its various universities and high concentration of cultural and educational institutes posing a great threat to the adjacently located IRI's administration (Literally! Iran's important ministries are situated side by side Tehran's most vocal and political universities: e.g. Oil ministry shares the neighborhood with Tehran Poly Technique (Amir Kabir) and State ministry with Tehran University).

It is estimated (professionally and since 20 years ago) that moving the political and administrative centers from Tehran will at least help a daily reduction of one million people. It will also put a distance between the financial and political districts, that will hopefully reduce corruption. And on the brightest side, it will help Tehran's notorious pollution and hopefully prevent the environmental disasters following massive housing projects (undertaken by Mr Ahmadinejad) with no regards for the designated green zones (or even the historical sites).

I am all for moving the capital from Tehran; who wants to live near corrupt or boring bureaucrats? However, in Iran the government has its hands in EVERY single detail of private, public, economic, and social life (a dependency to which the Iranian people are well accustomed--thanks to dependency on oil-revenues). Therefore, whatever location the capital is going to be, it will need proper communication and transportation infrastructure that will make the the intricate individual/governmental interactions efficient. Let's hope that this will indeed meet the projections of the experts to generate 600,000 new jobs over the next five years; slow down the wave of migration to Tehran; scale down the magnitude of the disaster in waiting, and improve the suffocating smog and traffic problems.

I will be watching with interest where this leads to.

Sarmayeh Newspaper: BANNED ...

This is the newspaper that I often cited. "Sarmayeh" in Persian means "Capital" or "Assets", therefore it was a newspaper focusing on the economy! In recent months, after speaking about Mousavi and Karoubi was "forbidden", Sarmayeh was again focusing on the economy; often providing detailed reports of irregularities in IRGC's economic practice and participation!

There goes another source ... below a snap shot of their headlines today. With everyone of these newspapers going offline, I feel like loosing a friend. Imagine a world when you wake up knowing your favorite newspaper will never be delivered to your door again ... the IRI is loosing the very last particles of its legitimacy ... COWARD CRIMINALS.

Masood Roozbehani's Parents pardon his killer.

Two weeks ago, a 21 year old boy who had committed an unmeditated murder in self defense was brought to the gallows, where the mother of his victim vengfully pulled the stool from under his feet, and ignoring his lawyer's plea, on his knees, to let him hold his legs, when he was dying; the woman had said: "Aah, I am relieved now!"

In the same country, however, parents of Masood Roozbehani have pardoned the killer of their son; proving the fact that the Islamic Penal Code does not deprive Iranians of their humanity; should they choose to transcend and exercise it.

I wish the Roozbehani family to know that I am shedding tears for their son now; and that they have eternalized him by their humane decision; and that they are the hope of that country of ours ... all my respect.

132 killed, 520 injured ...

In a bombing in Baghdad
In one day
In one second
...
...
freedom
to bomb
...

What Happened to Mehrjui's Santuri?

Dariush Mehrjui speaks of how Ahmadinejad's revolutionizing the Iranian cinema ...

Santuri is a film about countering drug addiction ... During Ahmadinejad, addition rates have been exponentially increasing (according to Iran;s official rates) ... Interestingly, the IRGC "martyrs" of the Jundollah's recent suicide attack seem to have been in cahoot with Balouch drug lords [persian link].

Karoubi, the courageous cleric and Ahmadnejad's shameful and shameless media

Today, Karoubi made an unannounced appearance in the Media Exhibit. He was instantly greeted by green chants of support. He was attacked and was injured in the head. Below is the coverage of Farce News (in red): People kicked Karoubi out of the Exhibit. In the picture the instant a show is hitting his head can be seen. [update: the shoe in the picture was photoshopped; Karoubi has denied that anyone has thrown a shoe at him. This is Fars News' "retaliation" for students throwing a shoe at Safar-Harandi; Ahmadinejad's previous minister of culture.] Clicking on the report brings you to error. At least there seem to be some will to put a cap on the shameless behavior of Ahamdinejad's barbaric media! (By the way IRNA is not reporting this.) Click here to see the Fars News snapshot before it was removed. (Intrnet and web sites reporting this are flooded with messages of gratitude and love for Karoubi. With all my hatred of clergy, I bow to Karoubi's resolve.)

He is laughing, as he is escorted out by his bodyguards (source)

How are the Ahmadinejad's media reacting to the Nuclear Closure?! (Part 2: IRNA)

Finally, after 24 hours IRNA is back today, Friday. Their archives is empty of "Thursday"! Again, nothing about Nuclear Proposal; other than: (2nd column, 4th row)

China has welcomed the progress in solving the nuclear negotiations!

Other headlines:

• Ayatollah Amoli: Human rights without God's message is impossible. [don't try to make sense of this]
• Interior Minister emphasized the importance of provisioning plans for natural disasters
• Strong earthquake in Afghanistan
• Falahat-Pisheh: The role of teh media in critical periods in society becomes more important [that's why IRNA goes down for one day and then avoids talking about nuclear negotiations!]
• Ayatollah Sobhani: Without faith, society is never safe.
• Parliament member: With streamlining subsides [he means cutting them] the government narrows the poverty gap [he means with a projected 60% inflation!]
• Iran insists on preventing the militarization of space!

And then in the side bar

• Javad Larijani [again that educated primate,]: Mousavi has to take a posture that suits him!! [this saying is something bully kids on highschool yard would tell others who are trying to standup to them! More proof of the kind of uncultured thugs claiming leadership of Iran ...]
• ProIsrael members [of congress]: Obama shoudl sacntion Iran
• India is careful about relations with Iran
• US/Israel's expensive military exercise was censored [from Western media]
• Program for satellite meetings of Media Exhibition announced (see this)
• The ex-editor of Junge Welt exposes vast media campaign against Iran [well IRNA, why don't you give us the REAL news so we can counter the western media?]

By the way, no news of arrests on IRNA, FARCE news, nor even Tabnak or Etemaad. Meaning the circle of media oppression's tightening--on the eve of the well advertised, poorly attended Media Exhibition!

At least, IRNA could spin the nuclear news like these dudes: Iran's (5.3%) enriched uranium is of such hight quality that the Westen countries are eager to get their hands on! [and sell back the 19.5% one!]

By the way, Fars News' important news (after mentioning that the French Total wishes to invest in Iran's oil fields to produce LNG, in which CNPC of china had already invested and the project ws bid on in EPC [i haven't the slightest clue what these abbreviations stand for; but I am sure all the poor and rural supporters of Ahmadinejad do know these things]) is this:

• Increase in unemployment rate in 23 of American states!!

How are the Ahmadinejad's media reacting to the Nuclear Closure?!

Update (8:00 PM) They have were not satisfied with the distractors I listed below! They have just raided and arrested tens of the family members of the jailed journalists and politicians. The families of the detainees were gathered for a Komeil Prayer; something they have been doing every Thursday in someone's family home in the past few months ... they were collected up in three vans and taken away!

By the way, IRNA is STILL down!

=================================================

IRNA's web site is DOWN! (And Pedestrian tells me it's been down since this morning!!!)

ISNA has NO NEWS!

Farce News: picture speaks volumes! (the nuclear "DEFEAT" is "masked" in title 5!!!!)

HEADLINE: Koolayee (the woman with glasses) in interview with FARS said Extremism lead to failure of reforms!

Title 2: Larijani: Had Mousavi's Coup D'etat succeeded, the Islamism of the system will have been lost! (WHAT THE F>>>!!!!!!)

Title 3: Clinton, Iran's Nuclear program is peaceful!

Title 4: Minister of culture, the leaders of the chaos were operators of premeditated plots!

Title 5: In interview with Al-Alam Soltaniyeh insists on guarantees from the west!

And by the way ...

And of course here's more on Russia's role in mediating ties between Mr Ahmadinejad and Israel! (thanks German for the link) It all makes sense; only if Ahmadinejadists were not such power hungry cheating lying hypocrites!

Also see: Pedestrian reporting from IRIB

:D

LOL!

All Ahmadinejad-lovers and Israeli-Lovers, hahhhahahah!

Iran's Marlon Brando

His name is Behrouz Vosoughi. To some, he is the best male actor in Iran before the revolution.

To my shame, I know too little about pre-revolution Iranian cinema and even less about Vossoughi.

Primarily, because when I was growing up these films were considered "adult film" and my parents had a strict regime of what was suitable for me to watch. My mother was a modern woman, and a feminist one; but she considered the Western cultural emulations displaced, distasteful and inappropriate.

Then, after revolution, these films were banned; and possessing them became illegal. This suited my parents just fine, because at the time Iranian cinema was full of what is considered B-movies (Film-Farsi), which my parents considered corrupt and hallow. Of course, I was in grade school when all this happened. In any case, I did not grow up in a tele-visual or cinematic family! (my pre-revolutionary cinema-going memories belong to when my university-student uncle took me to cinema--and I hated those boring black and white films he subjected me to); or when my father saw to it that the cinema was kept private for a "family" viewing; because in those days cinemas were often for young men who were doing their military service.

Of course, when I left Iran I could access as many film-Farsi's as I wished, thanks to an Iranian video store in my neighborhood that carried the most obscure of them. However, mainly because Vosooghi often played the character of a Rough-Guy; and because I have little ability to watch violence and melodrama I was never attracted to the genre he was suited for. Nevertheless, he has acted in some of the films of notable Iranian directors such as Ali Hatami (Sootehdelam, 1977); Masood Kimiyayi (6 of Kimiai's famous films including Kaiser, 1969, video clip below); Amir Naderi (Tangseer, 1973); several films of Fereydoon Goleh including Kandoo, 1975) and others. Vosughi's career came to an end in 1981 when he chose exile to IRI.

I thought a little video clip of how a cinema star looked in pre-revolutionary Iran, together with a clip of one of his most famous films (Gheysar; meaning Kaiser) would be fun! It is essential to know that the Iranian cinema that, thanks to the French critics, became known as "The Cinema of 90s", is founded on a 100-years long tradition of filmmaking that started during the Qajar dynasty; and for which, academic foundations were established thanks to the efforts of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The clerics are now taking advantage of what they completely frowned upon then--and for which they really wanted the Pahlavis toppled! :)

On the Hypocrisy of Succumbing to International Pressure

As soon as news about one million annulling of rigged votes in Afghanistan was broadcast; the Iranians blogsphre and twitter-space was filled with mocking comments to Ahmadinejad, who was the first world leader to RUSH and congratulate Hamed Karzai on his re-election.

I was curious how the Pro-Ahmadinejad news outlets are reflecting this news and what Iran's official response has been to Karzai conceding to hold a second round of election. (Needless to say, the reformists are using the meager space they have to praise Afghans and Karzai for respecting due election process and conceding to second election term to resolve controversies.)

Fars (or False News) was silent. I could not retrieve anything on this from their archive. But, there was a funny piece on IRNA. Since nowadays posts disappear from the web; I decided to take a snapshot:


It's the second title:
"Reformist (2nd khordadi) media praise Afghans' succumbing to humiliation of their national dignity and independence"

The article (a long one) name the reformists (even Hahshemi--who is NOT a reformist) and "analyses" their motivations for praising Karzai's decision. Then we get to the farcical (in their view serious of course) subheading:

History of diplomatic submission and defeat:
It is noteworthy that in this 2nd Khordad site and other reformist media hese days, are encouraging Karzai to giving in to the Western pressure. During managing Iran's nuclear dossier this team that is linked to the heads of the reform, repeatedly backed off to Western threats, and was planning to voluntarily! [exclamation mark is IRNA's] sell all of our nuclear scientists achievements." Demands of this team were undertaken directly by Khatami; and although it went as far as stopping laboratory enrichment, but was stopped by supreme leader and with Ahmadinejad's insistence has gone ahead to the level of 8000 centrifuge centers.

[I have to add that this piece is FULL of Persian grammatical and syntax errors; reflecting journalistic inadequacy of the state-run media--with which, Ahmadinejad's promising to launch a media war against the eloquent writers of the reform who are still in prison.]

I guess we are all waiting for the news of their nuclear submission to "Western" demands! The ONLY good thing that probably came out of Ahmadinejad's Coup D'etat was to bring a closure to this stupid nuclear business! NO! Don't jump to conclusion! Ahmadinejad doesn't have any SPECIAL diplomatic talent. He is doing EVERYTHING that Khatami was doing 8 years ago, vis as vis Western pressure on nuclear issue. Except that during Khatami, we had dogs who are not represented by Ahmadinejad, barking over the shoulders of the reformist diplomats and administration. Also, during Khatami, Clinton was too busy with Monica affairs (for which he had to pay America's war-machine a ransom by bombing Serbia) and then later, a Bushman was running the White House ...

Update: Today (October 22) Haarez publishe a piece that Iran and Israel have met in Cairo to discuss nuclear future! Less than one week ago, Tabnak.ir reported "Russia's Strange Proposal". I can no longer find this piece; but in that report Tabnak (a news source close to conservative Mohsen Rezayee) claimed that Russia's Foreign minister in in interview with Russia Today had stated that Iran and Israel need to negotiate and that there is no reason for tension and war! The "strange"ness of Russia's proposal was "to dare making such proposal to Iran, who, mindful of people's sensitivity, was reluctant to accept legitimacy of Israel, EVEN BEFORE REVOLUTION!" If anyone can find the Russian report of this, or its reflection in other media, please let me know.

Dariush Shayegan: The Theoretician of Dialogue of Civilizations

Dariush (or Daryush) Shayegan, a Sorbonne Graduate and a leading Iranian translator and intellectual, mainly writes in French.

A few years back he published "Cultural Schizophrenia", about the paradoxical confrontation of modernizing Islamic societies with the West; and the western notions of modernity. One of his interesting arguments (which has become empirically evident since the publication of the book in 1997) is that Iran has culturally leaped from tradition to postmodernity, without maturing in modernity, and is thus suffering schizophrenic symptoms (clinically, schizophrenia is characterized by detachment from reality and "self"). He finds it inevitable that Iran (and other progressive Islamic countries) would join the (already post-modernist) multicultural world, embracing diversity and tolerance towards "others".

In 1977, Shayegan initiated an international symposium on the "dialogue between civilizations," a concept that was later (in 2001) appropriated by the Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (whom George Bush shunned, and after benefitting from his help and cooperation in Afghanistan, branded Iran "axis of Evil, thus CRUSHING the reform movement and giving rise to the Ahmadinejad phenomena.)

Today, together with Mohammad Khatami, Shayegan became the first recipient of "Global Dialogue Prize" (500,000 DKK for research on the topic), to be handed in a ceremony in January 2010, In Kopengagen.

I recommend reading his work to anyone interested in philosophizing about Islam-West confrontation, and I am not alone!)

Bahram Baizai refuses to stage the play of his dreams in the upcoming International Fajr Theater

For those who do not know Bahram Beizai; I would describe him as Iran's Stanley Kubrick, with an added bonus: He's also Iran's Brecht!

Those of you who know about world-success of Iranian cinema have most likely not heard about Beyzaie (*). He is an uncompromising perfectionist, whose depth of art and vision often gets him in trouble with Iran's censors. But, Baizai loves the people and people love him. He is a master of Iranian theater, and literature; and although he is not banned from teaching in Tehran university, still much of Iranian theater owes its credit to him.

After a decade long absence from cinema, he was finally given permit to make one of his least favorite screenplays (When We Were All Asleep, 2008). Nevertheless it was an instant success. If you read that article, you would recognize how "hungry" Baizayi has been to talk to people through screen and stage.

By divine's!!! miracle, SUDDENLY Ahmadinejad's ministry of culture and Islamic guidance decided to grant Beizai permission to stage his "dream play" Sohrab-Koshi (written 13 years ago); which has been suffering censorship denials for several years.

However, Baizai has decided to "postpone staging this play to better times".

Ahmadinejad will soon realize that he has been standing on the dignity, genius and credit of many a great Iranian who will no longer allow him to stage his propaganda on their account!

We are tremendously pleased with Baizaee's protest! Remember a long time ago I listed my heros?

* Different spellings of name بيضايي are intentional.

Update: One of the many reasons (Persian) why Baizai decided to not stage the play was the censor's fussing about the name "Sohrab-Killing", fearing that it will invoke the memory of Sohrab A'rabi who was killed in recent protests. (note that Sohrab-Killing act derives from the story in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (Epic of kings))

Alarming deforestation of Iran in the past 5 years

The news of Ahmadinejad's violation of environmental policies (not the international ones, but the ones set by the Governmental Organization of Environmental Protection) are reaching alarming frequency. If this trend continues, Iran will be fully deforested in the next 30 years. Most endangered are 400 ancient trees, one as old as 3000 years. Often these ancient trees are sites of pilgrim by villagers who believe in their healing power or divinity. I read in one of the links below that such trees run the risk of being cut in the name of "opposing superstition."! Of course this is ironic, given Iran's president has spent 17 million dollars building a mosque in "Jamkaran", where his Imam-Zaman resides in the bottom of a well. Yes Ahmadinejad is a highly superstitious man, and he is caught on video describing to some mullahs how he was surrounded with a halo of light (minute 1:06), mesmerising the audience when he delivered his speech in NY. (here's an audio report on it, in English).

Some of recent headlines:

• Cutting Chestnut trees to install gas pipelines
• 1/3rd of Iran's forests are destroyed in the past 5 years
• Iran's the 100th in terms of forest density in the world, but the 6th in terms of deforestation
• Damavand forest-park allocated to government housing project ...

Iran's Taliban; Ahmadinejad's Mentor: Freedom is a Satanic temptation ...

Iranian newspapers walk a thin line; but they don't need to write editorials to illustrate the very violent nature of Ahmadinejad's supporters. They just need to publish what they say. This clip is from the website of Sarmaye, an economy-oriented newspaper that despite a few warnings, is still operating.

Here, Mesbah Yazdi says:

"Freedom is one of those things that hearing it gives the impression of a sense of beauty for some, but it is a term that has been abused throughout history. America has been trying to promote lack of prejudice (bi-gheyrati) in the name of tolerance, and unfortunately some of the effects of this "tasahol & tasamoh" (means tolerance) appeared in our country too. [Here he is blaming Khatami.] Because they couldn't promote this tolerance in a country of followers of Hossein, they entered from the door of criticizing violence and terrorism[oh dear, cry murder!], and in this way promoted freedom, tolerance and the mixing of men and women, which is not only un-Islamic but also anti-Islamic. They [he means Khatami's reformists] even brought evidences from Islam to prove that Islam is the religion of tolerance [cry murder again]on the one hand, and to condemn violence on the other hand, and thus used beautiful tools to promote their satanic illusions! If someone decidely tries to harm Islam, she should be swiftly and severely confronted and no one has the right to ask for tolerance. "

P.S. I am listening to this report on BBC; it gives a background to Ahmadinejad's apocalyptic views. It is a fair report. I recommend it.

Where is the Supreme!!! leader??!

Apparently he has announced three days of national mourning for the victims of suicide bombing. But, he has not made a "personal" statement. Rumors have been circulating that khamenei is dead; and that pictures of his recent meeting with Senegal president were "doctored". He has been totally absent in the past two weeks; and that he has not made a public statement about the bombings, combined with the fact that despite all cacophony from Mohseni Ejehi (regarding arresting Karoubi) Both Mousavi and Karoubi have come out with public and states-manly statements today makes one wonder what's going on!

Also, Hashemi is very silent; however the conservative's barking fella Asgar-Owladi-e Mosalman! (literally, this man shouts and barks and moves all his body organs when he speaks) has come out yesterday to say: "khatami, Mousavi and Karoubi are children of this system" ...

something's going on, ESPECIALLY because Ahmadinejad's not used the IRGC killings to blame the internal conflict and has pointed the finger at Pakistani borders.

(Of course as many have commented; had Ahmadinejad's administration and IRGC not been acting AS SAVAGES in Baluchestan in recent years, perhaps this level of fundamentalism and Jundollah brutality would not have occurred!)

Suicide bombings: Have IRGC eliminations begun?

UPDATE: Karoubi and Mousavi's have both publicly condemned the bombing and have extended condolences to the families of all the victims (IRGC generals as well as Shiite and Sunni leaders) of the suicide attack. Mousavi has further expressed his commitment to fending off these extremist and fundamentalist agitations that stem from eastern borders of Iran (i.e Pakistan and Afghanistan).

Two hours ago, in a massive suicide bombing in the southeast border province of Sistan va Balouchistan, some of the high-ranking Sepah (IRGC) Commanders were killed:

Sardaar Noor-Ali Shooshtari; the deputy commander of IRGC's ground forces; Sardaar Mohammad-Zadeh; the Commander of Seestan & Baluchistan's IRGC, also IRGC commanders of the cities of Iranshahr, Sarbaz, and the region Pishin were killed. Seestan & Baluchestan (* different spelling is intentional) is the southeastern province bordering with Pakistan and as far as I recall, has been one of the bloodiest and most unstable regions of the country (I was born there). Post coup d'etat, the province has been in turmoil.

According to IRNA, as many as 60 people (update, 29 confirmed dead), including some of the tribal leaders of the province might have died. The high concentration of "important" figures in one place was for a the occation of a "Conference of Unity Between Iran's Suni & Shiite Nomades"

Yesterday, I saw a little news on Roydad that the IRGC is offering lucrative retirement packages; presumably to get rid of the older and original members of the IRGC, the warriors of the 8-years long defense against Iraqi invasion.

I will update this as news flows in and in the meantime, I am going to compilie a list of all IRGC commanders who have died in assassination plots. Scanning the "comment" sections of news web sites, it seems I am not the only Iranian who is smelling rats. I feel the blame for this one lays on the Al-Quaeda/USA coalition; giving the IRI perfect excuse it needs to tighten its grip on Iranian's throat! (The axis of warmongers) (Update: Iran's summoned the Pakistani diplomat demanding their cooperation to arrest the responsible members of Jundollahu.)

• Sepahbod Ali Sayad Shirazi, Chief-of_Staff of Iranian forces in the 8-year sacred defense ( Assassinated in front of his house in 1999; MKO claimed responsibility)

• Brigadier General Ahmad Kazemi, commander of the IRGC Ground Forces
• Brigadier General Saeed Mohtadi, commander of the IRGC’s 27 Mohammad Division,
• Brigadier General Hanif, Director of Intelligence of the IRGC Ground Forces,
• Brigadier General Saeed Soleimani, Director of Operations of the IRGC Ground Forces,
• and Brigadier General Yazdani, Commander of the IRGC Artillery. (All died in a plane crash 1n January 2006. Similarly to today's incident, this group of generals were on a mission of to the Iranian northwest separatist hot-zones. The crash was blamed on Technical failure. What is interesting is that this massive "elimination" happened 6 months after a massive shuffle in the IRGC that followed Ahmadinejad's (other fraudulent) election in 2005. Interestingly, this time around Khamenei's been reshuffling the IRGC and introducing fundamental changes such as creating an IRGC "intelligence organization", which previously was only a division.)

The following high profile generals all died in a plane crash in Kahrizak (near Tehran, and far from the war-zone), in 1981.

• Mohammad Jahan-Ara (Commander of Khoramshahr's IRGC, when under iraqi seige)
• Vali-o-llah Fallahi (Deputy head of the Army) (Uskuwi suggests he was Acting commander of the IRGC)
• Moosa Namjoo (Minister of Defense)
• Javad Fakuri (Consultant to deputy head of the Army) (Uskuwi: commander of the Airforce.)
• Yusef Kolahdooz (Acting chief of staff). (Uskuwi: Acting commander of IRGC)

This event occurred after Banisadr's impleachement and shortly before the liberation of Khoramshahr. In fact these generals were on their way to report on the battlefield realities to Khomeini. The cause of the C130 crash was stated technical failure.

Update: Jundullah has accepted responsibility for this bombing. 35 dead confirmed. (As I said before, let's thank AlQuaeda/USA's Iranian wing!) )ّIn this picture 26 year old Abdulmalek Rigi (Balouch) the leader of the movement ( which, funny funny haha, the BBC refers to as "resistance movement" and NOT terrorist, like they call Hamas & Hizbollah!!!!!!)

Needless to say, scenes like this do not help or buy much sympathy of the IRI amongst the Balouchis ... This is why Abdulmalek can gather himself supporters ...

Abjeez: The Iranian Singing Sisters

After Mohsen Namjoo, Abjeez are my most favorite Iranian Post-Traditionalists. Please go to their colourful web site to discover more.

The Abjeez sisters, Safoura and Melody were born in Iran amongst a family of diverse musicians. Both sisters moved to Sweden along with their family in 1987. Looking up to their father’s passion for music combined with older brother Sufi’s love for guitar encouraged the sisters to start writing, and composing original music. Having experienced living life in countries such as India, Sweden, Norway, England, Spain and United States has also had a great impact and influence on Abjeez music. (source: Album notes)

My FAVORITE Album is Hameh (2007)! Which I just purchased on iTune store. This is a video sample of why I like them. (Eddeaa means pretension)

To shift from the morbidity that neo-resistance has been suffering lately, I have posted a video of one of the songs of their latest Album "Perfectly Displaced" below.

The album is described as "World Pop music for the wired world: flamenco hot, reggae cool, salsa sassy. From the easy bop of "Vaghti ke" to the Flamenco yearning of "Tu Me Haces Falta" or the lashing passion of "Walking in her shoes" the Abjeez blend the rhythms and languages of the world into one great braza.

The Persian lyric of the song is : Jaa-e to khaaliye (your place is empty ... it implies, I miss you.

Mahmoud Dowlatabadi: Preeminent Novelist's latest book Der Colonel Published in German...and censored in Persian ...

Mahmud Doulatabadi is one of the most preeminent novelists of Iran. I discovered Dowlatabadi * when I was 17. I knew Kelidar (کلیدر) was an important book to read. My younger sister who was always richer than I, spent all of her summer savings to buy this 5-volume novel: the love story of Maral and Gol-Mohammad; in the turbulent history of their tribes of Iran's north east province, Khorasan. I remember living with the book, reading it nonstop for 10 days, hardly eating or sleeping. I was perhaps too young for it then; but I couldn't put it down. Maral reminded me of my own grandmother; and the story taught me about the intricacies of individuality, honor, loyalty, love, passion and the cost of breaking from conformity. I read his other books later, but to date, and to author's admission, Kelidar remains his most "perfect" book!

Dolatabadi * is 69, he was born in the village of Dolatabad in Khorasan. Before he became a writer, he earned life from labouring in farming, shoe making, barbering, bicycle repair, herding sheep, slaughter house, print shops, cinema projections--all range of works that are not customary for the "educated" or those with "to-be-educated-to-write" aspirations. His rural experiences set his books apart from the white-glove urban, or aristocratic settings of many of his contemporary literary figures of Iran. He paved his path to literature through theater, starting at the age of 22.

His most recent book, Der Colonel, written simultaneously in Persian and German--a story awaiting 25 years to be told--has made it to German publication, and is suffering Persian censorship, thanks to Mr Ahmadinejad's Coup D'etat ... (Dolatabadi has been a vocal critic of Ahmadinejad) To German speakers, I recommend to listen to his interview Dolatabadi with Ilija Trojanow on Arte.TV about Der Colonel. He talks about his urge to write this novel, and also explains somethings about Iran's literary traditions--especially referring to legendary Ferdowsi (10th century AD), to whom he wishes to have been a devout follower; and Sa'di (12th century AD) and Naser khosrow (11th century Ad) who were globe-trotters to whom he attributes the humanitarian nature of Persian literature. Despite the fact that Dolatabadi's novels root deeply in folk, telling the most obscure of rural stories, his talent is in portraying man in the complex dynamics of his interaction with the world, thus Doulatabadi * considers literature to be a universal entity, one belonging to humanity and not to geography.

He ends his interview with a message of hope:

"The art of we Iranians, is to transit through death and destruction towards light; this is our entire history, and we are still a living nation ..."

* I have spelled Dowlatabadi in all possible phonetic forms. Inconsistencies are intentional.

Can someone explain this please?

This is rally in London! The bearded man is holding a sign that reads:

Islam Will Dominate The World!

Freedom Can Go to Hell!

A non-muslim colleague of mine is asking a question:

"If "Freedom Can go to Hell", can someone arrest this man and put him in jail?"

And a conversation is following: If he is a freedom hater, then why is he living in London?!

And if he is an Islamic-fighter, then why shouldn't the British police treat him like a foreign invader?

Now I know that this man is perhaps in the fringes of the LARGE muslim population of Europe; but seriously, what the hell is he thinking?

Post script: I received two anonymous comments which I think address my narrow-minded question and they deserve to come to fore.

Anonymous 1:

Most demonstrations like this are organised by Salafi and Wahhabi groups, the most notorious of which is al Muhajiroun. They are consummate trouble makers, stirring public hatred for mainstream Muslims amongst the British population. Their leader, Anjem Choudary, is a follower of the Salafi cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, who left the UK for Lebanon, but tried to come back to the UK to seek refuge in 2006 when Israel started bombing Lebanon.

They have a website advocating a distinctly Salafi ideology,in addition to some rather absurd designs on the UK, www.islam4uk.com, including a march at the end of this month calling for the implementation of Shariah in the UK.

Choudary, in his university days, was heavily into drinking and non-marital sex with non-Muslim women. Some Muslims think he is an agent of the British, implanted to stoke racial tensions to weaken people's resistance to various Orwellian measures that the government want legislated (eg, ID cards, long term detention without trial, etc). Personally, I don't think so, I've seen enough of these extremists to know that they are often hypocrites.

Anonymous 2:

No question his sign is very disturbing but:

1) He might be a British citizen (even born in Britain).

2) I know he and his friends are not going to treat us the same way that we -in the west- treat them but as long as he only expresses his opinion (whatever that opinion might be), he can not and should not be arrested or put in the jail.

3) I actually think this type of demonstrations are counterproductive for them and good for the civil societies, as they show which type of people they truly are and how angry they've become and we show how tolerant and cool we are.

UPDATE: My friend who asked the question wanted me to be clear about the fact that he meant the question as a joke. "I know you did", I told him; "but I (naj) meant the question with the very visceral anger I felt when I saw this picture. This kind of extremism touches me very close at home." Yes, he (my friend) knows what tolerance is; and I wish he will never grow out of it by suffering the consequences of the intolerance the man in the photo is promoting.

Firouzabadi, Iran's head of the Army: Death sentence should have been given to the leaders of the Green Movement!

In this picture, you see the redhead trunk Firouzabadi in Khaki, and Jafari (the murderer head of IRGC in green) in embrace!

And in this picture, the news that was published on FARSENEWS and immediately eliminated! Click on picture for source. On top, "Russia says No to Clinton's call for Sanctions ..."

Support our "BobDylan & LeonardCohen & Marylin Manson" in one: Mohsen Namjoo

You can start by buying his outstanding album, with which he has subjected himself to eternal exile from the Islamic Republic of Iran; with which he has broken almost any cultural & musical rule ever practices in Iran; with which your goose bumps turn to goose mountains, your jaw drops, and you are left breathless with the courage of his genius. Although extremely avant-garde, Namjoo is well trained in Persian traditional music and literature--elements which he mixes with rock, jazz, blues and some other new stuff which I don't have a name or description for.

Making his album a best-seller will be a GREAT slap to IRI's ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance who thinks by alienating our artists and forcing them to exile, they can get rid of them by "throwing the fish out of the water."

My favorite tracks are: 5, 6 and 8. I love the rest too, but they are in the tradition of his previous outstanding work; that for me reached the summit of success in Toranj.

This costs only 3 Starbuck cups of coffee--and it is for a great cause! (If you buy his songs, let me know and I will try to translate them for you.)

Kill Me Not, Mother

His face is turning blue.
The lawyers is shaking in disbelief.
Lucky they don't have to pull him to break his neck and end him sooner.
Lucky he was struggling violently, because he wasn't dying soon enough.
She pulled the stool from under his feet.
"I beg you, madam I beg you let me live", he cried.
"I must see the rope around his neck, I must see the rope around his neck", she was hysterical.
"I beg you madam, I didn't mean to kill him, please pardon me. I am an orphan.", he cried.
"I don't know anything, I don't know, I don't know", she was hysterical.
"I beg you let me live", he cried.
"this is your last chance to pardon and spare his life.", said the guard.
"Please pardon him, please spare his life", chanted in unison 200 gathered outside the notorious prison.
"I know what it is to loose a child", said the mother who had watched his daughter's eye fill with blood.
"I know what it is to loose a child.", said the mother who had received her son's slashed and smashed frozen body a month ago.
"the parents of the victim have given consent to pardon", said the celebrity 5 months ago.
"I killed in self-defense, with a broken bottle, because he attacked me with a knife", had said the 17 year old boy 5 years ago.

...

YOU KNOW WHAT IS SICK??

WHAT IS SICK IS THAT THE FAMILY OF VICTIM WHO WISHED TO TAKE REVENGE WILL HAVE TO PAY HALF OF THE BLOOD MONEY OF Behnoud TO HIS FAMILY! What is sick is that if Behnoud was a woman, she would have cost less to kill. The blood money of women is only half of men. The blood money of religious minorities is only half of the Muslim ones. The blood money of BAhais and Atheists is ZILCH! Killing them opens the doors of heaven!

What is sick is that in case of Akram Mahdavi, it is cheaper to kill her, than to kill her accomplice in crime--who is a man; and therefore, because the family of victim "needs" revenge, they have chosen to kill the cheaper human, the woman!

How I dreaded my Neo-Resistance turning gory ... but I just find it hard to not scream these days ...

If this is Islam, then I will fight to get rid of it ...

CORRECTION: No it is not Islam; it is this BITCH! It's about her EGO ... not even about Islamic penal law ... Apparently the judiciary system has bee trying to get him forgiven ... the BITCH is saying she is "happy" ... FUCK!

How a woman becomes deadly

She is holding a child that she has never had. A limb is falling off of the child. A leg. Or an arm. There is a bullet in the child's eye. The bullet is silver. Blood is flowing into the child's mouth. The child is thirsty. The woman lets her drink the blood. Her left breast is blown up. In its place rests a big scar. You can see the heart through cracked ribs. With no breast, the child cannot be breast fed. With no breast she cannot even prostitute herself to find water or milk. The child is thirsty. The woman's heart is broken by the force of the smashed rib cage. The man is out; holding his penis out to the world; pissing on it, pissing it off. He is hoping that if he urinates enough, the earth, the ancestral land will purify it enough to save his child from thirst; or from the despicable sin of sucking on his own blood. Death doesn't come soon enough to the child whose limb is hanging, whose eyes is wounded. Death doesn't come soon enough to the woman whose breast is blown, whose broken rib cage has broken her pink heart. Death doesn't come soon enough to the man whose phallus is not irrigating the earth, is not starting a creek. Death is waiting in a corner to be sought. Death is waiting to be called upon. Death is waiting to be strapped into a belt. Death is not coming, death is to be sought. Death grins menacingly that she is the port to freedom, the port to heaven. Death is water, death is food, death is freedom, death is a belt, death is the last piece of pride, the last bit of dignity left.

The woman's breast is blown. Her wombs is a ball of fire. She is pregnant with pain. And she is holding a child with a falling limb, with a bleeding eye, and with thirsty lips that are getting used to the salty taste of the blood ... blood the only source of life ... blood the only god ... the woman will give birth to pain, the pain too will be thirsty, the pain will not be able to drink from the exploded breast, the pain will grow into a blood thirsty puberty.

The pain will kill the woman because the woman will kill for pain; all mothers will kill for their thirsty children. The death belt is shining ... the last attire of dignity of a man ... or a woman ...

(c) Naj of Neoresistance. Written a couple of years ago thinking of Palestinian women becoming deadly; published here today because i am devastated by the images of a mother pulling the bench from under a 21 year old boy, to AVENGE ...

They Killed Him ... SHAME ON IRI

They killed Behnoud Shojai (Shojaee) ... 22 years old ... he had killed someone in a group fight (in self defense) when he was 17 ... (The victim had attacked Behnoud with knife; and Behnood had defended himself with a broken bottle) his lawyer was pleading with the world to save him ... human rights activists, including mothers of Sohrab A'rabi and Neda Agha-Soltan were amongst those gathering in front of the Evin prison to get a stay on the execution order ... his lawyer had pleaded that e due judiciary process was not respected ... they killed him ... they killed a 22 years old boy, who had killed someone in a street fight ... they killed him to say:

1. they do not respect people's wish to abolish death penalty
2. they killed him to say they are not afraid of controversy and international pressure (why would they when Obama writes them love letters?)
3. they have sentenced activists to death now ... soon, we shall witness political prisoner's executions ...

Time to act!

Mohsen Makhmalbaf has passed on his Nuremberg HR award to Karoubi. I wish The Nobel Peace Committee had recognized the gravity of the human rights violation, the brutality in China and Iran; I wish they had given the award to raise awareness on this .. I wish Obama had taken a less subtle approach in his acceptance speech ...

They killed a 17 years old boy, because this is when Behnoud was imprisoned, but they killed him after torturing him by swinging him back and forth between his prison cell and the gallows ... he is free from the injustice of Iran's brutal justice system ... but what about others ... apparently, he spent his last seconds BEGGING the victims parents--who had the option of pardoning him; who were there to pull the bench from under his feet ...

Post Script:
The real tragedy is in this:
"مادر و پدر مقتول چهارپایه ای را که برای اعدام در نظر گرفته بودند از زیر پای بهنود کشیدند و بهنود از دنیا رفت.»"
"The parents of the victim who was killed by Behnood pulled the bench from under his feet, and ended his life."

The tragedy is the ignorance of "revenge". These parents could have immortalized their dead son by "forgiving"; yet they chose to be killers themselves. I wonder how they sleep tonight. Will their son come back to them? Will they feel relieved that someone else's mother is mourning? Do they think they are increasing safety and security by carrying an act of revenge? This is gross; this is disgusting. Ehsan's victimized twice. Once by his killer and another time by the killers of his killer, his own parents. I am trying to imagine the street fight when Behnoud Killed Ehsan. If Ehsan was the son of such vengeful parents, it is likely that he was the bully. Maybe he even started the fight. Behnoud killed in self-defense. This was not a premeditated murder; this was an unintentional killing. (Like the killing of ZahrA KAzemi; the Canadian photographer who was killed by a "hard object hitting her head, while being interrogated in the IRI's prisons.) How can such vengeful parents have raised a peaceful, peace-loving teenager? Maybe if Ehsan, their son--who engaged in fights with a knife-- was alive, he would have joined Ahmadinejad's thugs who killed and beat people out of ignorance, class-revenge, or financial need. I know my imagination is running loose ... I know I am judgmental ... but WHAT KIND OF PARENTS avenge their son by killing someone else's son?! Don't they say their "Allah" is Merciful?! And what kind of a Judiciairy system allows a teenager involved in second-degree murder die on the whim of victim's parents--who are perhaps too psychologically devastated to be fair.

I cannot calm down ... (and now parvati told me that Behnoud's been begging the parents of Ehsan to forgive and spare his life ... I cannot calm down ...)

Post Post script:

and yet I come across this story: The family of Mansoor Kahyayee, who was killed at the age of 18 by a 15 year old boy. His father recounts how the society was pressuring them to seek revenge and have the killer executed; but the mother changes her heart and forgives ...

If the parents of a victim give consent, the killer's life will be spared. This is the area where many of Iranian celebrities are trying to make a difference: seeking consent of the parents. Nevertheless, there are many who are killed in Iran because of sexual indiscretion (even if voluntary) or political opposition to the regime. These individuals are harder to save--ironically because there is no Quranic loophole as there is in the case of murder victims' consent ...

These pictures are posted by Ahmad Batebi's blog. Proof that the family of Ehsan Nasrollahi had pardoned Behnoud in presence of witnesses.



Update: the head of the judiciary had tried to intervene and prevent this execution. The woman (mother of the victim) INSISTED on killing ... because he "ego" was hurt that the victim's family did not kiss up her ass enough ...