Sunday, September 9, 2007

A defiant nation and its foes

Beyond the high political drama, Christopher de Bellaigue, a long-term resident of Tehran and a fluent Persian speaker, gives a sense of the complexities of Iranian culture and society through striking portraits of Iranians going about their daily lives—reading the poetry of Rumi, looking at modern art, making films under the threat of censorship, trying to get by despite domestic turmoil and military threats. His keen analyses of Iran's politics and its people offer fascinating insights into a often misunderstood nation that poses some of the most challenging problems facing the world today.
"An eloquent and sensitive memoir of an increasingly bleak political situation, this selection deserves special recognition for its emphasis on young Iranians' efforts to hybridize Islam and Western values and its implicit suggestion that such efforts may be the way of the future." --Booklist

6 comments:

jmsjoin said...

naj
Just want to say Hi and say I have all the respect in the world for Iranian's and your heritage. Like most here I fear Bush and Ahmadinejad and his response to the chief idiot that I know will only lead to war in whatever degree.
You said something this morning. I made my standard response but thought you might agree so here it is. I'll be right back I have to go look at a house.
an average patriot said...
Hi Naj
I caught that this morning. You know, I have said it many times but I bet they know where he is and they will all of a sudden "find" him before Bush leaves to make him look good and to steal the Democrats thunder. What do you think?

jmsjoin said...

naj
I have to tell you, you at least are educating me to iran and regular Iranians. I still find those Ali Sadr caves beautiful and I never heard of them before.
I wish the world could see the beauty in nature and all the people in the world and just want to share and enjoy it all, rejoice. Life is so short too be wasted on war and conflict.!

Anok said...

naj, just popping in through enigma4ever's site. I think you have some insightful things to say here, and I will be reading it!

http://identitycheck-anok.blogspot.com

Larry said...

Naj:

Look at this, this is terrible:

The Pentagon is preparing to build a military base near the Iraq-Iran border to try to curtail the flow of advanced Iranian weaponry to Shiite militants across Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday in its online edition.

Quoting Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, the Journal said the Pentagon also plans to build fortified checkpoints on major highways leading from the Iranian border to Baghdad, and install X-ray machines and explosives-detecting sensors at the only formal border crossing between the two countries.

The base will be located about four miles from the Iranian border and will be used for at least two years, according to the report. U.S. officials told the paper it is unclear whether it will be among the small number of facilities that would remain in Iraq after any future large-scale U.S. withdrawal

Naj said...

Larry, this is not a big deal! We are used to Americans setting up spying stations in our back yard. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Naj! Thought you might find this of interest. Cheers!