My Funny Valentine

See the Frontline's documentary: Valentine's day in Iran

A soldier's letter to the Senate

Visit Hope Springs a Turtle please.

The Weapon's Tale

No doubt, fans of the US standard MM-DD-YY date format that pisses off so much of the rest of the world will be delighted to discover that the Iranians also apparently use it - presumably because the US is such a big export customer for Iranian produced munitions...

Read more on Stef's blog:
He simply (and pictorially) asks

How do markings printed on a Western standard calibre mortar round, written in English and conforming to Western not Iranian dating conventions prove that the round was recently manufactured in Iran? And while we're at it, what the fuck are you paid for? To uncritically parrot everything you are told by 'unnamed senior security sources' or to do some elementary research before passing that crap off as news and in-depth analysis?

Update:
Washington Post: A Shaky Briefing on Iran

The administration finally unveiled its case this weekend, first in coordinated and anonymous leaks to a trusting New York Times reporter, then in an extraordinarily secretive military briefing at which no one would speak on the record, journalists weren't allowed to photograph the so-called evidence, and nothing even remotely like proof of direct Iranian government involvement was presented.

Iran: the high plateau!

Homeyra's recent post broght me to this little excerpt of an article by Kam Zarrabi:

The fear that the regional Arab states might find it imperative to enter a nuclear arms race to neutralize an atomic-armed Iran is based on politically motivated and clearly flawed arguments. First, a nuclear Pakistan, the home of Al-Gha'eda and other terrorist groups that are the arch enemies of the oil-rich and corrupt Arab rulers did not invoke such fears. Second, neither has Israel's known nuclear arsenal that rivals that of France or Great Britain. Third, All these Arab states are signatories to the NPT agreement, as is Iran. With the IAEA supervision and monitoring, embarking on such an arms race would not be possible, especially for desert-dwelling lands with no hiding space to clandestinely pursue such projects.

Which reminds me of what I read in a history book when I was young. It was something to the effect that the "mountains" have been cruicial in shaping the character and the culture of the Persian civilization (I think the comparison was drawn to India, which unlike the Iranian plateau enjoyed plentitude of water, vegetation, flat lands and etc.)

So here, some pictures of the mountains that the Americans are going to conquere (or maybe not, since they didn't seem too successful in "flat" Iraq)!!!!
Please click on the picture to go to the source where it was taken from. (Especially theJackson School of Geoscience )

Isareli Apartheid Week (Feb12-17)

Update:
FurGaia has suggested a "heart wrenching piece of music by Shaheed" to introduce this event.

Women on the death row

Every now and again, a petition pops in my mailbox: "Save Nazanin!", "Save Malek", "Save Afsaneh", "Save Raheleh". Sentencing women to death is a sensational event for two camps: first the human right activists (both in Iran and elsewhere) and second for the Iranophobes who have yet obtained another unquestionable! evidence of the evil deeds of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Untold, however, are the stories of the formidable success of the Women's Rights movement in Iran, in stopping such executions. Untold, also is the fundamental contribution of this particular brand of activism to the improvement of the human rights in Iran.

Shadi Sadr the Iranian lawyer who has successfully rescued some of the women on death row (and the recipient of the Ida B. Wells Award for Bravery in Journalism raises an interesting issue:

In all those years that the women movement activists were worried for the fate of Afsaneh Noroozi, Kobra Rahmanpoor, Leyla Mafi, Shahla Jahed, Nazanin Fathi, Fatemeh Pejooh, ashraf kalhori and etc*; and restlessly collected petitions, wrote articles and demonstrated to save their lives, many a man walked blindfolded up to gallows and were hanged, without a short report in any paper, without a voice of protest.**

...

Why is it that the stoning and the execution of women has turned into a social discourse, but the civil society is silent about the execution of men?

Sadr draws attention to the image of women in Persian culture, typifying kindness, love and nurturing, which can hardly be juxtaposed with the images of a death deserving criminal. But she also focuses on the fact that the Iranian Women Movement is the best organized and the most effective form of activism in Iran. Sadr projects that The Women's Movement will inevitably be gaining enough momentum to push forward the humanrights's agenda, genderless.

* Of the 14 women sentenced to capital punishment, 6 have escaped the sentence; and 8 are having their cases reviewed or referred to the supreme court. It appears to me that although the sentence is given according to the law, the judges and the head of the judiciary system do exercise their authority to prevent the sentence from being carried on. To change the law, however, is what the feminist lawyers are most striving for.

** Quotations are translated from her Persian article in the Zanan Magazine, 15:136, August 2006, page 18-22

This post was inspired by and thus dedicated to A Friend to Humanity

Internet Usage in Iran

More than half of Iranians are "connected". The graph is produced from data pubished by Iran's ministry of Communication. [reference, Persian BBC]

The option that is not on the table

Washington Post

Paradoxically, to liberalize the theocratic state, the United States would do better to shelve its containment strategy and embark on a policy of unconditional dialogue and sanctions relief.
A reduced American threat would deprive the hard-liners of the conflict they need to justify their concentration of power.
In the meantime, as Iran became assimilated into the global economy, the regime's influence would inevitably yield to the private sector, with its demands for accountability and reform.

Guardian:A new Plan A, with more American carrots and European sticks, is necessary. But don't count on it working. (by Timothy Garton Ash)

(Comments on this article are more readworthy!)

Reza Aslan: Dangers of a cornered George Bush!

Reza Aslan, the Author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam is a scholar of religions, a Middle East Analyst for CBS News and a regular guest in other networks. His writings have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Slate, Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Chicago Tribune, the Nation, and others. (Well all that said, I have neither seen him once, nor have paid attention to his name, if I have read something by him; and I know my blogger friend Behem has raised some criticism of his book. Chck his blog Kampfeblog) But in a recent article he draws attention to the fallacy of the Bush administration's dealing with Iran:

...
Iran has more or less stopped looking west. That is what has made it look so dangerous. That's why it's been able to more or less shrug off the fear of sanctions. It recognises that it has far more to gain by simply strengthening ties with Russia, China, India and even Pakistan (as evidenced by its recent $7 billion oil pipeline deal with Islamabad and New Delhi). That's why it stopped trading in dollars. There used to be a time when the US could maintain control over Iran through the purse string. Those days are gone. Iran is saying to Europe and the United States, "Who needs you? We've got China, Russia, India." That is a great fear for the United States, and it underlines the growing power of Iran.
...
Rather than recognise the reality and treat Iran like the regional power that it has become (as a direct result of US actions), the US is still treating Iran like some petty state teetering on the verge of another popular revolution.
...
United Nations Resolution 1737 was a useless idea, a total waste of time. The plan that the Europeans are floating around – that there would be a symbolic halt to uranium enrichment that would coincide with the beginning of negotiations – seems more productive. But the Bush administration has no interest in speaking to Iran. It feels quite rightly that it cannot negotiate from a position of strength, so it feels obliged to ratchet up the military option, its only recourse.

...

And on that note:
Iran and South Korea sign $500m Liquefied Natural Gas contract

Iranian politicians are welcoming proposals to form an international natural-gas producers' organization -- similar to oil's OPEC -- allowing members to exercise greater control over natural-gas prices

Nokia, LG to launch cell phone production in Iran

Iran's auto production hits 891,000 in ten months (Iran is the first largest car manufacturer in the middle east and the 12th in the world see Wikipedia's entry on Iran Khodro)

Iran tests modern air defense shield

mobility ... modernity ... phones ... cars ... mind wonders in the alleyways of the early 20th century ... end of daily digest of Iran news ... all that thinking and writing for later ... back to the safe bubble of work

Benyamin; a pop singer from Iran

Those of you who know I have just returned from Iran, and those of you who are Iranians living abroad and who visit Iran not so very often, perhaps also know that one cannot rid oneself of Iran-blues that easily, no matter how great one's blessing in the wonderful first world may be.

I am still very nostalgic. I have been cooking Iranian food (which I rarely have time to do) and I have been on an all-Iranian-movie diet (Since I am in cinema business, I see everything, B-movies and masterworks alike. And speaking of masterwork, it has become imperative that someone write a paper like "Dariush Mehrjui, the "other" great master of Iranian Cinema", those of you who don't know him, investigate works like Cow, Mix, Banoo).

I am listening to random music that my itune's picking for me, and now it is playing "Benyamin". I don't know who Benyamin is, but I am loving this music because first, it is terribly energetic, and second, because this is what my 24 years old brother played in his car, when he raised the volume to what seemed to be infinity, and drove his car at speed of what seemed to be infinity, on the state of the art highways of that lovely city Tehran, which is infinitely beautiful, infinitely chaotic (crowded and polluted), and ever alive with the mischievous outbursts of people like my brother and I, taking a break from the habit of "intellectualism" into what my dear friend Dr. V may call "contrarianism".

Benyamin is singing:
chesham be rahe jadeha
piyadeha savareha
miraftan o miyoomadan
amma naboodan male ma

and I google him up:

Here's what strikes me in what Avaye Nakisa has to say:

... A couple of months ago some scattered songs surfaced on the internet from an artist by the name of Benyamin, who later showed himself to be Benyamin Bahadori! Given the man’s background as a Noheh/Rozeh-khaan and composer of music for recorded religious/moral anecdotes for children, it wasn’t totally a surprise that what characterised his style and sound was summed up by updated and revised versions of the traditional religious chants and hymns ... It should be mentioned that our music in general and the POP music in particular is not completely untouched and uninspired by the religio-cultural vein hidden and beating under the skin of our society. ... That’s how it manages to rub the right nerve and provoke passion and sentiments in many of Iranians regardless of their current geographical location and social background! ... Benyamin, however, has now released his official album entitled “85”, in which he has only included two of those previously available songs. Interesting enough ONLY those two that have been revised lyrically beyond recognition to a more romantic theme!

I tend to draw a lot of meaning from transmogrification of a "religious singer" to a pop singer. Listen to track9 of his album to see what I mean! And if anyone called Iranians fundamentalist, just play the music that's coming out of (not underground) Islamic Republic of Iran.

My favorite tracks are 1, 6 and 9! No they are not great works of art; but they resonate with the beat of the youth in Iran.

Freedom of Speech

Last Sunday in San Francisco, the Anti-Defamation League sponsored "Finding Our Voice," a conference designed to help Jews recognize and confront the "new anti-Semitism."

For me; writes Joel Beinin (Stanford University professor and Mideast peace activist) , it was ironic. Ten days before, my own voice was silenced by fellow Jews.

Apparently, his talk to a group of students in a private school in San Jose was cancelled in the last minute because of the opposition of "a certain community of parents," influenced by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Silicon Valley.

In his article in the SanFransico Chronicle , Beinin (who is raised as a Zionist) writes:

I have long advocated equal rights for the Palestinians, as I do for all people. I criticize Israeli policies. I seem to have crossed the council's line of acceptable discourse. Because I am a Jew, it is not so easy to smear me as guilty of this "new anti-Semitism." Instead, hosts like the Harker School, and others, are intimidated, and open dialogue on Israel is censored.

Beinin draws attention to his Jewish upbringing and the belief that "being Jewish meant being actively committed to social justice". A belief that motivated him to go to move to Israel in the pursuit of that dream. Yet much of what I saw there called this into question., he writes.

His stark criticism however is directed at the method of smear campaign adopted by some Jewish American communities:

Organizations claiming to represent American Jews engage in a systematic campaign of defamation, censorship and hate-mongering to silence criticism of Israeli policies. They hollow the ethical core out of the Jewish tradition, acting instead as if the highest purpose of being Jewish is to defend Israel, right or wrong.

...

Even former U.S. presidents are not immune. Jimmy Carter has been the target of a smear campaign since the release of his latest book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." Carter's most vociferous critics have not challenged him on the issues. Rather, they discredit him with personal attacks, even insinuating that the man who has achieved more than any other American president in Arab/Israeli peacemaking is anti-Semitic.

Why discredit, defame and silence those with opposing viewpoints? Beininn believes that "it is because the Zionist lobby knows it cannot win based on facts. He suggests that everlasting peace in the middle east can only be achieved an open debate and the freedom to discuss uncomfortable facts and explore the full range of policy options.

(thank you Dr. V for the link)

Images of Tehran

One of the visitors of this blog asked me to post a link to images of Tehran, that debunk the notion of it being a fundamentalist state in the middle of desert.

Please Click Here

And here are some pictures by Arash Hamidi. He is talented.

Milad Tower (the forth highest tower of the world; looks like CN tower)

(an aerial view of Tehran's infamous smog!)

(and this is the view from the Milad Tower.)

Laura Secor's Reports

Thanks to Homeyra I came across two articles by Laura Secor in the New Yourk Times and another in The New Yorker Magazine.

I highly recommend them, but here are samples:

From the New Yorker

Later that day, I went to see a man who is perhaps Iran’s most famous and most endangered dissident, for whom the stakes of Ahmadinejad’s victory were unimaginable high. Hashem Aghajari, a historian at Tehran’s Tarbiat Modares University, is a popular her in Iran, especially among students. revolutionary religious intellectual, Aghajari had lost a leg fighting in the Iran-Iraq War. But in a 2002 speech in Hamadan, the city he’s from, Aghajari called for a reformation of Shiit Islam and proclaimed that Muslims were not “monkeys” who should “blindly follow religious leaders. He was convicted of apostas and sentenced to death by hanging.
...
In June, however, Aghajari insisted that he was not in despair over Ahmadinejad’s victory. “I’m optimistic,” he said. “The people of Iran should experience this period so that things go better in the future. If the people hadn’t experienced theocracy, they would still be waiting for it. But now that we have experienced theocracy, there is no future for it here.”

And this from the New York Times has a funny and familiar resonance to it. I wasn't sure if she was talking about Bush or Ahmadinejad:

By mid-January, Ahmadinejad’s isolation even within his own faction was complete: 150 of 290 members of parliament, including many of Ahmadinejad’s onetime allies, signed a letter criticizing the president’s economic policies for failing to stanch unemployment and inflation. A smaller group also blamed Ahmadinejad’s inflammatory foreign-policy rhetoric for the United Nations Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran. As if that were not enough, an editorial in Jomhouri Eslami, a newspaper that reflects the views of the supreme leader, accused the president of using the nuclear issue to distract the public from his failed policies. Ahmadinejad’s behavior was diminishing popular support for the nuclear program, the editorial warned. The Iranian political system seems to be restoring its equilibrium by showing an extremist president the limits of his power.

Carrots and Sticks?

Have you seen this?

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US accepts economic role but rejects the military tie of Tehran to Baghdad.

So, on the one hand "Senior Bush administration officials said the U.S. won't block Iran's efforts to establish financial institutions in Iraq" but on the other hand they aretaking a tougher stance against Iran, in relation to alleged involvement of Tehran in the killings last month of five U.S. soldiers in the Iraqi city ofKarbala . Although " Senior U.S. officials acknowledged yesterday [Feb,1, 2007] that they had no direct evidence to support this claim, and Iran has long denied accusations that it is supplying weapons to Shiite groups in Iraq or that it has expanded its paramilitary operations inside the country."

According to the WSJ, "In late January, Iran's ambassador to Iraq surprised U.S. officials by telling the New York Times that Tehran was preparing to significantly increase its financial and trade ties to Iraq." On Feb 1st, 2007 "senior Bush administration officials said the U.S. accepted the Iranian economic moves and would make no effort to block them."

However, "The willingness to allow Iranian banks to operate in Iraq comes as the U.S. is trying to shut down Iranian financial activity elsewhere in an effort to pressure Tehran to abandon its alleged nuclear-weapons program."

Now I wonder, is it more dangerous if Iranians have economic and financial ties to Iraq, or to the European union? Is it more dangerous--as far as the oh-so-delicate safety of the American lives (which are undoubtedly worth 100 times more than non-American lives) is concerned-- for Iranian-born naturalized citizens of Canada to have American savings in the Royal Bank of Canada, in the Westmount Branch, or for the Iranian National Bank to have a branch in Baghdad?

Wouldn't the cynic be suspicious that what the Americans are really after in Iran, is NOT the WOMD, but an unquestionable economic dominion, made possible by obtaining Iran's natural resources through the black markets of Syria, at slashed prices--if they do not succumb to the wishes of the empire that is?

So Iran has really two choices: Either hand in the keys to the US, so they can take what they wish in peace and in "freedom"; or to have the US break the lock with the bunker buster nukes (an option which will look bad on the American resume of nuclear habits and if allowed to be designed by the European allies, will turn into: let Iranians just smuggle their assets to Syria, and cash them cheap --as they did during the Iran-Iraq-- war, in exchange for bread, and in exchange for more weapons (deals brokered by Israel, of course), for the inevitable time that the US with its culture of instant-gratification, will come to break the lock!)

Now excerpts from the The Guradian (by Jonathan Steele) that I mentioned above:

The real purpose of Washington's heightened talk of Iranian subversion seems to be twofold. The administration is playing the blame game. When the "who lost Iraq?" debate develops in earnest as the presidential election contest hots up, Bush's people will name its fall guys. Number one will be the Democrats, for failing to fund the war adequately and allowing the "enemy" to take comfort from the sapping of American will. Number two will be Iran for its alleged arming of militias and insurgents. Number three will be Syria for allowing suicide bombers through Damascus airport and into Iraq.

The second purpose of Washington's anti-Iranian claims, as the former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski recently suggested, is to prepare a case for a US military strike on Iran. It will be described as defensive, just as the first attacks on North Vietnam two generations ago were falsely said to be an answer to the other side's aggression.

The safest conclusion is that Washington remains confused about what Iran is doing, and frustrated by its own inability to find allies to support a response. All options are being prepared, along with their "justifications". The International Institute for Strategic Studies' annual survey rightly pointed out this week that US power is fading. It can shape an agenda but not implement it globally.

Two stark new events prove that. One was the meeting between the Saudi and Iranian security chiefs to try to stop Lebanon sliding back into civil war. This showed Iran can be a force for regional stability, and that Saudi Arabia is resisting US efforts to isolate Tehran. The other was President Jacques Chirac's comment that it would not matter if Iran developed a nuclear bomb or two as they could not be used productively. Described as a gaffe since it broke ranks with Washington, it expressed the views of many Europeans (as well as the contradiction inherent in the French and British nuclear arsenals), since the French president added that the bigger problem was the push for other nations to follow suit.

As Washington's neocons go into eclipse and the realpolitikers dither, Britain and other European governments need to be far clearer in public than they have so far been. They should point out that the dispute with Iran is not as monumental as Washington claims. Fomenting new divisions in the Middle East or resorting to force are cures far worse than the disease.

Diasporic Memoirs

If you live in North America, the chances are that when you talk about the "media-fabricated wars" in a cocktail party, you would hear something like "yeah, like Wag the Dog", or if you talk about the Iraq war, you get a nodding head "yeah like in the Three Kings". And the chances are that when people talk about the women in Iran, Betty Mahmoudi of Without my daughter; Never! comes to mind. I was among many Iranians who boycotted this film, to protest against the act of engraving the memories of an Image-driven nation, with non-representative images of a case of domestic violence-- turned into a factual cultural ubiquity, thanks to the magic of "based on memoirs of ...".

But now, a group of Iranian-American feminist scholars are raising an alarm flag about "a particularly lucrative industry of Iranian and Muslim women's memoirs [that] has mushroomed in the aftermath of the 9/11 atrocities." Niki Akhavan, Golbarg Bashi, Mana Kia and Sima Shakhsari, warn that "These women's memoirs have assumed center-stage in appropriating the legitimate cause of women's rights and placing it squarely in the service of Empire building projects, disguised under the rhetoric of the "war on terror."

Once the favored tale of "civilizing missions", the contemporary rescue fantasy now has a new twist. Rather than being spoken for by ambassadors of "civilization", Iranian women are able to speak for themselves courtesy of international publishing houses. Women selected according to the resonance of their experience within this narrative become the mouthpiece for the "authentic" Iranian experience, making the current construction of the "rescue fantasy" more insidious than ever.

See a short version of the article here.

In today's Iran, women are at the forefront of literacy, educational, artistic, journalistic, and legal advancements. In a social, literary, and political tradition of resistance that extends from generations of peasant and working class women down to Tahereh Qorrat al-Ayn, Shirin Ebadi, Shams Kasma'i, and Forough Farrokhzad, Iranian women continue to struggle for their dignity and civil rights. Iranian women took two monarchic dynasties to task and they now hold the Islamic Republic responsible to address their demands. Any military or economic sanctions against Iran will only set Iranian women back in their achievements, and cause nothing but hardship and tragedy (as disastrously evident in Iraq today).

Only the Lonely Write Blogs

to all my lawyer, architect, artist, university professor blogging friends:

Thus spake the professor of Calgary University, Michael Keren:

Bloggers think of themselves as rebels against mainstream society, but that rebellion is mostly confined to cyberspace, which makes blogging as melancholic and illusionary as Don Quixote tilting at windmills,"

Read more

We Are Iran?

Society itself, not the government, creates change. And there are deep transformations occurring in Iran. Out of sight of much of the world, Iran is inching its way towards democracy.”

- Emaddedin Baghi, an Iranian journalist
(source: Fatemeh Amini)

Here some excerpts that I selected from Amini's review:

“I hate war. I hate the liberating soldiers that trample your soil, home, young and old under their boots. Believe me I love freedom. But that you have to make yourself free. No one else can free you.”

“Death to everybody!
Death to America! Israel! Britain! Imperialism!... Death to your mother, aunt, and sister too!... Death! Death! Death! They have been chanting Death to America and Israel for 25 years… and what have these useless leaders achieved?... Israel is still the bully of the neighborhood and the Palestinians are swamped in misery…. But I can’t get over how we Iranians today are considered the most fanatical people in the world-all because of a bunch of nit-ridden illiterate mullahs… When I was growing up, Haji Yousef, the mullah who used to teach us the Koran.. Would say that ‘Moses taught us wisdom, Jesus love and Mohamed life’… so where did all these death chants come from?”


“Yesterday I bought a turquoise ring…They say it brings you happiness… I didn’t let my boyfriend buy it… I bought it myself. I wanted to be the creator of my own happiness, beauty and freedom… The era of fairy-tale heroes has come to an end.”

...

Memory cannot be imposed through the criminal code

I came across a survey: Should Holocaust denial be considered a crime or not?

The title of this post is a quotation of Fabio Mussi, Italy's education minister, who disagrees with criminalization of Holocaust denial. He said Thursday he didn't think "memory can be imposed through the criminal code." "It is necessary to 'feel' the memory in order to reject the negation of horror," he added. (source: http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.380056221&par=0>

I also came across:


Norman Finkelstein the Author of:



debating (and debunking) Alan Dershowitz.
Well, okey am I going to spend time figuring out who Alan Dershowitz is? The video above gives a glimps.

The unreported

Did you hear that Former Iranian President Khatami and Senator John Kerry meet in Davos? According to Reuter, Iran says needs time to review atomic "timeout" . However, Russia remains commited to ontime completion of Bushehr project.

Did you hear CNN analyse the anti-war demosntration on capitol hill?






I just came across a nice blog The Osterley Times and this title:

Washington Snubbed Iran Offer

drawing attention to BBC's report that

Dick Cheney's office turned down an offer from Iran in 2003, in which the Iranians offered all that the US could have wanted.

Tehran proposed ending support for Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups and helping to stabilise Iraq following the US-led invasion.

Offers, including making its nuclear programme more transparent, were conditional on the US ending hostility.

But Vice-President Dick Cheney's office rejected the plan, the official said.

There's also another post, underlining the similarities between George Bush and Ahmadinejad:

They are Broken Men, so don't let them take us to a new war which links to the Observer.

Global Research

My friend Homeyra alerted me to a number of morbid titles coming out of ma belle provence. This website appears to be filtered in Iran.

The Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG) is an independent research and media group of writers, scholars and activists. It is a registered non profit organization in the province of Quebec, Canada.

The Global Research webpage at www.globalresearch.ca based in Montreal publishes news articles, commentary, background research and analysis on a broad range of issues, focussing on social, economic, strategic, geopolitical and environmental processes.

Here are the titles Homie sent:
Iran Must Get Ready to Repel a Nuclear Attack by General Leonid Ivashov

Iran: Pieces in Place for Escalation by Colonel Sam Gardiner; (retired USAF)

The endgame in Iraq that can't succeed: Half the military establishment believes that an attack on Iran is likely - By Adrian Hamilton from the Independent, UK.

Israel versus Iran: It's down to Dr Strangelove - By Igal Sarna

Israel's War with Iran, Unabridged version by James Petras

Hegemony and Appeasement: Setting Up the Next U.S.-Israeli Target
(Iran) For Another "Supreme International Crime" 1 - By Edward S. Herman and David Peterson


Here's an excerpt of this one:

The ease with which a supposedly independent media in a supposedly democratic society like the United States can demonize enemies and convert third- and fourth-rate official targets into major threats is almost beyond belief. And the collective amnesia of the establishment media enables them to do the same thing over and over again; they never learn, and most important never have to learn, because the collective amnesia they help instill in the society protects them against correction—an unending series of victories over memory in the exercise of "reality-control" (Orwell). This enables the media to serve as de facto propaganda agents of their state while still claiming to be independent watchdogs. Less than three years ago, in 2004, the New York Times and Washington Post were hardly alone in offering partial mea culpas for having swallowed and regurgitated Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Powell-Rice lies about Saddam Hussein’s menacing weapons of mass destruction (WMD),2 thereby making a major contribution to the criminal and costly quagmire they now bemoan (but, along with Bush, still declining to urge any quick exit or meaningful withdrawal.) And yet they had barely gotten out their apologies before they eagerly climbed aboard the Bush-Cheney-Rice-Olmert bandwagon on the Iran menace and urgent need to do something about that grave threat.

And what a threat it is! Admittedly, Iran doesn’t possess a single nuclear weapon, and won’t have one for some years even if it is trying to get one, which its religious leaders vigorously deny. If it got a nuclear weapon it couldn’t use it except in desperate self-defense as both Israel and the United States have many nuclear bombs and superior delivery systems, so that any offensive use of its nuclear weapon(s) would entail Iranian national suicide. It may be recalled that Saddam used his WMD only against Iran and his Kurds, but not even in self-defense during the 1991 Persian Gulf war attack on Iraq by the United States and its “coalition”—the former use was with U.S. approval, the latter case of non-use was because Saddam would have suffered disproportionate retaliation by the United States and his restraint followed. This point is not made in the establishment media, possibly because it would seem to qualify the Iran nuclear menace.

The hidden cost of free congressional trips to Israel

According to Jim Abourezk, a former Democratic senator from South Dakota:

"every member of Congress and every would-be candidate for Congress comes to quickly understand a basic lesson. Money needed to run for office can come with great ease from supporters of Israel, provided that the candidate makes certain promises, in writing, to vote favorably on issues considered important to Israel. What drives much of congressional support for Israel is fear – fear that the pro-Israel lobby will either withhold campaign contributions or give money to one's opponent.

Writing in the Jan 26 edition of CSM he draws attention to pro-Israelies lobby preventing the Congress from making groundbreaking reforms to ethics rules, by ensuring that one of its most critical functions (taking members of Congress on "free" educational trips to Israel) was preserved.

These trips are defended as "educational." In reality, as I know from my many colleagues in the House and Senate who participated in them, they offer Israeli propagandists an opportunity to expose members of Congress to only their side of the story. The Israeli narrative of how the nation was created, and Israeli justifications for its brutal policies omit important truths about the Israeli takeover and occupation of the Palestinian territories.

What the pro-Israel lobby reaps for its investment in these tours is congressional support for Israeli desires. For years, Israel has relied on billions of dollars in US taxpayer money. Shutting off this government funding would seriously impair Israel's harsh occupation.

He also warns about how damaging the automatic support for Israel is to America's interest." ... the Israel lobby twists US foreign policy into a dangerous double standard regarding nuclear issues. The US rattles its sabers at Iran for its nuclear energy ambitions – and alleged pursuit of nuclear arms – while remaining silent about Israel's nuclear-weapons arsenal."

At a minimum, US policies toward Israel have cost it valuable allies in the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world.

Steps to impeach Ahmadinejad

Guardian reported on January 22 2007 that Mr Ahmadinejad's authority has come under pressure from critical MPs and an increasingly concerned Mr Khamenei.

A week later (January 24, 2007) it reports of re-emergence of Mr Rafsanjani, contradicting widely-held assumptions that his influence had diminished following his presidential defeat. Rafsanjani's increasing prominence follows last month's electoral triumph in topping the poll in elections to the experts' assembly, an important clerical body.

"Iran's beleaguered president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is facing a powerful challenge from his fiercest political rival for control of the country's nuclear and economic policies."

Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative who was defeated by Mr Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election, is trying to persuade the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who has the final say in all state matters - that further negotiations are essential to avoid a potentially disastrous conflict with the US or Israel.

Mr Rafsanjani demonstrated his growing influence over the nuclear issue in a meeting today with Britain's ambassador to Tehran, Geoffrey Adams. He told Mr Adams that Iran was willing to submit to "any verifying measures by the responsible authorities" to prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme, which many in the west suspect is aimed at developing an atomic bomb.

Mr Rafsanjani's conciliatory stance contrasts starkly with Mr Ahmadinejad's defiant opposition to the suspension of uranium enrichment. It is understood that Rafsanjani has formed a committee overseeing the nuclear negotiations. The committee will assess whether the country's international standing has been damaged by Mr Ahmadinejad's radical statements.

According to Mohammad Atrianfar, a respected political commentator and associate of Mr Rafsanjani, "Before the sanctions, Rafsanjani hoped Iran could obtain its enrichment objectives through mutual understanding with the west. But now he thinks we have reached a dangerous point and that a step should be taken backwards in the hope that two forward can be taken later." Rafsanjani, according to Atrianfar, doesn't see negotiation as a sign of weakness; but he wants to limit the impact of the sanctions and get Mr Khamenei and the government to accept that if Iran faces mounting sanctions or a military attack or any crisis which damages the economic life of the people.


Mr Rafsanjani also criticised Mr Ahmadinejad's government this week for failing to privatise state enterprises, a policy agreed under Iran's constitution and supported by Mr Khamenei. He said Iran's economy would be overtaken by poorer neighbouring countries if prized national assets remained under state control. Mr Ahmadinejad - who has vowed to spread wealth more evenly and alleviate poverty - favours a bigger government role in the economy.

Mr Rafsanjani's comments added to a chorus of anger over Mr Ahmadinejad's economic policies, which have been widely denounced for stoking inflation and failing to cure unemployment. Dismay over rising prices has driven supposedly like-minded MPs in the fundamentalist-dominated parliament to launch a petition summoning the president to answer questions. It has so far gathered 63 signatures and needs only a further nine to be effective. Meanwhile, proceedings are underway to impeach four of his ministers accused of incompetence.

"Even though the majority of MPs are fundamentalists like Ahamdinejad, the level of dissatisfaction is much higher than previous governments faced from parliament," Akbar A'alami, a reformist MP told the Guardian. "The criticisms go beyond political groupings. I think it has reached a critical level."

Presenting next year's budget, an unrepentant Mr Ahmadinejad told MPs on Sunday that he had controlled inflation and said it was running at 12%. Independent estimates put it at 30%. Critics say rising food and housing costs are hurting the poor, whom Mr Ahmadinejad had pledged to help.

Insiders say anger towards the president is sufficient for a majority of MPs to want to impeach him and remove him from office. However, Mr Khamenei is reluctant to sanction such a step, out of concern for the trauma it could inflict on the system rather than personal loyalty to the president.

Yet if the economy continues to deteriorate, Mr Ahmadinejad's position could become vulnerable, some analysts think. "The supreme leader is absolutely sensitive to the rate of inflation," said Saeed Leylaz, an economic analyst. "He has issued one public criticism, three months ago when inflation was lower than it is now. If it is even higher three months from now, then surely Mr Khamenei will not remain silent."

According to Guardian on Jan. 28 "A petition is being circulated to summon Ahmadinejad for questioning over his economic and nuclear policies, while impeachment proceedings are under way against four ministers.

Emad Afrough, a fundamentalist MP, said parliament would start dictating to Ahmadinejad unless he learnt the art of consultation. 'The political situation is going to force the government to consult more. If not, some issues be dictated to them,' he said. 'The government cannot count on the fundamentalists like before.'

A reformist MP, Akbar Aalami, said disenchantment had reached unprecedented levels. 'This government lacks the maturity to fulfil its legal duties and exercise authority,' he said."

Judeo-Iranian conspiracy!

My good friend Dr V. of the mideastmemo.blogspot.com has been patiently hosting a great debate on this topic. I've been having fun with it. (I am predicting that word Israel will provoke a comment by the "e") read On the Iranian-Israeli Alliance and the gullible Arab masses posted on Jan26, 2007.

L. Zarei (Iranian Surrealist)

Third Eye Dimensions

Visual Haiku: TehranAvenue's one shot film festival

From TehranAvenue film Festival:

In June 2005, Hamed Safaee, a graphic designer and one of the writers of TehranAvenue proposed the idea of "visual haikus," poems that broke off of their written mold and transcribed themselves on celluloid or digital media. This lyrical approach became fodder for a festival: The One-Shot Film Competition . In the following months this idea was further developed -- in the interim of a single "turning on and off of the camera," or any other recording medium, simple images could be captured, without a need for technical acrobatics and or technological props, to get to the essence of the image. The One-Shot Film Festival called for a form of haiku, a sequence of images that is neither a short film nor a photograph, neither a funny report of an incident nor a makeshift collage relying on digital cosmetics -- an uncut and fluid visual poem.

Enjoy! http://taff.tehran360.com/

To gain victory, the west must concede defeat

Read the whole article in The TIMES.

And see some pictures of Tehran in peace.

Blind Iranian Women Make Movies

I just came across an interesting article in the ZANAN (Women Magazine) by Fahime Khazr-Heidari who reports of a filmmaking initiative by the Iranian documentarist Mohammad Shirvani. Three years ago Shirvani organized a workshop for the visually impaired Iranian women to teach them the basics of filmmaking. His project was aimed at illustrating that visual impairment is not a handicap but a characteristic. By choosing blind women, he aimed at killing two birds with one stone: first to debunk the notion of blindness as disability; second to challenge the myth of women being the "second sex", and particularly incapacitated in the so called Iranian patriarchy.

Shirvani likens his aspirations for teaching the cinematic language to the blind, to that of Louis Braille. The manifesto of "Camera in Place of the Eye" is written and the cognitive, behavioral and spiritual effects of the camera on the visually impaired are to be studied by psychologists and social scientists active in this field of research.Shirvani hopes to submit the results of these investiations, along with seven short films by 7 blind women, to the WHO (World Health Organization), and to coin a model in the name of Iran.

The stories of each of the filmmaking women that Khazr-Heidari has interviewed are tales of perseverance and resilience. Here is excerpts form what they have to say:

Sara Parto, 28 years old, blind since age of 4:

There was always things that I wanted to express. when I wanted to pursue calligrapgy, it was as if the whole world resisted me. There was no one who accepted that a blind person can have their own style. ... I wanted to do art work in a social context, I wanted to be present in society and communicate with people ... in our society, overall men live much easier than women ... but what is interesting is that my brother is blind too, but the individual's character is more of a determining factor. I had it better than my brother. I went to university but he didn't; I wanted to be in the society and he didn't; I was always freer than he was... I left my parent's house when I was 18 and I have been living independently since then. I have always worked. I started by teaching English and Computer. I even didsecretarial work. ... I always wanted to hold a movie camera but I didn't dare, because of my failure in painting I thought filmmaking was impossible too. But, this experience has proven to me that one can do what one wills, and it is not important whether her work is competitive or not in as far as it is original ...

Banafshe Ahmadi, Afghan refuge; 3 years ago, her family has returned to Kabul. She has a bachelor's degree from Tehran University and is doing graduate studies in Al-Zahra.

The biggest gift that this film has given me is "hope"

Shima Kahe, 18 years old, she loves the mountain, dreams of driving, and hates
people's charity, but laughs at their clumsy attempts to be helpful to her.

See, my imagination of light and colour is like your imagination of angels and daemons.

ENOUGH FEAR

SAY NO TO WAR!