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A small request
Read the rest | October 6, 2008
Ahmadinejad's brilliant strategy of dismissing Israel and smiling to the U.S. has divided the the U.S. in all levels and that's a big achievement comparing to Khatami's weak anf failed U.S. strategy that led to Iran being part of the 'axis of evil'. Now the same Bush administration has officially opened the diplomatic line. Please get over Ahmadinejad's scruffy look, prayers, and plain language and see these achievements.
Read the rest | October 5, 2008
Omid Memarian, ashamed of his Rotary fellowship?
October 4, 2008Omid Memarian has received a fellowship known as 'Rotary Peace' from Rotary International for 2007-2009. But I wonder, if there is nothing wrong with Rotary International in his view, why then he keeps dropping the 'Rotary' from all his bylines? Does this imply that Memrian thinks there is something fishy about Rotary Foundation?
I was on PressTV after a year and talked about Ahmadinejad's fourth NYC visit.
Read the rest | October 4, 2008
Kayhan and Ettelaat newspapers are way far from their potentials to be popular international media outlets that could provide a new and unique voice to the world debate. Perhaps it is time to overhaul their management and structure and their mission.
Read the rest | September 30, 2008
Nima Rashedan fabricates statistics to make his racist, anti-Semitic, and simplistic notes.
Read the rest | September 28, 2008
Iran should help the Non-Aligned Movement establish a non-proliferation watchdog, rival to IAEA, and also a security council, parallel to the UN one. That's the only way it can come out of its defensive position with its dealings with the US-dominated UN institutions.
Read the rest | September 27, 2008
Watch the full length video of CNN's Larry King show with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Read the rest | September 26, 2008
Ahmadinejad's admirable defence of his friend and coleage, Esfandiar Mashaie, has given courage to all Iranian senior managers in resisting the pressure from religious and political groups. The latest example is the channel three's decision to continue broadcasting the popular satire late night show that has raised protests because of its 'impolite and improper' language (according to its conservative critics.)
Read the rest | September 25, 2008
Today is the eighth anniversary of this blog, which I started in September 25th, 2001. But it's amazing how some people are rewriting the history of the Iranian blogosphere as if I never existed and I did nothing for it. These were the same people who started calling me the blogfather after they made their own blogs using my instruction and technical help and now that they don't like my politics, they would rather removing me from teh whole narrative. But I'm sure in two years many of them would be where I am today, politically speaking.
Read the rest | September 25, 2008
Watch this video to know why Khomeini was so popular and why I say Ahmadinejad is the reincarnation of Khomeini.
Read the rest | September 24, 2008
How Ahmadinejad could better answer questions about whether he listens to Western music or watch Western films etc.
Read the rest | September 23, 2008
Khatami called Israel a 'plague', a 'terrorist racist Zionist regime' and urged 'resolute action' to punish it
September 22, 2008Mohammad Khatami, who is now bashing the current president Ahmadinejad for anything he does or says, has apparently forgotten that his own words against Israel have been as harsh as Ahmadinejad. Unfortunately, like all politicians, he forgets about the existence of archives.
Here are three examples of what Mohammadi Khatami has said about Israel. If any of these had been said after Iran officially started its nuclear programme, they would have easily become strong points of anti-Iran propaganda, the same way Ahmadinejad's words have become. Especially given how easily they can totally mistranslates and misquote anyone, if they want to.
Anani holds talks with Khatami, Iranian officials
TEHRAN (Agencies) August 10, 1998 — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Jawad Anani, who is on an official visit to Iran, delivered a letter from His Majesty King Hussein to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami Sunday regarding bilateral relations and issues of common concern.
In the message, King Hussein emphasised Jordan's keenness to develop relations with Iran in all fields and laid emphasis on Jordan's concern over the image of Muslims and the need for safeguarding Muslims' common interests, said Anani.
The foreign minister said that the message drew a positive response from the Iranian president who asked that his greetings and wishes for a speedy recovery be conveyed to the King.
According to Anani, the message included an invitation to the Iranian president to visit Jordan. President Khatami accepted the invitation and promised to pay the visit as soon as possible, he said.
At the meeting, President Khatami was reported to have described Israel as a “plague” and “the greatest enemy of Islam and humanity.”
Iranian state radio quoted the president as saying during the meeting that in order” to resist this plague there is no solution except for unity among Muslim countries.”
The Iranian president also said Tehran is “worried about the Zionist regime's bases in the region.”
“Our interests require a serious struggle against the hegemony of the Zionist regime,” he added.
Muslim Nations Bitterly Denounce Israel at Summit
By SUSAN SACHS
November 13, 2000 -- Leaders of the world's Muslim nations, searching for a way to make their numbers and economic weight count, bitterly condemned Israel today and promised the Palestinians their full political and financial support.
At the summit meeting of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, held in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, African, Asian and Arab rulers made the Palestinian-Israel conflict the centerpiece of their opening speeches.
While Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, was engaged in peace talks, the Palestinians' fate had receded from the limelight at recent Islamic meetings. But with this conference, the first in three years and convened in the midst of a Palestinian uprising, a tone of aggression replaced earlier hints of moderation.
The Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, whose government has never recognized Israel or endorsed Mr. Arafat's policy of negotiation, called Israel a ''terrorist racist Zionist regime'' and urged ''resolute action'' to punish it.
Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, a pivotal American ally in the Middle East, urged Islamic countries either to freeze or to drastically curtail their relations with Israel. In a warning to the United States, he also called on Muslim leaders to break relations with any country that opens an embassy in Jerusalem.
Despite the show of support for Mr. Arafat, the delegates were split on how to show their displeasure with Israel. Some of the more traditionally hostile nations like Iran, Syria and Sudan, called for a full boycott of Israel. But 20 of the members of the Islamic Conference -- most of them African and Central Asian nations -- maintain full diplomatic relations with Israel.
Led by officials from Egypt, Turkey and Jordan, representatives of those nations openly rejected the more radical calls for a complete severing of relations with Israel.
A draft of a proposed final communique from the meeting, prepared by foreign ministers before the meeting opened, suggested that the conference ''invite'' its member states to reduce their contacts with Israel.
For Mr. Arafat, the three-day conference could provide solid political backing for his next move -- whether it is a renewal of negotiations or a continuation of the fighting -- from the often divided Muslim leadership.
In particular, the Islamic meeting is expected to give him full support for his demand that Israel relinquish control over Arab East Jerusalem. But, if their past behavior is a guide, the Islamic leaders are also likely to leave it up to Mr. Arafat to negotiate a final status with Israel. The Palestinian leader has said he can not make any decision about the city without other Muslim and Arab leaders behind him, or without Christians. To underline the point, Mr. Arafat brought three Arab Christian clerics to the meeting.
Jerusalem, once controlled by Jordan and conquered by Israel in 1967, contains sites that Jews, Muslims and Christians consider holy and is at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Clashes in the city in late September sparked the wider fighting that has killed more than 200 people, nearly all of them Palestinians, in the last six weeks.
An outpouring of anti-Israeli feeling in their own countries has put pressure on many Arab and Islamic leaders to pay more than lip service to the Palestinian cause. Mr. Arafat told delegates that Israeli blockades of the Palestinian areas and the past weeks of fighting have cost the Palestinian economy $900 million.
Correction: November 15, 2000, Wednesday An article on Monday about a meeting of Muslim countries in Qatar at which Israel was denounced misstated the extent of Jordan's control of Jerusalem before the 1967 Middle East war. Jordan controlled only East Jerusalem and the Old City; Israel controlled the rest of Jerusalem.
President Khatami urges formation of int'l war crimes tribunal for Israel
Doha, Nov 12, IRNA -- Iran's President Mohammad Khatami urged here Sunday the special meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) on Palestine to make attempts for formation of an "international war crimes tribunal" for the occupied Palestine under the auspices of the United Nations.
Noting that OIC shoulders an onerous responsibility at this critical juncture, President Khatami warned that the catastrophic situation in Palestine is even graver and more systematic than the crimes committed in Yugoslavia and Rwanda in terms of nature and dimension.
"Had the Zionist terrorism, mass killings and forcing the original inhabitants of Palestine out of their homes been effectively countered at the international level, the world should not have witnessed such immense crimes against humanity in this subjugated land today." He said "If we do not stand vigorously against the ongoing war crimes, one should expect more crimes in the future." Khatami labeled "illegitimate" the Zionist regime and said "What happens today in Palestine is a demand for the most fundamental and inalienable rights of the oppressed Palestinians."
The former OIC chairman took a sharp swipe at the self-declared supporters of human rights, saying "In spite of all humanitarian claims of certain powers, in particular the United States, they regrettably stood by usurpers and confronted right holders, thus violating the basic principles of human rights." The Islamic Republic does not recognize the Jewish state and has always urged a jihad (holy war) against that atrocious regime.
Khatami also called on OIC member states to impose "comprehensive economic, political and international sanctions" against Israel. "The Sanction Committee of the OIC should seriously explore ways and means of economic embargo of Israel." He stressed "It is essential for those member states that have not yet severed their diplomatic relations with Israel; relations that should not have ever been established, to break at the shortest possible time their ties with this regime in response to the volition of the Islamic Ummah and the public opinion of the nations."
Khatami thanked the Qatari Government for its closure of the Israeli trade office in Doha after calls by Muslim states. Touching on the Palestinian intifadha (uprising) movement, Khatami said a "comprehensive mechanism should be created to support the intifadha as the legitimate resistance against the occupation and suppression." The Palestinian uprising has cost more than 200 lives over the past six weeks, mostly Palestinians.
He reaffirmed his previous calls in the opening summit of the 9th OIC earlier today that "the state of Palestine should be established with Al-Qods as its capital to secure the inalienable sovereignty right of the Palestinians over their homeland."
In the opening ceremony, he called for firm action and proposed a Middle East peace plan at the outset of an Islamic summit aimed at uniting the Muslim world behind the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel. Khatami called for the "return of all Palestinian refugees to Palestine" and a democratic referendum among the original Muslim, Jewish and Christian inhabitants to decide on a future form of the government in Palestine. Iran, Sunday, passed the presidency of OIC to Qatar for a three-year term. AK/HR End
Ahmadinejad should separate Judaism from Zionism by showing visible respect towards the older than Israel traditions of Judaism, such as the Jewish new year (Rosh Hashanah).
This is exactly what Bush tries to do by sjowing respect to Norooz, except that Iran has never harmed Jews and actually has saved them a few times in its history. (From Cyrus to the rescue operation by its diplomats in France after the WII.) But the U.S. who has directly or indirectly murdered millions of Iranians (through support for Saddam and also shooting the civilian aeroplane in the 1980s among other things) and intends to starve millinos of Iranians to death through its sanctions can never fool Iranians by its silly practices of 'public diplomacy'.
Read the rest | September 21, 2008
What Khamenei really said yesterday? Always read the transcript rather than reports on his speech.
Read the rest | September 20, 2008
'The Stoning of Soraya M.' is made in Israel?
September 19, 2008As if the substance of the latest anti-Iran propaganda film, The Stoning Soraya M., could not tell us enough about who is really behind it, now Variety's report can almost confirm the easy answer: 'Producers have kept the exact Mideast shooting location (outside of Iran) a secret, out of concern for hostile radical Islamic response, but locale stands in effectively for Iran.'
Now, I ask you, which country in the Middle East could inspire 'hostile radical Islamic response' except for one: Israel.
I'm sure any real journalist can verify this and discredit this blatant push for an invasion of Iran. Do they still make those kind of journalists?
Buy The New Statesman, find The Spectator's content
September 19, 2008If only I had time to debunk, paragraph by paragraph, picture by picture, of the recent New Statesman's Iran's cover story. It was so full of lies, nonsense and unfair statements that that could easily be published in any right-wing magazines such as Standpoint, The Spectator, Commentary, National Review, etc.
What kind of Leftist magazine it is when its arguments and positions about Iran, Valenzuela, Cuba, etc. are identical to those labelled as the Right?
'The Stoning of Soraya M.' is filmed in Israel, like 'Not Without My Daughter' was.
Read the rest | September 19, 2008
Hossein Mozaffar's hilarious letter of objection about a television series is a revealing example of how thirty years of stupid media policy has failed in Iran -- and who is blocking the emerging promising changes.
Read the rest | September 18, 2008
I've found revealing evidence about Mohammad Khatami's recent involvement with the European 'Democracy Promotion' organizations. But I won't publish them before he announces his decision to run as president or not. I don't want people to think I'm doing this as a partisan move to affect his nomination.
Read the rest | September 16, 2008
Hyperlink as gaze
September 15, 2008I think I have reached a rather brialliant, modestly put, way of theorizing hyperlinks on the Web which I'm going to use in my dissertation: A hyperlink is the gaze of one website at another. But a different kind of gaze (regard) from the medical gaze that Foucault talks about and Mulvey expands in their related works.
I would like to emphasise on the positive and productive effects of this gaze , however. A lot to work and think on.
A response to Aboozar about my views on religion.
Read the rest | September 15, 2008
New York Sun has called for kidnapping of Ahmadinejad in an editorail to scare him from coming to New York City. They don't know how big this man's balls are. Poor things, they don't know the man at all and want to confront him.
Read the rest | September 14, 2008
The emergence of Radio Goftogoo and PressTV are signs of a departure from a Marxist notion of the masses towards Gramsci's idea of people as intellectuals. It's also a return to the initial discourse of public sphere that was inspired by the 1979 revolt and died with the Iraqi invasion and the eight-year defence. Here are three examples of its shows where reformists and even more radical factions discuss important topics. Hopefully Radio Goftogoo resolves the technical problems with its new website and we can listen to its wonderful interviews again on the internet.
Read the rest | September 12, 2008
Soap opera for men
September 10, 2008The American presidential elections have completely become a soap opera tv show for men. Can anyone really call this a public sphere and the outcome a democracy?
A few short notes on the recent events.
Read the rest | September 8, 2008
Do you think this is funded and run by the Iranian government?
Read the rest | September 6, 2008
What do you think Ahmadinejad should do this year in New York City? I have five ideas and I'd like to publish yours too.
Read the rest | September 4, 2008
Isn't it ironic that Israel is one of the biggest supporters of the Indian-made non-violent resistance through its academic and political allies in Europe and the U.S.? Okay, it is good to have no murder and torture. But why is it only us who have to implement non-violent resistance against you with your army budgets ten times of our whole budgets all together?
Read the rest | September 4, 2008
Once I'm back to Iran, I would love to live in Ray, one of the the oldest cities in Iran which is now thanks to Tehran's metro, is quiet close to central and northern Tehran. It would be amazing to live in such an important and nice city. Let's see.
Read the rest | September 3, 2008