tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62216742012-01-29T06:38:35.358-08:00Guarded ObservationsHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.comBlogger3601100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-8246653878208073672011-10-14T22:27:00.000-07:002011-10-16T08:29:23.126-07:00

"Did an elite branch of Iran's military handpick a divorced, 56-year-old Iranian-American used-car salesman from Texas to hire a hitman from a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the ambassador to Saudi Arabia by blowing up a bomb in a crowded restaurant in Washington?" This is how Reza Sayyah of CNN quite succinctly summarised the bombshell that the US Attorney General Eric Holder dropped in

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-30318153818453817782011-08-02T23:32:00.000-07:002011-08-02T23:40:04.909-07:00

A few beers (Irish) and a number of conversations with much cherished, profoundly missed imaginary friends and I am filled with the yearning to offer in gratitude a redacted version of an old post: And "Nous sommes tous Americaines", no? ...But that is the saddest part about being Iranian you see. Our obscene expectations and our maximalist bubble only mask our minimalism and our tendency always

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-40475902636957619382011-07-11T22:29:00.000-07:002011-07-12T00:15:10.986-07:00

An aspect of Bipolar Disorder I find slightly annoying these days is simple movement. Everything immediately points beyond itself thus making reflection, in the old fashioned sense of the word, a tad difficult. Granted, it has its virtues. As long as there is puzzle, it proves captivating. It helps with word play, languages, and pattern recognition—variations on themes, if you will. I guess

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-43332818909732815952011-06-06T07:19:00.000-07:002011-06-06T11:42:59.432-07:00

I had the unqualified blessing of living with Rachel Avnery for 58 years. Last Saturday I took leave of her body. She was as beautiful in death as she was in life. I could not take my eyes off her face.I am writing this to help myself accept the unacceptable. I beg your indulgence.If a human being can be summed up in one word, hers was: empathy.Uri Avnery's moving tribute to his companion of 58

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-25212412326182559962011-05-18T05:11:00.000-07:002011-05-18T05:36:50.890-07:00

I have been seeing the car for a while now and took the pic. For what it's worth, some Iranian too have been waiting for the missing Messiah. For a long, long time. For your reading pleasure on this wonderful morning, an ancient Iranian Hymn: Hymn on the Second Coming of Jesus
- Manichaean Hymn in Persian with Parthian words.Speak to me,  Lord and Friend, and reveal to me, Son
 of the most

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-70729407640405974692011-05-15T23:02:00.000-07:002011-05-16T00:10:45.914-07:00

So here is Ahmadinezhad peddling his own version of the events leading to the demise of Usama. And a short article dealing with assorted conspiracy theories centering on the execution of Usama by a team of Navy Seals.I hadn’t been too terribly pleased myself with the way we have been given tidbits of often contradictory accounts of the events surrounding Usama’s final moments. Then my sister

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-56069811552026431562011-05-01T23:47:00.001-07:002011-05-02T01:00:57.318-07:00

Thank the photographer for this poignant image from Tora BoraPresident Bush once aptly described Usama as the "ultimate parasite who saw a weakness and exploited it." Usama's demise has been long overdue. It'll be a while before any of us could properly ascertain the ramifications of the disappearance of a man who has been responsible for so many deaths. And so much misery and torment from N.Y

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-19114402932598944312011-04-21T07:54:00.000-07:002011-04-21T08:34:28.168-07:00

There are a handful of images in memory that haunt, agitate, perturb like the image above. The photojournalist, Chris Hondros who captured the scene, was killed recently along with Tim Hetherington in Libya. An affectionate piece: A Photojournalist Remembered As for the child, Samar? Photojournalism, Ethics and the Afterlife of a Photograph

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-42449871840099907602011-04-19T20:01:00.000-07:002011-04-19T20:08:10.253-07:00

This month's edition of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, featuring "Frenemies: Iran and America since 1900" by Douglas Little. Origins is a free, non-commercial publication from the Public History Initiative and eHistory in Ohio State University's History Department. http://ehistory.osu.edu/origins

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-77455732783781185132011-04-13T10:55:00.000-07:002011-04-13T22:16:06.304-07:00

And by left, I don't mean simply anyone who fails to reproduce the exact high decibel quack of the Bachmann wing of the Republican Party. An interesting exchange some of you might find interesting. “What the Arab peoples signify to us” by the renowned French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy (in the original French) A disappointed response: An open letter from Alain Badiou to Jean-Luc Nancy And

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-12746668123691822092011-03-20T15:58:00.000-07:002011-03-20T16:06:32.634-07:00

From The Brooding Persian to one and allOn this March equinox, the first day of spring and of the Iranian New Year.Here is to Ruth, Disobedience, Rebelliousness, Perseverance, Patience,Curiosity and Wonder.And in the absence of peace on this earth as always, to another fleeting year, minimal torments, swift wars and rapid deaths.For the multilingual among you, from a friend, the only bearable

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-31145418881596945402011-03-19T23:11:00.000-07:002011-03-20T08:44:44.358-07:00

A few short pieces on the latest intervention in North Africa as International forces bombard targets in Libya Roger Cohen on the pros and cons of intervention: Be Ruthless or Stay OutInteresting Guardian piece, Endgame in Libya: how the world called time on Gaddafi One issue throughout, insiders admitted, was the role of America. The UK and France, both smarting from criticisms over their

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-56876053763695689592011-03-14T06:47:00.000-07:002011-03-14T07:41:29.946-07:00

Some astonishing pictures here.Japan tsunami: Here's how you can helpFrom the Union of Concerned Scientists, Update on Japan's Nuclear Power Crisis.NYT exchange: Japan's Nuclear Crisis: Lessons for the U.SJapan tsunami: Here how you can help

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-3098031736572184662011-02-27T07:23:00.000-08:002011-02-27T18:36:52.831-08:00

Only in Iran, I suppose, could you have the Speaker of the Parliament giving a speech using such a podium! Mr. Larijani thinks Iranian protests are being orchestrated from abroad and everyone else's is self-organized. Go figure.More protests planned for March 1st.

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-7361179347840851812011-02-24T21:20:00.000-08:002011-02-24T22:10:00.506-08:00

Between work and commute, however limited time that’s left, I have been obsessing, much like the rest of you I suppose, with the events in Libya. So here are a few random thoughts for what they’re worth. Both Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez have now definitely climbed up my manure list.As heart wrenching as the scenes coming out of Libya have been, it seems to me that the Libyan insurgency is

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-71651176794785959542011-02-20T17:33:00.000-08:002011-02-20T18:40:06.549-08:00

Reports of more protests in various cities. Tehran under lockdown.United For Iran, "non-partisan global network of Iranian and non-Iranian individuals and human rights activists working to promote fundamental human and civil rights in Iran" offers diverse reads about the country and many resources for those who yearn for greater involvement.And for those interested in thoughtful, informative

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-83123060521267394902011-02-17T21:29:00.000-08:002011-02-17T21:44:29.319-08:00

About 1500 arrests confirmed. More protests planned for the 20th in Iran. Several deaths in Libya. And protests in Benghazi: And the crackdown in Bahrain:

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-89905741444179221702011-02-13T12:55:00.000-08:002011-02-13T14:25:48.864-08:00

مفسد فی الارض؛ یعنی کسی که به گسترش فساد در روی زمین بکوشد و به توسعه آن کمک کند. فساد هم یعنی چیزی که موجب انحطاط و نابودی و انحراف جامعه از اصل تبیعی آن باشد.افرادی که ...، در گسترش فساد و فحشا و رواج هرویین و تریاک و بی بندوباری و لامذهبی و آدم کشی و خیانت و چاپلوسی و خلاصه، همه اوصاف رذیله کوشیدند. گرفتاری آن ها از آن زمان بیشتر شد که با دیدن انقلاب ملّت، هیچ توبه نکردند. آیت الله خلخالی

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-76520528116588479022011-02-12T04:30:00.001-08:002011-02-12T04:44:58.546-08:00

Pride and elation! Self expression, self defense and dignified self assertion. Pure artistry.For the Tunisian and the Egyptian in all of us!

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-23406760343072949682009-08-08T09:24:00.000-07:002009-08-08T10:01:34.634-07:00

The Reigning Imbecility in Iran has been up to its old despicable tricks again, and is conducting show trails and broadcasting taped forced confessions on TV. Their track record in this is long and tedious; only this time some of officials of this very regime--including Mr. Hajarian, one of the founders and a leading figure of the infamous Intelligence Ministry--are at the receiving end. The

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-60937728089121410702009-07-28T20:44:00.000-07:002009-07-28T20:45:24.366-07:00

Nice one thanks to Mr. R.

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-55280421920060266782009-06-18T23:35:00.000-07:002009-06-18T23:50:25.212-07:00

Via IT @ LI[The following is a guest post from Ali Alizadeh, Researcher at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex University]This piece is copyright-free. Please distribute widely.Iran is currently in the grip of a new and strong political movement. While this movement proves that Ahmadinejad’s populist techniques of deception no longer work inside Iran, it seems they

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-55640086802143478462009-02-10T21:54:00.000-08:002009-02-10T21:56:27.240-08:00

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, the Middle Eastern Institute has put together “essays from 53 academics and policy experts” (PDF) covering a wide range of issues and subjects. Have fun

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-27172308876280501962008-12-24T21:56:00.000-08:002009-01-01T12:59:37.374-08:00

I bet Queen Elizabeth II is thinking, “There we go again, another Annus horribilis in the offing when this famed Anus abominabilis gets to deliver a message on Channel 4.” Well, O.K. I gave up my mind reading powers a while back. That’s what I am thinking actually. I’ve been on my best behavior to try to remain sane for as long as possible. So I won’t even bother with wishing for peace on

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-51104359787437484912008-12-23T08:15:00.000-08:002009-08-08T10:28:56.232-07:00

I’ve done some house cleaning with the broken links and all, removing some of the more inactive blogs and reshuffling others. Hopefully, I’ll be adding some others in time as I return to more frequent blogging. I’ve also deleted some of the older posts I thought annoying as I much prefer posting what I write with most of my wits about me.Any how, it has been fun watching the developments with

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-67357758725305337282008-11-30T19:19:00.000-08:002008-11-30T19:23:14.159-08:00

A collection of reactions and links here and here. Amongst the slain, the uncompromising ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-10683565267861047452008-11-22T09:48:00.000-08:002008-11-30T19:25:47.584-08:00

Hossein Darakhshan—a blogger much loved and reviled for his instrumental role in the development of the Iranian Blogosphere, and his ever passionate and highly charged opinions, as well as, his erratic political persona—appears to have been arrested by the Iranian authorities. This piece in (the semi-official) Baztabonline confirms the news and indicates that he is being interrogated and has so

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1145043838165051512006-04-14T12:43:00.000-07:002006-04-14T12:51:14.700-07:00

Most endeavors have an objective and a rhythm and it’s now time to go. I began this to offer a few close friends a look at the experiences of life in Iran through my eyes. And I, in turn, wanted to get a glimpse of life through the prism of others. I had a few simple questions haunting me for years that I wanted to re-explore with fresh senses. Who was it that insisted on perpetual

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1144853091221784542006-04-12T07:44:00.000-07:002006-04-12T09:48:38.136-07:00

Life has a way of wreaking havoc on one’s expectations. And the passage of time doesn’t help matters much. All those hopes and aspirations of the yesteryears become the delusions of today and this latter, I suppose, the lost opportunities of tomorrow. With that record, it becomes easy to see how one could anticipate the worst even in the best of times--which this clearly is not. Iran is

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1144698351629252672006-04-10T12:45:00.000-07:002006-04-10T13:02:05.316-07:00

A brief blackout period to clear my head. Although, what little success there was vanished upon the return to more of the same alarming news!So we now have The Iran Plans by Seymour M. Hersh alerting readers to a level of planning for nuclear strikes on Iran. This, of course, coming in the aftermath of the naval exercises in which various missiles were being showcased including what is being

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1144447553459325002006-04-07T15:05:00.000-07:002006-04-07T15:30:40.396-07:00

There was this ongoing exchange with one of my favorite long-term readers Craig in the comments section about the last post that got me thinking about how marvelous the net can be. In the older times, we would have all been much more limited to our actual geographic location without the possibilities of encountering many others to have exchanges with beyond the few that normally go on to

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1144286313826766342006-04-05T18:18:00.000-07:002006-04-05T18:37:28.556-07:00

My ongoing preoccupations with some of the older texts hadn’t left time for reading any recent commentaries by the authors I usually keep track of. And I have been trying to catch up again. So today I have selected a few of the more entertaining ones for your viewing pleasure. One of my favorites, Mr. Hanson, has been at it again with his usual spirited assault on the detractors of the

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1144105469620623832006-04-03T16:03:00.000-07:002006-04-03T16:06:59.896-07:00

Great selections of late! The caution—whomever in reality aimed at-- duly noted here as well. I only wished you could have read Farsi to get a sense for the ongoing preoccupations in our end. Utterly mind-boggling! I assure you, absolutely no chance in hell of anything remotely resembling those particular forms today. I seem to have misjudged again the depths. We’ll simply blame it again

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1143753709858059432006-03-30T13:21:00.000-08:002006-03-30T17:28:13.203-08:00

One of our more serious bloggers had a link to a single caricature by Houman Mortazavi in the Iranian a while back that I have revisited quite often in the past few weeks. There are about twenty in the series. They uncannily capture, I think, a good deal of the dominant Iranian psyche today. (Chattering classes) I thought perhaps we should play a little in this post. But it will require

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1143554956471558812006-03-28T06:08:00.000-08:002006-03-28T17:03:16.063-08:00

Aside from my usual broodings which should cover more of the ongoing murder and mayhem everywhere, there are a few older posts I’d like to go back to as I never did manage to properly develop them to my satisfaction. Much to the (probable) chagrin of my old friend Roger, of course, that means having to go back to the Iliad a few more times; although, I do promise to incorporate a dialogue

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1142732170120937032006-03-18T17:34:00.000-08:002006-03-18T18:03:35.123-08:00

From the Brooding Persian to one and all. Mr. BP might never get any wiser with each passing year; although, he is becoming more certain of one simple proposition with each passing day. Optimism remains the first and the last refuge, as well as the home base of the hopeless. So, I'll avoid the usual platitudes about a happy, peaceful year. Here is to Doom. And to a fleeting year,

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1142634005647088262006-03-17T14:19:00.000-08:002006-03-17T14:40:33.463-08:00

I don’t know about you, but the end of years always gets me feeling a bit more morbid than my usual. I think it was this blogger who astutely characterized Iranians a while back as a people who can boast not so much of stiff upper lips as “quivering lower lips.” Another enigma with Iranians, I suppose. For a country that cultivated hundreds of thousands of “martyrs,” Iranian families hardly

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1142545678667606662006-03-16T13:47:00.000-08:002006-03-16T13:48:54.846-08:00

The Iranian New Year is around the corner and since this might be one of the last posts of the year, I thought I should simply brood about certain slightly irritating behavior that doesn’t seem to want to stop. If navel gazing annoys you, please move on. One of the curious advantages of having roots in an authoritarian society, I must admit, remains an odd appreciation for experimental

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1142388159177911872006-03-14T18:02:00.000-08:002006-03-14T18:11:33.656-08:00

Iran apromises to resist the mounting pressures from the West. And the Joys of Sanity circa 2006! The Christian Science Monitor examines Four Approaches in dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions There is a new UK daily I’d like to introduce you to, the First Post. Let’s just let the editors do the talking: [tFP is]a new daily online magazine, targeted at a discerning well-educated audience

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1142293098252290572006-03-13T15:36:00.000-08:002006-03-13T15:43:18.913-08:00

Please read AMT on Jill Caroll. Also Shahram on Jill Caroll. And the following a ritual repost for a festive ritual. ********************************* With the Persian New Year approaching fast, there are quite a few firecrackers going off all around everyday. Everyone is in frenzy. Chahar-Shanbeh-Soori is a ritual rooted in our Zoroastrian past with some of the festivities

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1142199404016740752006-03-12T13:36:00.000-08:002006-03-13T15:36:42.420-08:00

Another report of the Israeli promise of preemptive “crushing military strike” by a retired general as the Security Council deliberates further about this nuclear stand off. And the Islamic regime’s UN Ambassador vs. a Fox reporter. The UK’s Channel 4 has been wrapping up its long visit to Iran. And here has emerged this new organization, Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1142025149220260542006-03-10T13:11:00.000-08:002006-03-10T13:28:04.726-08:00

As I indicated earlier, David wanted to get my reaction to Christopher Hitchens’s article joyously titled, Let the exchange of ideas and trade begin. I am neither an avid reader of the fellow nor a big fan. Having said that, I’ll try to have a go at his assumptions and proposals as best I can. Two moments based on his interactions with Iranians he highlights in his opening two paragraphs

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1141940223832729002006-03-09T13:36:00.000-08:002006-03-11T00:07:58.033-08:00

David was good enough to send me this Hitchen’s piece wanting it posted with some hint of my reaction. Have a read and I’ll do my best to put together a half-cogent response. In the meanwhile, there is this picture which sort of sums it all up for me… the nature of this Islamic Regime--like much of the Militarism dominating our globe and making life a living hell--and the grotesque

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1141844868812767432006-03-08T11:07:00.000-08:002006-03-08T17:08:38.360-08:00

The International Women’s Day. Some pictures of protests that might have turned violent via here. It is hard being an Iranian. It is especially hard being a woman. Ours is a fundamentally intolerant milieu. Part and parcel of the culture as it exists today. Sadly, it remains the land of avarice, brutality, obscene expectations and plunges, false hopes and disappointments, insults, and

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1141709841475341032006-03-06T21:36:00.000-08:002006-03-06T22:21:56.943-08:00

We are entering a more dangerous phase of this old conflict. I’d like to offer a few cautionary notes by way of keeping a promise (in passing) I made to one of my readers about doing another post on Mr. Ledeen. It has been a while and it appears to me that I have even more readers enamored of the gentleman than I had originally thought. But first a brief digression about a number of blogs

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1141334589886514972006-03-02T13:22:00.000-08:002006-03-02T13:25:14.580-08:00

Lots of links to some great reports (Farsi) and pictures of the latest attempts by some Iranian women to watch the Iran-Costa Rica football match in a stadium they are officially barred from! The battles continue as they have always. I haven’t been able to get Anjoman out of my mind, though. Floods of memories. My father was a soldier. He had a harsh, loud voice, aggressive manners

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1141254916262628912006-03-01T15:14:00.000-08:002006-03-01T15:17:48.196-08:00

The letter N’s thoughts ""وای از مشت ستمگر که بکوبیده دهانم Some resources on a global plague.

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1141145379559681182006-02-28T08:49:00.000-08:002006-02-28T08:50:47.316-08:00

Karl Lowith is an absolute joy. An incisive and rigorous intellect blissfully able to express itself in terse prose! He forces one to re-think. I’ll be presenting you with some of his analyses of Carl Schmitt in bits and pieces in the coming weeks. From a short essay, The Occasional Decisionism of Carl Schmitt: "For Schmitt’s own concept of the singular essence of the political is

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1140921587959822292006-02-25T18:39:00.000-08:002006-02-25T18:43:56.516-08:00

Every once in a while and in one of my more distracted moods, I use my web counter to have a look at the reading habits of my fellow denizens of this rotten planet we call home. Or is it just idle curiosity? That and I am feeling exceedingly cold--both in the extremities and deep in my bones. Which is odd for me, really! For years, I have been feverish and hot. The body, it seems, is

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1140813592932316082006-02-24T12:39:00.000-08:002006-02-24T12:44:58.573-08:00

I was hoping to share some of Lowith’s insights on Schmitt. Three factors have contributed to making for a slight detour. The most crucial was a comment left by a long-term reader Ali M in response to the last post. And Mr. Limitedinc was also good enough to have drawn my attention a few days ago to an article, Jihad Unintended by Dimitri K. Simes , the president of The Nixon Center

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1140740801474817912006-02-23T16:25:00.000-08:002006-02-23T16:27:42.636-08:00

How to awake from this nightmare that’s life?

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1140567054529484612006-02-21T16:10:00.000-08:002006-02-21T16:12:36.980-08:00

The latest report from Amnesty International, Iran: New government fails to address dire human rights situation. And I don’t know if any of you caught this blunt interview. The quintessential Afghan dignity touched me: "We know (interference) is going on. We know that money is being brought into Afghanistan. It will not have the impact that they want it to have — not for Afghanistan

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1140466161893817802006-02-20T12:09:00.000-08:002006-02-20T13:41:51.396-08:00

I was thinking of doing something for the President’s Day. My friend N, though, recently got back to blogging with her distinct intervention in the cartoon controversy which got me thinking that perhaps it’s best for me to go back to a time closer to the “roots.” Any entanglement with the past, I suppose, could be problematic given the blemishes and the wounds. We should avoid glorifying

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1140218889227283592006-02-17T15:27:00.000-08:002006-02-17T15:36:46.210-08:00

I am going to have another go at the cartoon controversies soon, hopefully picking up, at some point, with elements that my friend P articulated and trying to further enunciate some of our differences. Today, I wanted to draw your attention in particular to an individual you should become familiar with. Mr. Yashayaei is the Chairman of Iran’s Jewish Council. In a sharply worded letter, he

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1140152190875606872006-02-16T20:55:00.000-08:002006-02-16T20:56:53.136-08:00

A (British) friend whose musings about his travels in Iran I have previously posted here has been good enough to send me the following. I thought I should share. ****************************************** An attempt to unpick some knots that have become even more intransigent in the past decade or so. Secularism vs. Monotheism. It has become commonplace in universities nowadays

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1140068683009919762006-02-15T21:44:00.000-08:002006-02-15T21:45:27.200-08:00

I finally got my hands on what I’ve wanted for years. Some twenty odd pages of Karl Lowith on Carl Schmitt. But didn’t get past the first few pages! I’ll tell you about some of the highlights once I am done. I got distracted as usual and ended up having to go dig up a couple of passages. The first is Nietzsche’s and the second, longer one from Merleau Ponty. Just thought I should share

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1139897923847062092006-02-13T22:17:00.000-08:002006-02-13T22:18:43.860-08:00

Don’t forget to…! And what changes after this?

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1139813811110369492006-02-12T22:56:00.000-08:002006-02-12T23:07:21.130-08:00

My friend Natalia, learned and always a gracious guide to Polish Culture, has another quatrain from Baba Taher in translation both Polish and English in addition to this older post. Baba Taher is one of our mystics now resting in Hamadan. Natalia’s blog has many links that some of you might find interesting as well. I n particular for today, one to the celebrated Iranian photojournalist

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1139604176673468972006-02-10T12:35:00.000-08:002006-02-10T12:45:03.473-08:00

Edited (version of private) correspondence**********************************A reader asks practically: Who are you…? Whence the audacity to…? Your vitriol directed at…? Fair enough questions. Nothing that complicated, though! And the “who” is no one anyone would know and certainly not “hermetic” or claiming authority on much of anything. The answer is quite a bit simpler than you

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1139445749574592842006-02-08T16:42:00.000-08:002006-02-08T20:24:39.036-08:00

Perhaps this is all there is. An ugly world inhabitant by ugly people satisfied with nothing short of ugliness! And as the antics and the theatrics continue to spiral out of control, becoming more deadly by day, small protests in Iran turned violent in front of the Danish Embassy and that of Austria of all places! Oddly, those in a country whose reigning imbecility can’t even stand

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1139260656530784032006-02-06T13:17:00.000-08:002006-02-06T13:26:06.496-08:00

I’d like a second go at this cartoon business soon. But some of the readers were good enough to post links I thought I should repost just in case you don’t read any of the comments. Here is one of our more vibrant minds in exile with her usual flare declaring war in defense of the Danish Cartoonists. David was also good enough to offer the following by Hitchens. This particular

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1139080580535992172006-02-04T11:15:00.000-08:002006-02-04T13:47:05.673-08:00

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. James 3:1 Sometimes, there are no easy answers in life. And a cigar is more than a cigar. Consider the following story. It is essentially a simple, silly “joke” about backgammon that I’ve modified extensively for the purpose of this post. Mo is walking

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1138894164796550932006-02-02T07:28:00.000-08:002006-02-02T07:41:23.546-08:00

It was hard getting a wink of sleep last night awaiting some news from my sister who’s due to give birth soon. So my mind kept on wandering, of all things, between the likely fate of a little girl and that murderous Usama and his future. What should Usama do? What would I do if I were Usama? It appears as if everyone is in some form of a nasty conflict with everyone else. There are

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1138716251672545852006-01-31T06:03:00.000-08:002006-01-31T08:01:10.410-08:00

The writer I quoted in the last post was Karl Lowith. It had been years since I last looked at any of his writings. His is a magnificent mind, so dazzlingly brilliant. Lowith’s Meaning and History is a work of art. Well worth your time. The last post was supposed to serve as a bridge to help me return to Mr. Gerecht and the question of honesty. I become slightly agitated when someone who

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1138575572014972092006-01-29T14:58:00.000-08:002006-01-29T15:20:21.606-08:00

There are four voices brought together by a fifth that I’ve quoted to give you this post. Guess at them and win the prize…or not. “Does not every moment of your practical life give the lie to your religious theory? Do you think it is unjust to appeal to the courts if somebody cheats you? But the apostle says it is wrong. Do you offer your right cheek if somebody slaps your cheek, or

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1138349030206488562006-01-27T00:03:00.000-08:002006-01-28T05:45:07.666-08:00

Lewis Gropp interviews Salman Rushdie covering, among other things, Rushdie’s latest novel “Shalimar the Clown” set in Kashmir. Also, Pedram and Mitra over at the Eyeranian outline Ten Reasons Not to Attack Iran. The two articles for today discuss in greater detail their visions of the contours of the ideal American posture on Iran with greater emphasis upon how best to affect some internal

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1138316052189566042006-01-26T14:53:00.000-08:002006-01-26T14:54:12.203-08:00

Perhaps I should seriously start reconsidering whether or not to eat both my hat and my normally unsuspecting words about the British. First revelations about those high tech Stones, and the NGOs in Russia. What’ll be next? The southern city of Ahvaz?

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1138176646050282462006-01-25T00:05:00.000-08:002006-01-25T00:26:17.780-08:00

A fellow blogger, Evil Asad reiterates that he is not worried about this escalating conflict. And Shahram also offers his astute observations. I asked Asad to be as concerned as humanly possible. Threats of war should never be discounted. And any armed conflict is obviously a grave matter. Especially since there are no swift and easy wars! Fifteen years after that first Gulf “turkey

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1138072721142881292006-01-23T19:16:00.000-08:002006-01-23T19:20:26.323-08:00

What I’d like to begin to do is to think about some of the debates that are taking shape over the conflict with Iran. And I’d like your help in doing it. I’ll try to link to some of the more interesting pieces and your reasoned participation is hereby encouraged and welcomed. Show me your minds at work engaging seriously the issues at stake. Give me a sense for your fears, your visions for

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1137899962687751242006-01-21T19:17:00.000-08:002006-01-21T23:18:56.183-08:00

Reworked old post. ****************** Civilization, someone claims, is distinguishable from barbarism in that lie simple is replaced by lie composite. That said, it has its virtues. It allows possibilities of catering to our collective needs in a more sustainable way. Although it takes work! Needs, desires, wants, impulses, ambitions, aspirations, goals, and objectives pose challenges

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1137711314322821892006-01-19T14:52:00.000-08:002006-01-21T00:06:32.933-08:00

There is a quaint, difficult to find little gem of a piece On the Philosophic Life by Al-Razi that A J Arberry translated many years ago. And in it, a beautiful simple phrase which would astonish you today given how things have turned out: “our Imam Socrates!” Socrates, as we all know, was that unique character executed by the Athenians. Those still left with some hope of following where he

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1137630233889171602006-01-18T16:20:00.000-08:002006-01-18T16:23:53.903-08:00

Amidst all the concern about all that’s gone missing in our world today—most of all prudence and sanity, I must have missed the following: Evangelical explorer, author and lecturer Bob Cornuke has followed the Exodus route of Moses, dived the Red Sea in search of Pharaoh's chariots, searched for the lost Ark of the Covenant in Israel and Ethiopia, sought in Malta's ocean beds the four anchors

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1137529346974120862006-01-17T12:20:00.000-08:002006-01-17T12:22:26.990-08:00

Thanks. I clearly get it and agree. Although, you should also try reading the Iranian scene a bit more carefully! That’s why the whole project is so ludicrously transparent. We grow up with and live the grotesquely patriarchal. Fathers know what’s good for you. Teachers know what’s good for you. Neighbors too and the doctors, grocers and, of course, the Guardian Council, assorted Mujtaheds,

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1137420931062062382006-01-16T06:12:00.000-08:002006-01-16T06:15:31.083-08:00

Edited repost from August, 2004******************************* A country, I keep telling everyone, which finds it practically impossible keeping its public restrooms clean has no business pursuing nuclear power. It lacks oomph, I know. And you have no way (of even wanting) to evaluate my claim. Bear with me, though, and I’ll try to show why public restrooms are important.Where to begin? I guess

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1137217155288243852006-01-13T21:24:00.000-08:002006-01-13T22:25:14.910-08:00

Here at the BP, we strive not only to express our disenchantment with the state of our war ravaged planet, but also to offer some sensible solutions every now and again. “Neither whines nor dissimulations,” our motto here. To that end, our humble abode hosted a conference last night attended by many of our more mischievous, perverted inner children best kept out of sight most of the time.

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1137034160350524062006-01-11T18:42:00.000-08:002006-01-11T18:49:20.373-08:00

While we are at it, let’s continue the rant. The world is going to end soon. So the cognoscenti are out in force to save us. They just know about everything. And what they don’t know, other cognoscenti know. If only we could listen. For our own good! I agonized over whether or not to introduce you to the fellow I am going to introduce you to. But I have been obsessing in a

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1136861566418562722006-01-09T18:29:00.000-08:002006-01-11T12:10:32.976-08:00

This is a rant. Those of you with gentler sensibilities: please skip. I am so fed up with this attitude. Nauseated actually! After which book is it exactly that we think we have solutions to all problems that preoccupy millions of others? How could it be that we come to have so many answers all the time? So I committed a mortal sin. I wanted to know and document who in the Iranian

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1136680124516483882006-01-07T16:26:00.000-08:002006-01-07T16:28:44.526-08:00

Don’t you just hate it when none of your emails ever get answered? Well, I do. So consider this a request for help. To anyone, anywhere, with access to older political tracts! I am looking for the name/date of the publications (on the left) that first employed the terms Islamic Fascism (fashisme eslami) and Gender Apartheid (apartaide jensi) in the post-revolutionary Iran. The

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1136418969435638742006-01-04T15:43:00.000-08:002006-01-04T16:07:06.036-08:00

Somewhere in Cairo some days ago, what’s called the Arab Parliament was inaugurated amidst much fanfare. As luck would have it, what’s left of the BP’s brain had been obsessing at the time about this terrible oddity of the growing intensity of bombing raids conducted by US aircrafts last year in a country under occupation. It is one heck of a strange twist when a liberated country loses its

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1136339312818986272006-01-03T17:42:00.000-08:002006-01-03T17:48:32.843-08:00

There are a number of issues I’d like to continue exploring in the New Year. So you’ll get more of the ongoing reflections about life in Iran, as well as about some of the more annoying rhetoric of the culture wars, and, of course, this (sort of new) creeping fascism all around us and a certain Cairo conference of the previous century. Not in any particular order, mind you. I also tend

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1136251681145456772006-01-02T17:23:00.000-08:002006-01-02T17:34:31.920-08:00

From all of us at the BP--and I mean here, me the humble typist, the brooder, as well as most of the rest of his many unruly, bruised, inner children incapable of speaking in unison--our best wishes for your health, sanity and wealth. (if you should want them, of course!)We won't even bother wishing for peace this year since none here wishes to sound that absurd. (most of the time)So, let's start

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1135632984463027082005-12-26T13:31:00.000-08:002006-01-03T17:53:11.793-08:00

Bleak as our enraged city certainly is, it is also a passionate city. It is a genteel city. A faithful city. It is a city of warmth, kindness and hospitality, in many ways, unlike any other city the world over. And perhaps that’s why the coldness, callousness and cruelty startle you in a fashion so much more disconcerting than in some other cities. How is it possible for a people so

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1135302380429150692005-12-22T17:42:00.000-08:002005-12-23T17:41:41.120-08:00

A modern city has been described, roughly, as that giant space in which massive numbers of people coexist in loneliness. And when our lives connect, there are signals to guide us. This way to the hospital, that way to sanitarium. A green light you walk, and the red one you wait. The straight yellow lines caution you not to overtake the car in front of you and the dotted yellow lines to

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1135205607516334322005-12-21T14:50:00.000-08:002005-12-21T14:53:27.526-08:00

Before anything else, I should offer a more personal note addressed to A. I am no writer, but choose my words carefully. The piece on Ganji makes clear that he “is no hero” in my view. He is characterized as “the last of a mostly decimated generation;” better than “many of the rest of us.” Notice the empty spaces--a pronounced absent presence--in my constructs purposefully left there

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1135116091035005342005-12-20T13:54:00.000-08:002005-12-20T15:34:26.403-08:00

A reader has been good enough to have offered anonymously a poignant and sardonic objection to my defence of Mr. Ganji which I though particularly instructive to ponder over—this especially for those outsiders who continue to pay lip service to the tragic if only to pursue their own political ambitions more unencumbered. So in the following heartfelt protest we have what may be fairly

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1135025758153298432005-12-19T12:55:00.000-08:002005-12-19T12:55:58.163-08:00

This business of peddling mass murder-- is it loathsome or what?

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1134783448553242982005-12-16T17:35:00.000-08:002005-12-16T17:40:26.513-08:00

Reports of new death threat against Mr. Akbar Ganji again, the man who has spent more than 2500 days in jail. The following an edited re-post. I have never told you why Mr. Ganji is important to me. I don't feel comfortable with this panegyric business. But I am going to work to change that tonight. I don't share his views of politics or religion. Really, I don't agree with him about much.

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1134693575673439672005-12-15T16:36:00.000-08:002005-12-15T16:39:35.690-08:00

Mr. Ahmadi Nejad fully earns himself the title. I think Jonathan Freedman is absolutely justified in lamenting, “[T]he Iranian president’s support for holocaust denial is a measure of how far the infection of Jew-hatred has spread,” and that: "We can deny it no longer: the virus of anti-semitism has infected the Muslim world. And virus it is, for Jew-hatred on this scale, as Christian Europe

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1134609184219407632005-12-14T17:10:00.000-08:002005-12-14T17:13:04.233-08:00

Isn’t it odd how the specific location of certain passages stays with one long after the whereabouts of the original copy of the book itself has become another faint memory? Read carefully and think: “Whatever pain achieves, it achieves in part through its unsharability, and it ensures this unsharability through its resistance to language. “English,” writes Virginia Wolf, “which can

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1134527769902220102005-12-13T18:26:00.000-08:002005-12-13T18:36:09.936-08:00

Say what you want, but I’ll take Harold Pinter over Charles Krauthammer any day, anytime, in any country or any part of our planet in a heartbeat. It is simply a matter of taste--as one of my favorite poets once said. I should write this when I am less agitated and more cogent. Although I must confess to finding myself lately yearning for those old-time Western movies: “If you want to

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1134179663879666602005-12-09T17:53:00.000-08:002005-12-09T17:54:23.896-08:00

Never a dull moment with this President, is there? The man is a bundle of contradictions and partially representative of the kind of a society—and the global polity—we’re forced to contend with today. I don’t really know where to start! I have been trying to find and check the actual text of his speech before finally reacting. As stated before on a more personal note, I would be impatient

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1134006058075225262005-12-07T17:38:00.000-08:002005-12-07T17:40:58.086-08:00

No one was cursed, clubbed, lynched, mobbed, chased, bombed, and I guess that accounts for lack of much interest anywhere in a recently reported contact between delegations from Israel and Iran in Tunis: Normally the two enemy states are separated by over 1,500 kilometers, loads of vitriol and, recently, threats and counter-threats in Persian and Hebrew. But in the football-field-sized

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1133919502680535842005-12-06T17:29:00.000-08:002005-12-06T17:38:22.696-08:00

Not a particularly peaceful week, is it? A plane full of journalists hit a building in Tehran earlier. Some pictures here and here. There is, as always, much gloating amongst the self proclaimed proponents of “culture of life” and “civilization” here and here and here and here and here and here and here, but a few examples. How many morons, do you think, officially constitute a dancing

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1133743584809624652005-12-04T16:42:00.000-08:002005-12-04T16:46:24.833-08:00

I have been thinking that I should offer some gesture of atonement for the nastiness I was responsible for in that series of role play posts about the purportedly inevitable culture wars. Think of it as my attempt to propitiate Hindu Deities although, I am convinced they would know better than to think me so really presumptuous; Better safe than sorry, though! This post and the next, then,

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1133472986868440312005-12-01T13:30:00.000-08:002005-12-01T13:36:26.893-08:00

Quite a few years ago, while checking into some hotel before attending meetings, friends and I were jovially discussing the safety of walking around downtown area of a large port city late at nights. As I finished telling them that having perambulated the area many times in the past at all different ungodly hours, not once had I come to feel uncomfortable or unsafe, the wickedly witty

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1131110386147681662005-11-04T05:12:00.000-08:002005-11-04T05:19:46.253-08:00

Simply ran out of time and need to go away now--hopefully just for a short while. So, for the benefit of the multilinguals, I thought I should give you a glimpse of what I see these folk grappling with and doing. I had tons of notes, but as I lamented earlier, my laptop died recently and don’t have access to the backups at the moment. But some tidbits quickly reconstructed for the

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1130956458321841862005-11-02T10:24:00.000-08:002005-11-02T16:02:52.193-08:00

Sorry, Opip, to have kept you waiting and thanks for the word. The prospect of another move shortly-- from one side of a continent to the extreme other--has me feeling rather flummoxed. :-)) In the last post, I tried to give a feel--as concretely as I could-- for the precarious state of the ruling class on the domestic front given the existing cultural proclivities evident today and the

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1130778403959940942005-10-31T08:58:00.000-08:002005-11-02T15:30:00.993-08:00

To better present what might be at stake with these latest huffs and puffs coming out of Iran, I thought I should start with a bit of a background. The culture of Iranian chattering classes, as it exists today, suffers from a number of maladies that become debilitating when dealing with political matters. One is what can be categorized as the plague of our superficial, Condescending Gaze.

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1130686825437900512005-10-30T07:35:00.000-08:002005-10-30T08:08:58.110-08:00

Mr. Trita Parsi, an Iranian scholar who is completing his thesis on Israeli-Iranian relations under Mr. Fukuyama at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies has a new piece out in Open Democracy titled The Iran-Israel cold war which should be read very carefully. His conclusion: Ahmadinejad’s comments are irresponsible and repulsive, but there is little to suggest that they

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6221674.post-1130596024256641642005-10-29T07:19:00.000-07:002005-11-02T16:55:13.646-08:00

It is difficult to make the case I’d want to in one sitting. So, it’s best to break it down into more manageable chunks. I would like to start, though, on a personal note first. Iran is an old nation, and like some other ancient people, we are presently stuck in one of our less flattering, way-too-prolonged moments. These past twenty seven years have been terribly trying. The

Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14602039849569304134noreply@blogger.com0