Editor: Myself

it's about oil

Jane Bryant Quinn in Newsweek: "Iraq contains one of the planet’s largest reserves. President George W. Bush would hardly go after Saddam for the oil alone, but it’s certainly a factor. An Iraq “on our side” could pump more than three times the oil it did last year."

lack of primary, first-hand sources in iran

Little Green Footballs: "At one point I was worried that my sources and his (Michael Ledeen's) sources were the same, though it looks like at this point we only have one mutual contact."
I personally think that there are not enough primary sources available in English about Iran and from inside Iran by Iranian people. Many of them (like Iran Daneshjoo) are just exaggerating and even lying about what is happening in Iran. I'm not sure about their real purposes, but I can not ignore the fact that many of them (like Manouchehr Mohammadi or Tabarzadi etc.) were actually acting as hard-liners' muscles and with their radical actions (like attacking banks and buses etc.) were providing them with enough reasons to act against the whole non-violent student movement on those days and later against all newspapers that covered those days' happenings.
I also can't ignore that many of them are using these kind of false news to justify their requests for asylum to Western countries. I've seen a couple of former students from rural areas and low-income families in Iran who entered political activities on those days just to become famous and attract western human rights organizations' support only to make a better living. (I've heard from different sources that Mr. Mohammadi has bought 2 houses with financial supports from Iranian oppositions who trusted him, when he was in Europe and U.S)
I've been encouraging all Persian bloggers inside Iran to start blogging in English for the past weeks, but very few people are concerned about the importance of their English weblog as primary sources and true witnesses to internal news and events. We all need these first-hand sources I believe.

persian girl's webblog, died in accident, no.1 on blogdex

You might've seen this Persian word on top of blogdex today. It's the name of the weblog of an Iranian young girl called Shaghayegh who died a couple of days ago in an accident. Her last post says: "Have you ever been so lonely even while you are among other people?... and feel to need someone's soulders to embrace and cry?" That post had attracted 400+ comments, as more and more Iranian bloggers link to her blog. She was 15 years of age.

how saddam happened in newsweek

Newsweek's Chris Dickey: "Iran’s “human wave attacks” threatened to overrun Saddam’s armies. Washington decided to give Iraq a helping hand. After Rumsfeld’s visit to Baghdad in 1983, U.S. intelligence began supplying the Iraqi dictator with satellite photos showing Iranian deployments... According to confidential Commerce Department export-control documents obtained by NEWSWEEK, the shopping list included a computerized database for Saddam’s Interior Ministry (presumably to help keep track of political opponents); helicopters to transport Iraqi officials; television cameras for “video surveillance applications”; chemical-analysis equipment for the Iraq Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC), and, most unsettling, numerous shipments of “bacteria/fungi/protozoa” to the IAEC. According to former officials, the bacteria cultures could be used to make biological weapons, including anthrax."

exclusive news and reports on iran in rfe radio website

Just in case anybody would like to read exclusive news and reports: Radio Free Europe has a Persian website in which they post a daily English summary of all news and reports. Unfortunately there is no permenant link or news feed for that.

never too late to talk about 9/11

My father had just waken up after he had arrived Toronto the night before. It was his first visit to Canada, to see what I'm doing here. After a few minutes I turned on TV to check the weather and I saw something weird. The first plane had just crashed and I was shocked, but thought there might be an accident or something, not a terroristic act. Then suddenly another one crashed! It should be a terrorist attack. But was it real? Wasn't it a high quality sci-fi movie? No it wasn't, all Canadian channels were broadcasting live the US news channels like CNN. The CNN anchor, was shocked and his voice was totally out of control. His voice always reminds me of me that day and those horrific events. My father was totally shocked too! Who were these terrorists? We saw both towers collapsed live on TV, I couldn't trust my eyes, the two of those strong tall buildings collapsed? I was thinking of the poor blue-collar white-collar workers that lost their lives for the collective stupidity of their oil-hungry rulers administration . The end of Fight club, the movie, was on my mind and I thought maybe someone has done so with anti-globalism ideas. The anchors said Bin Laden is behind the attack. Anyway, we went out, with my father and my mother who had arrived 2 weeks before my father. In the subway everyone was silent and stared at something. I thought how many innocent men and women died? Could it be a shock to America to care about other parts of the world? Now I'm sure they (i.e. the government) haven't changed a bit, they are still as stupid and as oil-hungry as before 9/11. Wold there be any other chance?

shadi ghadirian's photos: traditional vs. modern women in iran

Not sure if anybody ever seen Shadi Ghadirian's photographs on women in Iran. Her last series of work were about modern products in the hands of traditional women. They had all that common theme, which was completed by neat technique and modelling. Now she has revealed her new series on Iranian women, in which they identify themselves by their everyday lives' tools such as Iron, cup of tea, etc. There is an interview with her in a Feminist Iranian website called "Badjens" Update: They've removed the new series for no resaon! I'll link to it as soon as I find them somewhere else.

abc: iran undergoes a quiet revolution

Chris Wallace for ABCNEWS.com: "It's more than just clothes. The young people here are bombarded with Western images. They go to an Internet café and see the latest trends. Satellite dishes are illegal, but they are everywhere. The students we spoke to are up to date with the latest music videos."

iranian beauty in venice

Nobody knows that how much Iranian women are pretty and how diverse iranian beauty is. Since the revolution, every positive picture in western people's minds are gone. These two photos show one of the most beautiful Iranian actresses, Roya Nonahali, whose name is wrong in her portrait. Accidentialy, she was first casted in a film by Makhmalbaf, called "Arrosi-e Khooban" or "Marriage of the Blessed" in 1989. It's so sad that such a talented and pretty actress is actually getting famous at her late 30s. (Another nice picture wchich I found later, with Pegah Ahangarani)

first UofT class started with an iranian film

My first real experience in a real university (comparing to Iranian ones) had a Persian taste! The Film Theory class was started by "Salam Cinema" by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, whose films are not my favorites, that one wonderfully screened the main concepts of a film theory course. Topics such as: power and cinema, reality vs. formality, director's role in a film etc. I'm not sure if the film has made from a concious theoritical point of view from the begining. But anyway, I was proud of the film!

english headlines for persian posts

I've added something at the right side bottom of this page. Thery are headlines of my Persian weblogs post which are in Persian (Farsi) but headlines are in English.

khomeini follower chalenges his master's ideas

There is this funny argument that Iranian hardliners do most of the times and it say "If your enemy admires you or agree with you, you're definitely doing the wrong job and you have to correct yourself!" Last week, Karoubi, the parliament speaker, criticized this argument and said "If US. believe in god like we do, is it wrong?" It's the first time I hear it from one formerly Khomeini's close persons. Because the argument is coming from Ayatollah Khomeini and Karoubi was a young follower of him back then in 80s. (Source: Rooydad - in Persian)

China blocking google

BBC News, Technology: "China appears to have blocked access to the popular search engine, Google...Analysts say this is the first time Beijing has blocked access to an internet search engine... Human rights activists say more than 30,000 people are employed to keep an eye on websites, chat rooms and private e-mail messages."

the sullen majority, by tim judah

Tim Judah writes for NYTimes Magazine: "Bloggers and runaways, rock bands, prostitutes and girls who just want to have fun are all part of the picture of a young, changing Iran."

civilization III goes global

BBC NEWS: "The extras are contained in the Play The World expansion pack for Civilization III which includes new game types designed specifically for multiplayer games."