Beh Name Khar

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Time is not on Iran's side

DW: Talks between the so-called 5+1 and Iran in 2011 failed to yield any progress whatsoever. So are this weekend's negotiations just an empty exercise? Meir Javedanfar: I think the talks are important for both sides. President Obama is facing an election in 2012 and needs to show that he gave diplomacy a chance. And on the Iranian side Ayatollah Khamenei is facing the toughest economic sanctions the Islamic Republic has ever been confronted with, which could lead to the collapse of the economy. The regime could not survive that>>>

Old School Diplomacy

This weekend if you're not busy, why not head on over to Turkey for some fun? You too can stay at a nice hotel, have some surprisingly good Turkish food, see the sights, and try your hand at the new casino being set up for Iran, the US, and some other lesser countries who will irresponsibly gamble the futures of their peoples away with misguided attempts at what we can only call posing>>>

Fiddler in the attic

I saw ‘Footnote’ with a dear friend of mine. Neither of us is Jewish, or speaks Hebrew. Nor has either of us seen an Israeli movie before. While still young at heart, neither of us has been exempt from the tyranny of time or biology. Our interest in seeing this film had more to do with the fact that (a), it did compete against ‘A Separation’ in the foreign language category of the 2012 Academy Awards, and (b), from what we had read about its plot here and there, it had a theme familiar to both of us>>>

Manoto Bahai?!

This morning, an Iranian-based website entitled “Young Journalists Club,” whose slogan reads, “The Largest Persian Language News Agency In the World,” published an article with the following headline: “When the Veils of Deception are Rent Asunder: Membership in the Misguided Sect of ‘Bahaism’ as a Chief Condition of Employment with a Document Enclosed as Proof”cThe Article goes on to introduce a UK based website named “You and I” and notes that the efforts of its editors, who are directly financed by the “Royal Elements">>>

Ashura

That year autumn started with gusts of winds carrying dust, bits of hay and stench of dung. Dark-grey clouds gathered and frowned over the village. Flocks of carrion crows invaded the rooftops, branches of trees, and edges of the walls – cawing incessantly. The village folk were agitated because they were going to commemorate Ashura. Morose-looking, bearded young men were dressed in long, black shirts. Women, wrapped in black chadors, scurried silently in the narrow lanes and alleyways>>>

زن های اشرف

زن های اشرف، حتی اگر
مسن تر یا هم سال ما
ما زاییدمشان، ما،
مگر نه، ما؟ >>>

Raising Their Voices

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Iran's Last Chance?

If the upcoming talks between Iran and P5+1 are really Iran's last chance, as Obama put it, then everything should be put on the table and an agreement be reached because the alternative, war, must be prevented. This article is going to be my two cents worth on the upcoming talks between Iran and the "P5+1" powers--the United States, the UK, Russia, China, France, and Germany--reportedly scheduled for April 13 or April 14>>>

بحران نمایندگی در اپوزیسیون

در شرایط سختی که در ایران امروز می‌گذرد، و ایران امروز از آن می‌گذرد، این سؤال مطرح است که چه کسی/نهادی می‌تواند از جانب مردم ایران سخن بگوید و یا مردم ایران را نمایندگی کند. مدعیان این امر البته کم نیستند: کسانی که مرتبا از مردم سخن می‌گویند و این که مردم چه می‌خواهند و چه نمی‌خواهند. این ادعاها را نمی‌توان به محک زد>>>

Collateral victims

A recent federal case against an American charitable organization, (United States of America v. Mehrdad Yasrebi and Child Foundation, 05-CR-413 KI (Oregon)), reveals the unfortunate state of Muslim-Americans, the potential of peoples’ diplomacy, and the legal and practical problems with economic sanctions>>>

The Unfilm

Pahani is a fighter who can dish it out as well as take it. Last year, while under house arrest waiting for the outcome of his appeal, he made a home video mocking the ban order on his filmmaking. Technically, the work is not a film, hence the title, This Is Not a Film. Trapped in his apartment, the director doesn’t have a wide choice of locations for his unfilm. There’s the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, and the balcony, with one intriguing dialog taking place in the building elevator >>>

تو که رفتی مه هم رفت

زیر لب به معشوقه ام می گفتم اجازه بده امروز تا آخر عمرمان در خاطر هر دویمان بماند. چون این تن اغوشی نبود یکی شدن در هم بود. حس اینکه با کسی یکی شده باشم امان تازه ای به من داده بود. سالها بود که هیچ کسی نتوانسته بود حس غریب عاشقی را به زبان و درون متلاشی شده ام بچشاند و معشوقه ی شرقی من فقط در چند ساعت به راحتی آب خوردن حسش را در من جاری کرده بود>>>

دولت اشک

دلم از حسرت و غم غرق بخون بود و کباب
چشم دل روشن از این گریه خونین و پر آب

دردی دل بود این خون و پس از صاف شدن
می طپد در قفس سینه مرا جام شراب >>>