Excerpt: “His first impulse was to dismiss the ominous email as a prank, says a young Iranian-American named Koosha. It warned the 29-year-old engineering student that his relatives in Tehran would be harmed if he didn’t stop criticizing Iran on Facebook. Two days later, his mom called. Security agents had arrested his father in his home in Tehran and threatened him by saying his son could no longer safely return to Iran. ‘When they arrested my father, I realized the email was no joke,’ said Koosha.”
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“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.”
Meta
the probability of this being true is very low in my opinion.
Iran’s student demonstration and human rights double standards.
Funny – Greece is in the second day of being rocked by rioting youths on the anniversary of the shooting death of a teenager there, with rioters smashing bank windows, overturning trash bins and setting them alight as they hurl rocks and fire crackers at riot police, and yet the NY Times has a page dedicated to the minute-by-minute events in Iran, but not Greece. That’s called a double-standard. They’re using human rights as a propaganda tool. Human rights abuses in some countries are given a pass, if they’re US allies. You don’t hear much about human rights abuses in places like Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan or Jordan, or even Iran under the Shah. Ah, but as soon as there’s a government in one of those countries that doesn’t get along with the US, suddenly people are pounding their chests and pulling out their hair over human rights there.
Of course, to say that human rights concerns are cynically-deployed propaganda tools, isn’t to say that the concern about human rights is not itself justified and justifiable
http://www.iranaffairs.com/iran_affairs/2009/12/irans-student-demonstration-and-human-rights-double-standards.html
The Islamic Republic is worth defending. Even at its worst, it is way better than anything the US or anyone else can bring to Iran.
When Mossadegh attempted to nationalize AIOC, the sinister British threatened to invade Iran, sanction it, boycott its oil on the world market and freeze its financial assets? Sound familiar today, what US is doing to Iran in regards to its nuclear program. 50 years later we view Mossadegh as a hero. Why do we not learn from history? 50 years later Iranians will view Ahmadinejad as a hero for his nuclear victory. But today we Iranians sit here in the west and some even side with the US as they are doing what the Brits did 50 years ago. Shame on us.
Wow, the level of stupidity in this site is staggering. For those who can’t tell the difference between Oil and Nuclear Bomb: Nuclear Bombs kill millions, Oil doesn’t do that. Nuclear Bomb will undeniably destabilize the region, but Oil does not jump start an arm race. Plus, under Mossadegh, it was the height of the Cold War and the logic was a lot different. Can’t you seriously tell the difference?!
With regards to double standard comment: Iran is the biggest supporter of Terrorism around the globe. It is also the center stage for future conflict in the region. Therefore it would take priority over any other country in the region. At the same time, keep in mind: even though Human Rights are a concern for the News Media, but the focus is on the possibility of hope and of course prevention of armed conflict. It is News, they will cover events that are most important to the people and of course to world politics. They are in a business of News and it is a profit driven business. I have never heard a news group claiming to have promotion of Human Rights as their agenda. They will cover what news readers are more interested about and of course they will give priority based on those preferences… Supply and Demand….DUHHHHHH!!!
Seriously man, what’s w/ these stupid comments? Although I do agree with the first comment, it is unlikely that Iranian illegitimate regime would invest energy into investigating and coercing outside activist in order to restore order inside Iran. They have certainly done this before, but it was during the era where Iran was fairly stable. At this point, their main concern is to focus and invest resources on forces within Iran. At least it is a logical thing to do in my opinion.
The logic is, USA hase it (nuclear bombs), worst of all nations zoinist has it, it is my turn to have it, aaaaa logic, bombs kills 🙂 , you can not have it. Hay logic guy shove it.
Afghanistan and Naploleon
Amazing how a bunch of ragged, lightly-armed, cave-dwelling goat herders have thus far managed to make fools of the combined armies of the worlds top military powers in all their majesty, dragging them into an endless quagmire of blood, with no real prospect of “winning” or even withdrawing whilst at least saving some face. It occurs to me, as the US sends tens of thousands of more troops to add to the hundred thousand or more already there to deal with what were told are about 2000 actual Taliban fighters, that the same way Russia could rely on it’s winters to defeat invaders (Napoleon and Hitler) the Afghans can rely on their poverty and failed-state status. In the end, no invaders can really pacify that country, and the only question is how much positive spin the US can place on it’s eventual defeat there. Some of you may know that the British landed troops on Iranian soil in the Persian Gulf region on two (3?) occassions when Iran under the Qajars tried to regain Herat, which was historically a part of Iran (Herat was the second Safavid capitol) the last being in 1857 when the Brits – who wanted to keep Afghanistan as a buffer against a Russian threat to their colony in India- shelled Abadan. There are still some British graves in Southern Iran from those days. Anyway , acting under pressure of the Brits, Iran signed the Treaty of Paris in 1857 and gave up claims to Herat. We live with the consequences.
http://www.iranaffairs.com/iran_affairs/2009/12/afghanistan-and-naploleon.html
Confronted by the rare opportunity to engage with someone from the Iranian Embassy, I couldn’t resist the urge to ask him a question I had thought about for years: “Sir, could you please tell me how many spies you have in Denmarkâ€? The bearded gentleman laughed and answered: “My dear Mr. Alfoneh, we don’t need spies! Iranians show up and denounce each other at the embassy in such great numbers that we don’t even have the administrative capacity to register their informationâ€!
The bearded gentleman was partially right. Iranian exiles tend to hate one another more than they do the distant regime in Tehran. And thanks to decades-old political disagreements, petty personal conflicts, and jealousies, we denounce each other not for personal gain but for the delight we derive in harming our co-exiled Iranians.
Wonderful to have Nahid the anti-semite and our illiterate friend who pathetically failed the Bar exam back. I feel whole again.
Hay 🙂 , I had a baby, should come and visit him, and I am not anti_smite but I am anti_zionist as you are my dear friend
Ok Nahid whats your email so I can get your address so we can hang out?