Ahmadinejad attended the celebration for the beginning of the academic year. As always, it began with reciting Quran, I guess, which was followed by Ahmadinejad’s speech. The interesting part, and the contradicting one, for me is when elite students are recognized and presented with gifts. Fars gives a set of moderate pictures (see). Only one of those images shows a boy with short sleeves, which is a bad thing for a man to wear. When you look at the pictures which ISNA, the students’s news agency, broadcast from the event (see), things are a bit different.

A girl is greeted by Ahmadinejad and the Minister of Higher Education. Actually, there are two pictures like this in ISNA, and we have not seen any of them in the photographs taken by Fars crew. Both girls are wearing Maghnaa (Persian: مقنعه), the ultimateHijab for head and neck in the Islamic Republic eye. However, both girls seem to be completely aware of the last “Islamic” fashion. Frankly, and I have heard this from many Canadians too, if I were to select a sexy style I would select these ones, over less covered western ones. An Iranian friend of mine, who has been in Canada since five, told me “you know what, the Canadian girls are just plainly uncovered. Whereas, the Iranian ones are covered and still have their own curves here and there . They are really sexy.” So, in once sense good for Iranian girls’ genius minds!

This is interesting from another viewpoint, too. Ahmadinejad is pushing hard for forcing “Liberalism” out of the educational system of Iran. Last month he openly apologized the students because of being forced to be educated under influence of Liberal professors. So, he is not a moderate man who does not care if the “Islamic Values” are pushed aside. However, he is so genius that he knows that he can not do anything to the Iranian public. So, he tries to show a nice attitude to the public, as he also extensively did during his campaign. Then, deeply inside the administration, he pushes so hard to get rid of whatever opposes his narration of Islam.

By the way, I really think the ugly black head covering is given to the lady just before she was called on the scene. Imagine her look with a fancy less-covered colored covering!

The second cloned sheep was born in Iran. It seems that the clergy is quite comfortable with this type of scientific “fooling around” with God’s power.

See here (see) for details about Khomeini’s letter in which he advocates for accepting the UN resolution which ended the war with Iraq. BBC reported that Khomeini has mentioned “Atomic Weapons” there in the list of the equipments asked for by the commanders. Though, all Iranian sources published the letter with “…” at the end of the list. Now, Entekhab has published the original letter in Khomeini’s handwriting (see). Guess what; he did talk about Atomic Weapons. Not very good times for the Iranian administration…

At the end of the first page and the beginning of the second page Khomeini talks about Atomic Weapons (see). See the complete letter here (see) (see) (see).

“We have reason to believe that specially trained Iranian science teachers are taking raw, unrefined brain power and bombarding it with knowledge at accelerated levels,”

“If current levels of student concentration remain this high, Iran could be a mere five to eight years away from developing an atomic scientist.”

“While we believe that a majority of these students were developed within Iran’s borders anywhere from 13 to 17 years ago, there is also evidence that they are importing older students from former Soviet republics and Pakistan in what officials have dubbed an ‘exchange program,’” CIA Director Michael Hayden said.

“The U.S. stopped enriching its students decades ago, and we call upon Iran to do the same,” Bush said.

Read the complete article here (see) Thanks to tellitlikeitis (see).

The eight-year war with Iraq was lead by two different groups. In one side there were the clerics, lead by the parliment’s speaker of the time Rafsanjani, whom had their rule as the bridge between the spiritual leader and the earthly art of attacking and defending. On the other side, there were Sepah commanders, including Mohsen Rezaei. It is so secret that these two groups were not always thinking similarly. Mainly, their rule in the “bitter” acceptance of the UN Resolution which put an end to the hostilities has always been disputed, by themselves.

Recently, Rafsanjani, who is the head of the chamber of the supreme leader’s advisers, and Rezaei, the speaker of the same chamber, have been arguing about the way the war was ended. Basically, each side claims that the other one asked for quiting the war because of shortage of equipment and budget. Now, Rafsanjani has revealed a letter from Khomeini, published 18 years ago, in which he mentions that the commanders have asked for tons of new equipments which the administration can’t supply and hence “we must accept the resolution”. The interesting part of the letter is where those equipment are listed: 350 infantry brigades, 2500 tanks, …, 300 helicopters and “good amount of Laser and Atomic Weapons”. The last part is mentioned as “…” in all Iranian sources. But, BBC says ILNA has had the sentence for a few hours before they turned to the dots, too (see).

I do not blame them; Iraq was using chemical weapons against Iranians. I say, let’s be honest; Khomeini never issued a Fatwa against nuclear weapons, or at least he did not really mean nuclear arsenal is as bad as pork is.

Welcome (see) (see).

I first thought “who cares?” Then, “but you know what, it is absolutely silly!”

This is what has happened: Ahmadinejad is having his twentieth trip (can you imagine they have flocked people twenty times in one year?) This time he is enjoying his time in my hometown, Karaj. Basically, nothing is new; he is doing the show and utters some comments here and there.

Read the rest of this entry »

AnoushehAnsari.com is out there (see) and it also comes in Persian (see). The interesting part is the video page (see). By the way, she does have an Iranian flag on her suit.

Kamangir is among the blogs in DW-World competition for the best blogs. Please vote for Kamangir (see).

ps. Nothing has happened yet. Is that clear?

NEW YORK — A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator. At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he Believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement.

He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

“Al-gebra is a problem for us,” Gonzales said. “They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values.

They use secret code names like ‘x’ and ‘y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns’, but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.

As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ‘There are 3 sides to every triangle’.”

When asked to comment on the arrest, George W. Bush said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.”

Aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President.

Thanks Zahra for sending this to me.

The Minister of Defence is starred at the technical details of what is claimed to be “the most advanced naval cannon in the world” (see) (see). I know exactly nothing about things in the military but from my experience as an engineer I suggest they cover all these hoses and wires.

Another view from an Israeli author (see).

Any request in Internet search engines for the words “genocide” against “Muslims”, “Arabs” or “Palestinians”, in the context of “Zionists” or “Israel” – will give us endless results. Even after we’ve filtered out the trash, we are left with millions of publications written in deadly seriousness.

Any response?

History over the “propagation of the faith with the sword” is a bad legend, one of the myths of Europe during the long war against the Muslims – the reconquest of Spain by the Christians, the cross driver, the defense of the Turks, who would have conquered almost Vienna. I have the suspicion that also the German Pope believes honestly in this fairy tale. That became means that the head of the catholic church – even a considerable theologian – did not make itself the trouble to study the history of the other religions.

Why did he express these words in the public? And why now?

One can see it now only on the background of the new crusade of Bush and its fundamentalist-Christian supporters as well as its slogans of the “Islamofaschismus” and “the global war against the terror” – after “terrorism” became a synonym for the Muslims. Because for Bush’s other accomplices is this a zynischer attempt to justify the rule over oil resources of the world. It would not be the first time in the course of history that a religious Maentelchen is spread over naked economic interests; it would not be the first time that a raid becomes the “crusade”

The original article in German is here (see). Read the English translation here (see). A Persian translation can be found here (see).

What amazes me is not the fact that some people like to kiss the supreme leader’s hand. Nor, it is that he leans back and let’s them do that. I am amazed why no one can ask why this show is publicized.

I am testing Flock’s service for blogging. This seems to be great! I just grabbed the pictures from my photobucket. This is great!

Blogged with Flock

Joke: “After Pope’s insulting comments about Islam, Pop Music is renamed as Rose-Water Music” Source: see).

Description:

1- After the famous Danish cartoons the Danish Cookie, which is very popular in Iran, was renamed to Rose-Water Cookie.

2- The flower from which Rose-Water is extracted is called Mohammad Flower (Persian: گل محمدي). The reason behind this naming returns to some beliefs about the prophet.

3- In Persian, Pope and Pop are translated similarly.

The text reads “Down with Denmark, Ban Danish Cookie”. (Source: see)

“Ascension” is the name chosen for an exhibition of military equipments held in Iran, for the anniversary of the eight-year war. Like many other events in the Islamic Republic, religious terms make connections between the earthly affairs and things from the heaven. Forgetting all this, I am wondering what this man is telling to his boys. “Missiles come out of this and attakc the targets…” Frankly, I remember how amazed I was whenever I saw a piece of military equipment. Isn’t that shameful?

We are talking about Iran. So, even if 95% of the people find a civilized way for dealing with things there is always a minority, which has the power, and does what they want. The sad thing is that no one seems to care that when you burn a flag in the presence of a member the parliament, world sees that as an official gesture. Or maybe not.

The other interesting thing about the Islamic Republic politics is that the instrumentation of democracy is a bit different. If democracy is defined as free will and the right to choose, the Islamic Republic defines democracy as people. It may seem interesting, but the fact is that the Islamic Republic version of democracy is geared towards what is shouted by a large group of “decent” people. So, when students shout in the streets its chaos. But, the “after the prayers protest” is a fixed serious part of the democracy. So, forget the nice people who brought flowers to the Vatican Embassy door; people shouted in streets with their fists up against Pope and whatever in the world which is not Islamic Republic oriented. Still, I do not understand why the Israel flag was burnt.

On September 1980, in the very days that schools were opening, Iraqi army invaded the south east of Iran (see). Benefiting from the fact that the Iranian administration had just been established and was engaged in all sorts of problems and fights between different armed groups and parties, they occupied the city of Khorramshahr (Persian:خرمشهر) (see). Thanks to Khomeini’s charisma and the patriotism of the Iranians, armed forces began to face Iraq’s powerful army back. Then, slowly and painfully, Iraq was forced out of Iran and all cities and villages were freed.

The war took eight years, billions of dollars, and numerous lives. Many people lost their legs and arms. Many were exposed to chemical agents and got terrible diseases. The effects of the war and how it changed the political atmosphere of Iran is not a mystery to anyone. The Islamic Republic benefited from wartime discipline to defeat its opponents. Khomeini openly stated “war is good thing”. After all, the one who was defeated in the war was the Iranian society and freedom.

Still, we should remember there were real people killing and being killed in the war.

I am not sure which one has the worse effect, shooting or being shot. But as an Iranian I owe my situation to those innocent people who were killed all over the west and south of Iran. look at these pictures. Don’t you see how a nation’s innocence is destroyed? All the pictures are from here (see). Read the rest of this entry »

Gathering litter from the mountains north of Tehran.

Ahmadinejad is learning to become a politician. Yes, he is a bit too slow, but at least he is learning. Last time he saw a circle of light around his head. This year, right after he came down from the staircase, he called his speech to be “attracting all attentions”. He also added “it was the most important and the most influential talk there” (see). He is learning.

A military show off is held in Iran for some reason that I do not really know, and care. As Ahmadinejad is in another country, his deputy is attending the ceremony. The big text on top reads “we are standing till the end” (Persian: ما تا آخر ایستاده ایم). I have two questions.

1- “We”: Who exactly is it referring to? The administration or the people. I do not think in a deomcratic country the administration can make such decisions, well it is Islamic Republic so I assume it is at least half democratic. Furthermore, I do not remember a referendum held for such decision.

2- “Till the end”: Meaning even if the price turns out to be a nuclear showdown?

TIME: Did you visit the site of the World Trade Center?AHMADINEJAD: It was not necessary. It was widely covered in the media.

This is the second question in Ahmadinejad’s interview with the Time Magazine (see). Giving no tribute to the victims of the attacks, he makes is clear that he does not have a good attitude when it comes to winning the heart of the average man in the US, and other places around the world.

At the end of the interview he is asked about his “wipe-off” speech.

TIME: You have been quoted as saying Israel should be wiped off the map. Was that merely rhetoric, or do you mean it?

AHMADINEJAD: People in the world are free to think the way they wish. We do not insist they should change their views. Our position toward the Palestinian question is clear: we say that a nation has been displaced from its own land. Palestinian people are killed in their own lands, by those who are not original inhabitants, and they have come from far areas of the world and have occupied those homes. Our suggestion is that the 5 million Palestinian refugees come back to their homes, and then the entire people on those lands hold a referendum and choose their own system of government. This is a democratic and popular way. Do you have any other suggestions?

To me, this is like asking “is 1+1=2?” and getting the answer “you know, sin(pi)=0″. His response has a good idea in it, which may be extremely not practical or unimplementable. Anyhow, he is not answering the question and I am wondering why the reporter does not look at him asking “Mr President, you are not answering my question”. At the end, the answer is either Yes or No, and I think we all know he really did ask for the destruction of Israel.

The ceremony began with reciting a song. Based on the title, Complaining to Jesus’s Holiness (Persian: شكايت به محضر حضرت مسيح), and the arrangement of the group I guess the song was a part of Quran or another Islamic prayer. The attendants then listened to some speech and signed a letter, to Jesus, complaining about Pope’s comments. Read the rest of this entry »

Today was the official begining of the school year in Iran. These are some photos form first grade students. Most of them are quite happy, but not all of them! For more pictures see  here (see) (see) (see).

Read the rest of this entry »