THE EYERANIANS » In the News

Sanctions are Here to Stay, part II

nicecore — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:23:31 +0000

Today, your song actually comes from Afghanistan (I think), and there’s kind of a funny story behind it; the newscaster at the beginning of the clip will tell you more. Watch the video too, it’s way interesting. Oh, if you don’t speak German, you won’t understand what the newscaster is saying (haha, eat it):

Burka Band – Burka Blue

Now that you’re sufficiently weirded out, let’s start by covering that beloved topic of this blog, Iran. The fresh push for sanctions by Congress (and people who probably shouldn’t have any say in what Congress does in regards to Iran – I’m looking at you, AIPAC) is only going to get worse next month, apparently. According to this brilliant post on the NIAC blog, Congress hopes to blockade Iran’s foreign oil supplies. Why would this be bad, you ask? Doesn’t Iran already have tons of oil? Yes, but Iran has been in the unfortunate position of not necessarily having the refining capacity to deal with all of their own oil, so they’ve historically had to actually ship oil out to be refined, and then buy it back. Iran imports 40% of its refined petroleum, so it really would hurt them a lot.

Anyway, Congress hopes that this will cause a rise in gas prices, which in turn will cause the Iranian people to revolt. Wait, this is one of those ironic, funny plans, right? So we’ve been watching Iranians die in the streets in the name of freedom and democracy, and now we’re hoping they’ll go out and kill themselves over rising gas prices? This is pretty damn cynical, even for me.

Probably the most important point the post makes can be found here:

Next, even if the sanctions were effective in harming the Iranian economy, there isn’t a single historical example of economic sanctions translating into a desirable change in the Iranian government’s behavior.

Thank you! It’s true; there is no proof that these sanctions have ever worked and there is no reason to believe they will this time. I will apologize to everyone if they do, but that’s just how sure I am that they won’t.

And as the post points out (like so many others have before), the sanctions wouldn’t hurt the Supreme Leader, Ahmadinejad, or the mullahs (lots of them have turned on the Supreme Leader anyway, at this point), it would hurt the common people…the ones we were so vigorously supporting a few weeks ago.

So it’s people like Senator McCain, who has recently said this…

“The United States of America must, and this body must, affirm our support for fundamental human rights of the Iranian people who are being beaten and killed in the streets of Tehran and other cities around Iran. We are with them.”

…who are now pushing for “crippling sanctions” that will “bring the Iranian economy to its knees.” When asked whether or not he realized that the “Iranian people” he was referring to actually lived in Iran, Senator McCain fell asleep. Bad form, Senator McCain. Okay, I haven’t got the patience for this right now.

Roxana Saberi and the Future of Iran-US Relations

nicecore — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:33:04 +0000

If you’ve been reading the news lately, you’ve probably seen a story or two about US journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been arrested, imprisoned, and just now sentenced to 8 years in the can for spying on Iran for the US. It’s an interesting story for several reasons, one of which is the way it’s being covered here in the US. Of course my description above as well as all of the headlines read, “US Journalist Jailed in Iran for Spying,” but here we have to examine the terminology in use. “US journalist” is slightly problematic in my opinion because when Ms. Saberi entered Iran, she actually entered as an Iranian citizen. Iran doesn’t recognize dual citizenship. It’s complicated, but I think the effect of this phrasing is that it makes us think of Iranian authorities arresting some poor girl who didn’t know the language or the culture and was completely turned around and in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was evidently arrested originally for buying wine, something which the newspapers here have been constantly telling us is not such a big deal and usually warrants a slap on the wrist. I had previously thought otherwise but I guess I should check my sources again. Also, she was apparently doing research and writing a book after her press permit had expired, and I seemed to get the impression she was doing some work of a nature that would require a non-expired press license, but I can’t seem to get straight facts out of any news sources.

At this point, I must say that I’m not asserting she should have been jailed and that she is definitely a spy or irresponsible or deserves what she is getting, not at all, I just think there are a ton of facts here that need to be sorted out and that as usual, we are not really always getting the full story. Going back to the Iranian citizenship thing, some commenters on the New York Times had these things to say:

One important factor that NYT has either deliberately or unintentionally failed to clarify to its readers is the fact that Iranians with dual citizenship enter Iran on Iranian passports. While in Iran, they accept the laws of Iran as Iranians. When leaving Iran, they show their foreign passports along with their Iranian passports only as a proof of permanent residence overseas.

Therefore, this chest beating about American citizenship will not work. In fact, it will make the matter worse.

Finally, I would like NYT to let us know what happens if the press credentials of one of its reporters in a foreign country is revoked or if the press credentials of a foreign journalist in the US or a local journalist is revoked and that same journalist continues to report until caught.

- Meehanparast, Chicago

Rochelle from Chicago had this to say on the same story:

Yes, I would like to reiterate Meehanparast’s statements about dual citizenship. I am an American-only citizen and my mother is a dual American-Iranian citizen. When we go to Iran, I have to present a proper Iranian visa, while my mom must “hide”, so to speak, her American passport because Iran does not recognize dual citizenship. The Iranians do not recognize her American citizenship — it does not exist for them under international law.

This is important, because if heaven forbid we were both arrested, she would get thrown in jail as an Iranian and I would get a slap on the wrist as an American.

In fact, there have been many instances in which I was close to arrest (bad hijab for instance) but once presented with my American citizenship, the police really couldn’t do anything without inviting America’s wrath. But in the case, Saberi was under Iranian “law”, and thus subject to their faulty and mercurial judicial system.

Source: New York Times

These facts and anecdotes are, in my opinion, very important to consider, and as Meehanparast says, make all of the claims about US citizenship pretty meaningless. I mean, if she’s just another Iranian citizen to them, she can hardly be treated as an American one, am I right?

So, if you think I’m being insensitive, believe when I say I am a very compassionate person and I have nothing but the deepest of sympathies for someone that might be spending the next several years of their life in Evin Prison (unless they deserved it, of course…but in this case, who can say?), but I feel this too needs to be said: there actually is the possibility that she was spying. I mean, I’m not saying I think that’s what happened but you can’t just ignore that claim altogether, can you? Since the Iranian courts won’t make any evidence public (which in and of itself is shady), there’s no way for us to make any kind of decision on our own, but if the claim is made, it has to be considered on some level. A very small part of me actually hopes she was spying so that she is not going to jail for no reason at all (or for unfortunate political “bargaining chip” purposes to be discussed below), but in reality I hope and pray that she was not actually spying, because the last thing Iran needs is to find a real, live American spy in its midst at this critical moment in Iran-US relations.

That brings me to my next point, which is that I can’t help but wonder what this holds for the immediate future of Iran-US relations. I was really hoping to go teach English there and improve my Persian after I graduate in December and I’m kind of banking on things cooling off a little so it will all go a bit smoother for me (assuming it goes anywhere at all), but this has the potential to really screw everything up. That sounds selfish, I know, but believe me when I say I hope for general peace and happiness between the peoples of the word as an overall kind of dream – the facilitation of my personal travel would just be a welcome aftereffect, duh.

In what simply has to be a desperate attempt to keep me from experiencing any semblance of fun in the near future, Hillary Clinton has already made a few statements directed at Iran regarding Saberi, demanding her release and saying we’re “deeply concerned,” and Iranian officials have responded as you’d expect them to, but to be honest, I’m kind of hoping Obama doesn’t weigh in himself. I was a little annoyed when he appointed as Secretary of State the woman who had said not months earlier, “If Iran ever attacked Israel, we would obliterate them,” but you can’t always get what you want, huh? Sometimes you never do. Here’s hoping (unselfishly) that this doesn’t ruin that slightly groovy thing we had going.

Robert Mackey of The Lede Blog at the New York Times wrote an interesting article asserting that Iran may be holding Saberi as a “bargaining chip” for upcoming negotiations with the US regarding their enrichment of uranium, economic sanctions, or what have you. Iran may also be hoping for the release of the three Iranian diplomats arrested by the US in Iraq in 2007 that are still being held there. Gosh, we’re still holding three Iranian diplomats in Iraq that we arrested in 2007, and I haven’t heard even a whisper about charges or a trial? Kind of makes me step back a bit.

That brings me to my last point. The other thing that sort of bothers me is the indignant tone of all the news stories. Joe Peyronnin in the Huffington Post, which I’m told is supposed to be some kind of progressive liberal publication, wrote the most horrid, aggressive, alarmist article condemning the Iranian government and making huge, sweeping generalizations about Iranian society in a manner that I would expect to see on Fox, which tells me this is probably a black-and-white issue for a lot of people, but I believe there are little to no black-and-white issues. Indeed, what kind of godless nation of fanatics would imprison someone, hold them for a long time without trial, torture them, and then finally try them quickly and secretly and then imprison them, refusing to make any of the evidence public? Oh wait.

Anyway, my point here is not to get particularly political or cause any kind of debate or get anyone angry, I’m not taking sides and I’m not condemning the Iranian government or Roxana Saberi or even Hillary Clinton (but I do wish she would incorporate my post-graduation plans into her policies a bit more). I just like to try and lay out as many facts as I can and encourage productive discussion and see where things go.

And I’m pretty sure the formatting is all kinds of screwed up on here, but at any rate, thanks for reading.

حضور گلشیفته فراهانی در افتتاحیه فیلم مجموعه دروغ ها

Rezareza — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:58:10 +0000

خانم فراهانی که فرزند بهزاد فراهانی هنرپیشه پیشکسوت سینما و تئاتر ایران و خواهر شقایق فراهانی از بازیگران زن سال های اخیر سینمای ایران است، اخیراً با همسر خود در فرانسه اقامت یافته است

او به دیلی‌نیوز گفته است که عاشق ایران است و خانواده اش در ایران زندگی می کنند ولی با این شرایط اگر خانواده اش بخواهند وی را دوباره ببینند، آنها هستند که مجبورند ایران را ترک کنند

ادامه مطلب

In Protest to the Execution of Yaghoub Mehrnahad

Rezareza — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:18:17 +0000

“…Yaghoub Mehrnahad was executed on the morning of August 4, 2008, in Zahedan Central Prison. His only crime was the expression of his thoughts and his efforts to promote basic human rights to the deprived people of Baluchistan.

His voice will never be silenced. We Iranian bloggers will put down our pens during a one day strike on Thursday, August 7, 2008. We do this in order to protest against this unjust sentence. Let us send a message to the enforcers and executors of this case that they should not treat bloggers as their enemies

We would like to send a message to the “non-judges” of this case not to be hostile enemies to the pen of the conscious, committed bloggers of Iran, because they will be held accountable in front of the Iranian people for their unfair and unjust rulings against humanity.

The Iranian Human Rights Defenders Association

The International Writers Association

And

All Iranian Bloggers

اعتصاب يک روزه وب لاگ نويسان به خاطر اعدام يعقوب مهرنهاد

“اما من يعقوب مهرنهاد متولد سال ۵۸ شمسی و ساکن ديار مردان و زنان خونگرم و صبور و نوع دوست بلوچستان می باشم و به روز نمودن وبلاگ نيز به دليل مشغله های فراوان در انجمن جوانان صدای عدالت که سازمانی مردمی و غيرحکومتی و برای خدمت به همنوعان و جامعه بشری می باشد…”

اين صدای جوانی وبلاگ نويس بود که در سحرگاه چهاردهم مرداد ماه ۱۳۸۷ در زندان مرکزی زاهدان اعدام گرديد و يگانه جرم او ابراز انديشه و تلاش در جهت حقوق اوليه مردم محروم بلوچ بود

اما صدای او خاموش نخواهد ماند و ما وبلاگ نويسان ايران با اعتصاب ۱ روزه ی سکوت قلم خود و انتشار اين اعلاميه در در تاريخ پنج شنبه ۱۷ مرداد ماه ۸۷ اعتراض خود را به حکم ناعادلانه او اعلام خواهيم کرد و به ناقاضيانی چون جلاد پرونده يعقوب مهر نهاد هشدار ميدهيم اينگونه با قلم وبلاگ نويسان با تهعد و با وجدان ايران زمين به جدال و دشمنی نپردازند چرا که روزی در پيشگاه مردم ايران در مقابل احکام صادره که مخالف با شرع و انسانيت است جوابگو خواهند شد .
وبلاگ نويسان ايران زمين

رونوشت : دبيرخانه مجموعه فعالان حقوق بشر در ايران
سازمان جهانی نويسندگان
و کليه وبلاگ های ايرانی

پی نوشت : با انتشار اين اعلاميه در وبلاگ های ديگر اين ندای حق خواهی را انسجام و گسترش دهد.

Ahmadinejad jumps off the stage

Rezareza — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:31:47 +0000

In a ceremony commemorating the Women’s day in Iran, Ahmadinejad shocked the audience by jumping off the stage to present an award to Shahid Motahari’s wife. According to reports, he jumped off the stage after he noticed that the wife of the Martyr is old and cannot stand up. Although, the act is nice on its own, I think someone has forgotten to remind the president that there are stairs and one usually does not have to jump off the stage.

Iranian women pursue rights despite pressure

Rezareza — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:17:26 +0000

Nahid Keshavarz says two weeks in an Iranian jail didn’t deter her from helping try to collect one million signatures for a petition urging more women’s rights and, if anything, prison showed the cause was worth fighting for.Keshavarz is one of dozens of women who campaigners say have been detained since 2006 when the drive was launched. Most were released within a few days or weeks.

“No one wants to go to prison. But if we have to pay a price then we will, like women have all over the world,” said the 34-year-old, who was held on security-related charges after collecting signatures in Tehran.

Read the whole article

Iran releases footage of PG naval check

Rezareza — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:22:00 +0000

Iran releases the video of Sunday’s maritime identification check in the Persian Gulf waters involving Iranian boats and US warships.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the US-released footage of the incident is fabricated and the audio of it is fake.
Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, an IRGC senior official, has said that the US vessels’ registration numbers had been unreadable to the Iranian guards.
He added that the guards approached the US ships only to examine the numbers.

The Iranian footage also includes the original radio communication between the Iranian guards and the US warship.

Watch the footage

Cold snap kills eight in Iran

Rezareza — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:12:30 +0000

TEHRAN (AFP) — At least eight people froze to death in the heaviest snowfalls to have hit Iran in years, with several areas brought to a virtual standstill and 20 towns suffering cuts in gas supplies, officials said on Tuesday.

The snowfalls, said to be the worst in some 40 years, have forced all schools and government offices to close in Tehran and other regions in northern Iran over the last two days. They will remain shut on Wednesday.

No matter what, snow is still beautiful. Specially the Iranian kind of it!

Iran police warn 122,000 over un-Islamic dress

Rezareza — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:19:39 +0000

Iranian police have warned 122,000 people, mostly women, about flouting strict Islamic dress codes since April and nearly 7,000 of those attended classes on respecting the rules, a newspaper said on Thursday.

In the News

persiancowboy — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 17:47:45 +0000

Iran to export 3bn cu. m. of gas to Syria annually

Anglican leader condemns Syria, Iran war talk

Iran produced over 19m tons of cement in 6 months

US, Iran should work together on shared interests

What a War on Iran Might Look Like [photo essay]

Passion at the heart of Persian music

Party like it’s 5768 — Persian style, JCafeLA, Billy Crystal
The Jewish Journal of greater L.A, CA - Oct 4, 2007
Mostly Persian and purportedly progressive, Generation 26 endeavors to unite all ethnicities of young Jews. On Sept. 8, they enticed a formidable crowd of …

City’s 12 Persian, Pashto schools shrink as Afghan refugees leave

Iran dam sparks row about ancient Persian relic

Varsity uses Hindi films to teach Persian language