A poem is being recited in laki (kurdish dialect) about the past glory of Iran to the Bisotun mountain in Kermanshah. Acompained by Shahram Nazeri’s Voice.
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Category: Kurdish, music, History
An ancient gold cup mysteriously acquired by an English scrap metal dealer is expected to fetch close to a million dollars at auction after languishing for years in a shoe box under its current owner’s bed.
Owner John Webber says his grandfather gave him the 5.5-inch (14-centimetre) high mug to play with when he was a child, back in 1945.
He assumed the golden cup, which is decorated with the heads of two women facing in opposite directions, their foreheads garlanded with two knotted snakes, was made from brass.
But he decided to get it valued when he was moving house last year and was told it was actually a rare piece of ancient Persian treasure, beaten out of a single sheet of gold hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
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Category: History
Here is classic scanned picture of an Iranian Passport from 1932 AD or 1311 AP (AP = Anno Persico/Anno Persarum = Persian year).
The first thing you will notice is that French was the main foreign language in Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi. English became more important later on. This individual was born on 1282 AP which was during reign of Mozafaredin Shah of Qajar Dynasty. It is also interesting that they have mentioned in the passport that he has a shaved beard and unibrow. The last item in the page is supposed to be religion, however they have marked it out and replaced it with “Nationality: Iranian.”
Pictures taken from rshoraka
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Category: History
Kayhan newspaper reports that Qatar formally apologized for using Arabian Gulf rather than Persian Gulf.
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I was just informed by the host of the Shahrbaraz blogsite (http://shahrbaraz.blogspot.com/) that a new movie has been produced which is based on the life of Temuchin/Temudgin (same as demirchi=blacksmith in Turkish). The movie Genghiz Khan.was produced in Russia last year (2007) and has been shown in festivals but it’s now scheduled for public release in US and Canada and other places this month (June 2008 and later).
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The movie has also received positive reviews in the New York Times newspaper:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/movies/06mong.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Here is more information about the movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416044/
Note the following excerpt of the movie:
the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of hoary stereotype, but as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader.
Genghis Khan was certainly fearless and inspiring to his troops, but the term “visionary” is more difficult to fathom. In strictly military terms, Genghis Khan was indeed “visionary”, as well as in his ability to unite the Mongol tribes. Chinese, Iranian, Japanese, European, Islamic, etc. references are near-unanimous in reporting the Mongols as ruthless, barbaric, destructive and without mercy towards combatants and non-combatants alike. References often cite the Mongols and Genghis Khan as prone to killing, rape, pillaging and destruction. Their main motto before every invasion was “submit or die”.
This raises the question of how Genghis Khan would be “visionary” in domains such as human rights, mercy, city-building or learning? Historical events portray a very different “vision” indeed. The teeming city of Neishabur (Nev-Shapur) with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants was simply razed to the ground by the Mongol invaders. Note a Japanese artistic portrayal that shows a Mongol invader tormenting the elderly, women and children in Japan:
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Japanese tradition and historiography portrays the Mongols as not only ruthless but cruel and merciless towards civilians, namely the elderly, women and children. Similar descriptions are available from other nations that fell under the Mongol conquests
(Photo: The Nicheren Memorial statue at Hakata, as displayed in p.67 of Stephen Turnbull’s “Genghis Khan and the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400”, 2003).
The first attempt at re-writing the history of Genghis Khan was done by Leon Cahun, a romantic writer of the 19th century.
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Leon Cahun (1841-1900). His writings helped lay the basis of the pan-Turkist movement which persists to the present day.
Cahun’s 1896 book text “Introduction a l’Histoire de l’Asie, Turcs, et Mongols, des Origines a 1405 [History of the Turks and Mongols]”, glorified Turco-Mongol conquerors such as Tamerlane and Genghis Khan as “supermen” and as members of a “racial aristocracy” who were the major proponents of culture, arts and sciences in world civilization (see Hostler, 1957, p.141).
Leon Cahun however was evidently unaware of the primary historical sources; it is also unclear if he could read Persian sources related to the Mongol conquests nor was he aware of the aforementioned Japanese references.
Mainstream academia and international scholarship has never endorsed the romantic writings of Cahun as his assertions are fundamentally historically unsubstantiated. The only positive reference that can be found with the Mongols is after their conversion to Islam in Persia and in their adoption of Iranian culture during their sojourn – in this period one does indeed see a flowering of arts and architecture. But this only occurred due to the powerful cultural and linguistic influence of the Iranians who had been conquered by the Mongols. Cahun of course made no mention of this.
Cahun’s works however, become the basis of the pan-Turk movements of the 19th century. This is corroborated by pan-Turk activist, Ziya Gokalp (1876-1924), is on record for having stated that Cahun’s book was written “…as if to encourage the ideal of pan-Turkism” (Ostrorog (1927, p.56). Technically speaking, Gokalp was correct.
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Ziya Gokalp (1876-1924). Although a Kurd by birth (from Diyarbakr, Eastern Turkey), Ziya Gokalp was to become one of the major thinkers of pan-Turkism .
It would appear that this new movie of Genghis Khan is being partly steered by a combination of false romanticism, pan-Turkist ideology along with possible political motives. If true, then this would seriously compromise the movie’s educational (if not entertainment) value. Genghis Khan is indeed a great historical figure, however a movie about him would be most beneficial if all the aspects of his career were elucidated.
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Category: History
I received this photo this morning and you may find it of interest. It is a photograph of a 13-year old Iranian solider who has captured close to a dozen pan-Arabists during the liberation of Khorramshahr:
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(see also: http://kian-abdollahi.blogfa.com/post-36.aspx)
An interesting facet of pan-Arabism in Iraq was that it brainwashed Arab conscripts into beleiving that all Iranians are cowards and would simply surrender to Saddam Hussein’s forces. Pan-Arabism is the perfect case of ideology leading to battlefield defeats. One veteran mentioned that so many pan-Arab prisoners were captured during the liberation of Khuzestan that problmes had arsien to provide transport trucks for the prisoners.
Allow me to humbly share a case of media censorship during the Iran-Iraq war. A BBC report crew was interviewing a motorized unit of Saddam’s forces and during that interview a commander claimed that all Iranian jets had been destroyed and that “the last few Iranian jets are hiding from us”. A few moments later, Iranian F-4 phantoms appeated (probably with the deadly air to ground Maverick missiles). As soon as the roar of the Iranian jets appeared, the enrire crew bailed out from their tanks and took to their heels:
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The reason this report was cencored is most likley due to the fact that Saddam Hussein was an ally of the west at the time, In additon, the media was attempting to portray the pan-Arabists as a very “western” and professional military force. In reality, many of the conscripts suffered from low morale as they has little incentive to fight the Iranians - contrary to the fantasy of pan-Arabism, the vast majority of the Arabs do not dislike the Iranian people and reject pan-Arabism. Arabs and Iranians in fact get along very well and mingle throughout southwest Iran and the entire Persian Gulf region.
Finally, note must be taken of the role that Iranian-Arabs played in supporting the Iranian army in defending Khuzestan and liberating it from Saddam’s froces in 1982. Below is a photo of an Iranian-Arab unit that commemorates the role of the Iranian-Arabs in the defense of Iran during the Iran-Iraq war
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Iranian Arabs participating in celebrations in Tehran in September 22, 2007. Iranian Arabs were among the first to defend Iran against the pan-Arabists of Saddam Hussein – their actions in Khorramshahr, Abadan and Ahwaz bought the Iranian army precious time to organize defenses in September-October 1980. The Iranian Arans also participated with the Iranian forces in ejecting Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Iran by 1982. Iranian Arabs were also seen in a rally in front of the UAE Embassy supporting the name “Persian Gulf”.
Racialism and ethno-narcissistic movements are an outdated and discredited philosophy. One of these, pan-Arabism has been both defeated and discredited. Unfortunatley, certain elements in the western hemisphere have had the tendency to support and promote racialists in the pursuit of geopolitical and economic objectives, a process continuing to this day. While such schemes may be partly effective with post-World War One, post-World War Two and post-Soviet-era states, the same schemes are doomed to failure against historical countries such as Iran. The above-cited discussion is a case in point.
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Company historyAlthough the Peugeot factory had been in the manufacturing business for some time, their entry into the world of wheeled vehicles was by means of the bicycle. Armand Peugeot (educated at the Ecole Centrale Paris) introduced the Peugeot “Le Grand Bi” penny-farthing in 1882 and a range of bicycles. Peugeot bicycles have been built until very recently, although the car company and bike company parted ways in 1926. Armand Peugeot became very interested in the automobile early on, and after meeting with Gottlieb Daimler and others was convinced of its viability. The first Peugeot automobile (a three-wheeled steam-powered car) was produced in 1889, in collaboration with Léon Serpollet. Steam power was heavy and bulky and required lengthy preparation before running, so it was soon abandoned in favor of the petrol-fueled internal combustion engine.
1890 saw the first such vehicle, powered by a Daimler engine and with four wheels. Further cars followed, twenty-nine being built in 1892. Peugeot became the first manufacturer to fit rubber tires to a petrol-powered car that year (solid tires; pneumatic would follow in 1895). The vehicles were still very much horseless carriages in appearance and were steered by tiller. 1896 saw the first Peugeot engines; no longer were they reliant on Daimler. Further improvements followed; the engine was soon under a hood (bonnet) at the front of the car, instead of hidden underneath, the steering wheel was adopted, and they began to look more like the modern car. Peugeot added a motorcycle to its range in 1903, and motorcycles have been built under the Peugeot name ever since. In 1913 a Peugeot driven by Jules Goux won the Indianapolis 500. This car was powered by a Straight-4 engine designed by Ernest Henry, which had been successful in Grand Prix racing. The design was very influential for racing engines as it featured for the first time DOHC and 4 valves per cylinder providing for high engine speeds, a radical departure from previous racing engines which relied on huge displacement for power. When one of the Peugeot racers remained in the United States during World War I and parts could not be acquired from France for the 1914 season, owner Bob Burma had it serviced in the shop of Harry Arminius Miller, by a young mechanic named Fred Offenhauser. Their familiarity with the Peugeot engine was the basis of the famed Miller racing engine, which later developed into the Offenhauser, or “Offy” racing engine
By that year, Peugeot produced half of the cars built in France. 1916 and 1919 saw repeat wins at Indianapolis. During the 1914-1918 years Peugeot turned largely to arms production, becoming a major manufacturer of arms and military vehicles, from bicycles to tanks and shells. Postwar, car production resumed in earnest; the car was becoming no longer just a plaything for the rich but accessible to many. 1926, however, saw the cycle (pedal and motor) business separate to form Cycles Peugeot — the consistently profitable cycle division seeking to free itself from the rather more boom-and-bust auto business. 1929 saw the introduction of the Peugeot 201, the first car to be numbered in what became the Peugeot way — three digits with a central zero, a registered Peugeot trademark. It was also the first mass-produced car with independent front suspension. Soon after, the Depression hit; Peugeot sales decreased, but the company survived. In 1933, attempting a revival of fortune, the company unveiled a new, aerodynamically styled range. In the following year, a car with a folding, retractable hardtop was introduced, an idea re-iterated by the Ford Skyliner in the 1950s and, revived by the Mercedes SLK in the mid-1990’s. More recently, other manufacturers have taken to the idea of a retractable hard-top including Peugeot itself with the 307CC. Three interesting models of the thirties were the 202, 302 and 402. These cars had curvaceous bodies, with headlights behind sloping grille bars. The 402 entered production in 1935 and was produced until the end of 1941, despite France’s being occupied by the Nazis. The 302 ran from 1936-1938. The 202 was built in series from 1938-1942, and about 20 more examples were built from existing stocks of supplies in February 1945. Regular production began again in mid-1946, and lasted into 1949.
In 1948 the company restarted in the car business, with the Peugeot 203. More models followed, many elegantly styled by the Italian design firm of Pininfarina. The company began selling cars in the United States in 1958. Like many European manufacturers, collaboration with other firms increased; Peugeot worked with Renault from 1966 and Volvo Cars from 1972.
In 1974 Peugeot bought a 30% share of Citroën, and took it over completely in 1975 after the French government gave large sums of money to the new company. Citroën was in financial trouble because it developed too many radical new models for the financial resources it had available. Some of these projects, notably the Citroën SM and the Comotor rotary engine venture proved unprofitable. Others, like the Citroën CX and Citroën GS were recent designs that proved very successful in the marketplace. The joint parent company became the PSA (Peugeot Société Anonyme) group, aiming to keep separate identities for both Peugeot and Citroën brands, but sharing engineering and technical resources. Peugeot thus briefly controlled the valuable racing brand name Maserati, but disposed of it in May 1975 out of short term financial concerns. Both Citroën enthusiasts and automotive journalists point out that the company’s legendary innovation and flair took a marked downturn with the acquisition. The Citroën brand has continued to be successful in terms of sales, and now achieves over 1 million units annually. The group then took over the European division of Chrysler (which were formerly Rootes and Simca), in 1978 as the American auto manufacturer struggled to survive. Unlike Citroën, Chrysler Europe had no current designs and the factories acquired were worn-out. Further investments were required because PSA decided to create a new brand for the entity, based of the Talbot sports car last seen in the 1950’s. From then on, the whole Chrysler/Simca range was sold under the Talbot badge until production of Talbot branded passenger cars was shelved in 1986. The flagship of this short-lived brand was the Tagora, a direct competitor for PSA’s 604 and CX models. This was a large, angular saloon based on Peugeot 505 mechanicals. The resulting investments caused serious financial problems for the entire PSA group - PSA lost money from 1980 to 1985. The Peugeot takeover of Chrysler Europe had seen the aging Chrysler Sunbeam, Horizon, Avenger and Alpine ranges rebadged as Talbots. There were also new Talbots in the early 1980’s - the Solara (a saloon version of the Alpine hatchback), the Samba (a small hatchback to replace the Sunbeam).
In 1986, the company stopped the Talbot brand for passenger cars when it ceased production of the Simca-based Horizon/Alpine/Solara models. What was to be called the Talbot Arizona became the 309, with the former Rootes and Simca assembly plants in Ryton and Poissy respectively being turned over for Peugeot assembly. The former was significant, as it signalled the very first time Peugeots would be built in Britain. The Talbot name survived for a little longer on commercial vehicles until 1992 before being shelved completely. As experienced by other European volume car makers, US sales faltered and finally became uneconomic, as the Peugeot 505 design aged. The newly introduced Peugeot 405 proved uncompetitive with models from Japan, and sold less than 1,000 units. Total sales fell to 4,261 units in 1990 and 2,240 through July, 1991. This caused the company to cease U.S. operations after 33 years. Beginning in the late 1990s, with the presidency of Jean-Martin Folz at PSA, the Peugeot-Citroën combination seems to have found a better balance. Savings in costs are no longer made to the detriment of style. On April 18, 2006, PSA Peugeot Citroën announced the closure of the Ryton manufacturing facility in England. This announcement will result in the loss of 2,300 jobs as well as about 5,000 jobs in the supply chain
Motorsports The company has had much success in international rallying, notably with the durable Peugeot 504, highly developed four-wheel-drive turbo-charged versions of the Peugeot 205, and more recently the Peugeot 206. The 206 rally car had a dramatic impact on the world rally championship, beating the Subaru Impreza, Ford Focus and Mitsubishi Lancer, cars which had always traditionally dominated the sport. The 206 was retired practically unbeaten after several successful years, and replaced with the comparatively disappointing Peugeot 307cc. Throughout the mid-1990s, the Peugeot 406 saloon (called a sedan in some countries) contested touring car championships across the world, enjoying dominant success in France, Germany and Australia, yet failing to win a single race in the highly-regarded British touring car championship despite a number of excellent podium finishes under the command of touring car legend Tim Harvey. The British cars were prepared by Prodrive in 1996 where the cars sported red livery, and MSD in 1997-1998 where they wore a distinctive green and gold flame design. Initially the 406’s lack of success was blamed on suspension problems, but it is now clear that the team was underfunded and the engine lacked power on tracks which required straight-line acceleration. In 2001, Peugeot entered three 406 coupes into the British touring car championship to compete with the dominant Vauxhall Astra coupes. Unfortunately the 406 coupe was at the end of its product life-cycle and did not prove competitive, despite some returns to form towards the end of the year, notably when Peugeot’s Steve Soper led a race only to suffer engine failure in the last few laps. The 406 coupes were retired at the end of the year and replaced with the Peugeot 307 - again, uncompetitively - in 2002. Until its withdrawal at the end of 2005, Peugeot entered the Peugeot 307cc in the World Rally Championship. Peugeot won the grueling Paris Dakar Rally each year from 1987 to 1990. In the 1990s the company raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours race, winning in 1992 and 1993 with the 905. It will come back in 2007, with the 908 powered by a diesel engine. Peugeot have some involvement with the Courage C60 Le Mans racing team. The company has also been involved in providing engines to Formula One teams, notably McLaren in 1994, Jordan for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 seasons, and Prost for the 1998, 1999 and 2000 seasons
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Category: technology, History
I hope that we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
- Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln.I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
- Abraham Lincoln
Big business is not dangerous because it is big, but because its bigness is an unwholesome inflation created by privileges and exemptions which it ought not to enjoy.
- Woodrow Wilson
The citizens of the United States must control the mighty commercial forces which they themselves called into being.
- Theodore Roosevelt
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
- Dwight Eisenhower
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves - and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion.
- Thomas Jefferson
The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
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It is longer than Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall taken together. It is over a thousand years older than the Great Wall of China as we know it today. It is of more solid construction than its ancient Chinese counterparts. It is the greatest monument of its kind between central Europe and China and it may be the longest brick, or stone, wall ever built in the ancient world. This wall is known as ‘The Great Wall of Gorgan’ or ‘the Red Snake’. An international team of archaeologists has been at work on the snakelike monument and here they report on their findings. Read full article…
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A traditional Haft Sin table celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is seen set Wednesday, March 19, 2008, in the State Dining Room of the White House. Nowruz is, in Persian and some other cultures, including Kurdish culture, a family-oriented holiday celebrating the New Year and the coming of spring. The Haft Sin table has seven items symbolizing new life, joy, love, beauty and health, sunrise, patience and garlic to ward off evil. White House photo by Chris Greenberg
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Category: Politics, History, Iranian Americans, pop culture
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