P U L S E
Esteemed friends and bloggers have created this new website.
P U L S E was originally conceived by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad (The Fanonite) and Ann El Khoury (PeoplesGeography) to synergise their efforts and energies in managing their established blogs in tandem with research demands. They are joined by fellow editors David Thomson (ISB) and Robin Yassin-Kassab (Qunfuz).
My best wishes.
The Narrative
Just a few days after Georgia launched an offensive to regain control over the separatist Georgian province, the “official” narrative has become:
No matter how this conflict started, Russia has escalated it well beyond the dispute over South Ossetia.
Does that mean that those delicate souls, who are offended by Russia’s “disproportioned response”, consider Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and the massive US armada heading for Iran, as well-proportioned ones”?
I wonder if the “he acted alone, then committed suicide” episode will fit somewhere in that story.
- Professor de la Vega is back to the blogistan and here is his take of these events.
- Russia’s Medvedev halts military action in Georgia
- Georgia-Russia: Western Tradeoff of Georgia Against Iran?
- ماجراهای پشت پرده جنگ اوستیا شهیر بلاگ
See also: These Batman ethics are repellent
Not Personal
Iason Athanasiadis is a British-Greek writer, photographer, political analyst, and television producer. He specializes in the Middle East.
In his latest article in the Guardian he writes that according to a high-level former official in the Clinton administration “September’s mysterious Israeli strike on Syria was a successful test of an American missile against the new Russian radar system that Moscow sold to Damascus and Tehran, ahead of a strike against Iran. According to the source, the Syrians were warned in advance through back-channels that they would be getting hit and advised to keep mum about it as it was “not personal“.”
Sleep-walking to war ,Recent talk at Harvard – the intellectual powerhouse of the US suggests understanding of the Iran problem is sadly lacking.
Iason Athanasiadis website, his Iran page including a summary of articles and photos.
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Ari Fleischer, who was once the face of the Bush administration when they were selling the war on Iraq, is now in charge of running a $200 million anti-Iran PR campaign. Link via Another Irani Online (an informative blog)
The Real News
The Promise
See also Frequently asked questions: CEO Paul Jay answers 20 question about The Real News
Canadian journalist Paul Jay, former executive producer of CBC, is the founder of Independent World Television – The Real News , a project to establish an independent news and current affairs network without government or corporate funding. The network will be supported by its viewers.
The Real News youtube page
Link via Iran Coverage
Links
Life goes on in Tehran: a Photoblog, link via AA
The unapolegetic Mexican: Let’s take a walk through Iran
Vivien Feyer and Jeffrey Ritterman: Children of Iran, thanks Ann
Benedictus: An international collaboration among artists from Iran, Israel and the United States, San Francisco, till October 21st
Life and So Much More: Kiarostami at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Oct 12 to 27
Cinema’s twin orphans: Kiarostami and Victor Erice at Centre Pompidou, Paris
Chicago’s 18th Annual Festival of is currenctly screening 14 recent Iranian films.
Night Bus by Kiumars Purahmad is nominated in the Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Modern and contemporary art in Iran
Super East-West woman: Living on the Axis, Fighting Evil Everywhere: Aphrodite Desiree Navab at Rhonda Schaller Studio, NY, Oct 20 Nov 17. About the exhibition
Exhibition in Abu Dhabi: A walk into Islamic history, the private collection of Dr. Abdul Latif Kanoo
Linux advocacy: Persian Linux
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The man who stands between US and new war – thanks Ann
Leading Americans Ask U.S. Military to Refuse Orders to Attack Iran: Text of Petition
Spinning the threat of a nuclear war in the ME: Haaretz
Conversation with history: An interview with John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt authors of the Israel lobby and US foreign policy, see also first paper in The London Review of Books
Alternate Focus
Thanks (again) to Throw away your telescreen I came across the Alternate Focus: Broadcasting the other side of the story.
Who are they? The three founding directors, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim, are working together for peace and justice by offering the American public media which shows another side of Middle Eastern issues.
Video of the week: Iraq the bases are loaded
“Will the U.S. ever leave Iraq? Official policy promises an eventual departure, while warning of the dire consequences of a “premature” withdrawal. But while Washington equivocates, facts on the ground tell another story. Independent journalist Dahr Jamail, and author Chalmers Johnson, are discovering that military bases in Iraq are being consolidated from over a hundred to a handful of “megabases” with lavish amenities. Much of what is taking place is obscured by denials and quibbles over the definition of “permanent.” The Bases Are Loaded covers a wide range of topics. Gary Hart, James Goldsborough, Nadia Keilani, Raed Jarrar, Bruce Finley, Kam Zarrabi and Mark Rudd all add their observations about the extent and purpose of the bases in Iraq.”
Misc.links
Response to NYT: Soraya Sepahpour Ulrich
NYT: accessory to crime and the ACTUAL developments between IAEA and Iran … text available on the IAEA web site.
WP: accessory to NYT, the inetrument of the crime
A new blog: Exit Stage Right
The Persian carpet in Montreal film festival
Pasion segun San Mateo Aria Erbarme Dich … and another version on youtube
Within & without: contemprorary Iranian artists in London
MWC
Courtesy of Ben Heine
Ben Heine has interviewed – and portrayed – Shahram Vahdany, the co-founder of ModernWriters literary website and the founder of the alternative news site MWC News, Media With Conscience.
You can read the interview here.
As MWC News Starts Its Third Year… By Shahram Vahdany
Week-End-Links
When I posted the first call-a-shoe shine in Tehran, I wasn’t aware of this October 2006 Guardian article, Ali’s ambition shines bright:”With its traffic-clogged streets, terrifyingly aggressive drivers and asphyxiating pollution, Tehran is hardly tailor-made for following Norman Tebbit’s prescription to get ‘on your bike’ in search of work. But heedless of the mayhem of the Iranian capital, that’s what Ali Hasankhani does every day…” read more
Aref-Adib‘s latest look-alikes
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Parkingallery
Berlin-Tehran/Work in progress 2007
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An exciting group to join: The Cloud Appreciation Society, run by the co-founder of The Idler, via Ressentment – thanks Serv 🙂 and don’t forget to Throw Away Your Telescreen!
Misc.links
Visit to Iran dispels anti-U.S. fears, provides perspective on grievances
by Jeff Thorner, Tucson, Arizona 06.27.2007: “I just returned from a three-week trip to Iran. I seized the opportunity to travel there with a small group of New Zealanders, thinking it might be wise as an American citizen to keep a low profile and enjoy the “cover” provided by this non-American contingent of travelers…” read more
More photos of Iran: travel blogs and photos at
TrekEarth
Tintin in Iran
Unofficial place for Iranian fans, see previous post
Also two interesting interviews, both concerning Iran:
1: An interview with Gareth Porter, historian and journalist- Antiwar.com
2: An interview with author and activist Webster G. Tarpley announcing the July 4th Philadelphia Emergency Anti-War Convention
Tks 99 🙂
Windows …
Fatemeh Keshavarz publishes regularly a series of articles: Windows on Iran. Highly recommended.
The last issue includes her thoughts about the the recent arrests, the one-sidedness of the media on Iran/Islam related issues, the covert black operations – reportedly including a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation if Iran’s currency and Mr. Baghi’s letter regarding these current issues, etc.
She also presents the following links:
What is it that you fear, Mr. Bush? by Judith Ernst: As I fly out of Iran after a visit to the garden city of Shiraz, I am puzzled by your belligerence […] Mr. Bush, who is it that you fear? … read more
Cheney’s Iran-Arms-to-Taliban Gambit Rebuffed, by Gareth Porter
Slide show of the performance, with excerpts and an interview with Gord-Afarid, Fatemeh Habibizad, the first Iranian woman Naqqal – a performer reading and enacting stories of the celebrated Persian epic The Book of Kings: the revival of the traditional storytelling. Update: With English subtitles
Colors of Iran: Iran’s first International Children’s Book Festival, Kerman, 2005
A three-minute documentary by the renowned director Abbas Kiarostami, made on the occasion of Cannes Film festival’s 60th year, including 24 Iranian actresses whom he has worked with over the years.
Previous post: Reading more than Lolita in Tehran
Saturday Links
I didn’t have access to the internet for a while, now for some reasons I cannot open all the pages, mainly in blogger … grrrr … I hope that this is just a bad day. I am trying to catch up, and this seems like a good place to start:
well done Serv 🙂
Norman the Lion heart at PPGG‘s, also at the Fanonite and Serv. The Fanonite had previously posted this interesting debate.
Credit to Le Monde diplomatique, two articles by Sophia and The Fanonite.
Another interesting site: David Burnett photojournalist
Shattered images of Mona Lisa
1, 2, 3
1 – Marjan Satrapi‘s success story in the Cannes festival: “Persepolis had its world premiere today at 4 p.m. And at the end of the film, cheers and applause rang through the Palais; the rhythmic clapping that is Cannes’ way of saying “bravo” lasted for more than 15 minutes …” read more
An interview with Marjan at the IHT: ” … In the ’70s, we grew up with American culture – bowling with my cousins, the music, hamburgers, pizza like in Chicago. Nobody can believe how many parallels between where I come from and America – countries that are not very friendly these days. But now that I know the country and have done so many book tours, I think, how stupid we are to make these clichés about America…” read more. Her homepage.
«What we wanted to say is, if these people scare you, look closer: They have parents, they have lovers, they have hope, they have stories» … more
2 – The news are as messy as usual. Monte (and 99 and Naz-banoo) mentioned the new covert action about Iran, a sort of follow up of a previous article: Subverting Iran – Washington’s Covert War Inside Iran. The comments- in the original article, are … sort of … well, worth reading.
See also Guardian declares war on Iran, and the Nah al-Bared tragedy at The Fanonite.
3 – I enjoyed reading the last Henry CK Liu article: A Mute Strategic Economic Dialogue, about the “The Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) between the United States and China“. It provides a glimpse into the Chinese way of seeing things, and their way of dealing with the regime- change mega-plans. After all, as Fred wrote: ” … Asia … we are all going to be interested in before too many years pass …”
Forever Under Construction 
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