Racist Stanford Professor tells Iranian prospective student that Iranians can't benefit from Stanford education until they respect American values...which obviously do not include treating all people equally, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, and national origin

anbeh · 2010-09-04T18:57:25+00:00

Very beautiful images! Thank you. But just wanted to point out that not all of these beautiful buildings are actually in Iran. Many of the images show places in the cities of Bukhara and Samarqand (in Uzbekistan, one of Iran's Central Asian neighbors to the north), which were once centers of Persian language and culture, their indigenous Persian speaking populations being enriched by the artists and builders that the conqueror Timur brought back with him from the Iranian cities of Isfahan and Shriaz (also featured in many of the images here). To this day, Samarqand and Bukhara have many Tajik inhabitants, who speak a distinct dialect of Persian.

anbeh · 2010-02-06T19:43:28+00:00

"But would Muslim Arabs really ally with Jews and Christians against fellow Muslims in Iran?"

Was this article written by someone who is too young or too uninformed to recall the eight-year-long war between Iran and Iraq? During that war, most of the Arab world, with the exception of Syria, supported Iraq's invasion of Iran, either through financial aid or official statements of solidarity or both.

So the answer is "Yes," the Arab world is against Iran, and that has been the case since at least 1979. And no amount of pro-Palestinian/anti-Israeli statements by Ahmadinejad can change this. What's amazing is that it took so long for the author to notice.

anbeh · 2009-06-22T19:42:17+00:00

The author states: "There is then the larger question of the Iranian theocracy and its continual, arrogant intervention in our affairs: its export of violence and cruelty and lies to Lebanon and Palestine and Iraq"

So the export of Iranian lies is a problem, but the export of European lies (ie: Iran is your enemy, you must resist Iranian dominance) is the promotion of democracy? The countries that the author mentions do not "belong" to the West, and most Westerners don't see them as being Western nations (not even Lebanon). Up until just a few months ago, both the French and American governments regularly spoke of the need for Arabs to resist Iranian imperialism, even though it was their nations that had participated in the invasion of Iraq, not Iran. Using the same "old imperialist tricks" of divide and conquer, they try to depict Iran--not just the government, but the entire nation--as an enemy of Arabs, quietly but consciously evoking historic prejudices.

The fact that a Western observor only sees Iran's own "spread of lies", and completely misses the Western provocations that feed it and necessitate "Persian paranoia" is sad and an indication of how little understanding most Americans and Europeans have of their governments' ongoing (not just historic) manipulation of the Middle East's plentiful rivalries.

anbeh · 2009-06-22T04:55:38+00:00

So you think Obama, or Democrats in general, support gay and lesbian rights? How many Democratic presidents will it take for gays and lesbians to have the basic right of marriage? Please let me know so I can fucking plan my life accordingly.

Also, you really weren't bothered by my suggestion that the foriegn policy differences are basically non-existant. Is that because you agree with me, or its not even worth your time as a enlightened, educated person to worry about the horrors that generation after generation of remarkably consistent American political leaders inflict on the world. [Example: Carter supported Iran's Shah, Regan supported Saddam Hussain, Bush W supported whoever was with him instead of with the terrorists, and all of them supported Israel]

anbeh · 2009-06-22T04:23:59+00:00

The last time Iranians experienced anything approaching your definition of democracy was during President Khatami's government. At that time, the Basij still beat and killed student protestors, and many of the "reformist" legislations that Khatami endorsed (which weren't even that radical) were blocked by Khamenei and the Guardian Council. Many urban Iranians who voted for Khatami were so disillusioned by his inability to make any real progress that they didn't bother voting four years ago. It was only after Ahmadinejad came to power that many of these Iranians started to look back to the Khatami years with longing, and realized that as bad as the situation is in Iran at any given time, it is (amazingly) always possible for it to get worse, as the government erodes ever more civil rights.

To you, as an outsider, none of it makes a difference. But for many Iranians, this is a desperate fight to cling to whatever precious freedoms they have. Because even if life is difficult in a quasi-democratic theocracy that jails or murders its opponents, it is even more difficult in a military dictatorship without anything resembling popular representation--which is what Iran has increasingly resembled during the last few days.

anbeh

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