Archives for August 2009

Statement by 40 Engaged Scholars ‘Human Beings are Members of a Whole’ Protecting the Iranian Civil Society Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human […]

Some experts are raising the question about whether Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will serve out his four year term. They wonder if the instability and substantial opposition to him from reformists as well as the hostility of some conservative hard liners will undermine him. CSM on why the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps relentlessly cracks down. […]

The allegation that a US drone strike in Waziristan killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban Movement, Baitullah Mahsud, cannot be dismissed but it has to be taken with a grain of salt. The strike on the house of Baitullah’s father-in-law, Ikramuddin, killed Baitullah’s wife. But it is now being thought that it may have […]

Hamid Dabashi at CNN points out that the US executive’s (the Obama administration’s) plans to engage Iran may come up against Congress’s desire to act aggressively toward the country, either through crippling sanctions or covert operations. A recent congressional hearing on Iran chaired by Howard Berman stacked the decks in favor of the Neoconservatives, 4 […]

Even the official Iranian site Press TV had to admit that of 70 reformist members of parliament, only 13 attended Ahmadinejad’s inauguration. AP has more on Wednesday’s protests. Opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi called Wednesday for the regime to permit continued demonstrations by the reform faction. Freedom of assembly is guaranteed in the Iranian constitution. (But […]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in as president of Iran on Wednesday, to scattered protests. Several hundred protesters were said to have marched around the parliament building where the ceremony took place, despite a heavy police presence. Cell phone and text messaging services are said to have been interrupted by the regime. Ahmadinejad responded to news […]

“the unwise impulse to negotiations. . .” Or the answer to the question of “Where have all the Neocons gone? Aljazeera English has video:

The certification of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner of the presidential election in a special ceremony in Tehran set off demonstrations by thousands of protesters in downtown Tehran, according to the official Iranian Press TV news service. Police intervened, producing clashes that went on into the evening. Borzou Daragahi of the LAT writes that “Drivers […]

Keith Olbermann debunks the report that General Electric (owner of MSNBC and NBC) and Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox Cable News) made a deal to halt the feud between Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly. [Update: Glenn Greenwald explains that there were two issues, 1) whether GE made a deal with Murdoch, and 2) whether Olbermann was […]