My modest thoughts on Iran

Every time I have some small chunks of free time, I waste it reading news, many news, many many news.

In the last seven days, the chief media subject was Iran:to attack or not to attack, to sanction or not, to give them or not more fuel for the coming parliamentary non-democratic elections, how to survive the attack and whose help to rely upon (none, of course). 

You can hardly miss one day without a single set of minimum 5 news about Iran. Many are even asking more and more news, as they ignore the fact that free journalists are in prison in Iran and they are not allowed to report with the speed of CNN. 

Meanwhile, we enter tomorrow the jouyous month of Adar when we prepare to celebrate the victory of the Jews against the anti-Semitic plan of the Jew-hater Haman from the Persian Empire. We won thanks to the gracious beauty of the hidden Jewess Esther. Remember this: we WON.

The Economist strikes back

and probably will do this many times from now, in this worldwide teasing campaign looking so confusing through its black-and-white lenses.

After this amazing example of purposed ignorance, we have modestly chronicled, it is a follow-up, under the brave signature of an anonymous contributor.

Shortly: 2011 could be the year of a destructive war in the Middle East, unless Obama administration will adopt a tough and "persistent" stance to determine Israel to change the policy on settlements. The "author" mention that Hizbullah is fuelled by Syria and Iran, Tehran having "an apparent desire to acquire nuclear weapons", but the danger is that Israel "will strike back"and the war will expand in Syria and probably Iran. Read Wikileaks to realize how "united" is the Middle East and how much all of them love Iran. It is any good recommendation for encouraging the countries from the Middle East to have democratic institutions and subsequently, to trust democratic values? A democratic state, with proper autonomous institutions will not accept on its territory a terrorist organization as Hizbullah. And I think that the international community would have to spend many sleepless nights thinking about all the possible means to encourage, support and strengthen democracy in the area. It is how a peace will prevail. But nothing by far in this article and the reader will find further another "common place": that Hamas don't recognize the state of Israel, but the "occupation" bears the responsibility. It is easier to find and target the "scape goat". And America looks "weak" when not impose a hard policy over the issue of settlements.

It is a sad irony in all those articles widespreading cheap ideas.

Related articles

• Hizbullah's Latest Suicide Mission (nytimes.com)
• The Economist vs. Israel (Again) (commentarymagazine.com)

How to deal with idiots

Image by Stewf via Flickr

Or some insights about the idea of peace and love in the Middle East.

News and declarations in Egypt assume that the Mossad agents brought the sharks in Egypt. Two years ago, in the media from Iran the frontlines were that the same agents were using pigeons and squirrels (immediately arrested) against the nuclear program of the Republic.

If they are people who believe this, I have no idea how to deal with them - see the title...The repertoire of insanities is infinite...

Related articles

• Egypt puzzled by string of Red Sea shark attacks (nationalpost.com)
• Sheep exports blamed for Egypt shark attacks - ABC Online (news.google.com)

Numbers

From the last The Economist, a statistic about the Arab death following the Conflicts in the Arab world since 1990

Sources: Algerian Government, British Council, B'T selem, Iraq Body Count, Kuwaiti Government, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Project on Defense Alternatives, Reuters, UN

Conflict in Darfur, since 2003 - 400,000

Algerian Civil War 1991-2002 - 150,000-200,000

Invasion of Iraq (since 2003) - 101,000-109,000

Iraqi Shia rebellion - 60,000-100,000

War for Kuwait (1990 and 1991) - 24,000-31,000

Second Palestinian intifada (2000-05) -5,500

Gaza war (2009) - 1,400

Lebanon war (2006) - 1,200

Every human being have its value and its story and the same right to live. The same right to have its life defended. Why the apparent solidarity in the Middle East when it is about opposing Israel is fading away when it is to help the lives of other Arabs? The same question for the human rights activitst across the world.

The same Economist is quoting Mona Eltahawy, relating to another issue, but still concerning the Arab world: "Israel is the opium of the Arabs".

Still related to the latest evolution in the Middle East: why any kind of solidarity - human therefore, whatever the race, origin and country - is almost absent in the case of Iran? Of course, the situation is not clear, mainly regarding who could take the direct advantage of any change of the current status. But, beyond the geopolitical and pollitical considerations, it is first of all a matter of respect for the human rights.

The House of the Mosque

A good piece of literature is not an abstract of the daily news. You already have newspapers. What a good writer could do is to build up a narrative, more or less connected to the immediate ground and environment, but reavealing what is humanly common. Kader Abdolah (the pen name of Hossein Sadjadi Ghaemmaghani Farahani). It is a society in change of the Iran in the 20th century, seen from a well defined location - the house of the mosque - with roles played by family members of an extended family. People are changing following the pressure of times, are taking sides, are killed or dye. If you are weak you are a flexible subject of history, if not, you could remain yourself and look wisely around you, not without disappointment and sadness. Is this book a window to another culture, not easy to grasp? Almost all the cultures, whatever open links they have - as a language worldwide spoken, or cultural marks present in the public space - have always an identity of their own you cannot understand otherwise than by getting deep into the cultural codes more or less shared. What you have to assume from the very beginning is that these other worlds are made by very real human beings, but living in various cultural and political environment. The ways in which they react at the pressures of the environment could be different. What we ofently see is the final result of these interactions. Literature, as arts in general, could make these translations smoothly.