Iran

Dude! Look at how many Persians are speaking at Web 2.0! Hossein Eslambolchi, CTO, AT&T Omid Kordestani, VP Sales, Google Yusuf Mehdi, Senior VP, Microsoft Pierre Omidyar, Founder, eBay Safa Rashtchy, Analyst, Piper Jaffrey

For those of you who have been following this blog for awhile now, may remember that I was going to be a book editor back in December 2004 for a new book about Persian blogs. My editorship ended up not working out, as the publishing house had their own. However, the book is going to be coming out in a few months under the name We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs. Pre-order the book here. Congratulations to Nasrin!

WashPost: Iran announced that it resumed work at a key nuclear facility today, effectively ending a suspension of its nuclear program and severing more than two years of negotiations with Europe that held out the promise of closer ties with the West. The Bush administration, along with allies Britain, France and Germany, had warned they would try to take the issue of Iran’s program to the U.N. Security Council if Tehran made good, as it did today, on promises to…

LA Times Ahmadinejad, 48, who has never held an elective office and was the appointed mayor of Tehran for two years, was the young challenger. A former Revolutionary Guard and instructor to the “basiji” militia, who wears a fighter’s symbolic kaffiyeh, Ahmadinejad talks tough toward Iran’s enemies. He promises to reverse what he and his followers based in the military, the bazaars and the clergy view as the watering down of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s militancy. His foes fear he will…

Probably due to jet lag (the first time in awhile that I remember that I’ve been really affected by it), I’m up again way too early (before 6 am). At 4:33 am Pacific will be the precise beginning of Noruz, the Persian New Year 1384 — that’s on the Persian calendar not the Islamic calendar. So, Aidee Shoma Moborak! I’m planning on heading down to Madison Ave. to check out the 2nd annual Persian Parade. I’m debating whether or not…

This was first broken by UPI back in January. I’m hoping to go to Iran for the first time this summer, assuming we’re not at war. WashPost: By Dafna Linzer Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, February 13, 2005; Page A01 The Bush administration has been flying surveillance drones over Iran for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programs and detect weaknesses in air defenses, according to three U.S. officials with detailed knowledge of the secret effort. The…

“Passerby, whoever you are and wherever you come from, for I know that you will come – I am Cyrus, I have given the Persians an empire and I have ruled over Asia. So do not envy me for this monument.”

So apparently my namesake wrote a famous scroll that the Brits are loaning back to the Iranians. How thoughtful of them. This clay cylinder is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform with an account by Cyrus, king of Persia (559-530 BC) of his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC and capture of Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king. Cyrus claims to have achieved this with the aid of Marduk, the god of Babylon. He then describes measures of relief he brought to the…

Reuters, August 9 2004 Since “The Terminal” opened in the United States in June, reporters have been lining up to meet him at his makeshift airport home, passengers stop to take his photo and fans send him letters — addressed to “Alfred, Terminal 1”. “I might be famous. But my life hasn’t changed at all. I’m still sitting here, and not in some fancy flat,” Merhan said. The soft-spoken, balding man says he received more than $300,000 (162,813 pounds) from…

At Rachel’s suggestion, I’ve created PersianNotArab.com (the domain won’t work for a day or so) to document this type of occurance. I’m not going to be a vigilante or anything, seeking out these types of misrepresentations all the time, but if they cross my email inbox or my regular reading materials, then I’ll speak up.