Faith Today

Interview with Fredrick Toben

2011-03-11T08:37:00.001-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Dr. Fredrick Toben is a unique man. You can find a certain tranquility and serenity in his words and actions which make him an unparalleled academician, author and political analyst. While talking to him, you can make sure that you enjoy a fruitful, comprehensive and informative conversation. He always speaks as if he is in a university classroom and wants to teach something to his students. This is the prominent aspect of his personality. He wants to teach and to learn, as well. He loves sharing new experiences with you, and this is another feature of his personality. He has scientifically denied Holocaust and paid the cost: five times in prison in five countries.

He was born on 2 June 1944, Jaderberg, north Germany, into a farming family, which immigrated to Australia in 1954. His father and mother farmed in Australia. His father died in 2003 and his mother passed away in 2008 while he was serving a three-month prison term for 'contempt of court'. His parents were married for 63 years.

Toben received his tertiary education in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Rhodesia-Zimbabwe and he taught secondary and tertiary level German, English, sociology and philosophy in all these countries and Nigeria, as well.

He had a major policy difference with the Victorian Education Department in Melbourne, Australia, which dismissed him from his teaching post on grounds if incompetence and disobedience, and for almost ten years he fought the case and had his dismissal declared invalid.

In 1994, Fredrick Toben founded the Adelaide Institute and became its director. The aim was to research matters relating to 'Holocaust-Shoah' and other related 'taboo topics' that mainstream research institutes did not dare investigate for fear of financial and social sanction. In 1998 Adelaide Institute held the first-ever Revisionist Symposium in Australia. In 1997 and 1999 he went on a world revisionist fact-finding tour that took him to Eastern Europe in particular to Auschwitz where allegedly millions of Jews were gassed. He found that the technicality of the gassing assertion could not be sustained.

Since 1999, Toben made visits to Iran on a regular basis to attend scientific congresses and news conferences on various social and political issues.

Fredrick Toben joined me in an exclusive interview and talked to me about his viewpoints regarding Iran, the Persian culture, the Islamic solidarity, the impacts of Iran's Islamic Revolution on the global order and the current position of Iran in the international community.

Here is the complete text of interview with the Australian-German philosopher, Fredrick Toben.

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KOUROSH ZIABARI: From the Axis of Evil to the Least Popular Country

2011-03-10T10:06:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - A poll recently conducted by the BBC World Service in 27 countries shows that Iran is considered to be the least popular country of the world, followed by North Korea, Pakistan and Israel.

Iran which was dubbed a part of the Axis of Evil by the former U.S. President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, is now under the merciless spates of psychological attack by the world’s mainstream media over its controversial nuclear program.

To the Western mainstream media, Iran can only be defined in the framework of its contentious nuclear program and a number of stereotypes which seem to be inseparable from the West’s depiction and portrayal of Iran.

What we usually encounter while pursuing Iran’s coverage in the Western media is the claim that the Iranian people are religiously extremist, fundamentalist, terrorist, anti-American and intolerant. I’ve personally encountered several cases in which the American people have conflated Iran with Iraq and called Iran an Arab country. Many others have told me that they’re simply unable to locate Iran’s position on the world map and the only thing which they know about this country is that it wants to acquire nuclear weapons and wipe Israel off the world map.

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Who is running the Western media?

2011-03-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: We usually hear the boastful assertions of the leaders of the Western mainstream media that their media outlets are ideologically, financially and politically independent of their respective governments and what they put forward as packages of information to be consumed by the readers or viewers are unbiased, realistic, unprejudiced and objective.

The Western mainstream media conventionally boast of being professional and attached to the morals of journalism; however, the only thing which is missing in the coverage of these media of the international developments is ethical values, honesty and straightforwardness.

One of the most striking examples of the Western media's indifference towards the aptitude of their audiences was their coverage of the 2008-2009 Gaza Massacre. From BBC to Reuters, from CNN to Sky News and from Washington Post to New York Times, all of them tried to put a lid on the felonies of Israeli regime and by astutely playing with the words, downgraded the scale of atrocity and violence exercised by the Israel Defense Forces. They refused to admit that what Israel was committing was an all-out massacre, so they simply eliminated the term "massacre" from their reports and in one of the most controversial cases, the state-run BBC, which we are used to hearing of its deceitful tricks, refused to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee's humanitarian appeal for Gaza under the growing pressure of the Israeli lobby.

This refusal to air an appeal for the humanitarian aids for the crisis-hit Gaza was something which even the British public complained about. On January 23, 2009, Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, writes a letter to the BBC, Sky and ITV, expressing his "disappointment" that the appeal would not be broadcast. On Sunday, January 25, The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams calls on the BBC to air the appeal, along with Scottish first minister Alex Salmond and justice minister Shahid Malik.

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Human rights in Bahrain in grave stage

2011-03-08T05:22:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: It's categorically demonstrable by facts and figures that Bahrain has one of the blackest human rights records among the Arab countries surrounding the Persian Gulf.

Bahrain has a population of less than 800,000, 70 percent of them practicing Shias; however, this tiny Arab country is renowned for its longstanding tradition of suppressing the Shia majority, exercising inhumane methods of torturing, imprisoning the political activists, putting restrictions on the mass media and exploiting foreign workers for various purposes.

When Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa assumed the throne as the king of Bahrain in 2001, the situation of human rights in this country was quite deplorable and alarming. According to a report by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, several people were incarcerated during anti-government demonstrations or public gatherings and sent to prisons for lengthy periods of time, tortured by loathsome methods such as sleep deprivation or sexual assault. “On 17 December, 2007 on Martyrs' Day aimed at paying tribute to past victims of torture, members of the Special Security Forces began a wave of arrests targeting more than 60 individuals, among them over 10 activists. Within the month of February 2009, several key human rights defenders in Bahrain were arbitrarily arrested and detained including Abbas Abdul Aziz Al-Umran, Sayed Sharaf Ahmed, Ali Hassan Salman, and Jaafar Kadhim Ebrahim," the report says.

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Interview with Geoge Katsiaficas

2011-03-06T05:31:00.001-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari: George Katsiaficas is a renowned university professor, sociologist, author and activist. He is a visiting American Professor of Humanities and Sociology at Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea where he teaches and does research on the 1980s and 1990s East Asian uprisings.

Katsiaficas has a Ph.D. of sociology from the University of California, San Diego. Since 1990, he has taught sociology at the Wentworth Institute of Technology’s Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. During the period between 2006 and 2008, he was an Associate in Research at the Harvard University and Korea Institute.

He specializes in social movements, Asian politics, the U.S. foreign policy, comparative and historical studies and has written numerous books in these fields.

In 2003, he won the American Political Science Association’s Special Award for Outstanding Service and in 2008, received the Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Fellowship.

Among his major books are “The Battle of Seattle” by the New York’s Soft Skull Press, “Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party” by New York’s Routledge Press and “South Korean Democracy: Legacy of the Gwangju Uprising” by London’s Routledge Press.

What follows is the complete text of interview with Dr. George Katsiaficas on the recent uprising in the Arab world, its impacts on the international developments and its implications for the United States and its European allies.

The renaissance of the Arab world?

2011-03-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: The unprecedented wave of protests which has engulfed the Arabian states of the Middle East and North Africa over the past few weeks is being extended ever more.

After Tunisia and Egypt in which millions of revolutionary protesters succeeded in ousting the western-installed puppets Zainal Abidin bin Ali and Hosni Mubarak, several nations of the Middle East, including Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and Libya joined the communal movement of the Arab world to put an end to the longstanding U.S.-backed autocracy in the region.

The Arab uprising in the Middle East which seems to have been inspired by Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979 has only one unequivocal and unambiguous objective: the obliteration of tyranny and despotism and the establishment of democracy and freedom.

As one looks back at the sequence of events and incidents, which led up to the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979, one can clearly figure out that the stance of the White House concerning its allies in the Middle East has always been the same. When the people of Iran first took to the streets of Tehran en masse to call for the abolition of Mohammad Reza Shah's monarchy, Jimmy Carter assertively backed his stalwart ally, the "Gendarme of the Persian Gulf", unconditionally assuring him that the United States would stand by him and his government; however, as the demonstrations and rallies overwhelmed the whole country and the people began to call for the homecoming of their exiled, charismatic leader, Imam Khomeini, Carter gradually found out that it was time to change direction and leave the unfortunate Shah alone.

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US losing power game in Middle East

2011-03-03T23:25:00.001-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: The popular uprising in the Middle East which set off from Tunisia and Egypt is steadily encompassing the whole Arab world.

This indicates the fact that the United States and its European cronies are losing their last hopes in the region and approaching a dead-end which brings them nothing but disappointment and regret.

Following the dissolution of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's government which was an unexpected shock for the White House, the awakened people of Egypt ousted the unflappable dictator Hosni Mubarak who had long served as a stooge of the United States in the Middle East, implemented the plans and policies of Washington and Tel Aviv and suppressed the Palestinian nation in a brutal way.

The victory of Tunisian and Egyptian people provoked the other Arab nations in the region to rise against the dictators that have been irresponsibly ruling them for so long and confiscating their inalienable rights tyrannically. This was what made the White House fearful and flabbergasted, because in less than one month, it lost two of its most strategic allies in Northern Africa and what could have been more tragic and catastrophic than this unanticipated loss?

The United States and Tunisia have had bilateral relations for more than 200 years and the White House has maintained an official representation in Tunis since 1795. The American Friendship Treaty with Tunisia was signed in 1799 and since that date, the two states cooperated closely on several joint financial, economic and diplomatic projects. So, it's clear that Tunisia has been an important and pivotal friend of the US in Northern Africa and the ouster of Ben Ali following the pro-democracy revolution of Tunisian people seriously jeopardized the interests of Washington in the region.

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Somebody must stop this terrorist!

2011-02-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: The term "dictator" seems to be quite tender and mild for describing someone who has been ruling a country for more than 41 years and 178 days without assuming any responsibility before the international community for the felonies which he had been committing during these years.

The uncompromising tyrant of Libya Muammar Gaddafi who has just staged an all-out bloodbath in the big and small cities of his country, relentlessly opened fire against the defenseless citizens and unarmed civilians of Libya and killed more than 1,000 people in less than one week is seemingly approaching the ending days of his uncontested monarchy.

Muammar Gaddafi has just set the record of the longest serving non-royal leader of the world, followed by Cameroon's Paul Biya and Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh; however, it seems that the flamboyant dictator will not be able to celebrate the 42nd year of his government without trouble.

The American journalist Melissa Bell recently allude to an interesting point regarding Gaddafi's controversial and dishonorable life which may connotatively reveal the West's disagreement on how to deal with this notorious leader. "The Washington Post uses "Mammar Gaddafi." The Associated Press opts for "Gadhafi." The New York Times uses "Qaddafi." In 2009, ABC News reported 112 variations on [the spelling of his] name." And the Associated Press' Tom Breen hits the point, "will the Libyan leader lose power before the West agrees on how to spell his name?"

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Interview with Prof. Craig LaMay

2011-02-16T07:40:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Craig LaMay is an associate professor of journalism at the Northwestern University. He is a former editorial director of the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center and editor of Media Studies Journal; and a former newspaper reporter. LaMay’s articles and commentaries have appeared on New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Communication and the Law and a number of other media outlets.

LaMay has published several books on journalism and mass media of which we can name Journalism and the Problem of Privacy (2003), Commercial Transformation of the Nonprofit Sector, with Burton Weisbrod (1998) and Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment with Newton Minow (1995).

Prof. LaMay joined me in an exclusive interview to discuss the constraints of journalism in the United States, freedom of speech in the EU, the performance of local magazines as opposed to the national news outlets and the gradual disappearance of traditional media with the emergence of new internet-based technologies.

What follows is the complete text of my interview with Prof. Craig LaMay of the Northwestern University.

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The Crusade of Western Media Against Islam

2011-01-25T23:28:00.001-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - As the Western governments add fuel to the fire of Islamophobic sentiments in their societies with inflammatory and rabble-rousing actions and statements, the Western media mischievously try their best to portray a lopsided, biased and prejudiced image of Muslims in an attempt which should be interpreted as an incontestable crusade against more than 25% of the world population.

Although it is arguable that the 9/11 attacks played in the hands of the United States and its European cronies to spread an all-encompassing wave of Islamophobic sentiments in the world and introduce the Muslims as the number one threat to the global peace and security, one should bear in mind that Muslims have been conventionally considered as the villains of the fables of the Western governments and despite their unquestionable and treasured services to the world, they never received a fair, justifiable and humane treatment by the superpowers, either from the deceitful, fraudulent and warmonger Russia that massacred some 50,000 innocent Muslims in Chechnya, or from the arrogant, bullying United States that incarcerated scores of innocent Muslims in its illegal, underground detention centers in Guantanamo bay and Abu Ghraib following the 9/11 attacks.

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UNSC: An Organization for Injustice

2011-01-20T03:25:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Since its very inception in 1946, the United Nations Security Council demonstrated that it cannot be trusted as a podium of justice for the world countries, specially the oppressed and defenseless nations which eye the assistance and patronage of the powerful and economically influential nations for tackling their political predicaments and crises, and showed that it merely pursues the interests of its small bloc of five permanent members and undemocratically discriminates against a multitude of countries who don't have a say in the policies which directly affects them.

United Nations Security Council is said to be one of the principal organs within the operative system of the United Nations and is "allegedly" charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. The authorities possessed by UNSC are the establishment of peacekeeping missions, imposition of international sanctions and authorization of military actions whenever necessary.

UNSC has five permanent members: China, Russia, Britain, France and the United States. What's the reason? Why should the UNSC have permanent members which cannot be removed from power and must wield an unyielding and resolute authority to make decision over the international affairs? The answer is simple: these five countries are the victorious powers of the Second World War. Their victory in a war which took place and was concluded more than half a century ago minimally accounts for the eternality and endlessness of the power which they possess.

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Kourosh Ziabari on United Nations Security Council - Global Research

Kourosh Ziabari on UNSC - Tehran Times

Failures of US champion of "change"

2011-01-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Barack Obama will be marking the seconding anniversary of assuming office as the 44th President of the United States next week.

Being the first African American who becomes the United States chief executive, Obama came to power thanks to his alluring electoral pledges which appealed to millions of Americans who were furious at the outlandish, hawkish policies of George W. Bush and didn't want to bring to power somebody who would follow Bush's trajectory.

So, the former Illinois democrat senator won the votes of more than 69 million Americans who had sought their ideals in Barack Obama's slogan of "Change."

One year after taking office as the US President, the Nobel Academy granted its Peace Prize to Obama, hoping that he could serve as an inspiring model for the leaders of the world to work for the establishment of change.

However, after less than 2 years since the beginning of his presidency, it gradually became clear that Barack Obama was not the unbeatable champion whom the American nation had imagined.

The statistics released by the St. Petersburg Times indicate that of more than 500 promises which Barack Obama made during his presidential campaign, only 132 ones were completely fulfilled, the rest being either stalled by the congress or broken by Obama himself. A number of other promises are in the progress of being fulfilled.

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Gun ownership in the United States

2011-01-11T02:44:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Adopted on December 15, 1791, the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution rules that the possession of firearms and ammunition for the purpose of self-defense is legitimate and legal under US law.

This amendment, which was ratified along with the rest of United States Bill of Rights, emphasizes the right of people to keep and bear arms.

According to a 2006 Gallup survey, some 34 percent of the citizens of the United States possess firearms. Thus there seem to be more than 200 million firearms in private hands.

Based on the statistics released by Reuters, from 1993 to 2000, the United States was the leading supplier of conventional arms to the developing world. In 1999, more than 4 million firearms were manufactured in the United States for domestic sale or export. The Reuters' report added that more than 300 US companies produce arms and ammunition annually; a fact that is incredible and mind-boggling.

What drew the attention of the international community to the issue of gun ownership in the United States once again was the heartrending murder of the assistant principal of Millard South High School, Vicki Kaspar, who was mortally shot by Robert Butler, a 17-year-old student of Lincoln (Nebraska) Southwest High School on January 5. The student was earlier suspended by Ms. Kaspar for driving a car across a Millard South athletic field. After killing the assistant principal, Butler committed suicide as he had previously announced.

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Azeri govt. on path of deviation

2011-01-07T03:40:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Over the past weeks, global news websites and media outlets published reports from the Republic of Azerbaijan which did not appear pleasant and acceptable to more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.

In Azerbaijan, where 93 percent of the population is Muslim, the restriction of the secular government on the Islamic headscarves being worn by the Muslim girls in schools and universities did not appeal to the people and sparked protests all over the country.

This controversial action follows similar anti-Islamic measures which the European countries have been adopting in line with their Islamophobic policies. The harassment of Muslims, attacking Islamic cultural centers, removing Muslims from key positions in the governmental offices, creating dissension and animosity between the Muslims and Christians in Muslim countries and banning Islamic dressing are among the measures which the European states have taken.

According to the latest reports, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Azerbaijan Ministry of Education on December 10, 2010 to protest the recent constraint imposed by the government on the Muslim girls who want to adhere to the Islamic dress code in public places.

This unprecedented and questionable decision by the autocratic government of Azerbaijan implies the state's inclination toward attracting the attention of the Western powers and pleasing them subserviently. It might also indicate Azerbaijan's willingness to lay the groundwork for joining the European Union in which there's no member state with a Muslim majority population. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Turkey are countries with Muslim majority population which have not been given access to the European Union.

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'Brazil; an emerging global superpower'

2011-01-05T12:37:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stepped down as Brazil's head of state on New Year's Eve, turning over power to the first female president of the Latin American country, which boasts a 121-year history of democracy.

Under the presidency of Lula, Brazil underwent a dramatic reformation in the areas of economy, education, technology, agriculture, health, science, energy, industry and foreign policy and took remarkable steps to achieve domestic and international breakthroughs and reduce its gap with the world's major economic and political superpowers.

Being the world's 5th largest country, Brazil has now taken the role of a political hub in the southern hemisphere which can be potentially a challenge to the hegemony of United States and its European allies in the north. Now, it is clearly confirmable that Brazil is one of the key players of the global south and can assume the leadership of developing nations and lead them toward a successful future.

Along with his other counterparts in the Latin America who have already demonstrated their firmness in denouncing Washington, Lula audaciously undermined and called into question the hegemonic imperialism of the United States at the same time as developing close ties with the White House and presented a Latin American model of Mahathir Muhammad's diplomacy concerning Washington: denying the tyranny and supremacy of the United States while benefiting from economic ties with her.

During the tenure of Mr. Lula da Silva, Brazil toiled tirelessly to catch up with developing nations and establish durable and sustainable ties with them.

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Two years Ago: Israel's Deadly Offensive in the Gaza Strip

2011-01-04T00:46:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - On the eve of New Gregorian Year, the international community commemorates the second anniversary of Israel's deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip in the wake of the continuous blockade of the coastal sliver which has paralyzed the lives of more than 1.5 million impoverished Palestinians living there.

Two years ago and during the final days of 2008, Israel launched an all-out military attack on the Gaza Strip which, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, claimed the lives of 1,417 Palestinians, the majority of whom were innocent women and children. The military assault of the Israel Defense Forces also wounded 5,303 Palestinians, destroyed more than half of the basic infrastructure of the strip and displaced tens of thousands of defenseless civilians.

According to a report published by PCHR, "tens of thousands of Gaza residents continue to live a life of displacement."

"While the United Nations (UN) agencies and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have had the willingness and resources to support the re-construction of the houses Israel destroyed during the war, Israel continues to restrict the entry of construction materials, denying the victims from meaningful relief and from their right to adequate housing," the report continues.

As said by the PCHR report, the "extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly" is a grave breach of the 147th article of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"The Ministry of Housing and Public Works in Gaza announced that 51,553 homes were destroyed or damaged [during the Operation Cast Lead]. Of those 3,336 homes were destroyed completely and 4,021 sustained major damages," the report adds.

Moreover, the statistics published by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) indicate that 2,276 Palestinian homes were destroyed completely during the Gaza offensive of which 1776 sustained major damage.

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The collapsing hegemony of the West

2011-01-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - In its path towards becoming a regional and international superpower, Iran is achieving remarkable breakthroughs in science and technology which have started to flabbergast the rivals around the world, from the United States as a self-proclaimed absolute superpower in economy and science to the neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf region which are years from reaching self-sufficiency in meeting their domestic needs.

Historically, Iran has been known as a cradle of civilization and home to a number of leading scientists and scholars in various fields of knowledge and academic endeavor. Many of the world's prominent scientific accomplishments and discoveries were first brainstormed, proposed and realized in Iran and the international community owes to the Iranian scientists its familiarity and acquaintance with a number of outstanding scientific achievements.

In the contemporary age and since the victory of Islamic Revolution in 1979, a growing tendency towards scientific activities and scholarly research began to appear in Iran and the country's scientific developments attracted international attention ever more. Since the victory of Islamic Revolution, a number of high-ranking, prestigious universities were established in Iran and the number of university students increased dramatically. According to the statistics, the number of university students in the year 1978 would not exceed 150,000; however, as of 2009, there are more than 2.5 million students studying in the universities of Iran.

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Israel, the homeland of brutality and cruelty

2010-12-29T04:11:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: It's not that much of a surprise that Israel has one of the blackest human rights records in the world. It's not expected of the dogmatic regime which relentlessly kills innocent civilians, including defenseless children and women on a daily basis, to respect the rights of human beings and their dignity.

Israel is one of the gravest violators of human rights in the world and despite the unconditional US-sanctioned support which it receives in the stage of international community, human rights activists and organizations have usually lambasted this vicious regime for its violations of human rights and inattentiveness to the political, social and religious freedoms of either its own people or the citizens of the Occupied Territories.

One of the instances of human rights violation by the Israeli regime is the employment of disproportionate force against the peaceful demonstrations of the Palestinian citizens. According to the reports released by the US Department of State, Israel has for long used firearm and advanced ammunitions to cease the gatherings and demonstrations of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories.

On September 28, 2000, the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Haram al-Sharif in al-Quds. On September 29, Palestinians held large demonstrations and threw stones at the police forces which had tried to disperse the protesters using tear-gas. According to the US Department of State report, "police used rubber-coated metal bullets and live ammunition to disperse the demonstrators, killing 4 persons and injuring about 200."

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Interview with Alain de Botton

2010-12-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Alain de Botton is a Swiss public intellectual, author, philosopher, television presenter and entrepreneur living in the United Kingdom. He has written several books on literature, philosophy, art, travel and architecture. In August 2008, he established a new educational enterprise in London called "The School of Life". Among his prominent books are "How Proust Can Change Your Life", "The Consolations of Philosophy" and "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work".

De Botton is an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The title was awarded to him in recognition of his services to art and architecture. His books are translated into several languages and are among the best-selling works of literature in so many countries, including Iran. What follows is the complete text of an in-depth interview with Alain de Botton where we discussed a variety of topics and issues concerning philosophy, art, literature, travel and architecture.

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Blurred destiny of Egypt in 2011

2010-12-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

Press TV - Kourosh Ziabari :As the Egyptian 2011 Presidential election approaches, the international community's concerns over the grave violation of human rights and suppression of political activists and dissidents in this African country grows increasingly.

Unfortunately, what's demonstrable under the current political circumstances of Egypt is that the African country is no more a representative of the glorious civilization of the Ancient Egypt. The footsteps of tolerance and freedom cannot be traced in the policies of the government of Cairo and to add insult to the injury, we should confess that Egypt currently has one of the most repressive and tyrannical regimes in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei who was named as one of the potential candidates for the second presidential election in the history of Egypt has described the Egyptian democracy as a "sham" and called for an all-out boycott of the elections. "Total boycott of elections and signing petition are first steps to unmask sham 'democracy.' Participation would be contrary to the national will," wrote Mr. ElBaradei in a post to his Twitter webpage.

According to the constitutional laws of Egypt, every potential candidate needs at least 250 signatures from the Shura Council and People's Assembly, the upper and lower houses of Egypt's legislature, in order to legitimize his bid for presidency. The Shura Council and People's Assembly are overwhelmingly dominated by the supporters of the President Hosni Mubarak.

Iran, a victim of state-sponsored terrorism

2010-12-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Those who mischievously called Iran a part of the so-called "Axis of Evil" and put its name in their fabricated list of the state sponsors of terrorism - the list from which the name of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime was removed in 1982 so that the United States and its European stooges could rationalize their unjustified, immoral and insane war against Iran - have blatantly forgotten that Iran has been long one of the guiltless victims of terrorism, sponsored by the United States, Israel, UK and their puppets in the Middle East.

Following the victory of Islamic Revolution in 1979 as a consequence of which the government of the US-backed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was toppled and the charismatic religious leader Imam Khomeini became the Supreme Leader, several efforts were made by the United States and its cronies to destabilize the newly-born Iran and sow the seeds of insecurity, fear and terror all over the country; a country which had released itself from the tyranny of the US-installed Shah and embraced a new era of prosperity and success.

At the early years of Islamic Revolution which promoted the establishment of a government ruled by the teachings of Islam and the law of God, the United States and its European cronies -- the so-called 'pioneers of human rights' -- unconditionally supported MKO, a terrorist organization which had explicitly expressed that it would take arms against the Islamic Republic and will fight until the subversion of Iran's government.

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Asia to Gaza: A peace-seeking journey

2010-12-14T09:29:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - The veteran anti-Zionist journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery believes that Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is lying when he says that the Gaza siege exists in order to prevent the entry of illegal weaponry into the strip.

As a matter of fact, the anguishing blockade of 1.5 million people living in the enclave is exercised in order to lay on the line the political power of the democratically-elected government of Hamas and decrease its popularity in the eyes of the people of Gaza who have so far supported their beloved government unconditionally, even in the most excruciating situations of poverty, unemployment and homelessness.

The inhumane and merciless blockade of Gaza which was set in motion with the complicity of the government of Egypt in 2007 has caused a tragic humanitarian crisis in the region and provoked international protests, even in the United States and other Western countries whose governments have blindly submitted themselves to the atrocious statesmen of Israel.

Since the beginning of the imposition of siege on Gaza which is about to enter its fourth year next month, the Zionist regime has even prevented the entry of construction materials, automobiles, foodstuffs, medicine and other basic humanitarian needs into the strip. This siege seems so bizarre and nonsensical that has even irritated the American politicians. "When have lentil bombs been going off lately? Is someone going to kill you with a piece of macaroni?" asked US Republican Congressman Brian Laird in a March 2009 visit to the Gaza Strip upon finding that pasta, macaroni and lentil seeds are in Israel's list of forbidden commodities which should not be allowed entry to Gaza.

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Britain's black human rights record

2010-12-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - As the UK cracks down on the angry students who have taken to the streets of London over the past week to protest the overnight increase of the university tuition fees, the international community's concern over Britain's dark human rights record grows steadily.

According to the UK media, scores of students have been arrested during the protests, the majority of whom are accused by the Scotland Yard of what is called to be "violent disorder".

The son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour is among the arrested students. Charlie Gilmour was arrested after he was seen by the police forces while swinging from the flag of the United Kingdom, also known as the Union Flag. On Friday, he released a public apology, insisting that he had not realized that what he was climbing was the Cenotaph.

According to UK's Express, Home Secretary Theresa May announced on Sunday night that water cannons could be used by the police forces to disperse the protesting crowds. High-powered jets have been employed in Northern Ireland for many decades.

During the protests, a Rolls Royce carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall was attacked by the furious protesters who splashed white paint on the car and shattered one of its rear windows. The UK Prime Minister outspokenly warned the protesters of the consequences of their "regrettable" action. David Cameron said that he wants to bring the full weight of the law against the protesters who attacked the royal vehicle and told the police to take lesson from the "regrettable" incidence, the Associated Press has reported.

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Russian federation of suppression

2010-12-13T00:49:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Let's call a spade a spade and frankly acknowledge that Russia, despite being a political and economic superpower, is a domestically repressive regime which usually fails to tolerate its dissidents and critics. That's why Russia is one of the countries which are conventionally reprimanded for their black human rights record by the international community.

The recent "Freedom in the World" report by the US-based Freedom House organization indicates that Russia is one of the 8 countries in the Central, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union region which are described as "not free," a record which is dramatically dishonorable for the giant political superpower. This means that Russia is one of the 47 countries in the world which have received the least scores in political rights and civil liberties. This is while impoverished African nations such as Benin and Namibia have received the highest scores among the African countries and are titled as free nations.

The same goes for Russia's press freedom record. Of the 178 countries which were surveyed by the "Reporters Without Borders" for the recognition of the degree of press freedom, Russia perplexingly stood 140th, being preceded by the likes of Egypt, Zimbabwe and Israel which we already know have a black record of suppressing the dissident media and are home to a large number of world's incarcerated journalists.

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PGCC: The axis of treachery

2010-12-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Unconditionally backed, financed and armed by the United States, the Arab states of Persian Gulf are broadcasting signals of their willingness to turn into the new enemies of Iran in an orchestrated effort to jeopardize and undermine the growing political dominance of the Islamic Republic over the Middle East.

The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council wrapped up its annual meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday in the wake of the latest WikiLeaks documents which said Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE had implored the United States to attack Iran so as to avert the alleged threat of a "nuclear Iran."

According to the classified information that the WikiLeaks released, Saudi Arabia which is home to the world's largest terrorist gang and has long awarded all of its financial contracts to the Saudi Bin Laden Group, obsequiously has asked the Bush administration to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities and prevent Tehran from acquiring "nuclear bombs."

The coincidence of the publication of WikiLeaks documents and the issuance of (P)GCC declaration which seemed to be an anti-Iranian manifesto rather than the joint statement of the member states transpired to be an embarrassment for the Arab world which seems to have yielded to Israel, the common enemy of the Islamic Ummah and focused on attacking Iran instead.

From one hand, Iran is seeing that the neighboring Muslim state with which it has co-existed peacefully for so long is turning into a hostile enemy which tends to betray it in a perfidious manner, and this is a bitter reality which is very hard to believe. Iran annually sends the largest delegations of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia and the government of Riyadh immensely benefits from the money which the Iranian pilgrims lavishly spend there; however, the Arab state which has allusively shown its inclination for normalizing the ties with the Zionist regime deceived its Muslim ally to cajole the United States subserviently.

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Interview with Wayne Madsen

2010-12-06T06:31:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Wayne Madsen is an American investigative journalist and columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the political blog “Wayne Madsen Report”. He has appeared on ABC News, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, BBC, Al-Jezeera, MSNBC and Press TV. Madsen has written the introduction to the book “Forbidden Truth: U.S.-Taliban Secret Oil Diplomacy, Saudi Arabia and the Failed Search for bin Laden”. Madsen’s articles have appeared on a number of news websites and magazines including Global Research, Pacific Free Press, Online Journal, Counter Punch, The American Conservative, Tehran Times and In These Times.

Madsen has more than 20 years of experience in security affairs. As a U.S. Naval Officer, he managed one of the first computer security programs for the U.S. Navy. He has also worked for the NSA National Security Agency, the Naval Data Automation Command, Department of State, RCA Corporation, and Computer Sciences Corporation.

Madsen joined me in an exclusive interview and answered my questions about the 9/11 attacks, Israel’s dominance over the U.S. media and the prospect of Iran-U.S. relations.

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Interview with Prof. Robert Jensen

2010-12-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center in Austin.

Jensen joined the UT faculty in 1992 after completing his Ph.D. in media ethics and law in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a professional journalist for a decade. At UT, Jensen teaches courses in media law, ethics, and politics.

In his research, Jensen draws on a variety of critical approaches to media and power. Much of his work has focused on pornography and the radical feminist critique of sexuality and men's violence, and he also has addressed questions of race through a critique of white privilege and institutionalized racism.

In addition to teaching and research, Jensen writes for popular media, both alternative and mainstream. His opinion and analytic pieces on such subjects as foreign policy, politics, and race have appeared in papers around the country. He contributes to local organizing in Austin, TX, through his work with the Third Coast Activist Resource Center, and the progressive community center 5604 Manor.

Prof. Robert JensenProf. Jensen joined me in an exclusive interview to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, the prospect of Iran-U.S. relations, the ongoing military campaign of the Israeli regime in Palestine, the biased coverage of the Middle East affairs by the mainstream media and the failure of President Obama in repairing the damaged picture of the United States in the global stage.

Prof Jensen believes that Obama is a less belligerent president than Bush. "Obama recognizes that the United States can't impose its will on the world in the fashion that it has in the past. Yet Obama is still committed to the maintenance of the empire. No imperial U.S. president or official has ever deserved a Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, I can't think of a single head of state who would be deserving," he says.

With regards to the U.S.-Israeli relations, Prof. Jensen believes: "United States puts up with defiance from Israel that it wouldn't tolerate from other client states, but we should remember that U.S. policymakers don't make decisions based on humanitarian grounds. They want to extend and deepen, or at least maintain U.S. power, and those policymakers believe Israel is useful in that regard."

Here is the full transcript of my in-depth interview with Robert Jensen, the professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Interview with Prof. Robert Jensen by Kourosh Ziabari - Intifada Palestine

Interview with Erri De Luca

2010-11-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Erri De Luca is an internationally-renowned Italian poet and writer. "Corriere della Sera" literature critic Giorgio De Rienzo has called him "the writer of the decade". He started writing since he was 20; however, his first book was published in 1989, when he was 39 years old. Upon graduating from high school in 1968, he joined the newly-established far-left, extra-parliamentary organization of Lotta Continua. The political activities of the organization were terminated early in 1976. Erri De Luca speaks several languages, including English, French, Hebrew and Yiddish.

He is the author of several books including "Montedidio" which has won him The Prix Femina award. Erri De Luca has translated several books of Bible into Italian, including Exodus, Jonah, Ecclesiastes and Ruth. His works have been translated and published in various countries such as Spain , Iran , Portugal , Germany , Holland , USA , Brazil , Poland , Norway , Danmark , Romania , Greece and Lithuania .

De Luca joined me in an exclusive interview and answered my questions on his works and his views on literature, culture, politics and society.

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İsrail'in şeytani politikaları...

2010-11-13T12:30:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Eski bir terörizm uzmanı ve CIA’de bir ordu istihbarat görevlisi olan Philip Giraldi ile bir mülakat gerçekleştirdim.Philip Giraldi şimdi Milli Çıkarlar Konseyinde(CNI) baş direktör olarak görev yapıyor. CNI, Ortadoğu’da Amerikan politikalarının transformasyonu için çalışan kar amacı gütmeyen bir organizasyon.

İşte Philip Giraldi ile yaptığım o röportaj;

Kourosh Ziabari: Neden İsrail lobisi bu kadar güçlü, nüfuz sahibi ve yetkili? Neredeyse ABD’deki bütün büyük medya holdingleri durumu iyi olan ve İsrail devletinin çıkarlarına sadık kalma taahhüdü vermiş olan Yahudilere ait. Bazı uzmanlar İsrail’in Oratadoğu’da ki ABD politikalarının temsilcisi olduğunu söylüyorlar ama diğer bazıları da aslında ABD’de hayata geçecek olan politikaların aslında İsrail tarafından belirlendiğini söylüyor. Sizin bu konudaki görüşünüz nedir?

Philiph Giraldi: İsrail Lobisi çok güçlü çünkü ABD’de anahtar rolde olan elementlerin kontrolünü elinde tutuyor. Birçok kez örneği görüldüğü gibi İsrail’e “dostane yaklaşmayan” politikacılar yeniden seçilme noktasında ciddi problemlerle karşı karşıya kalıyorlar çünkü İsrail lobisi onların muhaliflerine para ve medya desteği sağlıyor. Bu, kongrenin İsrail’in ve onun lobisinin istediği herhangi bir şeye karşı durmaktan çekindiği anlamına geliyor. Aynı şey Amerikan başkanlığı için de geçerli. ABD’de her başkan adayı İsrail’e karşı dost görünmek zorunda aksi takdirde medyada bir saldırı furyasına maruz kalacak ve siyasi yaşamını sürdürmesi için gerekli olan milyonlarca dolardan mahrum kalacaktır. Ve bu İsrail’e olan desteği daha güvenli kılmak adına yapılıyor. Ve son olarak İsrail çıkarlarını savunanlar medyanın büyük bölümünü elinde tutuyor ve bundan daha da önemlisi yorum ve editöryal sayfaları kontrol ederek Amerikalıların Ortadoğu hakkında duyduğu şeylerin İsrail’in nişine gelecek cinsten olmasını ve İsrail’in düşmanlarına karşı da kıyasıya eleştirel olmasını teminat altına alıyorlar. Bunun sonucu olarak da İsrail ABD dış siyasetini, Ortadoğu ve İslam dünyasının çoğunluğuyla ilgili olarak kontrol ediyor ...

Israel es la amenaza más inmediata para el futuro del planeta

2010-11-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Jeffrey Blankfort es un fotoperiodista estadounidense, productor de radio y analista de Oriente Medio. Es un bien conocido activista en favor de Palestina cuyos artículos y escritos se publican en muchas publicaciones progresistas.

Actualmente está presentando programas en KZYX en Mendocino, California, y KPOO, en San Francisco. Blankfort fue director de Middle East Labor Bulletin y co-fundador de Labor Committee of the Middle East. En febrero de 2002 ganó un pleito contra la organización sionista Liga Anti Difamación (Anti-Defamation League, ADL) de la que se descubrió que había espiado a ciudadanos estadounideses crítivos con Israel y sus políticas expansionistas.

Jeffrey me concedió una entrevista exclusiva para discutir sobre la influencia del lobby israelí sobre quienes toman decisiones en el gobierno estadounidense, el ilegal y clandestino programa nuclear israelí, las perspectivas del conflicto israelo-palestino y la inminente amenaza de un ataque israelí contra las instalaciones nucleares iraníes.

Blankfort es bastante franco en sus críticas contra el régimen de apartheid de Israel y cree que Israel es la amenaza más inmediata para el futuro de nuestro planeta ...

I paladini dei diritti umani dove sono?

2010-11-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Uno dei miei migliori amici è affetto da un disturbo ossessivo compulsivo, una grave malattia mentale che ha quasi paralizzato tutta la sua vita. Gli è stata diagnosticata con la psicosi all’età di 15 anni e ora, più di un decennio dopo,è sposato e ha due figli.Gli psichiatri in Iran gli hanno consigliato di andare all’estero e di perseguire il suo trattamento sotto la supervisione di un gruppo di qualificati professionisti esperti, tuttavia, anche se era finanziariamente in grado di affrontare le spese di una tale soluzione è rimasto in Iran.

Gli psichiatri in Iran hanno prescritto diversi farmaci per il mio amico e lui li ha presi negli ultimi anni, tuttavia, quando l’ho incontrato qualche settimana fa, mi ha informato di una sconvolgente notizia di cui ancora non riesco a capacitarmi.Il mio amico mi ha detto che i produttori canadesi e italiani dei sui medicinali hanno cessato di esportare i loro prodotti in Iran dopo l’istituzione delle sanzioni contro l’Iran imposte dal Consiglio di Sicurezza delle Nazioni Unite ed è possibile che si rifiutino anche di esportare altri farmaci a seguito delle sanzioni.Mi ha detto che i suoi psichiatri non sono in grado di prescrivergli medicinali efficaci, originali per lo più, e questo può compromettere seriamente la sua salute mentale e anche mettere la sua vita familiare a rischio.

La mia reazione istintiva a ciò che il mio amico mi disse non fu altro che perplessità e confusione. Non riuscivo a capire il rapporto tra una serie di sanzioni che riguardano il “controverso” programma iraniano nucleare e la salute mentale di migliaia di pazienti che sono affetti da diversi tipi di psicosi in tutto il paese ...

Which "human" rights do you call for?

2010-11-12T10:37:00.001-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - One of my close friends is suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a severe mental illness which has almost paralyzed his entire life. He was diagnosed with the psychosis at the age of 15 and now, more than a decade after that time, he is married and has two children. The psychiatrists in Iran have recommended him to go abroad and pursue his treatment under the supervision of a group of qualified, experienced practitioners; however, he was financially unable to afford the expenses of such a solution and remained in Iran.

Psychiatrists in Iran have prescribed several drugs for my friend and he has been taking them over the past years; however, when I met him a few weeks ago, he informed me of a shocking, unanticipated incident which I'm still unable to believe. My friend told me that the Canadian and Italian manufacturers of his medicines have ceased exporting their products to Iran following the imposition of United Nations Security Council's fourth round of sanctions against Iran and it's possible that they refuse to export their other pharmaceutical products to the country as a result of the sanctions, as well. He told me that his psychiatrists are not able to prescribe the high-quality, original medicines for him anymore and this may seriously jeopardize his mental health and even put his family life into risk.

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Interview with Alan Hart

2010-11-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Alan Hart is an indispensable name in journalism. Unquestionably, he has been one of the most influential British journalists with an expertise in the Middle East affairs. A former BBC Panorama presenter, Hart was a close friend of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. During his fruitful career, Hart interviewed several prominent leaders including Saudi Arabia's King Faisal, Jordan's King Hussein and Egyptian Presidents Nasser and Sadat.

He was a media correspondent for the Independent Television Network and has covered the Vietnam War and Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well.

He is a vocal critic of Israel and its expansionistic policies and has repeatedly reprimanded the Arab leaders for their implicit complicity with Israel in its suppression of the Palestinian nation.

Alan Hart joined me in an exclusive, in-depth interview to explore the prospect of Israel-Palestinian conflict, the roots of Zionist lobby's influence over the U.S. Congress, the 9/11 conspiracy theories and the possibility of a U.S.-directed military strike against Iran.

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Interview with Tobias Buckell

2010-11-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Born in Grenada in the Caribbean, Tobias Buckell is a New York Times Best-Seller science fiction and speculative fiction author. Having lived in Ohio since 1995, Buckell started submitting his writings to magazines and newspapers since he was in high school. He sold his first short story in an early age and continued selling stories to the American magazines since then. He has published four novels of which the most prominent ones are "Crystal Rain" and "Sly Mongoose". He has also written several short stories including "On The Eve of the Fall of Habesh" which was published in November 2010. Buckell is a professional blogger who writes on different issues concerning science fiction literature. In 2008, he donated his book archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

Tobias joined me in an exclusive interview and answered my questions on his career as a science fiction author, the characteristics of

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Interview with Jeffrey Blankfort

2010-10-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Jeffrey Blankfort is an American photojournalist, radio producer and Middle East analyst. He currently hosts radio programs on KZYX in Mendocino, CA and KPOO in San Francisco. Blankfort was formerly the editor of the Middle East Labor Bulletin and co-founder of the Labor Committee of the Middle East. In February 2002, he won a lawsuit against the Zionist organization Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which was found to have been spying on the American citizens critical of Israel and its expansionistic policies.

Jeffrey joined me in an exclusive interview to discuss the influence of Israeli lobby on the decision-makers of the U.S. government, Israel’s illegal, underground nuclear program, the prospect of Israeli – Palestinian conflict and the imminent threat of an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Blankfort is quite outspoken in his criticism of the apartheid regime of Israel and believes that Israel is the most immediate threat to the future of our planet.

Israel is the most immediate threat to the future of the planet / interview by Kourosh Ziabari

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Interview with Prof. John Hare

2010-10-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Prof. John E. Hare is the Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at the Yale University’s Divinity School. A British classicist, philosopher and ethicist, he is the author of several well-known and best-selling books in religion and morality including “God and Morality: A Philosophical History”, “The Moral Gap”, “Ethics and International Affairs”, “Why Bother Being Good” and “Plato’s Euthyphro”.

John Hare has in his background the experience of teaching philosophy at the University of Lehigh from 1975 to 1989. In his “God’s Call” book, Hare discusses the divine command theory of morality, analyzing texts in Duns Scotus, Kant and contemporary moral theory.

John joined me in an exclusive interview and answered my questions on the necessity of establishing a universal inter-faith dialogue between the followers of Abrahamic religions, the impacts of materialism on the decline of ethical and moral values and the role of religion in solving the problems of contemporary man. He also answered my special question on the objectionable incidence of Quran burning in the United States on the anniversary of 9/11 attacks.

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Introduction of Kourosh Ziabari in We Are Wide Awake

Interview with Maidhc Ó Cathail

2010-10-18T01:12:00.001-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Maidhc Ó Cathail is a widely-published Irish author and journalist. He has been living in Japan since 1999. Ó Cathail’s articles and commentaries have appeared on a number of media outlets and newspapers including Tehran Times, Khaleej Times, Antiwar.com, Foreign Policy Journal, Information Clearing House, Intifada Palestine, Pakistan Daily and Palestine Think Tank.

Maidhc joined me in an exclusive interview and responded to my questions about the 9/11 attacks, the influence of Israeli lobby over the U.S. administration, the prospect of Israeli – Palestinian conflict, the prolonged controversy over Iran’s nuclear program and the freedom of press in the United States.

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Interview with Philip Giraldi

2010-10-15T02:27:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Philip Giraldi is a former counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Now, he chairs the Council for the National Interest as the Executive Director. CNI is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the transformation of United States’ Middle East policy.

As a CIA officer, Giraldi served in different countries including Turkey, Italy, Germany and Spain. He is now a Francis Walsingham Fellow at The American Conservative Defense Alliance. He has appeared on several radio and TV programs including Good Morning America, MSNBC, NPR, Fox News, BBC, Al-Jazeera and 60 Minutes.

Giraldi works with the American Conservative magazine as a contributing editor and writes a regular column for the Antiwar website. He is an outspoken critic of the hawkish policies of the United States and has publicly decried Washington’s unconditional support for the state of Israel.

Philip Giraldi joined me in an exclusive interview to discuss the latest developments of the Middle East, the prospect of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the possibility of a peaceful compromise between Iran and the United States and the impact of Israeli lobby on the long-term policies of the White House.

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Kourosh Ziabari interviews Philip Giraldi

The Cost of Telling the Truth in the United States

2010-10-07T04:38:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - "Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well." This frosty statement was the conclusion of Rick Sanchez’s 6-year-long career with the United States’ cable news network, CNN.

The award-winning Sanchez who had served in CNN’s Spanish service and covered the September 11 attacks for the network was fired on October 1 after granting an interview to the Sirius XM’s radio show “Stand Up With Pete Dominick” in which he implied that the Jews are dominating the mass media in the United States and just pretend to be a downtrodden, subjugated minority.

Sanchez criticized CNN’s Jewish “Daily Show” comedian Jon Stewart for directing offensive jokes at him in his nightly programs and called him a “bigot”. Answering a statement by Pete Dominick that Stewart belonged to a Jewish minority, Sanchez said: “Yeah, very powerless people. [laughs] He’s such a minority. I mean, you know, please. What—are you kidding? I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart. And to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority?”

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Interview with Prof. Craig Blomberg

2010-10-04T00:12:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Craig L. Blomberg is the Distinguished Professor of the New Testament, and has been a New Testament scholar since 1986 at the Denver Seminary in Colorado. Denver Seminary where Prof. Blomberg teaches is an evangelical graduate-level institution that was founded in 1950. Blomberg delivers speeches and writes on a number of Christianity, religion-related issues regularly. He has published several books on the New Testament of which we can name “From Pentecost to Patmos: An Introduction to Acts Through Revelation” and “The Historical Reliability of John’s Gospel: Issues and Commentary”. He specializes in the parables and the writings of Luke-Acts.

Prof. Blomberg joined me in an interview to answer my questions on the recent incident of Quran burning in the United States, the inter-faith dialogue of the followers of Islam and Christianity, the contribution of religion to the global peace and stability, the role of religion in solving the problems of contemporary man and the dissolution of the basis of traditional family in the 21st century.

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Interview with Shahid R. Siddiqi

2010-09-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - The 2010 Pakistan flood was one of the most unpleasant and painful incidents of the year which attracted widespread international attention due to its extensiveness and destructive impacts. The floods started in July following heavy monsoon rains and overflow of the Indus River in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan regions of Pakistan. It is estimated that more than two thousand people lost their lives and over a million homes were destroyed since the flooding began. According to the United Nations estimates, over 21 million people have been injured or displaced as a result of the devastative flood.

Pakistani journalist and former Air Force employee Shahid R. Siddiqi joined me in an interview to discuss the aftermaths of the unprecedented flood which

encompassed the whole Pakistan in a matter of days and caused serious damages to the country’s agriculture, industry, energy sector, infrastructures and even politics. Mr. Siddiqi answered my questions about the government’s management of the flood and the distribution of humanitarian aid sent by different countries to the flood-hit regions. He explained that how the unanticipated disaster paralyzed Pakistan in an astonishing way and surprised the unprepared government which failed to manage the crisis appropriately. In this interview, I also seized the opportunity to ask Mr. Siddiqi some questions about the prospect of Iran – Pakistan relations and Pakistan’s stance on Iran’s nuclear program.

Shahid R. Siddiqi has been a broadcaster with the Radio Pakistan and the Islamabad bureau chief of the “Pakistan and Gulf Economist”. His articles and political commentaries appear in the Pakistani newspapers such as Dawan, The Nation and Pakistan Herald. He is also the founder of Asian American Republican Club. Siddiqi is a frequent contributor to Foreign Policy Journal, Middle East Times and Axis of Logic.

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A defense which deserves being called "holy"

2010-09-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Almost 20 years have passed since the conclusion of 20th century's longest, most erosive war which was brutally imposed on the defenseless people of Iran by a belligerent and aggressive dictator who was finally pushed to death by the same people who had once persuaded, funded, aided and supported him in attacking and invading the new-born Iran of post-revolution days.
The expansionistic ambitions of the beloved puppet of the White House who was granted the honorary citizenship of Detroit as a reward for his unconditional subservience to the United States, transpired to be a deadly pandemic which claimed the lives of more than 400,000 innocent Iranians who witnessed the most breathtaking years the country had experienced contemporarily.

With the intention of revitalizing the forgotten pan-Arabist sentiments of the 1950s, confronting an emerging Shiite power in the Persian Gulf region and taking over some of the strategic parts of Iran including the Arab-speaking province of Khuzestan and the triple islands of Abu Musa, Lesser Tunb and Greater Tunb which were handed over to Iran 9 years earlier in a trilateral agreement between Iran, the protectorate of Ras Al-Khaimah and the representatives of British forces in the Persian Gulf, Saddam Hussein unilaterally nullified the 1975 Algiers Agreement in 1980 and attacked Iran.

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UANI: United Against the Nation of Iran

2010-09-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Those who regularly follow the developments of Iran might have come across to the website of "United Against Nuclear Iran", a "non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization" that seeks to "prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons"

UANI has compiled an elaborate list of the foreign companies and firms which do business with Iran and calls on its readers and visitors to send condemnatory letters and complaints to these companies so as to persuade them to withdraw their capitals and resources from Iran and stop doing business with a country which the United States and its European allies consider to be an emerging nuclear threat in the Middle East.

Interestingly, UANI has listed each and every foreign company which is active in Iran, from the food production companies to internet service providers, medicine manufacturers, industrial conglomerates, news agencies, transportation infrastructure providers and private consortiums, and its objective is to convince these companies to put an end to their activities in Iran.
UANI runs a divestment campaign which contains pressuring foreign corporations to stop conducting business with Iran. So far, it has succeeded in pulling out General Electric, Caterpillar and Ingersoll Rand from Iran's market.

UANI's advisory board consists of a number of U.S. government insiders and big shots who have close ties with the U.S. statesmen including R. James Woolsey, the former head of CIA, Fouad Ajami, a John Hopkins University professor and a close associate of the Council on Foreign Relations, Henry D. Sokolski, the former Deputy for Nonproliferation Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Gary Milhollin, the director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control and the publisher of "Iran Watch" website which is dedicated to promoting financial sanctions against Iran.

The activities of UANI, however, are not limited to lobbying for the intensification of sanctions against Iran. Each year and on the advent of UN General Assembly, UANI runs an advertorial campaign to prevent New York hotels from accommodating Iranian President and his colleagues and dissuade the city's convention centers from hosting events in which the Iranian officials are slated to deliver a speech.

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The questions of 9/11 are still unanswered

2010-09-16T01:01:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - It’s not unjustifiable or irrational to argue that the 9/11 attacks were designed and intended to rescue Israel from a political dissolution which was seen by many thinkers as its ultimate destiny, and to promote the cordial coalition of Bush and Bin Laden families. It’s no wonder that 9 years after the attacks on New York’s Twin Towers and Pentagon, Osama Bin Laden, who is introduced as an Islamic fundamentalist and terrorist that masterminded and directed the 9/11 attacks, hasn’t been arrested or killed yet.

For those who are familiar with the world of journalism, it’s comprehensible that Osama Bin Laden was simply a name which should have been put forward to become the target of ad hominem attacks by the mainstream media of the Bilderberg Group to appease the pain of Americans who couldn’t digest the tragic loss of life in a chain of suicidal attacks which were carried out by the agents of a political entity which has so far succeeded in surviving thanks to the ignorance of the American taxpayers who don’t know where their taxes go.

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The questions of 9/11 are still unanswered by Kourosh Ziabari

Interview with Kenneth O'Keefe

2010-09-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Kenneth O’Keefe is a world citizen. As an anti-war activist and social entrepreneur, he renounced his U.S. citizenship on March 1, 2001 and burned his American passport on January 7, 2004 in protest to the United States’ Imperialism and called for the immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. O’Keefe is a former U.S. Mariner who served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and subsequently revealed the use of depleted uranium by the United States as a crime against humanity.

O’Keefe has taken part in a number of substantial anti-war movements and served as the director of Human Shield Action to Iraq. He founded a group of activists who traveled to Iraq to act as human shields to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In 2004 O’Keefe established an association known as the “P10K Force,” a group of 10,000 Westerners intended to act as international observers in the occupied Palestinian territories and help bring peace with Israel

In the fall of 2008, he served as a Captain and 1st Mate with the Free Gaza Movement, a direct action in which 46 people successfully challenged the Israeli siege of Gaza

O’Keefe was one of the international peace activists onboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla that was intended to end the Israeli siege of Gaza Strip.

Kenneth O’Keefe joined me in an in-depth interview to answer my questions on his anti-imperialistic viewpoints, the prospect of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the continued international controversy over Iran’s nuclear program, the chronic hostility between the United States and Iran and his experiences in the Freedom Flotilla mission.

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Kourosh Ziabari interviews Kenneth O'Keefe - Baltimore Chronicle

Kourosh Ziabari interviews Kenneth O'Keefe - Ramallah Online

This is America, the beacon of freedom

2010-09-13T03:03:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - The ninth anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks coincided with the offensive insults of the Americans to the holiest book of 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe. According to reports by the Reuters, near Nashville, Tennessee, evangelical Pastor Bob Old and another preacher used lighter fluid and a lighter to burn at least two copies of the Qur’an. Old called Islam "a false religion."

It was also reported that the American protesters objecting to the construction of an Islamic center and a mosque adjacent to the Ground Zero site tore pages from the Holy Qur’an and set them alight. Reuters also dispatched reports from the similar abuses to the Holy Qur’an in Lower Manhattan.

The terrifying plan of burning the Holy Book of Muslims was initially proposed by the pastor of an obscure, small, nondenominational church in Gainesville who had announced that he would be burning copies of the Holy Qur’an on the anniversary of 9/11 attacks. The plan was described by the global media as a publicity stunt by someone whose desire for gaining some reputation and attention by the international media propelled him toward thinking of such an evil action.

Although a global wave of protests which erupted immediately after Pastor Jones announced his plan for burning the Holy Qur’an on Sept. 11 dissuaded the attention-seeking preacher from realizing his mischievous intention, he inspired other people to go ahead with the plan and abuse a Holy Book which is venerated and adored by millions of people in the four corners of the world.

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Interview with Muhammad Abdul Latif

2010-09-12T01:15:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Muhammad Abdul Latif is the imam of Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, California, and an instructor at ILM Tree, a home-schooling cooperative in Lafayette, California. He also teaches at Zaytuna College’s annual Summer Arabic Intensive program in Berkeley, California.

Abdul Latif converted to Islam in 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia, when he was 20 years old. He subsequently traveled throughout the Muslim world and, in 2002, relocated with his family to the San Francisco Bay Area to take advantage of the resources of knowledge and the community that had formed around Zaytuna Institute.

Mr. Abdul Latif joined me in an interview to discuss the cancelled plan of Dove World Outreach Center to burn copies of the Holy Quran on the anniversary of 9/11 attacks. We also discussed a variety of issues concerning the Islamic world including the growing wave of Islamophobia in the west, the plight of the Palestinian nation and the mainstream media’s portrayal of Islam.

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Does burning Quran solve your problems?

2010-09-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - You might be unfamiliar with the concept of “Wudu”. It’s an Islamic practice including the washing of some parts of body such as the hands, arms and face in order to get prepared for saying prayers or reciting the Holy Quran. It’s is of high value in the Islamic tradition, because it’s a preface to inner purity and satisfies the Almighty Creator who wants its creatures to be pure and clean once they want to talk to Him. Wudu is translated into English as “ablution”. One who is in the state of Wudu, that is has washed his face, hands, arms and feet, is obliged to adhere to some certain codes of morality, including devotion to honesty, justice and sincerity. One who is in the state of Wudu is supposed not to tell lie, not to judge with prejudice and partiality and not to state or claim what is unrighteous and unfair.

Prior to setting off for writing this article, I conducted “Wudu” and promised myself not to get out of the borders of honesty and objectivity. I promised myself to propose what is my concern in a manner that is justifiable and virtuous, and pose a few questions as someone who has been entitled to ask freely, without being disrupted by projection or disturbance.

It was on the news headlines that the Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center church pastor Terry Jones has decided to burn a set of Qurans on the advent of September 11 in an action which is deemed to be a remonstration against what is introduced as “Islamic extremism”.

Regrettably, Wayne Sapp who is an associate pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center has proclaimed that burning the Holy Quran is a direction God wants them to go. “We are convinced this is the direction God wants us to go. That’s the only reason we’re doing it in the first place,” he told the reporters.

First and foremost, it should be noted that the announcement of such a plan, regardless of its being done or not, is an immoral, condemnable and blameworthy action. The immorality and unacceptability of such an action would be underscored by the fact that an evangelical church which considers itself a propagator of Christian religious values has decided to burn a holy book which some 1.5 billion people around the world revere and venerate.

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Who pays for the loss of life in Iran?

2010-09-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Since the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979 which toppled the U.S.-backed regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran has been facing with devastating and agonizing financial sanctions of the United States and its European allies who didn’t favor the post-revolutionary Iran’s doctrine of confrontation with the superpowers and its denial of Western liberal democratic values.

The 1979 revolution which put an end to 2,500 years of imperial monarchy in Iran was pivoted on theocratic and ideological values which the sumptuous, thrilling West usually tends to dislike and rebuff. Under the spiritual leadership of Imam Khomeini, Iranians declared that they wouldn’t need the support of Western and Eastern superpowers, will stand on their own feet and only seek to realize a political regime which establishes its bases and principles in accordance with morality and Islamic solidarity.

Iran’s ideological disagreement with the West and its efforts to fulfill independence as an Islamic state, however, cost for the Iranian people heavily. First of all, the United States spurred its regional puppet, the late dictator Saddam Hussein, on to launch a massive, crushing war against Iran so as to push the country’s newly-established political regime to annihilation. The 8-year war demolished Iran’s infrastructures irreversibly, caused irreparable damages to country’s economy and left more than 350,000 Iranians dead.

The 8-year resistance of the Iranian people, however, rendered the plans of the U.S. and its Baathist ally futile. Iran rose from the rubbles of 8-year war with Iraq and set out to emerge as a regional superpower gradually. Iranians recreated the country’s war-torn economy once again, renewed the obliterated infrastructures, appeased the pains of the families of 350,000 martyrs with compassion and brought hopes to the hearts of those who had come to think that a political state with the ideological pillars of Islam would be impossible to survive.

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Interview with Harun Yahya

2010-08-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Adnan Oktar, internationally known by his pen name Harun Yahya, is a Turkish public intellectual, writer and speaker. He is a proponent of Islamic creationism and anti-Zionism. He condemns Zionism and denounces Darwinism as the source of terrorism. He runs the Turkey-based Science Research Foundation and Foundation to Protect National Values. He has written numerous best-selling books including "The Atlas of Creation", "The Muslim Way of Speaking", "Allah's Miracles in the Quran" and "The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences". Yahya's books have been translated in more than 20 languages.

He has been interviewed by several international media outlets, newspapers, TV channels and online magazines including Catholic Radio International, Russia's Pravda, Qatar's Aljazeera, Tehran Times, Saudi Arabia's Arab News and Swedish National Radio. Here is the complete text of interview with Mr. Yahya in which the latest developments of the Middle East, Israel's war threats against Iran, the prospect of Iran-Turkey relations and the ordeal of Palestinian nation under the Israeli oppression have been discussed.

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No end for US war of words against Iran

2010-08-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Aesop's fable of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf too often" is being heard from the mouthpieces of Israel and the United States these days.

The mainstream media around the world are enthusiastically adding flavor to the spicy food of "attacking Iran" which they've cooked for us. War threats are being renewed against Iran once more and overconfident politicians are trying their chance to see if they can release some believable predictions this time.

When Scott Ritter, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq, courageously forecasted that the United States would attack Iran in 2005, everybody believed that undeniably, there would be an all-out battle between two of the most powerful countries in the world; however, no battle took place and Mr. Ritter fundamentally lost his credibility. He told the media on February 19, 2005 that the United States was seriously planning to attack Iran, "President George W. Bush has received and signed off on orders for an aerial attack on Iran planned for June 2005. Its purported goal is the destruction of Iran's alleged program to develop nuclear weapons." But June 2005 transpired to be one of the most stable and tranquil months of the year 2005 for Iran!

Three years later, a more entertaining show was staged by a man who seemed to be fervently interested in becoming the 21st century's Nostradamus. John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who is internationally popular for his dexterity in blending satire with the politics prophesized that Israel would imminently attack Iran to destruct its nuclear facilities. The UK's Daily Telegraph victoriously featured this foretelling with the shining title: "Israel 'will attack Iran' before new US president sworn in, John Bolton predicts."

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A united Iran against a collapsing Israel

2010-08-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Cartoon by Carlos Latuff

Kouroh Ziabari - As the racist regime of Israel moves toward greater international isolation due to its aggressive, belligerent policies, Iran receives wider support from the world’s nations for its uncompromising resistance against the bullying superpowers and annulling their mischievous plots. The world is witness to the growth of Iran’s popularity while hatred and disgust against Israel builds up progressively. Iran is reaching out to the hearts and souls around the world while Israel ignites denunciation and deprecation in the four corners of the globe.

Since Israel raided the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31, the flimsy existence of Tel Aviv began to splinter as the world nations collectively and categorically reacted to the atrocious mass killing of 9 peace activists in the international waters by the Israel Defense Forces.

Israel’s unlawful, brutal killing of the unarmed civilians aboard the Freedom Flotilla sparked such a remarkable international condemnation that even the most stalwart allies of Tel Aviv in the EU zone recalled their ambassadors from Israel and called for a thorough, detailed investigation of the incident which they described as offensive and violent. The international condemnations were so extensive and intensive that even the most pessimistic Israeli politicians couldn’t envisage. Four countries downgraded their diplomatic relations with Israel – in addition to the four countries that had cut their diplomatic ties with Israel during the 22-day Gaza war of 2008-2009, Twelve Latin American countries condemned the Israeli actions, Twenty-one European countries protested Israel and Twelve non-Arab Asian countries officially disapproved Tel Aviv.

The precursor of global protests to Israel was Turkey which had lost 9 of its citizens in the raid. In an insightful, thought-provoking and appreciable statement before his country’s parliament, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly questioned Israel’s impunity from the international laws and called for a decisive end to the illegal actions of this regime: “It is no longer possible to cover up or ignore Israel’s lawlessness. The international community must from now on say ‘enough is enough’. Dry statements of condemnation are not enough … There should be results.”

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A tribute to art and artists

2010-08-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - There are signs in the world which indicate that art can still be an art form. George Orwell pointed out over 60 years ago that "in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

We are locked in a time of universal deceit. The pillars of materialism occupy our minds and souls; we gradually discard our codes of morality and ethics. Multinational corporations are "teaching" us what is right and what is wrong. We've forgotten the stance of noble individuals who dedicate their life to our enlightenment, that is why we're being propelled to the edge of spiritual decline.

In the contemporary world, the owners of capital determine the destiny of political, cultural and economic equations. It's simple, because we've already submitted ourselves and our conscience to them. We're no longer concerned about the veracity of what we hear or what we see. The images are placed before our eyes, the sounds are broadcast universally; we accept the message. Two thousand years ago, it wasn't a drawback to be an ordinary citizen; what about now? Isn't it a disadvantage to be a passive, subservient citizen who doesn't play a role in shaping his own knowledge? Isn't it necessary to be a researcher citizen whose concern is to figure out the reality and put aside untruth?

The answer is clear. There are thousands, millions of media outlets, from the sumptuous TV stations to mainstream newspapers and the ordinary blogs of ordinary citizens. We have an ocean of thoughts and reflections about what has been just heard or read, yet we are typically defenseless when faced with the news, analyses and statements attacking us. What's the solution? How can we resolve our perplexity in this era?

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Israel Will Attack Iran: Will Israel Attack Iran?!

2010-08-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Those who mastermind the U.S.-directed psychological operation against Iran have obliviously forgotten that we're now accustomed to seeing the uninteresting, exhausting charade of "will attack Iran"; you put the subject for it, either the United States or Israel.

Over the past five years, Iran has been recurrently under the threat of an imminent war which the mainstream media have overwhelmingly talked of; a war against Tehran to overthrow the Islamic Republic and bring to power a "democratic" regime which the "international community" favors.

Since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assumed office in 2005 as the Iranian head of state, he made attempts to reverse the passive, submissive stance of Iran towards the Eastern and Western superpowers and proposed new theories for an innovative international order. He accelerated Iran's nuclear program and made remarkable advancements in nationalizing the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Iran. He put forward insightful and astute questions: "why should Israel possess nuclear weapons in violation of the international law", "why should Israel occupy the lands which don't belong to it", "why should Israel repeatedly threaten its neighbors and wage wars against them", "why should Holocaust be used as a pretext to suppress the Palestinian nation?", "why should Iran be deprived of the peaceful uses of nuclear power while the United States, Russia, France, United Kingdom and China have thousands of nuclear weapons?"

These questions were not digestible for the United States and its stalwart allies around the world; therefore, some measures should be adopted to suffocate this man and the people he represents internationally. The reason was simple. Ahmadinejad and Iran would not make concessions and thus should be silenced at any cost. So, who is going to pay the price for silencing Iran? Are the military options plausible?

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El legado incomparable de Avicena

2010-08-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Translation by Manuel Talens: Desde tiempo inmemorial Irán ha sido tierra fecunda en grandes figuras de las ciencias, las letras, las artes y la literatura, cuyo impacto sobre la civilización ocupará siempre un lugar de privilegio en todo el mundo. Su historia antigua está llena de seres de excepción que se encuentran entre los más notables de su disciplina de estudio.

A pesar de que las naciones europeas se jactan de ser las pioneras y precursoras en diversos campos de las artes y las ciencias, es bien sabido que muchos adelantos y progresos que hoy presentan como suyos se deben a los persas, un pueblo tradicionalmente diestro en las diferentes ramas de la astronomía, las matemáticas, la física, la medicina, la psiquiatría, la arquitectura, la filosofía, la teología y la literatura. Nombres sin parangón como los de Ferdosi, Rumi, Rasís, Rudaki, Al-Biruni, Al-Farabi, Al-Khwarizmi y Avicena dan testimonio de que Irán ha sido siempre una nación de ciencia, conocimiento y conciencia, donde la inteligencia crece y el talento florece.

Por mucho que vivamos inmersos en nuestras preocupaciones cotidianas y rara vez encontremos la ocasión de volver la mirada hacia las figuras que han dado forma a nuestra civilización y a nuestros conocimientos del mundo exterior, es de suma importancia que conozcamos a aquellos grandes hombres, así como las razones que los hicieron inquilinos eternos en los anales de historia.

Avicena es uno de los cientos de intelectuales iraníes cuyas contribuciones a la ciencia y a la literatura lo han convertido en un nombre inolvidable en la memoria del mundo; millones de personas lo admiran y respetan por lo que alcanzó y lo que fue: erudito, médico, filósofo y científico. Nació el año 980 en la antigua provincia iraní de Bujará. Escribió más de 450 libros sobre materias diversas, entre ellas física, medicina y filosofía ...

Iran's Nuclear Standoff: Who is The Loser?

2010-08-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - It's more than 8 years that the world's newspapers are filled with miscellaneous news, reports and commentaries concerning Iran's nuclear program. Controversy over Iran's nuclear program has spanned through two administrations in Iran: ex-President Mohammad Khatami's government and the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration. The term "Iran nuclear program" returns more than 6 million results in Google web search. Thousands of scholars, journalists, politicians and political pundits have made their own statement regarding this debatable subject.

Terminologically, Iran's nuclear program calls to mind the words holocaust, Israel, Zionism, Axis of Evil, George W. Bush, stretched hands and uranium enrichment. The world is watching the uninteresting continuation of confrontation over Iran's nuclear program and the opportunist journalists find this tedious charade the best subject to entertain their readers and enrich their portfolio.

Iran says that it needs enriched uranium to meet its energy demands and produce electricity. The United States and its European allies claim that Iran wants to produce nuclear weapons in order to launch a military strike against Israel. Israel, over the past 5 years, has been incessantly threatening Iran with a preemptive attack, warning that it would not allow Iran to achieve nuclear technology.

The United Nations Security Council, under the pressure of United States and its stalwart allies, has imposed 4 rounds of backbreaking financial sanctions against Iran to dissuade it from developing "nuclear weapons". Iranian officials have repeatedly rejected the claims that they're moving towards developing nuclear weapons and called the sanctions ineffective, valueless.

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Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan: Diplomacy of Brotherhood

2010-08-15T03:19:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - The Trilateral Summit of the presidents of three Persian-speaking countries of Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan wrapped up on 5 August in Tehran and recorded another unforgettable event in the memory of the three brother nations.

With innumerable cultural, religious, social, lingual and strategic commonalities, the three countries of Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan have demonstrated their potentiality to build one of the strongest diplomatic partnerships in the region and benefit the world nations through a unique, fruitful and constructive cooperation.

The people of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, whose countries were parts of the Greater Persia in ancient times, consider Iran as their cultural homeland and believe that the Iranian nation is the inheritor of their paternal legacy, the Persian civilization.

I had the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with the Tajikistan ambassador in Tehran for the local weekly magazine last month in which I discovered for the first time that the roots of cordiality and affinity between Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan are so deep and robust that one can hardly imagine.

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Interview with Dr. Fredrick Toben

2010-08-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Dr. Fredrick Toben is a German author and founder and former director of the Adelaide Institute. He has written numerous books on education, political science and history and is best known as a historical revisionist who has extensively argued the veracity of Holocaust accounts by the Jewish historians. Due to his holocaust denial, he has been imprisoned three times in Germany, United Kingdom and Australia.

This is an in-depth interview with Dr. Toben in which we’ve discussed his viewpoints regarding holocaust, the unconditional supports of the United States for Israel, the plight of Palestinian nation under the Israeli occupation and the fate of Middle East peace process.

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The unrivaled legacy of Avicenna

2010-08-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Historically, Iran has been a land of prominent, influential figures in science, letters, arts and literature whose impact on the global civilization will remain in place forever.

Throughout its ancient history, Iran has introduced numerous people to the world who have been among the most impressive, notable and valuable figures in their own field of expertise.

Although the European nations usually boast of being the foremost pioneers and harbingers in various fields of science and arts, they know well that they owe to the Persians the achievement of many peaks and breakthroughs which they introduce as being theirs. Persians have been traditionally skilful and dexterous in different branches of astronomy, mathematics, physics, medicine, psychiatry, architecture, philosophy, theology and literature and the unparalleled names of Ferdowsi, Rumi, Rhazes, Rudaki, Biruni, Al-Farabi, Al-Khawrizmi and Avicenna attest to the fact that Iran has been perpetually a land of science, knowledge and conscience in which cleverness grows and talent develops.

Although we are customarily grappling with our daily concerns and rarely find the opportunity to study about the figures who have shaped our civilization and our knowledge of the external world, it's vitally necessary to have a basic acquaintance with these great men and know the reasons why they did become eternal and everlasting in the annals of history.

Avicenna is one out of hundreds of Iranian intellectuals whose contributions to science and literature has made him an unforgettable name in the memory of the world and there are millions of people around the globe who admire and respect him for what he achieved and what he was.

Avicenna was an 11 th century Persian polymath, physician, philosopher and scientist, born in the ancient Iranian province of Bukhara in 980. He has written more than 450 books on various subjects, particularly in physics, medicine and philosophy.

He always considered himself a student whose knowledge is incomplete and imperfect. In a famous distich, he described himself this way:

My knowledge reached to the point that / I can know that I know nothing

Avicenna's exceptional talents emerged since his early childhood and by the age of ten he was proficient in memorizing and reciting the Holy Quran. In his adolescence years, he studied Islamic jurisprudence, philosophy and natural sciences. He started studying medicine when he was 17 and described the field as "not difficult" to study. By the age of 18, he had become a prominent physician and the Samanid ruler Nuh ibn Mansur, in gratitude to his services, invited him to attend the royal library where the young Avicenna could access to a number of rare and unique books. Avicenna set out to write his first book by the age of 21.

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Interview with Prof. Gilbert Achcar

2010-08-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Prof. Gilbert Achcar is a renowned Lebanese academician, writer, socialist and anti-war activist. He left Lebanon in 1983 and taught international relations and politics at the University of Paris VII for several years. Since 2007, Achcar has been Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. He is a frequent contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique and ZNet.

Prof. Achcar joined me in an interview to discuss the latest developments related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel's attack on the Freedom Flotilla and the prospect of Israel's occupation of West Bank and Gaza.

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Persian Gulf is not only a name

2010-07-31T12:44:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: The Persian Gulf is a body of water situated south of Iran, separating the Persian Plateau from the Arabian Peninsula; to the Iranian nation, however, the story is dramatically different.

To the people of Iran, the Persian Gulf does not just signify a name or a geographical phenomenon - they consider the Persian Gulf to be representative of their ancient civilization and a manifestation of their ancestors' supremacy in the region.

Historically, the Persian Gulf was a cradle of ancient civilizations and a strategic passageway that connected the Far East to Europe. It has perpetually been at the center of global attention - of both merchants and rulers.

The earliest civilizations which were recorded on the peripheries of the Persian Gulf are from 5,000 years ago, when the kingdoms of Elam and Sumer emerged. There is evidence to indicate that Elamites, Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians traded with the maritime principalities along the southern coasts of the Persian Gulf. The result was a trade in precious commodities such as pearls, gold and silver.

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Iranian President Honors Salem-News.com Writer Kourosh Ziabari

2010-07-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

A Salem-News.com writer who consistently generates thought provoking articles about Middle East affairs, Kourosh Ziabari in Tehran, was honored by his nation's President at a special event that honors youth achievement in Iran.

We are very happy to hear of this extremely significant honor paid to our dedicated multi-linguistic journalist, whose work always brings a side of the story to American news consumers, that they miss entirely with mainstream media.

It is our consistent position at Salem-News.com, that people in the news regions are more qualified, and simply know more about local affairs and events, than news producers and anchors in New York or print journalists strapped to desks in Washington D.C., for that matter.

Prior to his joining our team, this extremely qualified writer told me about the rejection letters he received from American news groups, even the BBC and other European agencies.
When I saw his first written piece, I was more than happy to publish it... I was very motivated about the possibilities, and things have only progressed from there.

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Iran's Nuclear Standoff: Who is the Loser?

2010-07-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Global Research: It's more than 8 years that the world's newspapers are filled with miscellaneous news, reports and commentaries concerning Iran's nuclear program. Controversy over Iran's nuclear program has spanned through two administrations in Iran: ex-President Mohammad Khatami's government and the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration. The term "Iran nuclear program" returns more than 6 million results in Google web search. Thousands of scholars, journalists, politicians and political pundits have made their own statement regarding this debatable subject.

Terminologically, Iran's nuclear program calls to mind the words holocaust, Israel, Zionism, Axis of Evil, George W. Bush, stretched hands and uranium enrichment. The world is watching the uninteresting continuation of confrontation over Iran's nuclear program and the opportunist journalists find this tedious charade the best subject to entertain their readers and enrich their portfolio.

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The outlandish computation of King Abdullah

2010-07-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz told French Defense Minister Herve Morin in a controversial statement less than two months ago said that Iran does not deserve to exist.

His comments came just a few days after Israelis forces raided the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31 and killed nine Turkish peace activists who were heading towards the besieged Gaza Strip along with 663 people from 37 countries to break the two-year blockade of the starving enclave.

The debatable remarks by Abdullah, however, did not come as a surprise since his Kingdom had previously announced on June 12 that it would allow Israel to use its airspace for launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Saudi Arabia, which is progressively moving towards establishing some clandestine connections with Tel Aviv in violation of the conventional agreement between Arab states to refuse to recognize Israel, has already set out an Iranophobia project which international observers consider to be in line with the large-scale policies of the White House on Iran.

It was first revealed in 2006 that Saudi Arabia had taken steps to come closer to Israel furtively. In a September 25, 2006 report, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had a meeting with Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Jordan to discuss Iran-related issues. Bandar has served as the Secretary-General of Saudi Arabia's National Security Council since October 2005. Prince Bandar has been a close friend of the Bush family and held the post of Saudi Ambassador in Washington for 22 years. George W. Bush had given him the notorious nickname "Bandar Bush". In his 2004 book "House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties", the American journalist and author Craig Unger alluded to the relationship between the members of Saudi royal family, including Prince Bandar, and the Bush extended political family.

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Interview with Eric Garris

2010-07-16T04:08:00.001-07:00

Artwork by Carlos Lattuf

Kourosh Ziabari - Things are getting more complex concerning Iran's nuclear program. The Brazil, Turkey-brokered Tehran Declaration according to which Iran agreed to ship 1,200 kilograms of its Low Enriched Uranium to Turkey for further enrichment to be used in Tehran's research reactor, was welcomed by a fourth round of UNSC sanctions and a set of unilateral sanctions imposed by the EU and United States against Iran.

At the same time, Tel Aviv has renewed its war threats against Tehran, cautioning that it might use the Saudi Arabia's airspace to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities; however, the war of words and struggle over dominance and superiority between the governments does nothing but affect the daily life of ordinary Iranians who have been already entangled in a 30-year-long embargo by the United States.

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Exploring the land of ancient civilization

2010-07-12T03:16:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - If you're looking for opportunities to explore the glory and splendor of a matchless and magnificent civilization firsthand, the ancient land of Iran has much to offer you with its unparalleled beauties and wonderful antiquities.

Although it might be the case that the mainstream media have deprived you of beholding the exquisiteness of Iran by portraying a fallacious and deceptive image of the country as a part of their anti-Iranian propaganda project, you can personally search to discover in Iran what is practically impossible to find in the rest of the world.

The Western state-run corporate media are trying their best to convince you that Iran is not a safe and secure place to visit. It's the essence of their black propaganda directed against Iran discriminatorily; however, if you once made the courageous decision to visit the cradle of Mesopotamian civilization, you'll finally come to the conclusion that Iran is absolutely different from what you've been told. The first experience of visiting Iran is enough to persuade you that this ancient land is worth visiting tens of times.

From hundreds of monuments, historical buildings, ancient sites, complexes and cities which are located all around Iran, let's stop by the most popular three out of ten places which are registered in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

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Interview with Joshua Frank

2010-07-11T09:27:00.001-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Joshua Frank is an American progressive journalist and noted anti-war columnist. His articles and commentaries have appeared on CounterPunch, Z Magazine, AntiWar.com, Truthout and Alternet. He is author of “Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush” and co-editor with Jeffrey St. Clair of Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland.

Joshua took part in an interview with me to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East region, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the prospect of Israel-U.S. relations, the recent controversy over the Freedom Flotilla attack and the media propaganda against Iran. Here is the complete text of our interview.

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Saudi Arabia's betrayal to the Islamic world

2010-07-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

Artwork by Carlos Latuff

Kourosh Ziabari - The corrupt king of Saudi Arabia Malek Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz whose clandestine connections with the families of Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush have made him a notorious and unpopular figure in the Islamic world has recently made unbelievably controversial remarks which leaved no doubt that this tyrannical monarch is moving towards ushering himself as the new stooge of the United States in the Persian Gulf region.

The Saudi King who has seemingly started attempts to merge his country with the imperialist world told the French Defense Minister Hervé Morin in a meeting held after the Gaza Freedom Flotilla massacre that "two states in region do not deserve to exist: Israel and Iran."

Juxtaposed with the impolite and uncompromising mistreatment of the Iranian pilgrims by the Saudi police forces in Mecca and Medina, the bizarre and unprecedented remarks of the Saudi tyrant whose monarchy has been described as "head-chopping, hand-severing, anti-feminist, misogynist, feudal [and] anti-democratic" by Robert Fisk highlighted the Arab kingdom's decisiveness to distance itself from the union of Islamic nations and join the bloc of imperialist governments.

So, let's pose some vital questions. Does the Saudi king really deserve the title of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques, which he has assigned to himself? Does this corrupt monarch really care about the Islamic solidarity?

In an article titled "The Kingdom of Corruption, the Saudi Connection", the British Pakistani author and historian Tariq Ali wrote about the undiscovered and unseen realities of Saudi Arabia intelligently: "In normal times the Saudi Kingdom is barely covered by the Western media. The Ambassadors report to their respective chanceries that all is well and the continuity of the regime is not threatened. It requires the imprisonment of an American or British citizen or for a British nurse to be chucked out of a window for attention to focus on the regime in Riyadh."

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Who Cares About the Iranian People?

2010-07-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - The countries of the world are competing with each other in imposing new financial sanctions against Iran, at a time when the Iranian people still haven't lost the bitter memories of an 8-year war with Baathist Iraq, masterminded and fostered by the United States and its European allies.
With those horrors anything but forgotten, new rounds of crippling sanctions directed against the most strategic industries of Iran come after one another in what is claimed to be the international movement of preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Although the International Atomic Energy Agency and the G5+1 have so far failed to put forward hard evidence that demonstrates the deviation of Iran in its nuclear activities towards military purposes, the fourth round of United Nations Security Council sanctions was agreed on June 9, 2010, targeting a number of Iranian companies and individuals who have allegedly participated in Iran's nuclear and missile program.

The Iranian people still remember the painful days of war with Iraq under the late dictator Saddam Hussein who was armed and equipped by the United States and 14 European countries. The First Persian Gulf War cost the lives of more than 500,000 Iranians and imposed some US $500 billion damage on Iran.

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Guilan; the province of four seasons

2010-06-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: On the southern coast of Caspian Sea tranquilly lies a magnificent land considered by many Iranians as a rendezvous where they can turn the ordinariness and boredom of tedious holidays into memorable and unforgettable moments: Guilan.

Guilan is one of Iran's three Northern provinces adjacent to the Caspian Sea. It's conventionally referred to as "North" by many Iranian citizens, especially those who live in giant, polluted cities such as Tehran where people hardly have the chance to behold the marvelous beauty of rain, forest and nightingales.

The archeological excavations reveal that the history of habitation in Guilan dates back to the age of Medes, an ancient Iranian tribe who lived in the northwestern parts of the present day Iran some 3700 years ago. Medes first resided in these parts in the late second millennium BC during the Bronze Age collapse.

Archaeologists believe the inhabitants of Caspian Sea's littoral districts were historically skillful in hunting animals such as cows, deer, swine and gazelles. The splendid artifacts and remnants of handicrafts found during the excavations of Guilan signify that the early Guilanis were also dexterous and competent in arts.

Renowned historians such as Henry Field and Arthur Keith believe the civilization of Caspian Sea's southern coastline dates back to 5,000 years; however, some scholars have gone so far to assert the civilization of Guilan is more than 7,000 years old and has affected the neighboring civilizations such as that of Assyrians. According to Arnold Wilson and Henry Filed, the early inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau were the people who resided in what is now considered to be the province of Guilan.

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Interview with Prof. William O. Beeman

2010-06-28T22:57:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Prof. William O. Beeman is the head of anthropology department at the University of Minnesota. His inimitable and independent approach toward the current affairs of Iran, one of the most controversial countries of the world, resembles the attitude of Noam Chomsky in terms of perspective and mindset and has cost him his reputation, professional credit.

Regrettably, he was insulted and attacked by a number of American mainstream media and fanatic neoconservatives over the past years and even his academic colleagues blamed him for what they considered to be his support for the main pivot of the “axis of evil”.

Prof. Beeman who speaks the Persian language fluently believes that Iranian people should not be treated with disdain and arrogance since their ancient superiority and historical backgrounds causes them to be resistant toward the hostile rhetoric and inimical literature.

He says that it’s not justifiable with any conscious and knowledgeable mind to allow Israel to accumulate an arsenal of 200 atomic warheads while putting lethal pressure on Iran to suspend its civilian nuclear program.

In an interview for the Foreign Policy Journal, I talked to Prof. Beeman on a variety of Iran-involved topics including the media propaganda, nuclear dossier and the prospect of revolution.

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Interview with Charles Glass

2010-06-28T00:41:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari: Charles Glass is an American political journalist, author and broadcaster specializing in the Middle East affairs. From 1983 to 1993, he was the chief Middle East correspondent of the ABC News. His articles and commentaries have appeared on The Independent, Christian Science Monitor, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, New Statesman and Harper’s Magazine. In 1976, he was granted the Overseas Press Club Award for his radio reporting of the death of Palestinians at the Beirut refugee camp at Tel el Zaatar. In 1986, Glass interviewed the hostage crew of TWA flight 847 on the tarmac of Beirut Airport. He broke the news that the hijackers had removed the hostages from the plane and hidden them in the suburbs of Beirut, causing the Reagan Administration to abort a rescue attempt. In his recent book the “Americans in Paris”, Charles Glass has retold the true story of the thousands of American who stayed in Paris during the Nazi occupation.

Glass took part in an interview with Daily News Corner to discuss the recent developments in the Middle East including the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the prospect of Iran’s nuclear standoff and the role of United States in the current state of affairs in the region.

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9/11 is an unsolved crime: U.S. journalist

2010-06-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: American journalist and author Christopher Bollyn says 9/11 was an Israeli false-flag operation meant to kick-start the Zionist-designed “war on terror”.
He made the remarks earlier this week during an email interview with freelance journalist Kourosh Ziabari.

Mr. Bollyn added that Iran is probably the main target since foreign oil corporations and big capital have designs on Iran. Following is the text of the interview:

Q: Could you explain why you think Mossad and CIA were involved in 9/11 terrorist attacks?

A: The earliest evidence of Israeli involvement in 9-11 was actually revealed in the news on the very day of the terror attacks and shortly thereafter, but never followed up in the mainstream media.

First, there was the van of 5 Israelis who were arrested in New Jersey on 9-11. This group, which included two Mossad agents known to U.S. law enforcement, had been observed videotaping the destruction of the Twin Towers with themselves celebrating in front of the camera, flicking their lighters and laughing with the burning towers in the background across the river. These Israelis worked for a fake moving company, Urban Moving Systems of Weehawken, New Jersey, which actually turned out to be a Mossad front operation. Dominic Suter, the head of the phony company, was allowed to escape to Israel shortly after 9-11 although he was a terror suspect being investigated by the FBI. The five Israelis, some of whom refused or failed lie detector tests, were caught in possession of multiple passports, box cutters, and a large amount of cash stuffed in their socks. Their van tested positive for explosives when checked by New Jersey police, at least until the FBI took over the investigation. When the five Mossadniks were returned to Israel in November 2001, three of them appeared on a popular television show and openly admitted that their mission had been to document the terror attacks. Who had given them this mission was not discussed.

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Interview with Christopher Bollyn

2010-06-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Christopher Bollyn is an American journalist and researcher. He is widely known for his extensive researches on the September 11, 2001 attacks which reveal that Israel has been complicit in planning and carrying out the terrorist attacks that cost the lives of 2,976 victims and left more than 6,000 injured. The U.S. government under ex-President Bush introduced the paramilitary group Al-Qaida as the main culprit of the attacks and adopted an aggressive policy towards the Muslim nations thereafter It also enacted the USA PATRIOT Act that would enable the U.S. government to search and investigate the telephone and email communications of the U.S. citizens under the pretext of discovering and mapping out the possible threats to the U.S. national security. Bollyn has written on the U.S. – Israel relations comprehensively and believes that a powerful corporate cartel of Zionists control and mastermind the large-scale U.S. foreign policy.

What follows is the full text of an in-depth interview with Christopher Bollyn in which we've discussed the post 9-11 "War on Terrorism" project devised by the Bush administration, the complicity of the state of Israel in the 9-11 attacks, the fate of Israeli regime in the wake of its growing isolation, the stance of United States administration towards Iran's nuclear dossier and the double standards it exercises with regards to the Israel's military nuclear program.

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Interview with Czech Ambassador in Iran

2010-06-22T03:03:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - The fate of longstanding conflict over Iran’s nuclear dossier, the duplicitous stance of the West towards the Israel’s atomic program, the prospect of Iran – EU relations and the role of Iran in the world’s political equations are the topics which the international community is immensely interested in knowing and reading about.

Josef Havlas is the ambassador of the Czech Republic in the Islamic Republic of Iran. During his diplomatic career, he served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to Japan (1995-2000) and Ireland (2003-2008), as well as Deputy Director of the Dept. for External Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2000-2003). He has been chairing the Czech embassy in Tehran since January 2009.

The following is the full text of Daily News Corner’s exclusive interview with Mr. Josef Havlas in which the mutual relations between Iran and Czech and a number of other relevant issues have been discussed.

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Crimes by Israel, Sanctions for Iran

2010-06-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: The Iranian nation is not unfamiliar with the double standards of the so-called superpowers. The history of Iran’s relations with the western and eastern powers is full of examples of deceitfulness, dishonesty and fraudulence. The recent U.S.-proposed Russia-backed United Nations Security Council resolution against Iran over its nuclear program is simply one example out of hundreds which demonstrate that the big powers have not been honest with Iran.

While the international community is witness to the blatant felonies of the Israel regime in the occupied territories of Gaza and West Bank, the United Nations Security Council blindly voted in favor of an unfair and unjustifiable round of sanctions against Iran for the Islamic republic is developing its civilian nuclear program without foreign help.

The new round of sanctions against Iran comes in the wake of Israel’s continued blockade of the Gaza Strip in violation of the UNSC resolution 1860 which demanded Tel Aviv last year to end the illegal siege and allow the humanitarian aid to be transferred to the besieged enclave. Furthermore the UNSC resolution against Iran was adopted when the international community was expecting a decisive international reaction against Israel’s brutal assault on the flotilla of aid ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Crimes by Israel, Sanctions for Iran

2010-06-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - The Iranian nation is not unfamiliar with the double standards of the superpowers anymore. The history of Iran's relations with the western and eastern superpowers is filled with deceitfulness, dishonesty and fraudulence. The recent U.S.-proposed, Russia-backed United Nations Security Council resolution against Iran over its nuclear program is simply one example out of hundreds of instances which demonstrate that the big powers have not ever been honest and sincere with Iran.

While the international community is witness to the flagrant, ceaseless and unrelenting felonies of the illegitimate regime of Israel in the occupied territories of Gaza and West Bank, United Nations Security Council blindly voted in favor of an unfair, unilateral and unjustifiable round of sanctions against the most pacifist and peace-lover country in the region simply because it wants to progress its civilian nuclear program domestically and without foreign intervention.

The new round of sanctions against Iran comes in the wake of Israel's continued blockade of the Gaza strip in violation of the UNSC resolution 1860 which demanded Tel Aviv last year to end the siege and allow the humanitarian aids to be transferred to the beleaguered enclave. More interestingly, the UNSC resolution against Iran was adopted while the international community was expecting a decisive and clear-cut reaction to Israel's assault on the convoy of humanitarian aid heading from Turkey towards the Gaza strip.

Israel's recent incursion into the sailboats of Freedom Flotilla which cost the lives of 20 peace activists and left 50 others wounded was a clear and untainted violation of Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 1988. Let's pose a simple question: what would happen if it was Iran that had attacked the Freedom Flotilla? Would the reaction of UNSC have been the same?

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A futilidade das resoluções do Conselho de Segurança da ONU

2010-06-13T02:39:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - O Conselho de Segurança, que desde seu estabelecimento tem tomado decisões discriminatórias contra vários países do mundo, especialmente em relação às nações não alinhadas que tentam escapar da hegemonia das superpotências, é notório por seu habitual padrão de um peso e duas medidas e está claro para todo mundo que suas resoluções são, na maioria das vezes, nada mais que fúteis, ineficazes, tendenciosas e não vinculantes.

Desde 1948, o Conselho de Segurança adotou 223 resoluções condenando as violações de Israel à lei internacional, inclusive a ocupação de território palestino, incursões unilaterais em territórios libaneses e sírios, desenvolvimento de armas nucleares, deportação de cidadãos palestinos de seus lares e construção ilegal de assentamentos na Cisjordânia. Curiosamente, o regime israelense não deu atenção a qualquer uma dessas resoluções e o CS nunca colocou em prática as suas exigências para responsabilizar Telavive pela manutenção contínua de flagrante rebeldia em relação às leis internacionais.

Por exemplo, a resolução de número 487 exigiu que Israel colocasse suas instalações nucleares sob abrangente vigilância da Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica (AIEA). Israel nunca atendeu à demanda e o CS nunca processou Israel pela sua desobediência à resolução.

Em outro exemplo, o Conselho de Segurança adotou seis resoluções seguidas, após a invasão do Líbano por Israel, em 1982, exigindo que o país cessasse as atividades militares e retirasse suas forças do território do país vizinho, mas Israel se recusou a aceitar as resoluções, até que a de número 517 foi aprovada, na qual Telavive foi fortemente censurada por sua recusa em obedecer as resoluções do CS emitidas a partir de março de 1982.

O estado criminoso de Israel, desde seu estabelecimento, atacou todas as suas nações vizinhas em várias ocasiões, levando o CS a adotar várias resoluções, entretanto, elas nunca foram além de declarações políticas, que eram no mínimo meras reações espontâneas à brutalidade de Israel no Oriente Médio ...

The futility of UNSC resolutions

2010-06-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Global Research: Although the United Nations Security Council, which some politicians believe is one of the most undemocratic organizations in the world, voted in favor of a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment program, the global public opinions are well aware of the fact that 15 countries, 5 of which are entitled to remain in an unquestionable monopoly and dominance, cannot in reality represent the interests of the international community.

The Security Council, which since its establishment has made discriminatory decisions against the world countries, especially the non-aligned nations who typically try to escape from the hegemony of superpowers, is notorious for its habitual exercise of double standards and it's clear to everyone that its resolutions are more often than not futile, ineffective, biased and unbinding.

Since 1948, the Security Council has adopted 223 resolutions in condemnation of Israel 's violations of international law, including the occupation of Palestinian lands, unilateral incursions into the Lebanese and Syrian soils, developing nuclear weapons, deporting the Palestinian citizens from their homes and building illegal settlements in the West Bank . Interestingly, the Israeli regime did not pay attention to any of these resolutions and the UNSC never pursued its demands to hold Tel Aviv accountable for its continued, flagrant defiance of international regulations.

For instance, the UNSC resolution 487 demanded Israel to put its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Israel never heeded the call and the UNSC never sued Israel for its inattentiveness to the resolution.

As another example, the Security Council adopted six consequent resolutions in the wake of 1982 Lebanon War, calling on Israel to cease its military activities and withdraw its forces from the Lebanese territory, but Israel refused to accept the resolutions until the resolution 517 was adopted in which Tel Aviv was strongly censured for its failure to obey the UNSC resolutions since March 1982.

The criminal state of Israel , since its establishment, attacked all of its neighboring countries on various occasions and incited UNSC resolutions; however, these resolutions never went beyond political statements which were the least spontaneous reactions to Israel 's brutality in the Middle East . On March 21, 1968, Israel fought the Battle of Karameh by attacking the Karameh district of Jordan, killing 40 to 84 Jordanians and 100 to 200 Palestinians. The massive attacked was followed by UNSC resolution 248 in which the "flagrant violation of the UN Charter" was strongly condemned by all of the UNSC members, even the United States; however, this verbal condemnation was the sole reaction of the Security Council to Israel's violence.

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Erdogan versus gang of Tel Aviv

2010-06-09T23:56:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has received global admiration for adopting a strong stance against the murderous regime that rules Israel today.

The Turkish prime minister severely criticized thuggish Israeli politicians for ordering the murder of international peace activists at Freedom Flotilla on high seas that was carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza and to break the three-year-long illegal siege imposed by the Israelis over the Gaza Strip. His message was blunt: “A bloody regime, now in power in Israel, must be surely punished. Even pirates and bandits do not touch unarmed people, children, elders, and they did it. And these people try without shame to justify themselves.”

Under the blockade, people of Gaza have been grappling with deteriorating economic and social situation and the Strip badly needs humanitarian aid. More than 80 percent of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million population lives under poverty line. The unemployment rate of the coastal enclave hit 41.3 percent in 2008. According to the United Nations' World Food Program, some 70 percent of Gaza's population is facing food insecurity and a vast majority is dependant on assistance from the United Nations.

According to the World Health Organization, 98 percent industrial units in Gaza have been shut down and there is acute shortage of fuel, money, cooking gas and other basic supplies due to Israel's relentless blockade of the enclave since June 2007.

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Understanding OCD patients

2010-06-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Sometimes, you might think that they’re intentionally bothering you by asking a single question tens of times or calling your cell phone indefatigably while you’re attending a crucial meeting in the headquarters of your company. You may also feel that they’re advertently aware of what they’re doing while they try to infer from the past years the details of an incident which you both equally dislike to speak about. You may get angry at them when they incessantly state a single sentence which you estimate you’ve heard three thousands times before; however, it may be difficult for you to believe that it’s not in their personality to disturb you and make you irritated at the things which you try to evade. It’s not their intention to do such a thing. They’re compulsively bound to do it. Just think of a minimum possibility that they’re suffering from OCD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

The 21st century is no longer the age of diabetes, hepatitis, tuberculosis, influenza or typhoid. The communications era has brought into light a new generation of diseases which the early man was ignorantly unable to diagnose and cure.

With an iconic representation of frequent hand-washing, OCD is one of the most paralyzing mental disorders which is mainly diagnosable in the young adults older than 18. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates by Demographic Characteristics, Approximately 2.2 million American adults aged 18 and older, or about 1.0 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have OCD.
OCD is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive, ritualized behaviors (compulsions). The indications of OCD are so complicated and intricate that may be conflated with those of anticipatory anxiety. The regular symptoms of OCD include, but not limited to, repeated counting, checking, washing, regulating, ordering, and asking. OCD patients are also sometimes diagnosed with the symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), bipolar disorder and social anxiety disorder.

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Erdogan; the New Hero of Islamic World

2010-06-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stirred up international appreciation after he courageously blasted the Tel Aviv leaders for the bloody massacre of the peace activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla convoy of humanitarian aids which was heading towards the besieged Gaza strip to break the three-year-long blockade of the war-stricken enclave.

The beleaguered Gaza strip has been grappling with deteriorating economic and social situation over the past three years and needs urgent humanitarian aids to be disentangled from the growing crisis it's facing. More than 80% of the Gaza strip's 1.5m population lives under poverty threshold. The unemployment rate of the enclave hit 41.3% in 2008. According to the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP), some 70 percent of Gaza's population is food insecure and the vast majority is dependant on assistance from the United Nations to cover its basic needs.

According to the World Health Organization, 98 percent of industrial operations in Gaza have been shut down and there are acute shortages of fuel, cash, cooking gas and other basic supplies due to Israel's blockade of the enclave since 2007.

Israel's military operation in Gaza in the late 2008 and early 2009 led to the destruction of more than 7,500 Palestinian homes and displacement of some 3,500 families; however, Tel Aviv's prevention of the entry of infrastructural and building materials have impeded the reconstruction of the ruined homes and those 3,500 families are still living without any shelter and protection.

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Israel invites the world to revolt!

2010-06-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Global Research: Over the past 60 years, the racist regime of Israel has been continually scoffing the international community under the cover of "deliberate ambiguity" to develop one of the most perilous nuclear arsenals in the world. According to the Federation of American Scientists, Israel possesses more than 200 nuclear warheads which are simply adequate to evaporate the whole world in a matter of moments.

Israel which is the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and one of the three non-signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has blatantly rejected the appeal of the 189 signatories of the NPT, including its key ally the United States, to sign up to the treaty and put its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The 2010 NPT review conference which wrapped up on May 28 in New York and was attended by the representatives from the NPT member states called on the five United Nations Security Council permanent members to move towards eliminating their nuclear arsenals and affirmed the necessity of Israel's joining the treaty and abiding by its international obligations with regards to nuclear non-proliferation.

Zionist officials, however, rejected the appeal and resorted to the excuse that Israel is not signatory to the NPT, so they're not legally obliged to reveal the information related to their nuclear arsenal, nor are they responsible for reducing their atomic weapons, let alone eliminating them whatsoever.

Israel which has been recurrently given impunity from international laws by the United States and enjoyed imperviousness to any kind of legal and judicial responsibility before the international community with regards to its criminal acts of mass murder, ethnic cleansing and collective punishment is now reminding the public opinions of the chauvinistic and mischievous apartheid regime of South Africa which was ruled by the National Party government between 1948 and 1994.

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Flotilla assault serves to isolate Israel

2010-06-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Israel's brutal nature is comprehensibly evident to everyone. The independent nations of the world in Asia, Africa and Latin America know well that Israel's existence is blended with inhumanity and violence.

Even the ordinary people in the Northern America and Europe are well aware of the fact that Israel is an insane and vicious regime; it's only their respective governments who refuse to submit to the reality of Israel and believe that this rogue state does not benefit the international community in any way.

Israel's suicidal incursion into the flotilla of humanitarian aids which was heading from Turkey to the besieged Gaza strip once again discredited the flimsy legitimacy of Tel Aviv. As Trudy Rubin, the pro-Israel columnist of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote on Thursday, this "botched" attack neared Israel to an irreparable loss: its diplomatic ties with Turkey.

The pro-Zionist writer, who repeatedly called Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan an emotional man in her article, fears that Israel's thoughtless and hysterical treatment of the peace activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla might lead to Tel Aviv's growing isolation and its separation from its sole Muslim partner in the Middle East.

Rubbin refers to her 2008 interview with Mr. Erdogan in which the Turkish premier had angrily complained that Israel did not allow the humanitarian aids to be transferred to the besieged Gaza strip. She suggests that Israel should make an official apology to Turkey and take some tactical steps to repair its already strained ties with the Muslim nation and make up for the serious trouble it has been entangled in. She also noted that Israel should temporarily allow the humanitarian aids in the Gaza strip so as to pacify the growing international agitation against Tel Aviv.

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Let's chant: Free Free Palestine

2010-06-04T01:22:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Seeing the footage dispatched from London to TV stations around the world following the massacre of peace activists onboard the Freedom Flotilla embarrassed me for several reasons.

First and foremost, as an Iranian Muslim who ideologically supports and upholds his brothers in religion during crucial times, I found myself incomprehensibly ineffectual as I saw British citizens storming onto the streets of London, holding the flags of Turkey and Palestine, chanting "Free, Free Palestine".
Although the vicious regime of Israel has been successful in uniting Muslim and non-Muslim nations around the world in support of the cause of the suffering people of Palestine, the sentiments that emanated from the British citizens offered a different, an unprecedented feeling this time.

In the past, they would demonstrate to condemn the brutalities of Tel Aviv. It was a perceptive sympathy that propelled them to the streets to chant for the freedom of Palestine. This time was different, however. This time the insight came together with a patriotic resentment against those who had mistreated their fellow citizens.

The British protestors were touching the pain that the Palestinian people have suffered over the past 60 years. 42 British citizens were among the 480 people whom the Zionist regime had arrested. This time, the British citizens saw how Israel does not draw a distinction between Palestinian and non-Palestinian; to the racist leaders of Israel and their agents, a human being does not have any value, so imprisoning, torturing, killing or massacring people from different nationalities, races and religions is viewed as normal. Since September 2000, 1,441 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces. Children do not pose a threat to the national security of Israel, so these killings emanate from the essential nature of Israel - one of atrocity and butchery.

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Israel is already singled out

2010-06-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - By criticizing the final resolution of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the U.S. government once again demonstrated its indifference and unresponsiveness towards the international community and the bloc of 188 nations that demanded Israel to join the NPT and put its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In a statement following the conclusion of the conference, the U.S. President Barack Obama expressed his concern over Israel's being singled out and reaffirmed his country's commitment to the Israel's "security", which is seemingly hinged on the possession of nuclear weapons.

"The United States has long supported such a [nuclear-free Middle East] zone, although our view is that a comprehensive and durable peace in the region and full compliance by all regional states with their arms control and nonproliferation obligations are essential precursors for its establishment. We strongly oppose efforts to single out Israel, and will oppose actions that jeopardize Israel's national security," he said in a statement published immediately after the conference wrapped up.

Obama's militant national security advisor also issued a statement with similar content. "The United States will not permit a conference or actions that could jeopardize Israel’s national security… We will not accept any approach that singles out Israel or sets unrealistic expectations," General James L. Jones said.

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What if Iran had carried out the Gaza carnage?

2010-05-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Daily News Corner: It’s not unjustifiable to consider Israel as the absolute incarnation of fraudulence, relentlessness and brutality. Since its establishment, the Zionist regime has carried out actions which contravene the international regulations and cancel out the human rights in a way or another. Only a brief look into the account of Israel’s bloody interaction with the Palestinian people over the past years shows us that this fabricated regime does not deserve “the right of existence”, as the U.S. and European officials put it periodically.

The Monday assault of the Israel Defense Forces into the flotilla of humanitarian aids which was heading to the besieged Gaza Strip from Turkey left at least 10 dead and several other wounded. Never mind that Israel’s criminal action violated the 4th Geneva 1949 Convention. Just imagine for a single moment that Iran had carried out the carnage instead of Israel. Simply replace the two names and then read the news as reported by CNN: “The Free Gaza Movement, one of the organizers of the aid, said that Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto the deck of one of the ships early Monday and immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians.”

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Morality still alive in the wold

2010-05-30T02:55:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Israel's continued repression of the Palestinian populace for the past 60 years has not been limited to land invasions, military operations, collective punishments, extrajudicial imprisonment, blockades and financial sanctions.

Tel Aviv's propaganda machine has enabled the regime to wage a long-term, multi-faceted war on the Palestinians; a war, which includes air and ground assaults on one side and psychological warfare on the other.

It's widely believed that the majority of mainstream media in the United Kingdom and the United States are being controlled by wealthy Zionists who specify the trajectory and stance of these outlets in lieu of feeding them financially.

There are several examples and instances which demonstrate that a large portion of the world's mainstream media is being controlled and directed by individuals of this political persuasion. Some analysts and investigative journalists have even gone so far as to claim that 97 percent of the world media conglomerates are owned by Zionist executives. Although such allegations might be hard to believe initially, a brief review of the history and background of these media outlets indicates that the claim does have some basis.

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Ferdowsi, the reviver of Persian language

2010-05-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: The United Nation's cultural body (UNESCO) has named the year 2010 as 1000th anniversary of the composition of The Shahnameh, the renowned national epic of the Persian-speaking world which has been traditionally a source of honor and a manifestation of ancestral identity to the Iranian people and nations such as Tajikistan and Afghanistan who have loyally stuck to their lingual and cultural background after separation from Iran.

The Shahnameh is the result of 30 years of unyielding and steadfast endeavor by the master of Persian literature, Hakim Abulqasim Ferdowsi who is known to the Iranian people and the Persian speaking nations as the reviver of Persian language. Iranians owe to Ferdowsi the survival and fortification of their language and that is why Ferdowsi is considered to be the most prominent Persian poet of all times, even though there are disputes between the scholars who believe that Ferdowsi's work, in a literary and formational context, cannot be compared to those of Hafiz, Sa'di, Rumi and Rudaki as the nature of Ferdowsi's work is essentially different from what other notable Persian poets have brought into existence; however, to the majority of scholars, researchers and literary experts, The Shahnameh, regardless of its format and content, features because of its remarkable contribution to the culture of Iran and the historical identity of Iranian people.

It is widely believed that Ferdowsi started the composition of The Shahnameh when he was 30 years old. According to his own poetry, Ferdowsi invested more than 30 years on the foundation of The Shahnameh to preserve the heritage of Persian language.

The Shahnameh is a mythical, 30,000-distich poetic opus which is dedicated to the history of ancient Iran. The content of The Shahnameh can be divided into three main sections: the mythical age, the heroic age and the historical age. In the mythical age, Ferdowsi demonstrates his adherence to the moral and ethical values by praising and eulogizing the Almighty God whom he considers, thanks to his Muslim background and monotheistic mindset, the sole creator of the universe and only initiator of the life. He starts his poetic oration in the name of God:

In the name of the Lord of both wisdom and mind,
To nothing sublimer can thought be applied

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"Iran was not what we had thought"

2010-05-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Although the relentless and incessant spates of mainstream media's psychological warfare have turned Iran into a hazardous and insecure region in the eyes of global public opinions, thousands of Western tourists "take the risk" of traveling to Iran each year to behold in person the concealed and withheld realities of the peaceful and magnificent Iran which a hawkish leader had idiotically categorized as a part of the so-called "Axis of Evil".

The American, French, German, British and Australian citizens who voluntarily travel to Iran to discover the veiled face of this ancient land usually confess identically that Iran had not been what they had thought. The interesting similarity in the viewpoints and statements of the Western citizens who find their preconceptions and prejudgments about Iran absolutely unfounded and erroneous upon visiting the country clearly reveals the fact that the Western corporate media are portraying Iran antagonistically and this is simply a misleading indoctrination to the global audiences who don't have sufficient information about Iran, its ancient civilization, history and contemporary developments.

The foreign tourists, specially the western journalists and artists who come to Iran to examine the veracity of their countries' media propaganda, usually get surprised and astonished by arriving at the splendor of Iran, its cultural heritage, industrial advancements and natural beauties.

The Western mainstream media's dominant trajectory with regard to Iran is mere demonization and nothing else. They never run a documentary about the ancient buildings of Iran. They never show the glorious mosques and palaces of Iran. They never introduce the young geniuses and talents of Iran. They never allow anything about the scientific and artistic breakthroughs of Iranians to be disclosed and discussed. They never allow their audiences to know that Iran has been historically the land of architecture, carpet, saffron and pistachio. Their only agendum is to shrewdly withhold from the public what exalts Iran and maliciously exaggerate what chips away at Iran.

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Whither the Nobel Peace Prize?

2010-05-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: To the disappointed and dejected people of the world who had witnessed the dark and gloomy years of George W. Bush's presidency, Barack Obama's electoral slogan of "change" seemed to be an encouraging pledge of rebirth and revitalization which could eventually extricate them from war, destruction, sanction and militarism.

Obama's catchphrase of "change" was so inspirational and exciting that 140 heads of state sent him congratulatory messages upon his election as the President of the United States in 2008. The whole world believed that a new change would be underway; a change that had seemed basically unreachable under the ex-President Bush.

Barack Obama, who endeavored to appeal to the Americans as a pacifist politician who has come to revamp the public image of his country in the eyes of public opinion and put an end to the hawkish policies of his republican predecessor, won the hearts and souls of his compatriots by promising them to pursue a strategy of détente, withdraw the troops from Iraq, seek reconciliation with Iran and put forward a comprehensive public healthcare program.

With his matchless features as an African American president with Muslim background, Obama indicated his willingness to be reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln for his fellow citizens; therefore, he intelligently began taking steps which would bring to the minds of Americans the delightful history of their country's rescue from the Civil War under Lincoln. Firstly, he announced his candidacy for the president of the United States before the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his memorable "House Divided" speech in 1858.

Harold Holzer, the American writer and Lincoln biographer believes that from the beginning of his political career, Obama tried to model himself on Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States and one of the most popular figures in the history of the country. They both became lawyers and consequently served in the state legislature and then served a single term in the Congress. It goes without saying that they both come from the same state: Illinois.

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The heritage of Omar Khayyam

2010-05-21T00:08:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Khayyam was born on May 18th in 1048 in the Neyshapur city of the Greater Iran. Now May 18th is dedicated to the commemoration of Omar Khayyam in the Iranian solar calendar; the calendar which Khayyam has invented himself. To the Western world which has always been enchanted by the magnificence and glory of oriental culture, Omar Khayyam is a venerable and honored figure who brings to mind the delicacy and gracefulness of ancient Persian civilization. The Iranian polymath, astronomer, philosopher and poet is internationally known for his insightful rubaiyyat (quatrains) which the influential British poet Edward FitzGerald translated from Persian into English 150 years ago.

Omar Khayyam is considered to be an inseparable part of Iran's impressive history of literature and science. He is associated with the development of the most accurate solar calendar of the world, namely the Jalali calendar, which, according to the astronomers and mathematicians is far more exact and precise than the Gregorian calendar. It's said that the solar calendar which Omar Khayyam devised shows an error in the calculation of days and months only once in each 10,000 years.

The literary potency of Khayyam was so significant that made him the best composer of quatrains among the Persian poets; however, he is also known for his contributions to astronomy and one of his most major breakthroughs was the reformation of Persian calendar under the Seljuk King Sultan Jalal al-Din Malekshah Saljuqi after whom the Persian solar calendar was named.

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Read the whole article in World Sentinel

Tehran Declaration: Nuclear Victory for Iran

2010-05-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Any conscious and truthful observer will unequivocally testify that the trilateral agreement between Iran, Turkey and Brazil over the nuclear fuel swap which was concluded on the sidelines of G-15 summit in Tehran has practically put an end to the longstanding standoff surrounding Iran's nuclear program which the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council had artificially turned into an erosive global crisis.

Now, the concerns of France, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States, who over the past 6 years delusively pretended that Iran is after the development of nuclear weapons, are clearly addressed in the Declaration of Tehran and there remains no excuse for them to maintain their confrontational stance and protract the altercation anymore.

According to the agreement, which the majority of Western media outlets embraced traumatically, Iran will ship 1200 kg of its Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) to Turkey for safekeeping and receive 120 kg of 20 percent enriched uranium instead. The 20-percent enriched uranium will be used to warm up a research nuclear reactor in Tehran which aims to produce Technetium-99, a radioisotope which thousands of Iranians suffering from certain types of cancer are in dire need of.

Iran, whose clarity and transparency with regards to its nuclear program had been emphatically highlighted by the IAEA and its former chief Mohamed ElBaradei a number of times, does not possess nuclear weapons whereas all of the permanent members of UNSC who unjustifiably imposed three rounds of tough sanctions against Iran for its civilian nuclear program own enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons at the same time as being the signatories of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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Interview with Prof. Michael Behe

2010-05-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Salem News: Michael Behe is an American scientist and biochemist. Being an intelligent design advocate, he serves as a professor of biochemistry at the University of Lehigh in Pennsylvania. He is also a senior fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture.

Behe has controversially challenged the evolution theory of Charles Darwin which underpins the ideology of western though with regards to the material life and universe.

In his 1996 book "Darwin's Black Box", Behe has proposed the notion of irreducible complexity which underscores the role of an intelligent designer in the emergence of complex biological systems. According to this theory, certain biological systems are too complex to have evolved from simpler and less complex predecessors.

The theory of Behe undermines the basis of atheism and secularism as it advocates the role of an intelligent, conscious designer in the creation of human being. That's why Michael Behe has been attacked and insulted by a number of his opponents and the materialist scientists who deny the existence of God.

Michael Behe has been accused of disseminating deceitful falsehood and what is describe as pseudo-science in the scientific circles around the world. Behe's theory has been labeled as argument from ignorance and the University of Lehigh has clearly distanced itself from his viewpoints regarding the evolution - creation debate.

Here is the complete text of interview with Michael Behe in which he describes why the western society is afraid of the propagation of "intelligent design" theory.

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Just answer this simple question!

2010-05-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: doesn't take that much time to contemplate over a simple question which has astoundingly remained unanswered so far: why should Israel possess nuclear weapons?

Initially, the most straightforward and easily reached answer may be that no country should own nuclear weapons as they pose serious threat to global security and breach international regulations. This clear-cut answer, though idealistic and impractical, is a logical and reliable statement. The life of each and every individual is precious and should be protected according to the laws of morality, and legally, on the basis of Geneva Conventions; nonetheless, this logical answer does not lead us towards an authentic conclusion regarding Israel's illogical nuclear program. a

Almost everyone knows that nuclear weapons are so devastative and perilous that they can potentially eradicate millions of people from the face of the earth in a twinkling. To visualize the extent of nuclear weapons' destructiveness, one should recall the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 that killed 225000 Japanese citizens in a matter of hours. This was a demonstration of U.S. military might that eventually ended in the death of thousands of innocent civilians and the permanent infection of thousands of others with various diseases.

The alternative response to the question proposed earlier may be that Israel is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and hence is not obligated to deactivate its nuclear arsenal and destroy the atomic warheads it obtains. This answer is worse than the earlier one; it actually ridicules the international conventions and discredits the NPT whatsoever. This answer explicitly invites the countries interested in developing nuclear weapons to be exempted from accountability before the international community by pulling out from the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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I Stand by Palestine

2010-05-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Palestine Telegraph: In a recent interview which I conducted with the brave Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff, he told me that he has never seen a nation to be as strong and powerful as the Palestinian nation.

I admire his statement. He is right in his position to say that the Palestinians are one of the strongest nations of the world. Palestinians are not well-off and sumptuous as the people of northern Europe, their annual GDP does not equate with that of Canada and France, they're not equipped with the state-of-the-art productions of technology, they don't have the capability to send all of their children to school to help them realize their dream of becoming useful and valuable individuals for the society, they don't live in edifices and penthouses and they don't earn $30,000 a year; however, they've achieved such sublime zeniths that takes hundreds of years for the other nations to accomplish.

Over the past 60 years, they've been under the incessant and unrelenting fire of a racist regime which is controlled by the people who don't understand anything of logic and reason. They've paid a high cost to preserve their values and morals against this chauvinistic regime.

Since September 29, 2000, some 6,348 Palestinians have been killed of which 1,441 ones were children; however, no "human rights" organization ringed a single alarm of sympathy with the nation of Palestine, as if that 6,348 killed people were not human beings to be taken into account.

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Interview with Dr. Peter Feaver

2010-05-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Palestine Think Tank: A Harvard University graduate, a current Alexander F. Hehmeyer Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University, and the director of Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS), Peter D. Feaver is perhaps best known for his mission under President Bush as the special advisor for strategic planning and institutional reform on the National Security Council from 2005 to 2007.

The author of “Guarding the Guardians: Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons in the United States” (Cornell University Press), he is an international relations expert and has long commented on issues pertaining to the Middle East and Iran.

In his recent commentary for Foreign Policy on recent post-election unrest in Iran and the inevitable intertwinement of Iran’s turmoil with the disputed proposal of direct negotiations between Tehran and Washington, Feaver writes: “We want to create and deepen fissures within the Tehran regime — check that, we need those fissures — because that is the only plausible way that a diplomatic deal on the nuclear file could be struck.”

Feaver is one of those American pundits who explicitly favor the imposition of hard-hitting sanctions against Iran so as to persuade Tehran to halt its “nuclear ambitions”. He adds in his Foreign Policy article: “Financial sanctions that activates business pressure on the regime and thereby deepens fissures within the political elite seemed to be our best shot at fissure-exacerbation.”

In Prof. Feaver’s view, the best diplomatic solution on Iran’s nuclear standoff is to endow Tehran with “fig-leafs”; giving Iran some rhetorical concessions by admitting its “right” to develop nuclear energy emblematically and pressuring it to suspend its nuclear program for “some long period of time” concurrently.

In an interview with Foreign Policy Journal, Peter D. Feaver discusses these and other issues.

Read here

The fate of political prisoners in Europe

2010-05-10T01:57:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: To those who have irrevocably come to the conclusion that Europe is a "beacon of freedom", it might be interesting that the most famous political prisoners of the world are being kept in the jails of different European countries on a number of charges.

Western human rights organizations frequently attack Third World countries for what they consider to be the violation of human rights and repression of political activists in these countries.

Every day, the same headlines appear on the front-page of European and American newspapers, condemning the imprisonment of a journalist in this African country or the cessation of that newspaper's publication in Latin America; however, the mainstream media in the Western countries who sing their own praises of being ideologically independent and self-determining regardless of their respective governments' dictated trajectory, are witness to the evaporation of their prestige and reputation as a result of the hidden censorship and bowdlerization which they're subject to.

One of the most recent examples of the mainstream media's collective attempt to withhold from the public an event which could potentially recall the forgotten story of a western exercise of double standards was their joint silence concerning the freedom of Ernst Zundel, the most famous political prisoner in Europe who has spent 7 years of his life behind the bars in three countries: Canada, Germany and the United States.

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Why don’t mainstream media publish us?

2010-05-09T00:50:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Palestine Telegraph: "Fair and balanced," "news you can trust," "unbiased and accurate reporting" are phrases we have heard from western and mainstream media outlets. Yet, controversial topics, stories and articles that do not conform go uncovered, unpublished and, at best, underreported. The bias of the so-called unbiased outlets had led to an upsurge in alternative media outlets. Alternative media outlets give a voice to those whose views are quite different from the mainstream. The division begs the question: Why don’t mainstream media publish us?
Mainstream media, who take on the "they" in the dichotomy, are the chained, corporate media outlets whose interests are intertwined together. "They" are the news networks, websites, magazines and journals that fear a public backlash for not conforming to the political or ideological lines drawn. Selectively taking quotes or publishing only one side of the story by these outlets distort and withhold relevant information needed for an informed public to draw their own conclusion.

While there are many examples, only a few should drive the point home. Mainstream media used the term "nuclear energy" and "nuclear bomb" interchangeably when translating the speech of the Iranian president. The two, however, are not the same. Accurate translation, without bias, is important for the international community and the Iranian people. Mainstream media uses titles out of respect for those they like, and disrespectful ones for those they do not. They refer to the American President as President Obama and the Iranian President as "the hardliner." Media play a role in shaping the views of those who read or listen. The viewers are the ones who vote and support the policies of their governments.

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Why don't they publish us?

2010-05-08T00:28:00.000-07:00

Kourosh Ziabari - Salem News: From the Guardian and New York Times to the Washington Post and Reuters, I've submitted several op-ed pieces and articles to the world's mainstream media outlets and newspapers over the past years. All of my submissions were responded identically: "Rejected"!

Intrinsically, it's an ambition of every journalist to reach out to a greater audience, achieve more exposure, make progress and improve his portfolio. Putting aside the primary motive of being renowned as a reference of public attention, the journalist aims to elevate his own viewpoint and advertise the way he looks into different matters as a precise and rectified account. The journalist is primarily looking for ways to exalt his own interpretation of stories and inculcate the reader a supposedly reliable, accurate analysis of a certain incident which is presumably "what he believes".

Thinking of methods to expand his coverage, journalist's principal purpose is to get in touch with the global audiences, instruct them on the basis of his own mindset, advocate a certain philosophy and denounce the other scopes of thought. This is actually how the journalist accomplishes his mission regardless of his ideological and reflective belongingness.

The inherent mission of a journalist is to enlighten the public opinions, help them distinguish the right from wrong and encourage the value of critical thinking. Although the journalism of 21st century has become an instrumental mechanism of disseminating falsehood, launching black propaganda and psychological warfare, the foremost responsibility of a journalist is to tell the truth even at the cost of his own defeat.

Anyway, I haven't come this long way to advocate the principles and fundamentals of journalism and sermonize about the basis of ethnic journalism; neither have I come to enumerate the responsibilities of a decent journalist and itemize his duties in respect of the public opinions. What I would like to discuss is the reasons why "they" don't publish "us". So who are these "they" and who are those "us"?

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