Important Political News

[RedWine]

In early January of this year, a prominent American journalist published a strangely inaccurate attack on Iran, making the country complicit in the crimes of the Holocaust. I prepared the response below and sent it to the San Francisco Chronicle, where the original article had appeared. But the editors of the paper told me that they do not publish polemical responses. I prepared another essay, dealing directly with each of the accusations, and the essay was published in the Insight section of the Chronicle on Sunday, February 9, 2006. (p. E 5). But as the accusations in Mr. Black’s article are serious, I think publishing the direct response to his attacks is also necessary.

Even for acclaimed investigative journalists like Mr. Edwin Black, few things are more dangerous than the temptation to conflate fact and fiction, to traffic in hackneyed shibboleths, and to write half-truths based on scant knowledge. His defamatory diatribe against the nation of Iran, published in the San Francisco Chronicle of January 8, 2006, is replete with half-truths, gross misstatement of facts and a defiant disregard for known but inconvenient facts of history.

To chronicle every factual error and faulty accusation in the piece would require an essay much longer than the original piece. If nations could have their day in libel court, Mr. Black would now be looking for a whole bevy of lawyers to answer the many libelous accusations he has made against the entire nation of Iran.

The trigger for Mr. Black attack was Mr. Ahmadinejad’s odious comments about wiping Israel off the map, and his even more shameful denial of the Holocaust. Surely those comments deserve to be thoroughly condemned. The regime in Iran must be made to understand that the world community has zero tolerance for such anti-Semitic ranting. But it would be a tragic mistake to fall into a racist trap when condemning Mr. Ahmadinejad’s racist words, and that, unfortunately is precisely what Mr. Black has done in his essay. He claims that if we look at Iran’s “Hitler-era past” we will discover “that Iran and Iranians were strongly connected to the Holocaust and the Hitler regime.”

The facts of history are just the opposite of what Mr. Black has claimed. As early signs of the murderous Final Solution became visible, the Iranian government of the time convinced the Nazi race experts in Germany that Iranian Jews had lived in Iran for over twenty five hundred years and were fully assimilated citizens of the Iran and must be afforded all the rights of such citizens. The Nazis accepted this argument and the lives of all Iranian Jews living under the Nazi yoke was saved. An account of this episode can be found in the History of Contemporary Iranian Jews, published by Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History.

Moreover, as I have recounted in my Persian Sphinx, Iranian diplomats in Europe and elsewhere offered hundreds of Iranian passports to European Jews and thus saved their lives. And when the Nazi killing machines began their slaughter of innocent Polish Jews, 1388 Jews, including 871 children were moved to Tehran where they lived in relative safety till they moved to Israel. Again History of Contemporary Iranian Jews has provided an account of what are called “Tehran Children.”

Mr. Black goes on to claim that Iran and its leaders were not only aware of the “Holocaust, they played both parts ... the country offered escape routes for refugee Jews ... but only in exchange for extortionate passage fees.” The man responsible for the transfer of Jewish refugees in Iran -- who went on to become Israel’s ambassador to Iran--has an entirely different story to tell. He writes, “As the Shah of Iran had particular affinity for the Jews, the military and bureaucratic institutions of the country spared no effort in helping refugees reach Israel.” (Moir Ezry’s Yadnameh, vol. 1. p. 52). He goes on to say, “countries like Bulgaria, and Rumania asked for great sums of money from Israel in order to set their Jewish population free. But the Iranian government never asked for any money.”(p. 60)

With little to besmear the people of Iran with, Mr. Black eventually performs a conjurer’s trick. In the middle of the narrative, he introduces the notorious figure of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and then the Iranian nation is blamed for every step taken by that despicable figure. But as an acclaimed investigative journalist. Mr. Black should know that Iran was at the time of World War Two about eighty-percent Shiite, and that Muftis are unique to the Sunni sect of Islam. Considering the long simmering tension between Shiites and Sunnis, and between Persians and Arabs, an Arab Mufti, would be hardly a popular character in Iran.

Mr. Black’s story about Reza Shah and his affinity for the Nazis and his decision to change the name of the country to Iran suffers from revealing errors of omission and commission. Contrary to Mr. Black’s claim, Reza Shah’s affinity for Germany predates the rise of Nazis by almost two decades. During World War One, when Reza was just a colonel in the Cossack Brigade, he contacted Germany’s embassy in Tehran and solicited their help in fighting British and Russian encroachments on Iran. He was wooed by the Nazis who agreed to sell him the steel factory he coveted and considered a sine quo non of progress and modernity. Nevertheless, according to the British embassy reports from Tehran in 1940, the total number of German citizens in Iran -- from simple technicians to sinister spies -- was no more than a thousand.

Even when Mr. Black writes about the issue of the country’s change of name, he gets it only half right. He writes, “So intense was the Shah’s identification with the Third Reich that in 1935 he renamed his ancient country Iran.” But Iran has been called Iran for over twenty-five hundred years. Reza Shah did was not to rename his country; he asked the world not to call it Persia, but to use the country’s own name for itself. It was, as I have written elsewhere, a mistake. But it was not a wholesale recreation of a country’s identity that Mr. Black insists.

After mixing fact and fiction about the Nazi era, Mr. Black conveniently overlooks the next thirty-seven years and jumps to Mr. Ahamadinejad’s time. Here are a few facts overlooks.

Iran was the first Moslem country in the world to establish diplomatic and economic ties with Israel. Throughout the fifties, sixties and seventies, Iran supplied oil to Israel, and after the rise of Nasser’s Pan-Arab nationalism in the Middle East, Israel, along with Iran’s secret police, operated a radio station in the Southern provinces of Iran and beamed their anti-Nasser message to the entire Arab world.

David Menashri, one of the most eminent Israeli scholars of modern Iran, calls the sixties and seventies “the Golden Age of Iranian Jewry when Jews enjoyed almost total cultural and religious autonomy, experienced economic progress and had no less political freedom than their Muslim counterparts.” (David Menashri, “The Jews or Iran: Between the Shah and Khomeini,” in Anti-Semitism in Times of Crisis, ed. by Sander L. Gilam and Steven Katz, p. 356) He adds that, “On per capita terms, they may well have been the richest community in the world.’ (Menashri, p.358). But these facts are inconvenient for Mr. Black and forfeiting his responsibilities as an investigative journalist, he includes in his narrative only those facts and fictions that fit the tortured image he wants to give about Iran and Iranians.

Inside and outside Iran, the Iranian people are held hostage by the theocratic regime and leaders like Ahmadinejad. It is bizarre to hold the hostages responsible for the sins of the hostage takers. It is grossly unjust to fabricate a false past for the hostages and hold them responsible not only for the vices of their hostage takers, but also for crimes they never committed. Sadly, Iranian history, like the history of almost every other nation, is not free from the blemish of anti-Semitism.

The Bible tells us of the time when Esther was the queen of Persia, and the demonic anti-Semitism of the vizier, Haman threatened the lives of Iranian Jews. But Esther succeeded in saving her people -- and thus the feast of Purim. The bible is also replete with praise for Cyrus, the Persian king and God’s “anointed” and “Chosen” ruler, who liberated the Jews from their Babylonian captivity and helped rebuild Jerusaleum. Mr. Black’s rendition of Iranian history overlooks the Esthers of the past and focuses his angry gaze only at Hamans.

[RedWine]

I gave a talk at a fundraiser last week. The event itself is worth writing about. The Iranian Federated Women's Club in the San Francisco Bay Area are offering scholarships of up to ten thousand dollars to ten young Iranians of university age. I thought you might be interested in the text of the talk.

In 1935, at the suggestion of Persia's misguided Ambassador to Nazi Germany, the country's name was changed to Iran. That was the heyday of Aryan supremacy and the word Iran literally means "land of the Aryans." Something of a breech began to appear in Persian and Western consciousness. Persia with its indelible aura of past grandeur and glory, was suddenly, and I think unwisely, replaced by Iran. With the simple stroke of a pen, as Foroughi soberly noted, the richly resonant and renowned identity of Persia was traded for a bleak unknown.

In English, German and French, Iran is a novice of a word, one that conjures no memory but only a distant, troubled, and more recently, troubling, land at the end of the earth. All too often, Iran is still confused with Iraq, assumed to be another 19th century colonial concoction, an expedient consequence of the "Great Game."

Persia has more than two thousand years of often-splendid recorded history. Though in recent times the malignancy of its politics has caused it to be much maligned in the Western media, it has contributed much to the common heritage of humanity. It has played a formative but frequently forgotten role in shaping Western consciousness itself.

What I can offer here tonight is a mere overture to the long and wondrous symphony called Persian history. To begin at the beginning -- and the beginning was the Word-- the Bible is replete with profuse praise for Persia and its kings. In the book of Ezra, the Lord of the Old Testament speaks through the proclamations of Cyrus, King of Persia, who declares, "The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem."

Cyrus, as we know, acceded to this lordly edict and thus was the second Temple in Jerusalem built. In other parts of the Old Testament, Cyrus is often referred to as God's "Anointed" and the "Chosen" Ruler. This fulsome praise was partially in recognition of his role in freeing Jews from their Babylonian captivity; of equal importance was the fact that the vast Persian empire of the time was a paragon of religious and cultural tolerance.

There is something of a consensus among historians -- with the glaring exception of Sheikh Sadeq Khalkhali, of course -- that Cyrus was in fact the first ruler to issue a declaration of human rights. It pre-dated the much-lauded Magna Carta by more than a millennium. Cyrus was also the first ruler to create a truly multi-cultural empire by affording the conquered peoples the liberty to maintain their own linguistic, religious and cultural autonomy. So ubiquitous was his reputation that songs in his praise had reached as far away as Iceland and formed an important part of their sagas.

Many Biblical scholars have further shown that a plethora of key theological concepts, from the notions of Satan and hell to those of angels and heaven, and most importantly, the idea of the resurrection of the body have all been the result of Persian-- or more specifically, Zoroastrian-- influences on the Bible. Some scholars have suggested that Zarathustra was the first prophet of a monotheistic religion; others maintain that the idea of a millennium -- the significance afforded to thousand-year cycles in history -- found its way to Christianity through the Zoroastrian religion.

Hegel, the 19th century German philosopher, whose writings are considered by many as the apex of Western philosophical tradition, uses unusual superlatives in describing the role of Persia and Zarathustra in history. "Persians," he writes, "are the first Historic people . . . In Persia first arises that light which shines itself and illuminates what is around . . . The principle of development begins with the history of Persia; this constitutes therefore the beginning of history."

Hegel wrote these lines around the time that Nietzsche was writing his magnum opus, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The book offers a radical critique, almost a total debunking, of the whole Western tradition of philosophy. It is no mere accident that Nietzsche chose to articulate his critical views in the name of Zarathustra.

Of course the end of the nineteenth century was not the only or the last time Zarathustra played a prominent role in shaping Western philosophic discourse. Indeed, in the 1990s, so strong were Persian influences in the millennial fever, and in other New Age ideas, that Harold Bloom, the eminent American critic, wrote in his Omens of Millennium that the last decade of the twentieth century should in truth be called the age of Zoroastrian revival.

Zarathustra was not the only Persian prophet to play an important role in the development of Judeo-Christian theology. Scholars like Carl Gustav Jung have traced some of the ideas and rituals of Christianity, particularly the notion of a Messiah sent down from heaven, the ritual of baptism, and the sharing in the body and the blood of Christ, to Mithraic rites.

Even the architecture of the Christian church, with its hallowed nave, seems inspired by the designs of Mithraian temples. Western art, no less than history and theology, bear testimony to the ubiquity of the Persian presence in antiquity. Of all the extant works of Greek tragedy, for example, the only one that is about a non-Greek subject is Aeschylus' play The Persians.

[RedWine]

Persian influences continued long after the days when Christianity was born. St. Augustine's Confessions, written a good three centuries later, affords clear evidence of the immense influence Persian ideas, including those of Mani, exerted on Augustine's intellectual development, and through him, on the evolution of Christian theology and culture. In fact, some scholars have suggested that Augustine's strict admonishments against bodily pleasures, and his dualistic vision of the world as a place riven between good and evil, are evidence that he co-opted many of Mani's ideas into Christianity.

Indeed, Persia can be held at least partially accountable for what has come to be pejoratively called the Manichean view: A vision that reduces the infinite complexities of reality into a simple duality of good and evil. Even well into the twenty first century, the cosmology and ethics of such popular films as Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings, continue to resonate with Manichean perspectives.

Interesting and important as these religious influences are, Persia's role in the development of the Greco-Roman or Western sense of cultural identity is no less significant. It would be no exaggeration to suggest that the West's consciousness of itself as a unified civilization, distinct from the culturally different "Other," was shaped in opposition to Persia.

More than four hundred years before the birth of Christ, Herodotus, often called the father of Western history, and himself born within the confines of the vast Persian Empire, wrote his seminal work to chronicle the wars between the Greeks and the Persians. In the opening paragraphs of his Histories, he writes, "in this book, I hope to do two things. To preserve the memory of the past by putting on record the astonishing achievements both of our own and of the Asiatic people. Secondly and more importantly, to show how the two races came into conflict." He goes on to explain that by Asia he means both Persians and the lands dominated by them.

Though in what must be the first clear instance of smug Eurocentrism, he calls Persians "Barbarians," he nevertheless marvels at their many accomplishments. He writes, for example, of Darius as the discoverer of much of Asia, as the king who mapped for the first time many of the seas and rivers of the world, and as the far-sighted monarch who even attempted to build a waterway where 2400 years later, the Suez Canal was constructed.

Darius is of course also the king who helped build the great city of Persepolis. The ruins of that once great city are still considered one of the most important historic sites in the world; its architecture, combining eclectic influences from many corners of the globe, exemplifies the genius of the Persian spirit.

Persians freely adopted aspects of other cultures, but always did so only after creatively transforming them into something that was uniquely Persian. This fascinating trajectory can be traced in everything from the way we prepare our tea and rice, to the way we build our colonnades and domes.

Even in religion the same spirit seems to have prevailed. In a monumental four-volume study, the French philosopher, Henri Corbin, shows in some detail how pre-Islamic Zoroastrian, Mithraic and Manichean ideas, by dint of the Persian assimilating and persevering instinct, were reformulated in such a way as to make them amenable to the conquering Arabs and their new religion. Indeed, an eclectic cultural elasticity has been said to be one of the key defining characteristics of the Persian spirit and a clue to its historic longevity.

The bulk of my time has already lapsed and I have barely hit even the high notes of the first five hundred years of Persian history; I have hardly finished the overture to the symphony I had promised. If we had more time, I would have talked about the library at Sarouye -- located near where the city of Isfahan is today.

Though only a few random pages of its vast holdings have survived, we know of its grandeur through the testimony of its contemporaries, who compared it, in terms of the awe it inspired, to the Egyptian pyramids. We could have reminisced about the famous Jondi Shapour Medical center in Pre-Islamic Iran, and I could have offered evidence of its refreshing openness to scholars and doctors from any and all religions and nationalities of the world.

[RedWine]

We could have delighted in discovering the fascinating role Persia played in the consciousness of the medieval Western mind. We could have talked of the Grail Legend and the scholarly belief that its sources should be sought in the Persian myth of the Cup of Jamshid and in the text, Borzounameh. We would have talked of the role Persians played in the early inception of A Thousand and One Nights, often called one of the most influential books of all time. The Shahrzad of the story, a Persian princess, is universally recognized as the archetypal story-teller, the embodiment of the power of clever and cunning narrative.

We could have talked of the impressive litany of Persian theologians, philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers and scientists who, according to Ehsan Yarshater, helped shape what has come to be called the Golden Age of Islam. I would have reminded you that as an ironic result of the Crusades, Europeans rediscovered Aristotle through the Islamic world, and that this discovery, in turn, helped spur the Renaissance.

I would have told you about Avicenna and Biruni whose work in medicine and astronomy were standard texts in European universities well into the nineteenth century. We could have talked about the work of scholars who argue that the Copernican revolution in Europe would not have been possible without the earlier contributions of Persian astronomers. I would have reminded you of the glories of Rasad-khaneye (Observatory) at Maraghe, arguably the most famous center for astronomical research in the thirteenth century. At that time, scholars from as far away as Sweden traveled to Maraghe to learn the newest theories and discoveries of astronomy.

I would have referred to the works of the Persian mathematician, Kharazmi whose name is synonymous with Algebra. At the same time, we would have lamented the fact that in recent years some museums and libraries around the world, apparently seduced by the flow of Arab Petro-dollars, have begun to call their Persian collections by the misnomer of Islamic, or sometimes even Arabic, art and culture.

We could have referred to the work of scholars who have found strong Persian influences on such canonical works of Western consciousness as Dante's Divine Comedy and two great works of Chaucer-- the Canterbury Tales and the Parliament of Fowls. We could have together traced the early evolution of Paris University, the center of intellectual ferment and rebirth in thirteenth-century Europe, and investigated the role Persian thinkers and scientists played in this renaissance of rationality in the West.

I could have described what I think was a native, nascent, Persian modernity that emerged between the tenth and twelfth centuries. I would have talked of Beyhaghi and Sa'di, Arouzi and Razi who, long before the West, began to experiment with ideas that would later form the kernel of the European Renaissance. I would have invited you to read Ohran Pamuk's new novel, My Name is Red, where the Turkish author suggests that Persian painters of the Isfahan, Gazvin and Herat schools experimented with the laws of perspective, long before Giotto painted what is hailed as the first modern painting.

I would have described some of the wonders of the sixteenth century city of Isfahan, and how it captured the imagination of so many European travelers, awed by its grand mosques, its sumptuous bazaars, its tree-lined boulevards and its splendid gardens. Versailles in France is said to have been at least partially inspired by these gardens. Much in fact could have been said about the Persian idea of a garden, so different from its Western counterpart. As Persian gardens found their way to the West, so did the Persian word pardis, where it became the source of the word "paradise".

If we had time, we could talk of the unusually large number of invariably favorable references to Persia in Shakespeare's poems and plays. You might have been surprised to learn that Shakespeare was familiar with the writings of the Sherley brothers and other English travelers to Persia. It was probably the reports of these brothers that led Shakespeare to equate Persia, the land of the Sophy, with luxury, lavishness and beauty.

To complete our overture, we would have to talk about the formative role Persians played in the development of Sufism, the Islamic brand of mysticism. We would talk about the influence these Sufi poets had in the development of 19th century Romanticism. We could have together browsed through some of the essays of Emerson, the quintessential American intellectual, and read the passages where he suggests, with no hint of hyperbole, that Saidi's prose and poetry are only comparable to the Bible in terms of the universality of their transcendental wisdom.

We could have also talked about Goethe, one of the greatest German Romantic poets of all times, who, in his own words, reached a new "mountain peak of his life" when he first encountered the poetry of Hafez. He went on to write his Eastern Divan in homage to Persian poets. We would have reminisced about Khayam and his genius for science and poetry, as well as his contagious appetite for a loaf of bread and a jug of wine. We might have found in his poetry early traces of what in the twentieth century came to be known as Existentialism. We would have talked of the 11th century Persian poet, Rumi, who is now amongst the best-selling poets in America.

[RedWine]

To give you a sense of the image of Persia in the Romantic imagination, I would invite you to read Sackville-West's delectable memoirs of her trip to Iran. And finally, I would ask you to read again Moby Dick, Melville's great American novel, and note the role Persia played in the author's cosmology.

Each of the recipients of these scholarships, each generous contributor who makes this lofty and noble enterprise possible, every one of the ladies whose vision led to the creation of the Iranian Federated Women's Club, and whose tenacity and perseverance brought it to its current state of inspiring success, is an Ahab, fighting not to be revenged on the behemoth of the sea, but instead to seek the best of a great and glorious tradition.

Needless to say, what I have offered tonight has been a highly selective series of images from a long and complicated history. Consciousness of such peaks of civilization must not turn us into self-deluded and self-satisfied addicts of our past glory, oblivious to our country's all too many lapses into despotism and fanaticism. From the Chagari troop, bent on literally cannibalizing their king's foes, to despots that blinded the male population of a city at a whim, Persia has had more than her fair share of historic calamities and inhuman barbarities.

Furthermore, as the West began to take its leap into modernity, we fell into a dread abyss of tyranny, religious fanaticism and irrationalism. We have yet to altogether free ourselves from these benighted conditions. Khayam could have been referring to our time, when he wrote, "They say the lion and the lizard Keep/the court where Jamshid gloried and drank deep."

Maybe on nights like these we are allowed to dwell on the glories of our past; we are, after all, gathered here to help support the education of a new generation of Persians, whose critical understanding of the accomplishments of our much abused nation will make them wise and gallant torch-bearers in the long, complicated, sometimes terrible, often glorious march of our history and heritage.

Author

Raised in Iran, Abbas Milani was sent to be educated in California in the 1960s. He became politically active and in 1974 received a PhD. in Political Science. He returned to Tehran and taught at the National University but was imprisoned by the Pahlavi regime in 1977. After the revolution he became a professor at Tehran University, but in 1986 he emigrated to the United States. Since 1987, he has been chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Notre Dame De Namur University. He is currently a Research Fellow at Stanford University. His books include The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution, Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir and King of the Benighted.

[RedWine]

Based on the Alien Torts Claims Act (ATCA), it may be possible for Iranian plaintiffs to file suit and seek monetary damages for human rights violations (such as torture) experienced in Iran. The Alien Torts Claims Act allows “non Americans to sue for human rights abuses in U.S. Courts.” See: Center for Constitutional Rights, www.ccr-ny.org.

In 1979 Rhonda Copelon and Peter Weiss, attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights, used ATCA to litigate Filartiga v. Pena-Irala – a landmark human rights case with a $10.4 million dollar judgment awarded for the torture and murder of Paraguayan 17 year old Joelito Filartiga.

The following information regarding filing of such international human rights claims (under ATCA) is based on a guide published by Jennifer Green and Beth Stephens at the Center for Constitutional Rights, “An Activists Guide: Bringing International Human Rights Claims in United States Courts”.

To file a claim, there must be a gross violation of international human rights law (such as torture). If the suit is filled against an individual perpetrator of the human rights violations, that perpetrator must reside in the United States. If the suit is filled against a corporation, the corporation must be based in the United States or at least have sufficient minimal contacts with the United States to enable the jurisdiction of U.S. courts over the entity.

Direct victims, legal representatives of the direct victim, and close family members (on behalf of the direct victim or on their own behalf, based on the family’s suffering as a result of the violations suffered by the direct victim) are potential plaintiffs in a suit filed under the Alien Torts Claims Act.

Using the Alien Torts Claims Act, the Center for Constitutional Rights has filed suit for reparations on behalf of the victims of South African Apartheid. Other suits pending and filed under the act include defendants such as Unocal, Shell, and Chevron. In Matar v. Dichter, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights filed a class action suit against Israel’s former Director of General Security Service on behalf of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the 2002 air strike.

The possibility of Iranian plaintiffs (whether living in the U.S. or abroad) suing for the human rights violations inflicted by perpetrators currently residing in the U.S. or by corporations with at least minimal U.S. contacts – is a possibility worth the research and investigation.

The Alien Torts Claims Act has significantly expanded the use of law in advocating and seeking compensation on behalf of victims of human rights abuses. While post 9-11 political realities may ostensibly present prospective obstacles in the success of a suit filed by Iranian plaintiffs in a U.S. Court against corporations with minimal contacts in the U.S. (or against a perpetrator currently residing in the U.S.) – judicial decisions have not always been based on the political desirability of the suit.

For example, after 9-11, in Rasul v. Bush, the United States Supreme Court held in favor of Center for Constitutional Rights, which successfully argued that detainees at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba have the legal “right to challenge their detention in a U.S. Court.” See Center for Constitutional Rights, www.ccr-ny.org. Information about the Alien Torts Claims Act and past and pending international human rights cases can be found at the same website.

Bahar Mirhosseini is a second year law student and Haywood Burns Fellow in Civil and Human Rights at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law.

[RedWine]

The evening of Saturday May 15, 2004, in an unprecedented move, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi married the L.A. Iranian community. At the public engagement party yesterday afternoon, in UCLA's Royce Hall Auditorium, the Nobel Laureate received multiple standing ovations and outbursts from a few dissenters opposed to the entire thing. The Ebadi Organizing Committee, consisting of active and well-connected members of the L.A. Iranian community, worked tirelessly like parents exhausting themselves over the planning of their adult-child's wedding.

At a private high profile gala held in an upscale UCLA conference facility, guests purchased $100 seats in support of Ebadi's Nobel Peace Prize victory (any moneys remaining after expenses will be donated to Ebadi's human rights organization). Prior to the event, the black tie guests enjoyed cocktails and hot Iranian tea, mingling among chilled shrimp and baklava like sweets on a large balcony overlooking the University. Meanwhile members of the Ebadi Organizing Committee, like the bride's best friends and immediate family, rushed around checking last minute details such as flowers, silverware, and seating arrangements.

As in a big fat Iranian wedding, hundreds of guests all wanted to congratulate the one -- Iran's one and only Nobel bride. When the honorable Ebadi walked across the balcony, in a way much akin to the procession of a bride, community members trailed after her, aggressively vying for her undivided attention, stampeding her with hugs, smiles, and the digital camera flashes of an Iranian paparazzi.

As Iranians, we are a family thirsty for world renowned role-models, thirsty for national symbols we can love. We invest in our first Iranian Nobel Laureate our sense of pride -- even after she sobers us with reminders that she is not a hero, that she is just an attorney doing her job. And as mortal as even the most honorable can be, in the bottom of our heart of hearts we esteem her with hope for the future of Iran.

Thank you to the Ebadi Organizing Committee, for the months of planning behind this polished party. The candles, mirrors, and flower arrangements set the ambiance for celebrating a Diaspora's love of Shirin Ebadi. Like any Iranian wedding, Ebadi tirelessly posed for photographs with the decked out guests at each table. After guests went home for the evening, members of the Organizing Committee stayed at the facility assisting the employees with cleaning up the left-overs of a once in a lifetime wedding.

Like with any kind of love, the real relationship begins after the hype and buzz of a honeymoon wedding have died down. The true test of love between Ebadi and our L.A. Iranian community is in the ways we will support her without a glamorous gala or cold shrimp.

Our true test of love, for Ebadi and for Iran's destiny, will be in the ways we maintain a continued support for the causes of human rights and democracy, in the ways we support this most qualified attorney in overcoming the everyday challenges of meeting our homeland's most basic human needs. Tonight, in a beautiful wedding, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi married the L.A. Iranian community.

[RedWine]

It was interesting to read a recent news report about an Iranian man who pretended to be a member of the former "royal family" of Iran, and used his fake Pahlavi name to con several people out of a lot of money. Apparently, this smooth-talking con-artists was able convince a hotel owner to lend him a large amount of cash and provide him and his family with free hotel stays. The guy eventually convinced the hotel owner to give away the actual hotel too! Now THAT is prime con-artistry at work!

A con-artist, for those of you who are not familiar with the term, is a a charlatan and theif who takes advantage of people through trickery rather than force.

I have always been fascinated by con-artists since I was a child practicing magic tricks. To be more exact, I was fascinated by the "victims" of con-artists (though a good con-artist will tell you that their "victims" are actually active and willing participants in their own deception, and so not really victims at all.)

I was always curious to know: how can well-educated and reasonable people be so easily mislead? How can people actually believe Bush's lies? How could, for example, someone believe that a magician is actually capable turning a chicken into a tiger? How could anyone actually believe that a fortune teller is capable of foretelling the future? How could someone actually spend money at a casino, in the vain hopes of winning when the statistics are clearly in favor of the casino? How could someone actually give money to some guy in Nigeria in response to one of those well-known email scam letters that you too have probably received? How could someone actually respond to one of those "You May Have Already Won $1 Billion" junk mail letters?

And yet millions of people do believe such simple cons and hand over their money quite willingly--and not just the dumb people either. Why is that? Aren't these the same people that supposedly are in charge of running their own country in a democracy? If 85% of the US electorate falsely believed that weapons of mass destruction existed and have been discovered in Iraq, what makes them qualified to vote for the next President? Let's take an example of how easy it is to mislead people:

I am sure you've all heard of something known as The Big Lie. No, its not a movie from Hollywood about a cheating spouse. The Big Lie Theory is simply this: the more blatantly you lie to people, the more likely they are to believe you.

The idea of the Big Lie is attributed to Goebbles, Hitler's public relations specialist. Actually, it was Hitler himself who probably came up with the Big Lie Theory. Though he was no doubt an evil man, Hitler knew how to fool people well too. He took the time to perfect this abilities. If you ever watch his speeches and notice his dramatic poses, remember this: he spent hours practicing those poses in front of a mirror, getting them just right. He knew the value of body language in persuasion. Leaders (even a nasty Evil doer like Hitler) know the value of appearances in leadership. After all, how many other failed art students do you know who climbed up to rule over an advanced industrialized nation, and had everyone following in his goose-steps to war?

Anyway, basically Hitler explained the Big Lie Theory this way: people assume that you won't intentionally lie to them because there's a taboo against lying in society. Therefore they are likely to give you the benefit of the doubt, even when you do lie to them. The more unbelievable your lie is, the more likely the people will think, "Gosh, that sounds too obviously unbelievable to be a lie, so maybe its not really a lie at all!" And what's more, the more certain you sound in your belief of your own lies, the more believable it becomes to others. That's why pathological liars are so believable: they actually believe in their own lies.

Oh, by the way, before you condemn the Germans and think they were just silly for believing the Big Lies, remember that you're no better. You too can be so easily misled. Your conceit only makes you a better target.

Anyway, other than the Bigness of the Big Lie, psychologists and communications specialists have come to identify other important factors in the believability of the Big Lie: repetition, orchestration, and source credibility.

The Big Lie has to be repeated to be believed. The more something is repeated, the more likely the people are to believe it. This is especially true if the people aren't actually paying a lot of attention to what's being said (if they were paying attention, they may come to have doubts about the validity the Big Lie). Why else do you think the same TV commercials are shown over and over again? The advertisers know that no one is paying attention to the ads, and that's just fine as long as people see and hear the ads.

The second important factor is orchestration: the Big Lie has to be repeated from many different sources to be believable. If you hear the same message from ten different people, you're more likely to believe them than if just one guy repeats the same the Big Lie. The final element is source credibility. You're more likely to believe something that someone says if you believe the speaker is an apparent authority on the topic.

Note my words carefully: an "apparent" authority. They don't actually have to be a real authority as long you think they are one. The authority could be just that guy in your office who "knows about computers", or a friend who "knows about dieting" or a relative who saw a movie you're considering to rent. The authority could also be a "terrorism expert" who appears on Fox News Channel, or a "journalist" who is actually biased.

The Big Lie is still with us today. However, a fourth factor has been added to make the Big Lie even more believable: subtlety of presentation. You don't need to yell the Big Lie from Nazi-style mass rallies to be believable. That's too dramatic, and it may cause the observers to start to pay attention to what's going on--and if they actually pay attention, then they may start to doubt the Big Lie.

So, all you need to do is slip the Big Lie into the people's conciousness, quitely and carefully and repeatedly, until they come to believe in the Big Lie without remembering how or why or when they ever actually considered the matter. They just think the Big Lie is true, and think it has always been known to be true.

In fact, you don't need to actually "lie" at all. In other words, you don't need to actively assert a falsehood. All you have to do is to suggest and imply the falsehood, and let the observers reach the (false) conclusions that you've pointed out to them. This is a much more effective way of lying since the people partipate in the process of lying to themselves. And its a lot safer too, because if the lie is ever exposed you can deny having ever said it.

So, today this advanced form of the Big Lie is better known as the "Unstated Conclusion" (also known as an "Ethymeme" to the Ancient Greeks.) Here's an example of how it works:

First, claim that Saddam is "linked" to terrorists (whatever "linked" actually means is not important.) Also claim that terrorists are responsible for the September 11 attacks. What's the implied-but-unstated conclusion drawn from these two claims? That Saddam Hussein is responsible for September 11, of course!

Then, repeat, repeat, repeat. Get "terrorism experts" to repeat it too. In fact, get 10 terrorism experts to repeat this on TV, in editorial columns, books, etc. Simple, really. Is it any wonder why some many Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for September 11 when they essentially convinced themselves of that false conclusion, and then had their views confirmed by so many "experts" from so many different sources?

And the beauty of this lie is this: if someone asks Bush or Cheney "Why did you say that Saddam was responsible for September 11?" Bush or Cheney can respond, "Hey, we never said that at all! You concluded that on your own!"

But there is an even more subtle form of the Big Lie, known as the Foregone Conclusion. In this version of the Big Lie technique, all you have to do is assert a lie as if it was true. Don't bother with any embellishments, and don't bother with any effort at justifying the Big Lie--just say it as if its already been proven to be true beyond any question.

Here's an example of the Foregone Conclusion which you have probably seen many times recently. It appeared in the first sentence of an article written by Barbara Slavin in USA Today newspaper, on August 16 2004: "Iran's increasing support for insurgent Shiites in Iraq is giving the fighting in Najaf the appearance of a proxy war between Iran and the United States, Jordan and Saudi Arabia."

Did you catch the Foregone Conclusion in that sentence? Here it is: "Iran's increasing support for insurgents..." To this day, there is no evidence that Iran is providing any support to the insurgents in Iraq at all. The US State Department said it had no evidence of Iranian support for the insurgents on August 19, and the Iraqi Foriegn Minister also said the same thing a couple of days later. There was never any such evidence. However, Barbara Slavin instead has the gall to talk of "increasing" support.

That's the classic Big Lie at work -- a baseless exaggeration. She doesn't say "alleged support." She doesn't attribute the view to "administration officials" either. She just says "increasing support" as if it was a proven, undeniable and established fact --a Foregone Conclusion that need not be thought about, just believed.

So, dare to speak out.

[RedWine]

It’d been in back of my mind forever to sew the bottom ends of my pants. The same pants my mom sent me couple years ago from Iran. I went upstairs to find our lost and found box in the forgotten corner of the bathroom, the same place that we pile up our sewing instrumentations. I got what I needed, a spool of black thread and a needle.

Sewing wasn’t as frightening as what I imagined. I sat a little and started to think for a while to remember things from the past. I remembered years ago in Tehran around this time when my mom and I would go out for the New Year’s shopping.

At the end of the day of searching for a good pair of pants, we would get home exhausted but excited to try out the new trousers with the waist going up to my neck. Then my mom would make me to put them on and after a good laugh and posing for the mirror she would force me to stand up straight until she could mark them up, trim the bottom and apply the stitches. At the end when she was done, you could not tell the difference.

So what I did was easy: just recall those memories. I started passing the thread through the needle’s hole while drifting into the magical past. I remembered how my mom used to sew. I could hear her clearly... "look Mohsen! put the stitches one forward and one backwards!"

In the middle of my sewing explorations my wife came up to see how this quiet boy is doing. I didn’t even lift up my head to look at her. I don’t know why but maybe I was angry that I couldn’t dare ask her to sew the pants for me. Maybe I was long lost in my thoughts or simply I couldn’t do it because of the pain in my neck bending for a long time.

She asked if I wanted to join her and the boys for dinner. Oh well, I had had enough fun up here, that I wouldn’t need to get deeper in my debts by owing another dinner to her. I didn’t answer and she left, probably thinking I'm a jack ***. Sorry, she hasn’t got it yet that that is a compliment to an Iranian man.

Back in my sewing journey, I remembered how my mom would carefully start the first stitch with her young beautiful long fingers. She would make the first stitch like a big ball of knots to make sure the thread won’t escape the hole in the next ten years.

Then she would take her time and pass one stitch over another to make cross-shaped joints that would guarantee no big-toe entanglements while securing maximum resistance against sudden stretches. But the most important parts weren’t these, rather at the end, when she had to close the door of my memory box and take care of other requests in the queue. It was the last stitch.

The last stitch wasn’t even a big knot; it was a signature, a statement of accomplishment, a claim that this will last forever. Probably she was thinking that I was going to record this moment for my son to know about it, the same way her parents showed how to make the last stitch -- against all odds including the American ones.

So here I was sewing my pants and making the last stitch. I searched for a good firm part of the fabric, stuck the needle in and span the threat around the needle over and over until I ran out of string. I put the pants down and thought I’ll do it for another ten years.

[RedWine]

پليس فدرال آمريکا (اف بی آی) از خنثی کردن توطئه ای برای حمله به شبکه حمل ونقل نيويورک و نيوجرزی خبر داده و اعلام کرده که به در خواست دولت آمريکا، فردی به اتهام دست داشتن در اين توطئه در کشور لبنان بازداشت شده است.
در اطلايه ای که اف بی آی مشترکاً با وزارت امنيت داخلی آمريکا در اين زمينه انتشار داده، اين توطئه به شبکه القاعده ربط داده نشده اما آمده که القاعده همچنان علاقمند به حمله به آمريکاست.

در اين اطلاعيه جزئياتی درباره "توطئه" داده نشده اما روزنامه ديلی نيوز پيش از آنکه اطلاعيه اف بی آی منتشر شود، گزارشی درباره آن منتشر کرده و نوشته که طراحان "توطئه" قصد حمله به تونل موسوم به هلند را داشته اند که با گذر از زير آب، محله منهتن نيويورک را به ايالت نيوجرزی متصل می کند و طول آن حدود دوونيم کيلومتر است.

پيت کينگ، رئيس کميسيون امنيت داخلی مجلس نمايندگان آمريکا نيز در گفتگو با شبکه تلويزيونی سی ان ان گفته که اف بی آی به مدت نه يا ده ماه مشغول تحقيق برای کشف اين "توطئه" بوده است.

منابع غيررسمی، نام فرد لبنانی را که در ارتباط با اين "توطئه" بازداشت شده، امير اندلسی اعلام کرده اند.

آن گونه که در روزنامه ديلی نيوز آمده، طراحان توطئه از کسانی در اردن کمک مالی دريافت کرده بودند که با ابومصعب زرقاوی، رهبر مقتول شبکه القاعده در عراق نيز همکاری می کرده اند.

[RedWine]

سال های طولانی است که زندگی ساکنان اطراف دريای خزر تحت تأثير رقابت های نفتی دگرگون شده است بنابراين خزر امروزه بيش از هر زمان ديگری نه تنها به عنوان بزرگترين درياچه بسته جهان بلکه به عنوان رقابتی ترين حوزه نفتی جهان در ميان پنج کشور حاشيه آن نيز شناخته می شود.
با اين همه خزر در حال تجربه کردن اتفاقات ناگواری نيز هست که مسير آن ها را بايد در ژاپن، انگلستان، اسکاتلند، هلند و ايرلند شمالی جستجو کرد.

يک گزارش علمی که حاصل تحقيق پژوهشگران پروژه سم شناسی برنامه محيط زيست خزر و با همکاری موسسات تحقيقاتی کشورهای حاشيه ی خزر و چندين مرکز تحقيقاتی در اروپا و ژاپن است - و در نشريه آلودگی های محيط زيست منتشر شده - نشان می دهد که حدود ده هزار خوک آبی (فک) خزر تنها در فاصله پنج ماه يعنی از ماه آوريل تا اوت سال 2000 در اثر ابتلا به نوعی بيماری ويروسی به نام CDV از بين رفته اند.

اين بيماری در ميان سگ های اهلی شايع است اما نمونه هايی از ويروس را می توان در ميان روباه ها و ساير جانوران وحشی نيز يافت اما همه گيری اين ويروس در ميان فک های خزر پديده ای نادر گزارش شده است.

فک های خزری که به نام علمی فوکا کاسپيکا Phuca Caspica شناخته می شوند، از جمله نادرترين جانوران شناخته شده روی زمين هستند و در تقسيم بندی اتحاديه بين المللی حفاظت از طبيعت در فهرست قرمز که مربوط به جانوران آسيب پذير است، قرار دارند. طول آنها گاه به ۱۶۰ سانتيمتر و وزنشان در زمان بلوغ به ۱۰۰ کيلوگرم می رسد. اما نکته ی حائز اهميت در دوره ی زندگی ۵۰ ساله ی فک های خزری اين است که آن ها به سواحل ايران بيش از سواحل چهار کشور حاشيه ای ديگر نزديک می شوند زيرا زمستان ها را به عنوان فصل زادآوری بر روی قطعات يخی سواحل شمالی می گذرانند اما در بهار و تابستان عمدتأ سواحل ايران را ترجيح می دهند.

تحقيقات اوليه - منتشر شده در نشريه "بيماری های عفونی در حال ظهور" - که با حمايت مالی بانک جهانی و تحت نظر دکتر سيموس کندی در ايرلند شمالی انجام شد نشان داد اندام های داخلی و توليد مثلی فک ها پوشيده از زخم های ناشی از ضايعات ويروسی بوده است.

اما گزارش های بعدی به علت های ديگری برای مرگ و مير فک های خزری اشاره داشتند که مهمترين آنها وجود انواعی از سموم کشاورزی نظير د د ت و سموم حاصل از پساب کارخانجات صنعتی در بافت های چربی فک ها بود به طوری که در همايش محيط زيست دريايی در اوتسوچی ژاپن علت مرگ و مير فک های خزری به اثر تضعيف کننده آلودگی های صنعتی و در نتيجه ناتوانی دستگاه ايمنی بدن فک ها در مقابل ويروس ها اشاره شد.

دو گزارش علمی که توسط محققان دانشگاه ايهيم ژاپن در نشريه آلودگی های محيط زيست منتشر شده حاکی از غلظت فراوان مواد حاصل از تجزيه کلر در بافت های چربی و کبد فک هاست. کلر در صنايع نساجی به عنوان رنگ بر به کار برده می شود و مهمترين کارخانجات نساجی در اطراف خزر در حاشيه جنوبی اين درياچه قرار دارند.

يک نمونه ديگر از مواد موجود در بافت های بدن فک ها انواعی از آفت کش های موسوم به پی سی بی است که در جريان شسته شدن خاک های کشاورزی يا در نتيجه ی بالا آمدن سطح آب خزر در نواحی ساحلی به درون درياچه راه يافته اند.

بنابراين وقوع مرگ و مير ناشی از همه گيری ويروسی سال ۲۰۰۰ ميلادی در ميان فک های خزر نه تنها به علت آلودگی های صنعتی قابل توجيه است، بلکه با افزايش آلودگی های نفتی و کاهش جمعيت ماهی کيلکا که بيش از ۷۰ درصد ازغذای فک خزری وابسته به اين ماهی است، می توان همچنان در انتظار تلفات بيشتری در جمعيت فک ها بود.

طبق آمار انجمن بين المللی حفاظت از فک ها تا پيش از فروپاشی شوروی سابق سالانه ۲۰ تا ۲۵ هزار بچه فک برای استفاده از پوست و چربی آنها شکار می شدند، اما در حال حاضر هيچ کنترل ضابطه مندی برای حفاظت از فک های خزری توسط کشورهای ساحلی خزر اعمال نمی شود ضمن آن که آلودگی های صنعتی هر روز بر ميزان تلفات اين جانداران نادر اضافه می کند. شايد همچنان که تعداد صنايع چوب و نساجی در حاشيه ی خزر افزايش می يابند و بالا آمدن سطح آب درياچه باعث وارد شدن آفات به آب می شود ديگر زمان طولانی تا آخرين وداع با فک های خزری نمانده باشد.

[RedWine]

Three people are in custody overseas for their suspected involvement in a plot to attack New York City's mass transit system, the FBI says.
They are believed to be among "eight principal players" who planned the suicide bombing of a tunnel under the Hudson River, officials added.

A man accused of masterminding the plan has already been charged in Lebanon.

The FBI said the suspects were al-Qaeda followers who had been in the early stages of plotting their attacks.

"This is a plot that would have involved martyrdom, explosives and certain of the tubes that connect New Jersey with Lower Manhattan," Mark Mershon, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI New York Field Office, told a news conference.

"We're not discussing the modality beyond that."

Intelligence was on top of its game and discovered the plot when it was just in the talking phase

Charles Schumer
Democratic Senator

Mr Mershon told reporters that, as well as the arrest in Lebanon, they had two others in custody "again in the foreign environment".

"We believe we have what I'll call eight principal players. And that we have them largely identified," he went on. "As I say, some are in custody, one of those has been charged formally in Lebanon."

The man charged in Lebanon has been named as Assem Hammoud, who reportedly used the alias Amir Andalousi, who was taken into custody in April.

Lebanese officials said he had confessed to the plot and being a member of al-Qaeda.

The plot is said to have been uncovered during routine monitoring of internet chatrooms used by extremist groups.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said this was one instance "where intelligence was on top of its game and discovered the plot when it was just in the talking phase".

A number of plots targeting subways, tunnels and other New York City landmarks have come to light since the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

[RedWine]

An Italian judge has ruled that former PM Silvio Berlusconi should stand trial over alleged fraud concerning his family's media company Mediaset.
He is one of 14 people sent for trial by Judge Fabio Paparella in the northern city of Milan.

It follows an investigation into claims of embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud and money laundering in TV rights deals between 1994 and 1999.

The trial is set to begin in November. Mr Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Berlusconi, who headed a centre-right government for five years until he resigned after his defeat in April's general election, claims he is the victim of politically biased left-wing judges.

He has been before the courts in Italy at least six times on corruption charges.

On the three occasions he was found guilty, his convictions were either cancelled on appeal or the case was declared void because too much time had elapsed between the alleged offence and the trial.

'Off-shore firms'

Preliminary hearings began last October after a four-year investigation by Milan prosecutors into the allegations involving Mediaset.

Lawyer David Mills, the estranged husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, and Fedele Confalonieri, chairman of Mediaset, have also been ordered to stand trial. They also deny any wrongdoing.


British lawyer David Mills is accused of taking bribes

The defendants are accused of involvement in the use of offshore firms to buy US television and cinema rights, reselling them at inflated prices to Mediaset, to avoid paying Italian tax.

"It was a predictable decision, considering the previous hearings in Milan," Mr Berlusconi's lawyer Niccolo Ghedini said after the announcement.

"They haven't allowed crucial witnesses for the defence to be heard."

Judge Paparella is still considering whether to charge Mr Berlusconi and Mr Mills in a related case.

The former Italian prime minister is accused of paying Mr Mills $600,000 (£324,000) to give favourable evidence in two court cases. Both men deny the charges of bribery.

Ansa reports that the 14 defendants could face between four and 12 years in prison if found guilty.

[RedWine]

نقل از پايگاه اينترنتي شبكه*ي سي ان ان، جورج بوش رييس جمهور آمريكا به مناسبت جشن تولد شصت سالگي خود روز پنجشنبه در يك مصاحبه*ي مفصل با لري كينگ، مجري شبكه*ي سي ان ان گفت: وقتي تاريخ به عقب بازگردد، ترجيح مي*دهم در مورد من به عنوان يك حلال مشكلات و يك فرد درستكار قضاوت شود تا يك فرد محبوب.

بوش در اين مصاحبه*ي اختصاصي همراه با همسرش لورا بوش در كاخ سفيد اظهار داشت: رييس*جمهوري كه نتايج نظرسنجي*ها را دنبال كند رييس*جمهوري است كه سياست را از دست داده است.

برخي اعضاي كنگره نگران تاثير احتمالي مشكلات سياسي بوش روي سرنوشت*شان در انتخابات ميان دوره*يي پاييز امسال هستند.

اما بوش پيش*بيني كرد كه جمهوري خواهان اكثريت خود را در مجلس نمايندگان و سنا حفظ خواهند كرد.

رييس*جمهور آمريكا گفت: اين بدين دليل است كه ما درست در مسير كسب پيروزي در جنگ عليه تروريسم هستيم و سوابق اقتصادي خوبي داشته*ايم.

بوش در پاسخ به اين سوال كه حتي اگر مي*دانست رژيم صدام سلاح كشتار جمعي ندارد آيا مجددا سرنوشت سازترين تصميم دوران رياست جمهوري*اش يعني حمله به عراق را اتخاذ كند، گفت كه همين تصميم را اتخاذ مي*كرد.

بوش تصريح كرد: ما يك حاكم ستمگر را از بين برديم، او ( صدام) با پناه دادن به تروريست*ها، يكي از دشمنان آمريكا بود. او فردي بود كه توانايي ساخت سلاح كشتار جمعي را داشت. او تهديدي واقعي بود.

رييس*جمهور آمريكا هم*چنين گفت كه معتقد است آزمايش موشكي اخير كره*ي شمالي مي*تواند سرآغازي براي اعمال مجدد فشارهاي بين*المللي بر روي پيونگ يانگ باشد.

بوش اظهار داشت: فكر مي*كنم او (كيم جونگ ايل، رهبر كره*ي شمالي) خواستار اين است كه از وي بترسيم يا به او توجه كنيم و من اين امر را فرصت مي*دانم كه با همكاري چين، كره*ي جنوبي، ژاپن و روسيه اين پيام واضح را براي آن*ها بفرستيم كه اين رفتار پذيرفته نيست.

رييس*جمهور آمريكا با رد مجدد احتمال مذاكره*ي مستقيم آمريكا با كره*ي شمالي در خصوص برنامه*ي هسته*يي اين كشور گفت: كيم جونگ ايل عاشق مذاكره*ي مستقيم است!

بوش تصريح كرد: فكر مي*كنم بهترين راه براي حل ديپلماتيك اين مشكل اين است كه ديگر كشورها نيز در مذاكره حضور داشته باشند به طوري كه وقتي او (كيم) به اين ميز نگاه كند جهان را پيش روي خود ببيند.

رييس*جمهور آمريكا افزود: اگر موشك*هاي كره*ي شمالي عليه آمريكا تهديدي بوده ما نيز براي پاسخ*گويي طرحي داريم.

وي بدون ذكر جزئيات اظهار داشت*: ما يك سيستم دفاع موشكي داريم كه از كشورمان دفاع خواهد كرد.

بوش در ادامه سخنان خود در اين مصاحبه كه به مناسبت جشن تولد 60 سالگي*اش صورت گرفت، گفت: بسيار احساس جواني مي*كنم، تعجب مي*كنم كه اينقدر حالم خوب است! بياد دارم وقتي كودك بودم با نگاه به افراد 60 ساله پيش خود مي*گفتم كه اين*ها چقدر پير هستند، اما من اكنون احساس بسيار خوبي دارم.

بوش هم*چنين گفت از اين كه رياست جمهوري *آمريكا را برعهده دارد، خسته نشده است.

وي در اين خصوص گفت: كاملا برعكس احساس مي*كنم بودن در اين سمت يك افتخار است. من مشتاق كار كردن روي مشكلات هستم زيرا مطمئنم كه مي*توانيم آن*ها را حل كنيم.

اما لورا بوش، همسر جورج بوش در پاسخ به اين سوال كه همسرش از زماني كه رييس*جمهور آمريكا شده چقدر تغيير كرده، گفت: بزرگترين تغيير او، موهاي خاكستري رنگش است.

لورا بوش اظهار داشت: جورج واقعا چندان تغييري نكرده است، او يك شخصيت مستحكم و متمركز دارد كه هميشه ثابت است.

رييس جمهور آمريكا كه دولتش از اقدامات "غير دموكراتيك" در روسيه انتقاد كرده است، هم*چنين گفت كه اميدوار است هفته آينده گفت*وگوهاي شفاف و روشني با همتاي روس خود داشته باشد ولي در عين حال اظهار داشت كه رييس جمهور روسيه را سرزنش و نصيحت نخواهد كرد.

بوش قرار است در اجلاس سران جي هشت به ميزباني روسيه در سن پترزبورگ حاضر شود.

وي در پاسخ به اين سوال كه آيا هنوز دوستي عميقي با ولاديمير پوتين، رييس جمهور روسيه دارد يا خير؟ گفت: من واقعا او (پوتين) را دوست دارم. من الزاما با هر تصميمي كه او درباره*ي امور داخلي روسيه اتخاذ مي*كند موافق نيستم ولي براي من بسيار حايز اهميت است كه براي انجام مذاكرات خوب و شفاف با پوتين رابطه*ي شخصي خوبي با او داشته باشم.

رييس جمهور آمريكا افزود: اما هيچ كس دوست ندارد از سوي فرد ديگري مورد سرزنش و نصيحت قرار بگيرد.

پنج سال قبل بوش در اولين ديدار خود با ولاديمير پوتين گفت كه پيوند دروني عميقي با وي برقرار كرده است.

اين در حاليست كه رابطه*ي سران دو كشور از آن زمان به بعد به سردي گراييده است.

ديك چني، معاون بوش و كاندوليزا رايس، وزير امور خارجه*ي آمريكا پوتين را به محدود كردن آزادي*ها در روسيه و سو استفاده از منابع عظيم انرژي روسيه براي زورگويي عليه كشورهاي همسايه متهم كرده*اند.

مقامات آمريكايي كه نخواستند نامشان فاش شود، روز پنجشنبه در گفتگو با خبرنگاران اظهار داشتند اگر چه روسيه از زمان سقوط كمونيسم اصلاحات دموكراتيك مهمي انجام داده ولي واشنگتن نگران رخدادهاي اخير است.

آنها گفتند كه شكي نيست كه نگراني*هاي ما درباره*ي عقب گرد روسيه از دموكراسي در ديدار بوش و پوتين مطرح خواهند شد.

بوش و پوتين 14 ژوييه (23 تير) در يك ضيافت شام شركت كرده و روز بعد (24 تير) پيش از افتتاح نشست جي هشت گفت*وگوهاي دو جانبه*اي را برگزار خواهند كرد.

يكي از مقامات آمريكايي گفت: طي دو سال گذشته ما نگران تمركز قدرت در كرملين، از بين رفتن فضاي مناظرات عمومي و محدود شدن مناظرات در مطبوعات روسيه بوده*ايم. ما مي*خواهيم مطمئن شويم كه روسيه صد در صد به دموكراسي پايبند است.

يكي ديگر از مقامات آمريكايي گفت: احتمالا سوابق روسيه در زمينه دموكراسي از ديگر موضوعات مذاكرات سران جي - 8 خواهد بود.

يك مقام آمريكايي گفت دولت بوش اميدوار است بيانيه پاياني جي 8 در خصوص انرژي بازگوكننده*ي جهت گيري*ها در زمينه اهميت شفافيت، علني بودن و رقابتي بود بازارها و شفافيت سرمايه*گذاري باشد.

پوتين نيز در تلاش براي بي*اهميت جلوه دادن روابط سرد اخير با واشنگتن روز پنجشنبه گفت بوش هنوز يك دوست محترم و آمريكا يكي از مهمترين شركاي روسيه است.

[RedWine]

سده بيستم نام*هاي زيادي داشت. نام*هايي كه اغلب از تحولات حوزه علم و تكنولوژي نشات مي*گرفت. اما در حوزه اجتماعي، يكي از نام*هاي اصلي «قرن انقلاب*ها» بوده است. چرا كه در اين قرن، اشكال متفاوت انقلاب شكل گرفت و كشورهاي مختلف از روسيه تا ايران، از آمريكاي مركزي تا آفريقا و از چين تا كره را دربرگرفت. انقلاب*هايي عمدتاً بر مبناي چپگرايانه و برخاسته از ايدئولوژي*هاي آرمانگرايانه برابري*خواه.

ويروس انقلاب در اين قرن چنان مسري بود كه گاه كشورهاي پيشرفته و گذشته از مراحل توسعه را نيز دربرمي*گرفت. به گونه*اي كه در دهه 60 ميلادي كه روزگار اوج*گيري انقلاب*ها در كشورهاي ريز و درشت آفريقايي و آمريكاي مركزي بود، جوامعي چون فرانسه و آمريكا نيز اعتراضاتي را در خود ديدند كه تنه به انقلاب مي*زد.


هرچند قوي بودن پايگاه*هاي جامعه مدني در اين جوامع، مانع از آن شد كه حوادثي چون شورش سياهان آمريكا يا دانشجويان فرانسه، از يك نوستالژي اجتماعي با پيامدهايي نه*چندان كلان در اين جوامع فراتر رود. چنان كه وقتي تب اعتراضات فروخفت، گويي نه خاني آمده و نه خاني رفته بود اما در بسياري كشورهاي ديگر، انقلاب نه يك اعتراض و نه يك تب زود*گذر كه توفاني بنيان*بركن از آب درآمد.

توفان*هايي كه هر يك از بستري خاص برمي*خاست. يكي چون مائو به روستائيان تكيه زد. آن ديگر (لنين) حزبي پيشاهنگ را شكل داد تا به نمايندگي از طبقه كارگر شالوده هنوز شكل نگرفته سرمايه*داري در روسيه را به تصرف حزب درآورند. در ايران نيز نخستين انقلاب اسلامگراي گسترده در جهان شكل گرفت تا مذهب هم به سرچشمه*هاي انقلاب افزوده شود. در كوبا انقلابيون از دل جنگل*ها برآمدند و در الجزاير از ميان صحراها.

در انقلاب*هاي مختلف، نيروهاي خارجي هم نقش*هاي متفاوت داشتند. هر چند دو قطبي جنگ سرد اجازه نمي*داد كه يكي از دو طرف به آساني حياط خلوت آن ديگري را بر هم زند.

اما با وجود همه اين تفاوت*ها يك نكته مشترك بود و آن اينكه در طول دهه*ها از سده بيستم، انقلاب، جادويي سحرآميز و دارويي شفابخش براي ملت*هاي تحت ستم يا آزرده از ارزش*هاي سيستم حاكم يا مخالف با سلطه خارجي محسوب مي*شد. اين نگاه مثبت به انقلاب، در كشورهاي مختلف وجود داشت گرچه حاملان و عاملان و مناديان آن در هر كشور، با آن ديگري متفاوت بود.

«اميد به انقلاب» اما تنها نقطه اشتراك ملت*ها و گروه*هاي انقلابي نبود. اشتراك ديگر آن بود كه هر كس خربزه انقلاب مي*خورد، بايد پاي تب و لرز تبعات نيز مي*ايستاد. يكي از مهمترين اين تبعات «خشونت» بود.

خشونتي كه در روزهاي انقلاب ميان حاملان انقلاب و عاملان نظم مستقر شكل مي*گرفت، به فرداي انقلاب نيز مي*كشيد. اين بار اما خشونت، به ميان انقلابيون كشيده مي*شد.حذف تدريجي نيروهاي انقلاب كه برخاسته از اختلافات ايدئولوژيك و عطش قدرت بود، يكي از نخستين تصويرهاي فرداي هر انقلاب است. فردايي كه در آن، نيروهاي انقلاب با همان زباني با يكديگر سخن مي*گويند كه پيش از اين، با نظم استبدادي يا استعماري يا كودتايي مستقر.

خشونت انقلاب اما به*تدريج چنان گسترده شد كه خود پديده انقلاب را در نزد تحليلگران سياسي زيرسئوال برد. نتايج اغلب ناخواسته انقلاب*ها، به طور معمول برخاسته از نفرتي تحليل مي*شد كه در بطن خشونت*هاي متن و حاشيه انقلاب*ها ريشه داشت.

اين وضعيت، به*تدريج جذابيت پنهان انقلابي را از ميان برد. جذابيتي كه در آن آرمان فراتر از واقعيت و خواسته*ها مبنايي*تر از توانايي*ها و &#