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December 28, 2003

Weapons of Mass Deception

Paul Bremer, U.S. top official in Baghdad, rejected Blair?s weapon claim without realising its source. In a Christmas message Blair claimed there was 'massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories'. Oops!

Posted by mehrdad at 12:09 PM | Politics 2003 |

December 17, 2003

Conspiracy Theory

Saddam's end is an early Christmas present for Bush and Blair. The looming spectre that the Saddam Hussein somehow might return to power had cast a pall over their administrations. But with the former dictator?s capture the cloud has dissipated and it gives both an opportunity to revive their flagging electoral campaigns. Read this conspiracy theory, which is a good one!

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Posted by mehrdad at 01:01 AM | Politics 2003 |

To wear or not to wear

France is to ban the hijab in schools. But forcing girls not to wear is as bad as forcing them to, writes Marjane Satrapi an Iranian living in France.

Posted by mehrdad at 12:03 AM | Politics 2003 |

December 08, 2003

Google knows

The first search result in Google for "miserable", "failure" or "miserable failure" is this page!

Posted by mehrdad at 10:24 AM | Politics 2003 |

November 19, 2003

Kyoto treaty up in smoke

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Since last night protestors have gathered in London to voice their anger over Bush?s policies on war and his refusal to ratify the Kyoto Treaty.
Here you can watch highlights of Bush's visit by BBC.

Posted by mehrdad at 11:18 PM | Politics 2003 |

November 18, 2003

Bush in London

Bush is staying at Buckingham Palace and I am sure he will get on well with the Queen, as both are head of states because of their dads and neither of them were elected!
Check the interactive guide of the visit here.

Posted by mehrdad at 05:30 PM | Politics 2003 |

November 07, 2003

Slingshot vs Cornershot

This is the picture of a new rifle 'Cornershot' made by an Israeli company that can shoot around corners. The weapon allows a soldier to remain behind cover with only the barrel of the rifle exposed.

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And here is the Palestinian answer to it - Slingshot Camera:

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Posted by mehrdad at 09:49 PM | Politics 2003 |

October 30, 2003

Bald Politicians

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Neil Kinnock, William Hague and now Iain Duncan Smith know that in a media-driven world, people vote for a full head of hair for the top job.


Posted by mehrdad at 05:42 PM | Politics 2003 |

October 25, 2003

The financial cost of the war in Iraq for U.S.


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To see more details, click here.

Posted by mehrdad at 10:39 PM | Politics 2003 |

October 08, 2003

Conan the Vulgarian

Recall all US politicians! But can anyone take the Gropinator seriously as a politician?

Posted by mehrdad at 09:48 AM | Politics 2003 |

October 04, 2003

Blair the new Blaine?

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Tony Blair - the great illusionist - is my choice to replace David Blaine after he ends his stint isolated in a Perspex box. This time we should suspend Tony Blair over the Houses of Parliament then the great British public could harass him by throwing eggs and assorted missiles and Gordon Brown could cut his water supply!

Posted by mehrdad at 03:45 PM | Politics 2003 |

September 21, 2003

Beckham in Tehran

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Photos of David Beckham have been blacked out on billboards in Tehran (view image), in a backlash against Western cultural influence (BBC). I think the advertisers could have got away with the above picture!

Posted by mehrdad at 11:19 PM | Politics 2003 |

September 11, 2003

9/11 s

On 9/11/1906 Mahatma Ghandi addressed mass meeting of Indians at Johannesburg and began a crusade of non-violence. His campaign shaped a new way of thinking about resolving conflict. The 9/11/2001 followed by calls for revenge and war. It is sad that two years after the terror attacks, the world is less united than it was in the immediate aftermath. There is also 9/11/1973 which we should all remember.

Posted by mehrdad at 06:44 PM | Politics 2003 |

September 04, 2003

Privileged minority

Global Rich List is a new site, where you input your annual wage and it shows where you stand globally. It is an eye-opener for the privileged minority.

Posted by mehrdad at 08:20 PM | Politics 2003 |

August 19, 2003

50 years ago today

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the US led coup d'?tat in Iran which overthrew Dr Mossadegh, Iran's democratically-elected leader. Check the photo essay: Mossadegh.

Posted by mehrdad at 07:00 PM | Politics 2003 |

August 11, 2003

Catch me if you can

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Posted by mehrdad at 10:13 PM | Politics 2003 |

July 31, 2003

Press freedom

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Reporters Without Borders is an association officially recognised as serving the public interest. It has a news website devoted to press freedom and also a persian site.

Posted by mehrdad at 11:21 PM | Politics 2003 |

July 26, 2003

Coca-Cola

Trade unions around the world have launched a boycott of Coca-Cola products, alleging that the company's locally owned bottlers in Colombia used illegal paramilitary groups to threaten and kill its workers.

Posted by mehrdad at 08:32 PM | Politics 2003 |

July 18, 2003

Deputy Comic Minister

The Iranian deputy interior minister suggested that a "hard object" caused the death of Zahra Kazemi - an Iranian/Canadian photojournalist - and added, "We still don't know whether it was the object that hit her head or her head hit the object. We suggest further investigations."

Posted by mehrdad at 10:38 PM | Politics 2003 |

July 16, 2003

Future looks bleak for Iraq's environment

To overcome Iraqi forces, US troops fired thousands of shells tipped with depleted uranium. Concern is now mounting over use of depleted uranium and its effects on the health of soldiers and civilians. New Scientist magazine considers the evidence.

Posted by mehrdad at 10:09 PM | Politics 2003 |

July 11, 2003

Censorship

I have just read another worrying news. According to Persianblog -an Iranian hosting provider- the Iranian government has just stopped the activity of all Persian blogs on their servers. This could be the start of a new wave of censorship.

Posted by mehrdad at 12:05 AM | Politics 2003 |

July 08, 2003

Dr Strangelove

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Posted by mehrdad at 05:14 PM | Films | Politics 2003 |

July 05, 2003

Bush on Iranian note

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George Bush would be very happy to be on Iranian note! He is working on it anyway.

Posted by mehrdad at 08:26 AM | Politics 2003 |

June 24, 2003

No war!

We all should condemn any forms of intervention by the US and its allies in the affairs of Iran or interference with the territorial integrity of Iran. US could support the self-determination of the people of Iran and their quest for democracy but only Iranian people should choose a regime, which will be representative for its values.

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it."
-Abraham Lincoln

Posted by mehrdad at 11:51 PM | Politics 2003 |

June 22, 2003

Rumsfeld is a poet

These are two direct quotes from Donald H. Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense.

A Confession

Once in a while,
I'm standing here, doing something.
And I think,
"What in the world am I doing here?"
It's a big surprise.

—May 16, 2001, interview with the New York Times


The Unknown

As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don’t know
We don’t know.

Department of Defense news briefing, Feb 12, 2002

Click here to read more.

Posted by mehrdad at 06:01 PM | Politics 2003 |

June 16, 2003

What's happening?

Latest Chomsky interview
"There is a reason to believe that for a year or two now, efforts have been under way to try dismantle Iran, to break it into internally warring groups. These US dismantling efforts have been based partly in Eastern Turkey, the US bases in Eastern Turkey apparently flying surveillance over Iranian borders."

Click here to see photos of the student protests in Tehran.

Posted by mehrdad at 11:50 PM | Politics 2003 |

June 11, 2003

Hans Blix

Blix lashes out at 'bastards' who have tried to undermine him in the three years he held his high-profile post. Click here to read more.

Posted by mehrdad at 11:25 AM | Politics 2003 |

June 01, 2003

Is Iran next?

US is now playing the same dangerous "Weapon of Mass Destruction" and "Al Qaeda" game with Iran. Every newspaper, radio, or television story seems to be about Iran these days. It is very worrying.

The Guardian has now a separate section on Iran.

Posted by mehrdad at 05:57 PM | Politics 2003 |

April 30, 2003

Former Iraqi Information Minister seeks surrender

BBCi reports that Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahhaf Former Iraqi Information Minister is alive in Baghdad, fears for his safety, and "seeks surrender" to US forces. Americans refuse to make arrest, reportedly because he does not appear among the 55 faces on the "Most Wanted" deck of playing cards.

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"He's my man, he was great"
Bush on Sahhaf


Posted by mehrdad at 10:46 PM | Politics 2003 |

April 26, 2003

Interesting comment

Pedram Moallemian:
"US economy is in crisis. Unemployment is up. Corporate corruption is rampant. Environment is in serious danger. Widespread violations of basic Human Rights are everywhere... Let's tackle our most urgent challenge: send more troops overseas."
read more

Posted by mehrdad at 07:16 PM | Politics 2003 |

April 25, 2003

Iranian Weblogger Arrested

Another journalist is detained by the Iranian government in Tehran. The detainee, Sina Motallebi, is a journalist who has a popular Persian Weblog called Webgard (meaning "Web surfer"). And now the Persian blogging community has linked up with top American bloggers to promote an online petition to ask for his release.

Posted by mehrdad at 07:24 PM | Politics 2003 |