Kamangir (Archer)

I do not think it is understandable for people living in Western countries, but the Iranian top politicians like the Supreme Leader and the President love the old-fashioned journeys to different cities. Take it as another weird habit of the Islamic Republic. For them, it is a sign of democracy. The “fact” that people [...]

This is from here (see).

A Hand-made helicopter was confiscated from a back yard in Sari, Iran (see). Further investigation revealed one hundred liters of pure Alcohol and fifty liters of yeast. The house owner is arrested and has reportedly flown several times with that machine. Police is still investigating the incident but the existence of alcohol seems to relate [...]

The bus hit the sideways and dropped down the valley. That kind of accident was nothing special for that part of the mountain-side roads if a very special logo was not painted on the side of the bus. Covered by clay, the logo read “Sharif University of Technology”. Aboard the bus were sitting top students [...]

Iran’s women soccer team and a women’s team from Berlin played a friendly game in Tehran. The game finished 2-2. Thank Azadeh and Brave Boy for correcting me.

These pieces of clay are called Mohr (Persian: مهر) (see). During the prayers Muslims bow down and put their foreheads on them as a sign of courtesy to the God. The picture is taken in a mosque. According to the Islamic law, boys have to start praying when they turn into 15. But many Muslim [...]

I am definitely sorry that Kamangir is getting heavy by including lots of images in my posts. But I really can’t help ignoring these fantastic ones. The fences are placed to avoid crowd’s pressure to crush into the place where government officials are seating. This photo is also taken during Ahmadinejad’s visit to Zanjan. What [...]

What would you think after watching these pictures in national media? He knows what he is doing. Look at the boys face! He would feel like being somebody very special for couple of years.

These photographs are taken in Zanjan during Ahmadinejad’s visit.
The sheet reads “Mr President…”. Also, there is an arrow in the right. I can not find any meaning for this probably welcome message. The sheet reads “Independent Member of Parliament Is Our Definite Right” (”Parliament” is the word added by hand to make the meaning clear). [...]

The summer is coming and the world is going to end soon, you know” she says that after she gives me the special thing she has ordered for me. Her surprise is a Persian booklet printed in Italy in 2002 titled “Is There A Creator Who Cares About You?”. She then goes for a five-minute [...]

After the Friday prayers, Tehrani attendants protested against “immodesty” and “lack of moral security”. They also condemned the proposal to let women watch games in stadiums. Though, nobody seems to have remembered that actually Ahmadinejad issued that order.

With their fists up, people shout “Death to America”. Khameneii has just mentioned “the Americans should know: If they take any aggressive action against Islamic Iran, Iran will harm their interests wherever possible in the world” (see) (see). It is a habit during his speeches that when he states something very serious against the “enemies [...]

Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi recently appeared in a video sending tough messages to the American administration and to the followers of Bush including “the Jews, the Crusaders, the Rafidite Shi’ites, the apostates, and others” that “you will not rest peacefully in the lands of Islam” (see) (see). The word “Rafidite” (Persian: رافضی) means the one who [...]

The Islamic Republic literature is full of aliases which carry different or contrary meanings to the actual event or identity. For example, the terrorist organization PMO (Mujahideen-e-Khalq Organization, Persian:سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران) (see) with its nickname “Mujahideen” (Persian: مجاهدين, means fighters of a war for good) was called “Munafigheen” (Persian: منافقین, means those who betrayed) [...]

A view of the shrine in Qom which is surrounded by some of the most important Iranian seminaries.

Minister of state says “we follow Sharia” (see). With the rising protests against the president’s order to let women watch games in stadiums, it seems that Ahmadinejad has to step back from his very popular stance. Having two [...]

There is an email with a strange name on it in my mailbox. In the first sight, it is very long, so I think it should be something about a lottery that I have won or a notice that somebody with my last name has died in Nigeria and now I have a few million [...]

“Some areas in the closed zones around Chernobyl are so heavily contaminated that they will have to remain closed off for up to 900 years” (see)
After the Chernobyl accident about 600,000 people (mostly from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia) helped in cleaning-up the surrounding areas (see). It is now estimated that ten percent of these [...]

For those who did not know, like myself, today was Holocaust’s memorial day (see). Kamran writes “with sirens whistling loud everything stops for 2 minutes in Israel” (see). I was searching for the event and I found this “the road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference” (see). Nice an Sad. This [...]

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is visiting Iran. To be hospitable, I assume, Khameneii offers to help Sudanese in developing their own “non-military” nuclear technology (see) (see). Omar grasps the idea in the air, “last month we started some research to conduct a non-military nuclear program”. Birds of a feather flock together! I think the administration [...]

 
… Tegnelia [director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)] said the State Department and the Pentagon are developing a proposal for a $100 million effort to help Libya get rid of tons of mustard gas and some precursor chemicals being stored in the Libyan desert. “The Libyans requested some support” from the U.S. [...]

President’s deputy in the sports organization says President’s order about “letting women enter the stadiums” is only about married women (see). Hence, single girls are still banned from watching a game. Frankly, tell me, do you know any funnier administration in the world?

Top clerics are concerned that Ahmadinejad’s order to let the women watch football in the stadiums is against Islam. Fazel Lankarani (آیت الله فاضل لنکرانی) issued a Fatwa that “women’s presence in public sports places includes their intercourse with men”. He added “even devoting special locations of the stadiums to women will not solve this [...]

At last a reasonable article about Iran (see). I think Brzezinski exactly knows what he is talking about. The way to make Ahmadinejad loose is to let Iranians think, not get excited. I think that means being patient. By the way, I have worked with Iranian engineers. A project which is supposed to last six [...]

Second Dinasty, courtesy of A. Sakhavarz (see).

Ahmadinejad had a news conference, the second one in his term. He talked about many different things but I was really amazed to hear two ideas from him. First, a reporter asked him about the brain drain. He replied “…the Iranian nation is free to go where ever they want and to live there…we are [...]