Kamangir (Archer)

“You will be judged by the history Mr. President!” A Persian Letter to President Obama

Kamangir | November 6, 2008 | Category Blogging, US

English translation of an open letter to Barack Obama, from Somayeh Tohidlou, a former aide in the reformist campaigns and a graduate student of sociology at University of Tehran.

You will be judged by the history Mr. President!

Mr. Obama!

You are to be the president. Great turnout! I know you have had a great night. And nice speech! Although, I am not quite on the same page with you on that “we can”. I wish you really could. I read everywhere that you are the personification of Martin Luther King’s dream. Good for you and good for whoever had been waiting for this day to happen. We are happy as well. Any change in these turbulent times, any step toward’s peace, is invaluable. Just if that could be possible.

Mr. President!

Now you are going to be the president of the United States of America. The country which is to rule the world. It is none of my business what you are going to do during your presidency. I am not anti-American either. This is all none of my business. The point is, one country has the power so becomes the super power, one country does not and so becomes the weak. This is not a moral issue. This is the world of profits and I do understand that. Not that it is not a bitter fact, however. So, I do not expect you to do much in this aspect. And I do not understand why people around me are so excited (the Persian blogosphere is partying for your victory!) I know that you are becoming the president in a structured system and so there is no chance for you to assert a lot of change in the system in order to bring about a massive change [not exact translation]. I know that some of your decisions come from the party and the party is well established so change will be limited…. Let’s be realistic.

Mr. Obama!

You said that the families of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are waiting for their sons and daughters and look for the end of this crisis. You do know that many mothers and fathers have lost their kids in the war. It is a war at the end, isn’t it? When it inflicts the civilians, however, it becomes a catastrophe. You have to realize that the history and the next generations will look at this very thoroughly. Facts will not just vanish. I wouldn’t have written this letter if it was not four the 23 kids who lost their lives on the very same day that you got elected. They became victims of violence committed by soldiers from your country. I wouldn’t have written this letter if all the kids in the world had a prosperous future in front of them, as your Malia and Sasha do. I wouldn’t have written this letter if the bloodshed in Iraq did not exist. Your country is now involved in every single bloody conflict in the world. Become an advocate for peace if you seek the name of your country to be praised.

Mr. Barack Hussein Obama (and you have no idea how much your middle name is loved by [the state-run] news agencies of my country)

I watched the wedding party in Afghanistan which turned into a bloodbath and I watched President Karzai’s first request from you as a president [to reduce the air strikes]. I believed that people like you and our Khatami, who tried to be an advocate for dialogue amongst civilizations, are the minority in the world. We have to yet wait for one who does really try to do something. That’s assuming he or she is able to accomplish anything in this savage world of course.

Mr. President,

The dream of justice is very good. I do look forward to seeing how you implement your socialist ideas within the framework of the liberal democratic system which is in place in your country. John Rawls, I believe, would have had a tough time theorizing the situation. New experiences are invaluable, though. Let’s give them some room.

….

We all wait for you to see how you deal with all these open issues. All these unsolved challenges, the wars, the conflicts, poverty, and injustice. No one person has the power to accomplish all these and we can not expect miracles, but, who knows? Maybe change indeed is possible!

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How to Stomp on the Flag

Kamangir | November 3, 2008 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, Picture of the Day, US

By Vahid Nikgoo

God Bless America, Iran, and the World

Kamangir | November 2, 2008 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US, Video of the Day

(direct link to video)

From Majid

Video of the Day: America’s Secret War

Kamangir | October 25, 2008 | Category Iran, US, Video of the Day

(direct link to video)

Is the US at war with Iran? Fantastic video examining the situation on the Iraq-Iran borders.

Link from Vahid

Picture of the Day: “Executing” the US and Israel

Kamangir | February 12, 2008 | Category Israel, Picture of the Day, US

Another bizarre scene taken at the rallies held for the celebration of the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Republic. The text on the puppet reads “Death to America, Death to Israel”. The resemblance to the recent crane-executions is striking.

Picture of the Day: Proud to be Offensive

Kamangir | February 11, 2008 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, Picture of the Day, US

For the celebration of the Islamic Revolution, the state asked the nation to pour into the streets. That, for some people, was a good chance to show off their genius.

Resemblance to animals is offensive in the Iranian culture. You will spend years behind the bars if you depict the Supreme Leader, for example, as a donkey.

Source of the picture

Why I like Obama

Kamangir | February 6, 2008 | Category Human Rights, Iran, Regular Posts, US

It is not really easy to be exposed to all the news about the upcoming elections in the states and remain silent, even if you know about American politics less than you know about Canary Islands. Taking a side feels good, as well. Therefore, this is why I chose Barack Obama.

• Republican vs. Democratic: I guess with my tedious arguments against the overdose of religion in Iran, it is clear why I like the Democrats more.
• Hillary vs. Barack: Maybe I don’t like her just because of the “Clinton Dynasty” thing. I’m just fed up with people with similar last names occupying the news.

Nevertheless, I find some of the remarks of Barack too simplistic, including when he promised to sit around a table with the Islamic Republic on the first year of his presidency (link). Hillary’s answer to the same question was very thoughtful.

Enough with this “Idiot’s Guide to US Elections”, I admire Americans, because a black person or a woman are the most likely to end up to be their president. This is happening less than two centuries after blacks were lashed down there. I believe there are a lot of things that we, Iranians, have to learn from the “Great Satan”.

“The Recent Iran-US Naval Incident was a Scam” (Important Update)

Kamangir | January 9, 2008 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US, media

In a piece titled “The reality of the recent confrontation (?) of the Iranian boats with Americans vessels” (Question mark used by the source), the state-controlled website Tabnak seems to claim that the speedboats which apparently threatened to explode American warships were in fact American, or at least definitely not Iranian. The piece reads [Persian],

Tabnak reporter from Bandar Abbas [the harbor city close to the location of the incident] revealed the real event which happened on the Strait of Hormoz.

Reportedly, Iran has established a control post on the Strait of Hormoz in order to control the passage of ships through the strait and ask them about their destination and activities through wireless.

On the day of the incident, while American ships were passing, as they regularly do, the center contacted them for information. At the time, five boats were present close to the ships. Interestingly, after a 24-hour delay, Pentagon announces that the ships have been contacted by the boats and that the message has contained a threat in English. More interestingly, on the footage, the section where it is said “you’ll explode after an amount of time”, the actual mentioned amount is unintelligible. Most definitely, the ship would have not been able to recognize whether the message had come from the boats or from the post on the harbor.

I have tried to translate the piece with all its ambiguities. Therefore, if you do not understand what they mean, I do not fully understand the Persian text either. Apparently, Tabnak is asserting that this was a scam and that the boats were harmless or even non-Iranian.

Tabnak is considered by many to be the cover for Baztab, a state-controlled website recently filtered due to internal struggles in the Islamic Republic. Interestingly, Baztab English, which is still functional, has two reports on the incident, none of which questions the authenticity of the event (one two).

Fars News also reports that an IRGC senior commander has called th footage a “clumsy fabrication”, mainly because the speedboats in the footage do not carry the “holy” flag of Iran.

“When trafficking in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman to protect the security of the region, all IRGC’s naval vessels carry the holy flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but in this fake film, Americans have left this primary and crucial point unheeded,” the source further added.

Update: In fact, pictures taken in IRGC drills in the Persian Gulf show that not always the “holy” flag is carried by the vessels. The flags on these two speedboats are definitely “holy”, according to some Muslims, but they are Islamic slogans and signs, not the Iranian flag.

Important Update: This picture is taken in a drill IRGC has been a part of (source) and the boat which seems to have no flag on it does look like the boat in the American footage, at least to me. The picture is taken on April 6th, 2007, in the Persian Gulf during the “Great Prophet Joint Drill”.

Update: The speedboat is visible in the minute 4:43 in the footage provided by the Islamic Republic and it does not carry an Iranian flag.

IRGC likes to see “President” Hillary Clinton?

Kamangir | January 7, 2008 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US, War

One of the top news of the day is the event of IRGC warships trying to provoke US Navy ships (CNN). The Iranian blogger Haji Washington, who writes from the US, has an interesting idea about the incident [Persisn].

If the US is telling the truth and if IRGC vessels have gotten close to the American ships, without any legitimate reason, I would argue that the IRGC likes to see Hillary Clinton as the next president of the united states of America. But why do I say so?

When Clinton voted in the senate for the recognition of the IRGC as a terrorist organization, Obama criticized her for helping those who like to start the war. The same criticism was made by Edwards and had a great impact on increasing the popularity of Obama against Clinton,. Now that Obama has won Iowa and is leading with his 39% popularity, as opposed to Clinton’s 29%, and is going to win in New Hampshire on Thursday, this report can be the winning card for Clinton.

I do hope that Clinton’s aides do not get the point.

The picture is from a military show in the Persian Gulf in September 2007.

p.s. Nikahang Kowsar’s take on the incident [source: Persian].

Islamophobia and Antisemitism in the US, A Question (Updated)

Kamangir | November 22, 2007 | Category Human Rights, US

I just stumbled upon a post in Mystical Politics about FBI’s 2006 Hate Crime Statistics in the US. Rebecca writes,

…in the most serious category of crimes against persons (aggravated assault), the number of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim offenses is almost identical, but in all other categories, especially intimidation and destruction/damage/vandalism, the number of incidents directed against Jews is far larger. It strikes me that these figures belie the claim that Islamophobia is a much greater danger than anti-semitism in the United States. If that were true, it would mean that far more Muslims than Jews would be victims of hate crimes. [Emphasize from me]

I then read in BBC that,

Of the victims attacked because of religious bias, 65.4% were Jewish and 11.9% were Muslim.

When I first saw these reports I started writing a Persian post to complain about all the “Muslims are hated in America” claims in the state-run media as well as in the public’s opinion. So, I prepared this table.

For the sake of better presentation, this table only shows the five main categories of crimes, the last two of which are against property. This table is definitely in line with Rebecca’s understanding, as well that of BBC’s. What is not taken into consideration in this table, however, is the difference between the Jewish and Muslim populations in the US. According to Wikipedia, 1.4% of Americans are Jewish while only 0.5% are Muslim.

So, I created another table, this time looking at relative numbers (normalized by population).

Again, American criminals seem to have a grudge against the Jews. Though, if you take out the last row of the table, namely vandalism of property, you’ll find out that Muslims are treated worse.

So, my conclusion is, except for vandalism of property, the situation of Muslims and Jewish people are very similar in the US, with Jewish people having a slightly better situation. To analyze the higher rate of vandalism of Jewish properties I need to have the statistics of properties owned by people with different religions. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to these numbers.

Nevertheless, hate crime is horrible, independent of the religion or ethnicity of the victim. This is just how an engineer sees, and plays with, numbers.

p.s. After I finished writing this post, I found a relevant report in the Islamic Republic News Network [Persian],

This report shows that violence against Hispanics and Muslims is more than other groups.

Well, I call this the simplistic approach of an opportunist.

Update: Rebecca discusses the issue further: More on hate crime statistics.

People of America, Israel, and elsewhere, we sincerely apologize

Kamangir | November 4, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US

Please forgive us, Iranians, for the foolish behavior of a few flag-burning, slur-shouting citizens of my country. Although having occupied the political power in my country, they do not represent me and many other Iranians.

See more pictures of the rallies for celebrating the anniversary of the hostagetaking at the American embassy in Tehran in the photoblog.

Update: The New American Citizen accepts the apology.

“Sword of Islam against Nazi Americans”

Kamangir | October 24, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US

The Supreme Leader today attended the graduation ceremony of Sattari Military University [Persian]. There, they had prepared a “show” for him, through which soldiers with colored outfits visualized a sword piercing through an American flag which strangely enough had a Swastika on it.

I call this brilliant minds doing their best to offend others.

See more pictures in the photoblog.

Politics of Genocides

Kamangir | October 10, 2007 | Category Human Rights, Iran, Islamic Republic, US

In contemporary Persian, the term “politics” means “the art of survival through the best use of the situation”. This is probably a result of the long periods through which the Iranians have had to use their minds to survive against external and internal hazards. But there is more to this.

As I have mentioned earlier, I am reading the book “Taliban” by Ahmed Rashid. I am still in the early chapters of the book, but I find it fascinating how Iran has been supplying a group in the Afghanistan turmoil with arms and money. This, I would call interference and I guess it is “okey” for a country to “intervene” in the neighboring countries. Or at least that’s what every country does. What is the irony here is that Iranians are well-known for their eternal complaints against the US government for its indisputable role in the coup which toppled down the democratically-elected prime minister of Iran, Mosaddeq. The question is, is it okey for Iran to meddle in Afghanistan, and now in Iraq and Lebanon and elsewhere, but US should be blamed for its “pursuit of its interests in Iran”?

I guess it’s the big aspect of politics which causes this irony; politicians are the least interested in such fancy terms as “morality” and “truth”. What they are concerned with is survival.

Take the example of the Holocaust. Clearly, there are many people who deny it. Some of these people are idiots like Ahamdinejad who deny it for a “greater goal”, but there are still some historians who have “legitimate” reasons for questioning aspects of the Holocaust. Does that mean that I, as a non-Jew, should dispute the Holocaust? The answer is no. Because this is such a sensitive issue for the Jews, and because they have a good argument for it, and because I have personally witnessed antisemitism, I respect the Holocaust. But how about other people’s sufferings?

I am not an Armenian and all my information about this faith is through a friend and, well, wikipedia. Similar to the Jewish case, I respect Armenians’ claim about Turkey’s genocide of Armenians. That is because, first of all, Armenians have collected a good deal of documents to justify their claim, some of which is in Persian and I have personally gone through them. Secondly, the Turkish government is right now denying the existence of a fraction of its citizens, namely Kurds.

Going back to the politics, House works towards passing a bill on the Armenian Genocide, Turkey does not like it, thus “the [American] president describes the events of 1915 as ‘one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century,’ but believes that the determination of whether or not the events constitute a genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry, not legislation.” Well, with all due respect, I call this political maneuver at the cost of offending a nation who has suffered a horrid genocide. The fact that some of the children of the Jewish Holocaust survivors might follow American politicians is then just hypocrisy, to my understanding.

p.s. This is from The Boston Globe,

Particularly deplorable has been the longtime reluctance of some leading Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, to call the first genocide of the 20th century by its proper name. When Andrew Tarsy, the New England director of the ADL, came out last week in support of a congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, he was promptly fired by the national organization. Shaken by the uproar that followed, the ADL finally backed down. The murder of a million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1915, it acknowledged yesterday, was “indeed tantamount to genocide.”…

I would be dishonest to not mention that in a recent poll among Israelis,

…the absolute majority (82,5%) agree with the opinion that the Israeli people, who survived the Holocaust have no right to deny tragedies of other nations. At that 72,4% think that Israel should recognize the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 as genocide….

p.s. 2 I wrote this piece today very early in the morning but because of a comment which accused me of racism I took it off. I sent an apology to the commenter and received this “…I completely misread your post. I went to quote it and realised I had missed the point entirely…”. So, here is the post again. Thanks also to Roman for his question.

“I hate all Iranians”, Senior Bush Official is quoted

Kamangir | October 3, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US

I hate all Iranians, US aide tells MPs

Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America’s stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush’s senior women officials: “I hate all Iranians.”

And she also accused Britain of “dismantling” the Anglo-US-led coalition in Iraq by pulling troops out of Basra too soon.

The all-party group of MPs say Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates, made the comments this month.

Any comment guys?

Ahmadinejad in Ground Zero? Are you kidding?

Kamangir | September 19, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US

Is there any doubt that Ahmadinejad must not be permitted to get close to where the twin towers used to stand? Even forgetting the fact that he is the representative of a regime whose official outlets call the attacks an inside job, he explicitly mentioned in his letter to the George W. Bush that,

September 11 events were horrible. Killing innocent people is shameful everywhere in the world. Our government condemned the attacks at the time….It is said that you have an extensive intelligence system which is even capable of hunting your opponents outside your borders. 9/11 was not a simple operation. Is it possible that such an operation is designed without the intelligence systems helping with it or being massively infiltrated? This is in fact a reasonable possibility. Why is this being kept secret? Why is it not mentioned who failed in doing his job? Why are the people responsible for the attacks not tried? [Persian]

Someone has to call this man and remind him of the numerous unsolved problems in Iran. He’d better work on domestic issues first, before meddling with other nations’.

How to Stop the War, a Cartoon

Kamangir | September 19, 2007 | Category Iran, US, War

Nikahang Kowsar’s take on Ahmadinejad’s coming trip to the UN. “The only way to prevent the war from happening”.

“Bush is a Devil-Follower”

Kamangir | September 17, 2007 | Category Humour, Iran, Islam, US

“Was the 9/11 remembrance ceremony the place for showing ‘devil’s hand’?” This is the title of a piece recently published in Mouood [Persian], means Messiah. Mouood is the website of a magazine devoted to the Islamic Messiah, Mahdi. Through a couple of posts and pictures [Persian Persian], the website advocates the idea that “George W. Bush is a devil-follower”, because “he keeps showing the devil’s hand, the international symbol of the god with horns”.

Closer and Closer, Iran in Serious Danger (Updated)

Kamangir | September 12, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US

Fox News: “U.S. Officials Begin Crafting Iran Bombing Plan”

Germany — a pivotal player among three European nations to rein in Iran’s nuclear program over the last two-and-a-half years through a mixture of diplomacy and sanctions supported by the United States — notified its allies last week that the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel refuses to support the imposition of any further sanctions against Iran that could be imposed by the U.N. Security Council…The Germans voiced concern about the damaging effects any further sanctions on Iran would have on the German economy — and also, according to diplomats from other countries, gave the distinct impression that they would privately welcome, while publicly protesting, an American bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

If by any chance anything happens, I will know Mr Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khameneii, and other Islamic Republic officials responsible.

Update: The Iranian blogosphere is steadily responding to this piece. Kash News translates it to Persian and writes, “This piece is different from others like it, because Fox News has direct access to the Bush administration officials. We have to take this report very seriously” [Persian]. Our Perspective is worried that, “even thirty percent of what is mentioned might be true”. He wishes “God save Iran from warmongers inside Iran and outside it” [Persian]. Nikahang refers to another similar report and writes, “I am not saying to freak out, but … this shows that those who are members of Iran’s national security council has been the very same people who have caused the worst for it as well” [Persian]. In the Iranian Digg, on a post from Persian Kamangir, people are still writing opposite comments. Some are very worried, but some others call this “another one the threats we have heard in the last thirty years” [Persian].

Related: Nukes on B-52, Mistake, Inside Job, or Message

Link through Lesly

Islamic Republic: “9/11 was an inside Job”

Kamangir | September 11, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US

In the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the state-run news outlets preferred to discuss the conspiracy theories. Fars News writes “130 American Experts: 9/11 was an inside Job.” Quoting an unknown Russian “expert”, the website writes “It is not imaginable that Muslim terrorists have been able to prepare in six months” [Persian]. Another state-run news source, Mehr News, quotes a 911 conspiracy website that, “The Collapse of the Towers was not because of the Crash, 9/11 could have been planned by the Us administration” [Persian]. Mehr News carries the claims of the “Russian expert” as well [Persian]. In another report, Fars News calls the 9/11 attacks “A Big Lie”. “In September 11, 2001, an event unfolded which was a big lie and a planned scenario for supermacy, according to the majority of experts”, Fars News writes [Persian]. The rather long piece in Fars News finishes with a set of “numerical facts about the attacks”, including the connection between the 11 from 9/11 to the number of letters of Bin Ladan’s name in Persian, which is 11.

9/11 Tribute

Kamangir | September 11, 2007 | Category US

A tribute to all the people who were killed in New York on that horrible day. Let’s hope for a day in which no one would pursue their goals at the cost of killing others.

Islamic Republic confesses: Chaos in Iraq is Good for us

Kamangir | September 10, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US

The newly-assigned commander of the IRGC stated, “If the enemy succeeded in securing Iraq, they would definitely attack Iran. Fortunately, and thanks to Muslims of the region, they failed in this conspiracy.” He added “If they are not sure about their plans, that’s because of their failure in Iraq”. “The Islamic Iran has turned into a great regional power…and all world powers are anxious about the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran”, he concluded [Persian].

To conclude, and this just my idea, he is confessing that the Islamic Republic is causing chaos in Iraq to make Americans engaged and to not let them think about attacking Iran. Well, that does sound like some of the claims the US administration has been making, that Iran is supplying terrorists and so on.

Related: Islamic Republic: Israel will pay the Price of War with the US

p.s. The wording of the IRGC commander’s speech is a bit different in different sources. The one mentioned here is adopted from the state-run newspaper Jam-e Jam.

Nukes on B-52, Mistake, Inside Job, or Message

Kamangir | September 7, 2007 | Category Iran, US

A few days ago, a rather strange news was carried in many news outlets, that five nuclear bombs have been mistakenly loaded on a B-52 and have been flown over the US for a few hours,

..the US Air Force sent five nuclear-armed cruise missiles into US air space without realising. Fortunately, 3½ hours later, the missiles were back on terra firma. The mix-up happened when a B-52 bomber aircraft left Minot Air Base in North Dakota for Barksdale in Louisiana. Unknown to those on the ground - and presumably in the cockpit - it was carrying cruise missiles tipped with W80-1 warheads….

Larry Johnson had a quite different explanation,

…So I called a old friend and retired B-52 pilot and asked him. … [He] reminded me that the only times you put weapons on a plane is when they are on alert or if you are tasked to move the weapons to a specific site…Barksdale Air Force Base is being used as a jumping off point for Middle East operations. … Can’t imagine we would need to use them in Iraq. …. His final point was to observe that someone on the inside obviously leaked the info that the planes were carrying nukes. …What is certain is that the pilots of this plane did not just make a last minute decision to strap on some nukes and take them for a joy ride. … Did someone at Barksdale try to indirectly warn the American people that the Bush Administration is staging nukes for Iran?

Larry’s piece was posted in the Iranian Digg, Balatarin, and then I posted a brief translation of it in Persian Kamangir, and that was also posted in Balatarin. This is the Persian comments Iranians left on the post,

This can be a trick. It was mentioned in the Iranian news and probably had good benefit in the psychological war, for the US.

Is it only Iran that should comply with UN resolutions?

I am dead scared.

Attack? No way! Go turn the TV on and watch the news about Iraq.

Sorry, Mr Ahmadinejad! I’ll wake you up when they attacked!

They said we won’t go to the Security Council, and we did. That we will not be sanctioned, and we were. That there will not be an attack…

This is what should make us suspicious that they may attempt to attack using nukes. Practically, there is no way for a ground or air-borne attack. They have to get rid of Iran in a glimpse, and nukes do that.

All the clues imply a face-off very soon.

Just imagine this, the Americans warn that we will annihilate Tehran in the next 24 hours, warning Tehranis to leave the city. They don’t even need to attack. Can you imagine how the hell will broke loose?

I think this is propaganda war to prepare the public for a conventional attack. To make them beg “No Nukes! Please!”

Offensiveness: A Proprietary Right

Kamangir | September 6, 2007 | Category Human Rights, Iran, Islamic Republic, Israel, US

Following the issue about the cartoon in The Columbus Dispatch I did a quick research on the cartoons published in the state-run newspaper Kayhan whose head is appointed by the Supreme Leader. The result? See it for yourself,

• US is the Nazi Germany.
• Jews are fat and always hold a gun.
• Arabs are fat and are America’s defecation.
• Jews are like snakes.
• Holocaust is a myth perpetuated to prepare pretext for murdering Palestinians.
• Americans are torturer thugs.

One of the cartoons is shown here, the rest are available in the photoblog

p.s. If you like technical details, I managed to extract the entire collection of cartoons published in Kayhan using a Matlab code.

Do not Panic! You are not a Cockroach!

Kamangir | September 6, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, US

Some people in the Iranian blogosphere have felt insulted after The Columbus Dispatch published a cartoon “resembling Iran to a sewer with cockroaches coming out of it”. The issue has also attracted NIAC’s attention, “By publishing this racist cartoon, the editors of the Dispatch have insulted and propagated hate against the Iranian American community”.

Guys! Cool down! No one is saying you are a cockroach. Someone has practiced his freedom to say that Iran is acting like a source of trouble for the Middle East. Does anyone think this sentence is wrong?

Related: Offensiveness: A Proprietary Right

Islamic Republic: Israel will pay the Price of War with the US

Kamangir | September 4, 2007 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, Israel, US

The former IRGC leader and the new adviser to the Supreme Leader, Safavi, is now acting as the front row of the Islamic Republic rhetoric. A few days ago he said, “There are 200,000 vulnerable American forces in the region and we have information about all their bases” [Persian]. Today, the Islamic Republic official newspaper quoted him saying “Washington can never predict Iran’s retaliation”. He stated, “In event of an American attack on Iran, they will have three problems. One, they have no idea how sever the retaliation will be. They can not predict how much vulnerable their 200,000 soldiers in the region are. Two, they have no idea what will happen to Israel. Three, they have no idea what will have happen to the flow of oil.” [Persian]