Iran

Iran is replacing the U.S. dollar by the euro in the country’s foreign exchange accounts.  The Arabian Business reported that the euro will be used to calculate the value of the country’s Oil Stabilization Fund (OSF).  The OSF, which forms part of Iran’s foreign exchange reserves, is a contingency fund set up to help the […]

Looks like this year Qaddafi will be the center of attention at the UN.  While Ahmadinejad’s speech had some classic “blame West” moments, it just did not match the diatribes found in Qaddafi’s speech (For more on Qaddafi’s speech, check out the Foreign Policy Association’s Human Rights Blog).  Ahmadinejad’s speech was more subdued, but that […]

Last week, Iranian President Ahmadinejad once again outraged the world by calling the Holocaust a “myth”. To be honest, it is embarrassing to me as a Muslim when I see a Muslim leader espouse such vitriol. This summer I went to the Dachau concentration camp and it was one of the most heart wrenching experience. […]

Since Iran is such a vibrant country and is constantly in the news, there are plenty of news and analyses that I read while researching my blog but am unable to write about.  So here is my first installment of stories about Iran that “slip through the cracks” (yes- I am quoting Lewis Black from […]

Here is President Obama’s message to Muslims celebrating Eid all around the world: STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE OCCASION OF EID-UL-FITR As Muslims in the United States and around the world complete the month of Ramadan and celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, Michelle and I would like to extend our personal greetings on this joyous occasion. Eid […]

The Newsweek has published an article revealing that Iran has not restarted its nuclear-weapons development program.  According to the article: U.S. intelligence agencies have informed policymakers at the White House and other agencies that the status of Iranian work on development and production of a nuclear bomb has not changed since the formal National Intelligence […]

Both taekwondo and volleyball associations have announced that they will allow women wearing hijab to compete.  There is a definite tendency in the West to vilify hijab.  And while I am against women being forced to wear hijab, I am also against women being denied equal rights due to the fact that their head is […]

Mark your calendars. October 1st is the date when Iran and the five UN Security Council members plus Germany will hold talks about the Iranian nuclear program.  The State Department spokesman Ian Kelly announced yesterday that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns – who was also at the Geneva talks – would […]

My Master’s thesis dealt with the effect of an independent Iraqi Kurdistan on the Kurdish movement in which I specifically examined what effect increasing the level of autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan have had on Kurdish secessionist groups in Syria, Iran, and Turkey.  Considering I spent last whole year engrossed in researching the operations of Kurdish […]

Today’s newspapers are all buzzing with one news: Russia has stated that sanctions against Iran are unlikely.  Newspapers, like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov on Thursday as saying Moscow wouldn’t back any new rounds of tough sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security […]

The Arctic Sea, officially carrying a cargo of timber worth $2m, disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria on July 24.  The vessel vanished into thin air after sailing through the English Channel, a curious case that engaged the attention of Finnish police, Swedish investigators, Interpol, and the Russian Navy.  Before people could really jump […]

A while ago I wrote a blog on how Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, one of the world’s most prominent game theorists, applied game theory to predict that Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons. Here is a presentation he made about his findings: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/ts5MKtXNpMQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]