Iran

President Ahmadinejad’s cabinet picks are both progressive and hard-line.  His choices upset both the clerics and the West.  On one hand, Ahmadinejad is breaking a taboo by appointing three women ministers to the cabinet.  On the other hand, he is continuing the same anti-West attitude by appointing a minister accused of bombing a Jewish center […]

Iranian former President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani is best remembered for his Friday prayer sermon on July 17th 2009, which gave the reform movement a “powerful boost”.  In his sermon, he criticized the government for losing the trust of many Iranians, and called for the release of the protesters arrested since the election.  As the highest-ranking […]

As the month of Ramadan starts, here is President Obama’s message to Muslims all around the world: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/1R4KfYuDrvU” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]

Iran allowed inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the nuclear reactor at Arak for the first time in a year and has also granted them greater monitoring of uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz. The accord breaks a months long impasse between Iran and the IAEA. As reported in the Wall Street […]

A recent comment by the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, during his visit to the United States, has caused an outrage among some Iranian officials, once again highlighting the tense relationship shared between the two countries.  According to the Fars News Agency, addressing Jewish leaders in a closed meeting in Washington, President Mubarak said, “There is […]

[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DigrJOaQ0EI” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Looks like a documentary worth watching on Iran.  The film unfortunately has not come out on netflix, but hopefully one of these days.

All five Larijani brothers have made a mark in the Iranian politics.  In Will Iran’s ‘Kennedys’ Challenge Ahmadinejad?, Robin Wright writes: Over the past 30 years, the five sons of a senior cleric have been a major force in Iran’s power structure, either serving in or running for positions including the presidency and various diplomatic […]

In his op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Alexander Benard urges the United States to “propose a conversation with Iran about human rights” instead of negotiating with Iran on its nuclear program.  His reasoning is simple: Focusing on Iranian nuclear program will ignite patriotism in Iranian people and they will “in large part rally […]

As discussed in my previous post, Iranian Women: Voices to be Heard, women have played a prominent role in the pre-election campaigning and the post-election protests.  All four candidates made promises to women in the election campaign, including Ahmadinejad, who spoke of empowering women.  It looks like this is one election promise that Ahmadinejad is […]

There is no denying that Iran has one of the best literary heritages.  From Rumi to Hafez to Omer Khayyam to Saadi, Iran has had its share of great poets.  Though the most influential poet remains Ferdowsi, known for writing the Persian epic, the Shahnameh (known in English as The Book of Kings).  This article […]

Apparently never.  The answer comes from applying the “rational actor” game theory to this question.  Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics, often used in the social sciences, to study how people will behave in strategic situations– a situation in which an individual’s success in making decisions depends on the decisions of others (think […]

Considering that in his last op-ed for the New York Times, Mr. Luttwak stated that the Muslim world will not accept Obama due to his “conversion to Christianity” (Muslim countries’ approval of U.S. leadership has increased under Obama’s presidency), it is no surprise that his op-ed published today in the Wall Street Journal on why […]