4th post on map widget

I was searching for a really cool map website that allows you to create your own maps and input your own reports for various locations on it. I found one http://www.up2maps.net, but before I get to that, I found another mapsite that is equally interesting. It's called the Global Incident Map. This global map displays all acts of terrorism and other suspicious events. The map displays different symbols for different types of events such as kidnappings, bombings, chemical/biological, atomic, and pretty much any other type of terrorist attack that exists. When you click on an incident symbol it will give you the information/press report on that event. You can view this map for free, but unfortunately in order to be able to click on the symbols and get the information on the attack you have to pay for it. Not only that but the free version is only updated every 24-48 hours. For instant real-time updates you have to pay $10/month or $99/year. Still the free map has its uses because once you see which country an event has occurred in, you can easily search the web yourself for the story on it. This site not only has terrorism maps, but it also has other maps, which include a Presidential Threat Map, Gang Activity Map, Forest Fires Map, HAZMAT Situations Map, and an Amber-Alert Map. These maps are all updated in real-time and they are free. These maps are all pretty interesting to look at and I hope the website will expand its map selection even more in the future.

The Terrorism Map is useful because you can easily see the areas of the globe that are currently experiencing the most turmoil. The acts of terrorism indicate political unrest that can boil over into full-blown war if it is not present already. The map can remind us that along with the benefits of globalization (finance, trade, communication etc...) come the hazards (global terrorism, disease, pollution etc...). Terrorists can now operate on a global scale and project their message into the global community via technology. The media can now instantly report on an act of terrorism in Iraq and it influences the opinions and actions of people in the U.S.. This serves as a reminder that we are now living in a time that has never existed before for mankind. There are new challenges that must be faced and the international community must work together towards managing the effects of globalization.

The other website I found http://www.up2maps.net, has some really cool features on it. First of all, it is a public website which you can join for free. I began my exploration by checking out maps that other users made. Let me just say that there are a host of maps which all contain various reports on a large variety of topics. I am going to list a few here that I found to be interesting. The first one is a map of World Internet Users for 2009. The next, is a List of Countries by Number of Total Troops for 2006. Finally, the Population Growth Rate for 2008. All of these maps contain links to the websites where their data is taken from or information on their sources. All of the maps are very good quality and fun to look at because it's very easy to color code the different countries and measure their attributes on different scales. For example, take a look at the World Internet Users map. It is so easy to see what is known in IR as the centre-periphery formation, just look at the green developed countries and the red underdeveloped countries. Once again these maps highlight the challenges that this new era of globalization brings. Just how are countries supposed to work together when many of them are poor and lacking modern technologies? Just how are the poor states going to follow the policies of international organizations that are clearly biased in favor of the rich states? Well, I don't know. But, if you wanted to learn more about the world, this map website would be an excellent research tool to have. If there is a pressing topic that you would like to make a report on such as differences in public education spending by country you could easily use this website to do so.

I wanted to write a bit more on www.up2maps.net and talk a bit more about how you can use the different features to create a very detailed and informative map. I got an idea for a future map project which would cover nuclear weapons and nonproliferation. My map would have a couple of different layers. First, there would be the global view with all the states divided up and colored coded nicely to different categories depending on whether they 1.(the red states) currently have nuclear weapons, 2.(the orange states) do not have nuclear weapons but are suspected of attemtping to acquire nuclear weapons, or 3.(the green states) do not have nuclear weapons and are not suspected of attempting to acquire them. There would also be a few additional dimensions to the global view of my map with another categorization of states based on whether they are a member of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty or not. There would also be a categorization of states who have nuclear energy reactors, those developing nuclear energy reactors, and those without nuclear energy reactors.

Once the global portion is completed I would start to focus on individual states and I would have a few different layers to add to each individual state map. Including the locations of all known nuclear weapons storage factilities and all nuclear reactors and the locations of suspected nuclear sites.

There are a number of different websites that can be accessed to get all of the data needed to complete a map report I will list a few here that have a lot of information on various topics.

1. CIA World Factbook
2. IAEA website (for those interested in nuclear related issues)
3. The United Nations (they have many maps of their own to glean data from)
4. U.S. Census website

There are many different ways to use up2maps.net to create map reports for your own use, for presentations, or to share with others. These maps might be useful to people in the fields of International Relations, Foreign Policy, Global Business, and many more. I hope this post gave you an idea of the projects that are possible using this website.

My last two posts were about a map website that allows users to publish their data on thematic
maps. The website was www.up2maps.net. I would like to throw in a few more details on this
interesting web tool. This site was created by Mapgenia, a company headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. Mapgenia believes that software products like this map website will become the main trend in the software industry. They refer to what they call SaaS or "Software as a Service", which basically means that all software in the future will be subscribed to in by the users and accessed through their web browsers, thereby eliminating the physical production and distribution of the software. You can already see this trend in action through a variety of software companies but Mapgenia believes it is only a matter of time before all physical software disappears.

The map website version currently available is a beta version so the company is still adding features and capabilities to it. There are a couple of different ways to add your data to the your map. First, you can simply fill in the values for the various Continents/States/Provinces. Second, if you already have your data in an excel sheet with the proper labels you can simply upload it and the map will be filled out for you. If you need specific directions on doing that there is a tutorial on the website with step-by-step instructions. The other way of filling out your map is through colors. By selecting and labeling the various colors you can paint your map to represent your data. For instance, countries with population growth rates above 1.00 are red, below 1.00 yellow, and those with a negative growth rate green, the combinations are endless depending on your data and how you decide to categorize it.

Another interesting feature is that you are able to combine maps and the various reports to create a super map. If you have created a map, you just need to find another map on the same scale (such as global, continental, by state etc...) you can then choose the option of merging a report from another map onto your map. This is a great way to quickly and easily add a lot of information onto your map. Just be sure to check the sources of the other map to make sure your data is accurate. I should also mention that you can create an unlimited number of reports for each map you create. The different reports will be included on the sidebar and to swithch back and forth between them all you have to do is click. The only thing stopping you from only ever making one map is the fact that once you choose the scale of the map to make a report for, you cannot make other reports on different scales. For example, if you start making a global scale map, all the reports on this map must be on the global scale, you cannot switch to continental or state level scales to add reports at those levels.

Other interesting features include being able to format the font and style of the various labels on the map. It also gives you the option to choose different symbols for your territory weight values such as $,%, €, depending on the type of value you want to add to the areas. There is also a treemap which allows you to view your data in another visual configuration once your done filling it out. You can switch back and forth between the treemap and the normal map easily and quickly.

There seems to be quite a few maps already created although I am not sure exaclty how popular the site is. But new maps are appearing quite frequently so I think that there has to be a moderately large number of people using it. The last upgrade added by Mapgenia was in March 2009 and before that it was about 4-5 times a month, so they seem to be pretty active in developing content for it. For students and others needing to create or find reports on global, state, and provincial statitics this is a pretty handy tool to have. I would highly reccomend using it at least once, if only to explore the interesting and informative maps other users have already created.

American-Iranian Journalist

Things are looking up

It seems that President Obama has decided to drop Bush's precondition that the Iranians stop processing nuclear fuel before negotiations can begin. This is an important step towards a more stable Middle East. But, I think that any negotiations before Ahmadinejad is gone from office would only strengthen the hardliners position. If Obama negotiates with Iran while the hardliners are still in control it may be taken as a victory for the hardliners and their policies and give them an advantage in the upcoming elections. On the other hand, if negotiations take place with Ahmadinejad still in power there might be a reason for Iranians to be less wary of U.S. imperialism and would not feel the need to elect such aggressive leaders again. If that were to happen the reformers would be in a better position. In any case, it is good to know that the situation is improving and that there most likely will be negotiations in the near future.

Even more on maps

My last two posts were about a map website that allows users to publish their data on thematic
maps. The website was www.up2maps.net. I would like to throw in a few more details on this
interesting web tool. This site was created by Mapgenia, a company headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. Mapgenia believes that software products like this map website will become the main trend in the software industry. They refer to what they call SaaS or "Software as a Service", which basically means that all software in the future will be subscribed to in by the users and accessed through their web browsers, thereby eliminating the physical production and distribution of the software. You can already see this trend in action through a variety of software companies but Mapgenia believes it is only a matter of time before all physical software disappears.

The map website version currently available is a beta version so the company is still adding features and capabilities to it. There are a couple of different ways to add your data to the your map. First, you can simply fill in the values for the various Continents/States/Provinces. Second, if you already have your data in an excel sheet with the proper labels you can simply upload it and the map will be filled out for you. If you need specific directions on doing that there is a tutorial on the website with step-by-step instructions. The other way of filling out your map is through colors. By selecting and labeling the various colors you can paint your map to represent your data. For instance, countries with population growth rates above 1.00 are red, below 1.00 yellow, and those with a negative growth rate green, the combinations are endless depending on your data and how you decide to categorize it.

Another interesting feature is that you are able to combine maps and the various reports to create a super map. If you have created a map, you just need to find another map on the same scale (such as global, continental, by state etc...) you can then choose the option of merging a report from another map onto your map. This is a great way to quickly and easily add a lot of information onto your map. Just be sure to check the sources of the other map to make sure your data is accurate. I should also mention that you can create an unlimited number of reports for each map you create. The different reports will be included on the sidebar and to swithch back and forth between them all you have to do is click. The only thing stopping you from only ever making one map is the fact that once you choose the scale of the map to make a report for, you cannot make other reports on different scales. For example, if you start making a global scale map, all the reports on this map must be on the global scale, you cannot switch to continental or state level scales to add reports at those levels.

Other interesting features include being able to format the font and style of the various labels on the map. It also gives you the option to choose different symbols for your territory weight values such as $,%, €, depending on the type of value you want to add to the areas. There is also a treemap which allows you to view your data in another visual configuration once your done filling it out. You can switch back and forth between the treemap and the normal map easily and quickly.

There seems to be quite a few maps already created although I am not sure exaclty how popular the site is. But new maps are appearing quite frequently so I think that there has to be a moderately large number of people using it. The last upgrade added by Mapgenia was in March 2009 and before that it was about 4-5 times a month, so they seem to be pretty active in developing content for it. For students and others needing to create or find reports on global, state, and provincial statitics this is a pretty handy tool to have. I would highly reccomend using it at least once, if only to explore the interesting and informative maps other users have already created.

More on maps

I wanted to write a bit more on www.up2maps.net and talk a bit more about how you can use the different features to create a very detailed and informative map. I got an idea for a future map project which would cover nuclear weapons and nonproliferation. My map would have a couple of different layers. First, there would be the global view with all the states divided up and colored coded nicely to different categories depending on whether they 1.(the red states) currently have nuclear weapons, 2.(the orange states) do not have nuclear weapons but are suspected of attemtping to acquire nuclear weapons, or 3.(the green states) do not have nuclear weapons and are not suspected of attempting to acquire them. There would also be a few additional dimensions to the global view of my map with another categorization of states based on whether they are a member of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty or not. There would also be a categorization of states who have nuclear energy reactors, those developing nuclear energy reactors, and those without nuclear energy reactors.

Once the global portion is completed I would start to focus on individual states and I would have a few different layers to add to each individual state map. Including the locations of all known nuclear weapons storage factilities and all nuclear reactors and the locations of suspected nuclear sites.

There are a number of different websites that can be accessed to get all of the data needed to complete a map report I will list a few here that have a lot of information on various topics.

1. CIA World Factbook
2. IAEA website (for those interested in nuclear related issues)
3. The United Nations (they have many maps of their own to glean data from)
4. U.S. Census website

There are many different ways to use up2maps.net to create map reports for your own use, for presentations, or to share with others. These maps might be useful to people in the fields of International Relations, Foreign Policy, Global Business, and many more. I hope this post gave you an idea of the projects that are possible using this website.

Global Incident Map

I was searching for a really cool map website that allows you to create your own maps and input your own reports for various locations on it. I found one http://www.up2maps.net, but before I get to that, I found another mapsite that is equally interesting. It's called the Global Incident Map. This global map displays all acts of terrorism and other suspicious events. The map displays different symbols for different types of events such as kidnappings, bombings, chemical/biological, atomic, and pretty much any other type of terrorist attack that exists. When you click on an incident symbol it will give you the information/press report on that event. You can view this map for free, but unfortunately in order to be able to click on the symbols and get the information on the attack you have to pay for it. Not only that but the free version is only updated every 24-48 hours. For instant real-time updates you have to pay $10/month or $99/year. Still the free map has its uses because once you see which country an event has occurred in, you can easily search the web yourself for the story on it. This site not only has terrorism maps, but it also has other maps, which include a Presidential Threat Map, Gang Activity Map, Forest Fires Map, HAZMAT Situations Map, and an Amber-Alert Map. These maps are all updated in real-time and they are free. These maps are all pretty interesting to look at and I hope the website will expand its map selection even more in the future.

The Terrorism Map is useful because you can easily see the areas of the globe that are currently experiencing the most turmoil. The acts of terrorism indicate political unrest that can boil over into full-blown war if it is not present already. The map can remind us that along with the benefits of globalization (finance, trade, communication etc...) come the hazards (global terrorism, disease, pollution etc...). Terrorists can now operate on a global scale and project their message into the global community via technology. The media can now instantly report on an act of terrorism in Iraq and it influences the opinions and actions of people in the U.S.. This serves as a reminder that we are now living in a time that has never existed before for mankind. There are new challenges that must be faced and the international community must work together towards managing the effects of globalization.

The other website I found http://www.up2maps.net, has some really cool features on it. First of all, it is a public website which you can join for free. I began my exploration by checking out maps that other users made. Let me just say that there are a host of maps which all contain various reports on a large variety of topics. I am going to list a few here that I found to be interesting. The first one is a map of World Internet Users for 2009. The next, is a List of Countries by Number of Total Troops for 2006. Finally, the Population Growth Rate for 2008. All of these maps contain links to the websites where their data is taken from or information on their sources. All of the maps are very good quality and fun to look at because it's very easy to color code the different countries and measure their attributes on different scales. For example, take a look at the World Internet Users map. It is so easy to see what is known in IR as the centre-periphery formation, just look at the green developed countries and the red underdeveloped countries. Once again these maps highlight the challenges that this new era of globalization brings. Just how are countries supposed to work together when many of them are poor and lacking modern technologies? Just how are the poor states going to follow the policies of international organizations that are clearly biased in favor of the rich states? Well, I don't know. But, if you wanted to learn more about the world, this map website would be an excellent research tool to have. If there is a pressing topic that you would like to make a report on such as differences in public education spending by country you could easily use this website to do so.

The argument so far

Much of the opinion in Washington against negotiations with Iran is coming from people who are convinced that Iran is the mortal enemy of the U.S. People like Adm. Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mullen believes the U.S. should not extend a friendly hand to the regimes leaders in Iran. But why? If you listen to Mullen it's because he believes the Iranians are responsible for American deaths in Iraq. Ahmadinejad has not been the friendliest face in the Middle East, but his rhetoric is just that, but Iran has not undertaken any major actions against the U.S. I think America's imperial hubris is playing a large role in the misguided choice to isolate Iran and shower it with sanctions. If you take a look over the last 50 years you will find Iranian blood on U.S. hands as well and much of the blood came from Iranian civilians not soldiers. Yes, the violence has been appalling from both sides, but this tit-for-tat mentality does not seem to be a good reason to refrain from actually moving towards peace. Sure, the U.S. could choose to not negotiate with Iran and continue with ineffective sanctions and weak attempts at destabilizing the regime, but that would just be wasting more time. The U.S. needs to engage Iran in official negotiations on the nuclear weapon issue and work towards a solution. Not to mention the benefits that would come to the U.S. from Iran's help in stabilizing the region.

But, there are other people in Washington who don't believe the nonproliferation regime is capable of dealing with states like Iran. Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, believes that the IAEA has been ineffective at monitoring and preventing states from developing nuclear weapons. Sokolski, uses the example of security cameras installed in the nuclear reactors of various states. The IAEA reported in 2005 that over a period of six years there were 12 instances were the lights were turned off for periods exceeding 30 hours. Of course, this data is from all the states currently monitored by the IAEA, not just Iran. But this situation highlights the anxiety in Washington over whether the Iranian regime is attempting to acquire a nuclear weapon. It doesn't help the situation at all to know that even if Iran is just currently pursuing nuclear energy, most of the countries that have nuclear reactors have used their reactors to produce weapons grade material, these countries include (France, U.S., U.K., Russia, India, and Pakistan). These facts help to fuel the fear that nothing short of war can be done to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. These fears are still not sufficiently compelling strategic reasons to not pursue a better relationship with Iran. The benefits at this point and in the future far outweigh whatever it is we've gained from the insecure policies pursued by previous administrations.

U.S.-Iran negotiations

Like I mentioned in my last post, the U.S. is going to have to negotiate with Iran at some point, its only a matter of time. A good place to begin negotiations is in areas of mutual interest such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran wants a stable Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran likes to have order in its neighbors for economic, political and security reasons. I really don't understand why the U.S. has not put more of an effort into working jointly with Iran in stabilizing the region. Iran is an expert at establishing order from chaos, just look at what they did in Lebanon and in Iraq so far.

Another area for negotiations is in regional security issues. Iran is not liked by most of their Arab neighbors (although all the Arab leaders have been traveling to Tehran more, another sign of Iran's growing influence in the region) not only is it ethnically Persian, but it's Shi'itte too. If Iran is to stop arming its proxies and supporting dissenting factions in Arab states the U.S. is going to have to grant Iran some measures to ensure Iran's security. If Iran is going to help secure American interests then America will have to help secure Iran's. There is no way around it, as long as people feel insecure there is going to be a security dilemma.

Nowrooz

Eid-eh shoma mobarak!!! A new Persian year has officially started and with it a friendly message from President Obama to Iran. Unfortunately, Iran did not take it as a serious message for change and justifiably so because the official U.S. position on Iran has not undergone any noticeable changes. President Obama's message stated that the U.S. wanted Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations through peaceful efforts. This is a nice message and it is one that I feel Iran has tried to follow in recent years especially in their cooperation with the IAEA inspections and personnel. Iran suspended nuclear enrichment activities for over two years to boost confidence and to show their commitment to finding a mutually beneficial solution to the issue. Iran has fully complied with the IAEA and the IAEA has repeatedly declared that there is no evidence of diversion for a nuclear weapon. Even the 2006 National Intelligence Estimate stated Iran was not building nuclear weapons. So why are we still hearing news reports (that change daily) on the amount of low grade nuclear material that, after a few years, could become high grade material suitable for building a nuclear weapon? I guess I can assume that the media is just trying to sell news stories by creating more fear over Iran. Thankfully, there are smart people out there who are realizing the true power Iran is wielding in the Middle East is not nuclear, it's soft power. Part of the real Iranian threat comes from the giant power vacuum we created when we allowed Bush to topple Saddam's regime in Iraq. No other strategic blunder has allowed Iran to gain so much for so little.

As soon as Saddam's regime was gone. The Revolutionary Guard Corps quickly and easily entered into Iraq and began to work their magic just as they had done in Palestine and Lebanon. In fact, if Iran had never been so successful with Hezbollah in Lebanon we probably wouldn't have so much to worry about but since a guerrilla force defeated the most powerful military in the Middle East, Israel, Iran has taken that blueprint and applied it to Iraq. Gone from the political spotlight in Iraq are the moderate Shia clerics like Grand Ayatollah Sistani, replaced instead with people like Muqtada-al-Sadr who was not originally in league with Iran but after much fighting and violence against the U.S. in Iraq turned to Iran for safety and support. While the U.S. is in a quagmire and burning billions of dollars per month, Iran is reaping the benefits of the invasion through access to Iraqi oil, and a whole new slew of political parties and factions to be manipulated by the regime in Tehran. Through its influence on Shi'ite Muslims and its proxies in Lebanon and Iraq, its oil resources, and its control of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is the most powerful state in the Middle East and it is only a matter of time before the U.S. must swallow its pride and begin to really negotiate with them.

Why not negotiate with Iran? Iran has much more to offer the U.S. as a strategic partner than Israel and not only that but they also comply with international laws (unlike Israel). I'm not saying don't partner with Israel, I'm saying partner with Iran too so we can actually benefit from the situation through energy security and regional stabilization. What has our alliance with Arab states and Israel gotten us? 9/11, that's what. The Arab states are Sunni and it was Sunni fundamentals that attacked the U.S. and are still attacking us in Afghanistan. The takfiris cannot be negotiated with, the Shi'ites can. Negotiation is the only rational choice the U.S. has. The only other option is an all out war that could last up to 100 years with unprecedented casualties and a cost that will drive the U.S. into the ground.

Thoughts on Iran and the World

Recently, I have been pondering over the situation between Iran and America, but not just the current situation concerning Iran's supposed nuclear ambitions. I have been thinking deeply over the way that America conducts it's foreign policy towards not just Iran but other states in general. It is well known that international relations, especially American theory of it, has been mostly dominated throughout its history by Realism. I used to think this was a sufficient answer as to why America invaded Iraq, but I have discovered that America's actions go against even the realist dominated policies, or if I am overstating that, at the very least it went against the sound advice some very prominent realist thinkers. So just whose policy was it that prompted former President Bush to invade Iraq? Whose interests were at stake? Or, was it all a big mistake? Was liberal policy to blame for advocating the relevance of globalization and interdependence and thereby suggesting an unavoidable impact one country (especially an oil producing one) can have on the rest of the world? Or was it the case of an administration and president who were influenced by more ideological and religious beliefs than sound statecraft? Was the invasion poorly planned or was it part of a bigger purpose? How did Iran come out the victor in the region despite all of America's and its allies efforts? Can Iran really be classified as an Islamofacist state as so many people in America are calling it? Is the regime in Iran just waiting to be tipped over by democratization? All these things and more shall be discussed in the future (enshallah).

My Pageflakes pagecast

I was recently introduced to a website call Pageflakes. Pageflakes is free and easy to sign up for and it is a very useful way to connect to all of your favorite sites and feeds in one place, as well as add some more interesting and fun tools and widgets. Another cool thing about Pageflakes is that it allows you to publicize your page as a pagecast. This turns out to be a great way of not only condensing and refreshing alot of information and sources on a particular subject area but also sharing your information with others as well as using other's pagecasts, some of which are pretty well built. I'm going to run you through on a little tour of my pagecast and describe some of the additional features and functions on it as well as dicuss the content and resources I have included on it. I should mention you can design as many pages as you want and you can keep them private if you want to. You can check out my public pagecast here.

Let's begin with the organization and content of my page. I have organized my page into two columns, on the right side with a main title of RSS Feeds I have included about 10 feeds from various blogs including my own an other's that I am currently reading and interested in. The blogs all have a subtitle in blue that will tell you what it is. Most of the blogs are about Iran, current events, and foreign policy but, there are a few that are on other topics such as Iranian life, arts, and culture, there is an anti-war blog and I even included the blog of President Ahmadinejad for anyone interested in reading what he has to say (since I have come to know his personality and history quite well, I find it to be quite entertaining). The feeds to these blogs will be updated everytime you access the page so with all the blogs there is always something new to read and learn about. On the left hand side of the page I have included the tags from Diigo. I have included my Iran tags as well as my social bookmarking soulmate tags related to Iran, so anytime my dear SBS bookmarks something new about Iran it will show up on my pagecast. Also on the left is two widgets I added that contain two searches, one is for a universal search for Iran blogs, and another is a universal search for Iran news. These widgets are a great way to constantly find new content. The last thing I have included on the left is my Zotero bibliography courtesy of Citeline. My bibliography includes books and articles about Iran both governmental and academic. For those of you who aren't familiar with Zotero or Citeline I suggest you check them both out if you are on the web alot.

This is a work in progress and there are still alot of features and tools I haven't even begun to delve into yet, but so far this as been an awesome way to consolidate sources on the web. You can design your page with a variety of borders and graphics. You can also link your email or Facebook to your page so you can turn your page into a one-stop web experience with all your favorite content at your finger tips. One thing that is interesting about all of my feeds on Iran and current events is that by looking at the brief feed descriptions it sort of gives you a shotgun blast of information that instantly tells you what is going on. As I scan my pagecast now I see that Rafsanjani is in Iraq, Azar Nafisi has a new book out, the Right wing is not united around Ahmadinejad, and there is an oil spill in the Karkheh River in Iran. In summary, Pageflakes is a great content aggregator and fun too.

A few more good sources

Here a few more sources to check out.

Kinzer, Stephen (2008). All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. John Wiley & Sons

Stephen Kinzer is an award-winning foreign correspondent who has worked in more than 50 countries. He has been the New York Times bureau chief in Istanbul, Berlin, and Managua. He has authored a number of books on U.S. foreign policy. In this work, Kinzer has gone to great length to research and uncover the hidden U.S. role in the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953, with the effect of crushing the first attempt at democracy in the country. This book gives the reader a crucial understanding of the rise of anti-Americanism in Iran that we are still dealing with today.

Sadjadpour, Karim. Iran: Is Productive Engagement Possible? Issue brief. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2008.

Karim Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also served four years at the International Crisis Group based in Tehran and Washington D.C. He is also a regular contributor to BBC and PBS and has written for many publications including the Economist and the New York TImes. Sadjadpour lays out a step-by-step detailed plan for the U.S. government to implement if peace is to be achieved. This briefing is essential to understand the goals that must be achieved for a stable relationship with Iran.

Additionally, here are two congressional sub-committee hearings on Iran and U.S. policy towards it.

East, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on the Middle and Asia, South (2008). Iran Sanctions and Regional Security: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session, October 23, 2007.

East, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on the Middle and Asia, South (2008). More Than Just Enrichment: Iran's Strategic Aspirations and the Future of the Middle East: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, Second Session, June 5, 2008.

Two good sources

For those of you who might be interested in doing some additional reading on Iran, here are two annotated bibliographies I created on these books I have.

Baer, Robert. The Devil We Know : Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower. 1st ed. New York: Crown, 2008.

Robert Baer is a former CIA field officer with over 20 years of experience in assignments across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He speaks Arabic fluently and has authored a number of books on his experiences in the CIA. Baer begins this book with the Islamic Revolution and carries it on through the invasion of Iraq up to present time. Baer does not suscribe to any particular political viewpoint and is objective in his experiences in the Middle East. Baer has excellent insight into the role the CIA and American foreign policy has played in Iran's tumultuous history including the current crisis. At the end of his book, Baer offers steps to a peaceful solution with Iran that should be viewed by anyone who is looking for peace and stability in the Middle East.

Ansari, Ali. Iran under Ahmadinejad : The Politics of Confrontation. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Ali M. Ansari is Professor of Iranian History and Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St. Andrews, and Associate Fellow of the Middle East Programme, Royal Institute for International Afffairs (Chatham House). He has authored of number of other books on Iran, Middle East strategy, and foreign policy. He is one of the world's leading experts on Iran. Ansair gives an in depth analysis of Iran's history covering all the inner workings of the country up to present times. He gives his readers an excellent understanding of the political dynamics that allowed Ahmadinejad to rise to power. He discusses Iranian foreign policy and strategy in great detail and illuminates the role Iran plays in the Middle East. Ansari also discusses possible future trajectories for the Iranian state. Ansari's work is a solid piece on Iran and would be highly valuable for anyone seeking to learn more about Iran's historical and contemporary situation.

Changes in the making?

Well, election time in Iran has rolled around again and former President Khatami has recently announced he will be running again. Khatami is known as reformer and is much more liberal and Western friendly (he did call for a "Dialogue of Civilizations"), of course it's hard to reform with supreme authority wielded by Grand Ayatollah Khamenei. Not only that, but Khatami faces a huge campaign battle with President Ahmadinejad and his conservative base. In fact, there has already been at least one attempt to attack Khatami. I still think that Khatami has a good chance of winning but he is definitely going to have to work for it. Another issue that plays into this election is the new attempts at "dialogue" President Obama has called for. There are plenty of strategic reasons why even Ahmadinejad wants to have better relations with America. But, will Obama's timing on any negotiations be a factor in the Iranian election? If Obama begins talks with Ahmadinejad still president, the conservatives in Iran would be bolstered and would claim victory thanks to their leadership and hardline stance. If Obama waits until after the election when Khatami might be president then it would be the "reformers" that would be able to take credit. There are plenty of people in Iran who are more than ready to improve relations with America, especially on crucial issues such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Politically, Iran is alone in the region and surrounded by states with whom it may have some strategic alliances but nothing else. Iran would do well to increase its standing in the West to improve its situation, the only question is are they ready to make some concessions (like on a nuclear weapon) and is America ready to address some of Iran's legitimate concerns (such as defense issues). So, as the situation develops I would like to write more in the election in Iran, America's actions, and regional issues relating to them.

Social Bookmarking Soulmate

Ok, so this post stems from the recently past Valentine's Day and just like my previous posts has something to do with blogging, bookmarking, and my interests. So you may be wondering exactly what a social bookmarking soulmate is. Well, I'll tell you. You begin by going to your favorite social bookmarking site be it Diigo or Delicious and then search through other peoples tags for compatibility. You can look at a person's recent tags and find out what sort of stuff they are into and whether they match up with your interests or not. Once you find someone who you think is your soulmate you stalk them until you find out where they live and then... oh wait that's a whole different subject. But seriously, once you find your match you can save yourself a whole of time scouring the internet for new articles or websites on your favorite subjects because now you know someone else who can do it for you and all you had to do was sacrifice a little bit of time to search for them. Here's a video about social bookmarking soulmates.

But sadly, love is a fickle mistress and just like some lonely soul will tell you; there is no guarantee that you will find your social bookmarking soulmate. Take me for example, I didn't think it would be so hard to find someone with tags covering Iran, International Relations, Current Events, Anti-war, Peace, Globalization, and Travel, but apparently it is. Of course, it is also a reflection of how much time you put into the search. Now, after about 2 hours searching, I ended up with up with someone who is a moderately decent match but I had to make some sacrifices and lower my expectations. I found a certain Michael Fisher who's top tags included Middle East, Blog, Communications, North Africa, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Education, and Iran. All in all, I was quite pleased with my results and after exploring some of his recent bookmarks found quite a few items of interest that I will share with you. The first is a blog from an Iranian living in L.A. that deals with all sorts of current issues facing Iran called View From (Outside) Iran, it is definitely worth checking out. Another discovery, was an interesting little map tool that will help you learn all of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa if you don't already know them or if you just want to test your memory and knowledge. Click here to try it out. In addition to those discoveries Michael had a number of other interesting and relevant bookmarks to articles and sites.

I tell you, this is a great way to explore your own interests and add more resources to your disposal. You don't have to find just one soulmate, be a promiscuous social bookmarking whore and find out just how many people you can find who share your own interests. Don't be afraid to use different social bookmarking sites either. I only used Diigo (I'm lazy) but there are plenty of others to choose from that are equally, if not better, suited for activities like this. Don't forget to have fun while you're at it.

Blogorama

3. Recently, the issue of a writer’s voice was brought to my attention so I decided to read other blogs in an attempt to discern a writer’s voice through his/her text. Here is my voice critique of a blog titled, "Life must go on in Gaza and Sderot". This blog is written by two friends, Peaceman and Hopeman. Peaceman lives in a refugee camp in Gaza and Hopeman lives in Sderot, a small Israeli town across the border with Gaza. I decided to take a closer look at a post from each writer although Hopeman is more recent as the conflict has kept Peaceman from access to stable communication and therefore does not have as many recent posts. The first post I will talk about is titled "2 weeks and still going".

The first thing that stood out to me as I read the post was the sense of urgency and desperation conveyed by Hopeman. Although the post itself is describing the awful situation on the ground and the events occurring related to the conflict, it is Hopeman's use of short sentences which seemed to convey to me not only a sense of desperation but of panic. They are short staccato sentences almost like someone is out of breath from running miles and cannot get the words out fluidly. It also reminds me of a machine gun firing round after round, rounds which much like these sentences, travel fast and have a critical impact. Here is an excerpt from the post,

"On the Israeli side 1 million people are in the range of the rockets from Gaza. Many people have fled to safer areas in Israel. Most rockets are hitting in open areas, however some have injured civilians and lot's of damage has been caused to homes and buildings. People are in constant fear and alert. The war has created chaos in most of the southern part of Israel. No school or university studies, people are not allowed to crowd which means no weddings and other gatherings are not allowed, many businesses are closed and people have not been to work for 2 weeks".

The text is informative, relaying critical information to its readers with great clarity and little flare. Yet again, I am drawn to relate it to something else such as an urgent military radio transmission wherein there is only time for the most vital of information and all else is withheld. I am inclined to think that Hopeman's voice in this blog is a reflection of the the intense feelings he must have been going through when writing this. The words he uses are simple but describe the situation with great clarity and every sentence seems to carry the weight of truth. Hopeman's voice does seem to calm down a little further in the post as he begins to describe his family's situation. He then picks it back up again with these sentences,

"It feels rather normal however as I type, I can clearly hear the sounds of war. Blasts and planes, shooting and helicopters. A horrible war so close across the border. I am horrified by the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. The civilians are to suffer once again from the brutality and incompetence of their leaders and this time the result is worse than ever".

Here we have more of the short urgent sentences but now we can begin to see the resignation of Hopeman in this matter. For me these sentences convey strong feelings of sadness and regret. Further on in the post, Hopeman uses a rhetorical question to highlight the absurdity of the idea that there was no other option but war.

"This war has broken out for the simple reason that neither side was willing to make a serious effort to avoid it. Both sides were sharpening their swords waiting for the next horrible round. Was there no other option? Of course there was!".

All throughout the post Hopeman is strongly using pathos to reach the readers and this rhetorical question is another direct appeal to the reader's emotions. There is not, in my opinion, any other way to write about war (especially when your own country is involved) that can convey the intensity of the situation to others and that can jolt people into thinking like humans again and pierce the us/them mentality.

The post by Peaceman I looked at is titled, "war in Gaza". I found this post to be even more urgent and distressing than Hopeman's mentioned post. The post contains relatively short sentences bringing a lot of information to the readers. The text has minor errors throughout such as this one,

"But when the ground operation started, most people die is civilians and children".

Of course, I only mention such trifling errors (ESPECIALLY from a blogger in Gaza, with only limited time to send a message, whose first language probably isn't English) because they do add a dimension to the writer's voice that allows his character to be seen more clearly. The errors definitely allude to a rushed and urgent voice who I believe was probably more interested in sharing his true experiences and feelings in those fleeting moments then trying to influence unknown perceptions of the life and death conflict the Gazans are locked into. Peaceman's post was short but powerful in that it conveyed the sense of powerlessness and helplessness the Gazans are experiencing right now. Take this post for example,

"It is hard to describe what is going on in Gaza, a terrible disaster, where the aircraft do not distinguish between civilians and military and children, no water ,electricity and difficult to get your needs".

Both writers had very strong emotional voices that still had an air of coherence and logic surrounding them. They were not just wildly raving about their fear or uncertainty or the horrible loss of human life although all those things were mentioned. Neither were they expressing any political or ideological views views except when calling for an end to the violence and a permanent lasting cease-fire. I found their voices to be of the best kind, sincere and honest.

2. For my first go at blogging I went online and searched for any blogs that were related to the issues I wanted to blog about. I found one called “Andisheh: some thoughts on Iran”. Andisheh means, “thought” in Farsi. The blog’s subjects are politics, arts, and architecture. The writer is Cyrus Shahidi, an Iranian art student living in Geneve, Switzerland. According to Mr. Shahidi he is “pro-freedom and a supporter of a united, secular, strong and independent Iran”. It seems that Mr. Shahidi feels the same way about Iran that many Americans do about the U.S. and his basic but strong opinion is one reason why I chose to profile his blog rather than a number of others that contained a great deal of rhetoric from one political viewpoint or another. Mr. Shahidi also has many recent and frequent posts. His posts are very interesting and he gleans his information from a number of sources on the Internet and in the media. In addition, when he quotes somebody he posts links to the source article or website.

A recent post to the blog and a very interesting one at that contained parts of an interview Mr. Shahidi read from Rooz Online. The interview was with former CIA field officer, Robert Bayer. Some trivia on the side, Bayer was the main inspiration for George Clooney’s character in the movie Syriana whose opening scene took place in Iran. In the interview Bayer had some very interesting things to say about Iran’s position in the Middle East, Iran’s relationship with Israel and the U.S., and the Iran-Contra affair. (Read Mr. Shahidi’s post and the interview for yourself here).

Another fascinating post from Mr. Shahidi contains his take on the recent proclamations issued by two very important religious figures in Iran concerning the supreme authority held by the top Islamic cleric over all other positions including the president and parliament. Overall, it was a very interesting event for Iran and possibly a sign of hope for change in the future. Thank you Mr. Shahidi for bringing it to my attention. (Read the post here).

I feel that Mr. Shahidi's blog relates well to my blog in that it is informative and realistic and stays away from the bias and propaganda that has been running rampant for so many years now. Many of Mr. Shahidi’s posts are related to Iran and that is also similar to how my blog will run. I also get the feeling that Mr. Shahidi cares a lot about the possibility of war between Iran and America and would like to find away to avoid it, which is similar to my goals. Mr. Shahidi’s blog is not what I would call academic in the sense of strict writing and struture but it is definitely academic and scholarly in that he is actively searching for, analyzing, and critiquing current events in a competent manner. The posts are rich in detail and contain the required references when needed but they are not boring or too wordy. Mr. Shahidi lays out the situation and his opinion quite eloquently. I am not entirely certain who Mr. Shahidi’s audience is but I assume, going by some comments that I read and the country flag counter, that it is a mix of people from every continent with quite a few Iranians and people living in America. Depending on the number of American and Iranian readers, I imagine that the audience’s relevance to the field is around the same level as Mr. Shahidi’s and my own; people who have a personal stake in the situation and people who wish to stay informed and current with their information.

There is much to choose from when writing about the current situation with Iran and a number of ways to do it. So although I will probably continue to read Mr. Shahidi’s blog I will not use it as any sort of reference or generator for ideas on what to blog about. My blog will contain posts on what I feel are the most interesting or relevant topics to blog about. I would also like to focus a little more on clearing the haze of misconceptions currently spouted in America about Iran, its people, and society. Although I feel that this is a worthy goal, I also feel disturbed and ashamed by the fact that there is still so much ignorance in America concerning foreign countries, especially Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, I plan to refute any and all false information that comes to my attention concerning Iran and portray the most accurate picture I can of Iran and its people. This does not mean I will be singing Iran’s praises and denouncing America, for I will also talk about the Iranian’s misconceptions of Americans. I will give credit and criticism where it is due to both countries (and to any other countries involved in the situation). I also would like to blog about current events taking place in Iran (not just political ones) in order to share more information with readers about the everyday lives of the Iranian people.

1. Hello everybody!!! Prince of Persia here and I have decided to blog about the current situation between America and Iran and many issues relating to it. This topic is very near and dear to me since I am an American, married to an Iranian, and have family in Iran. I am semi-fluent in Farsi and I have traveled to Iran as recently as 2007. I have a deep love for both countries and I truly desire peace for both countries and I am certain that military action would not bring prosperity or security to either country. Therefore, I would like to explore the current situation between the two countries and form analyses of America’s foreign policy and actions concerning Iran as well as the Iranian regimes reactions. I would like to explore as much as possible about the two countries current relationship in order to broaden my knowledge of the situation and to better understand what can be done to bring about a peaceful resolution to the crisis as well as hopefully add to other’s understanding of the matter.

My posts will likely alternate between economical and political as wells as social and religious because Iran is an Islamic country and I would like to explore the role that religion has played in the situation. I will also possibly include a bit of history in my posts about the two countries past relationship in order to give newcomers to the situation a clearer understanding of the current crisis. Many Americans are not aware that Iran was America’s closest ally in the Middle East for many years. In fact, to have a decent understanding of the current situation you have to go back to the summer of 1953 when Prime Minister Mossadeq was overthrown by a coup d’état supported by the British and Americans. All of that particular history will most likely be referred to in various posts in the future. But, mostly I would like to post about the current events taking place in the Middle East and in America determine whether or not they are helpful or harmful to a peaceful resolution of the situation.

A new way to connect

I was browsing through a site called Twine and decided to make a post about it and its uses for others and myself. Basically, Twine is a shared blog with extras. You start off by creating a Twine and then decide whether you want to make it private or public. Next, you can start adding content in any form, images, video, bookmarks and comments. Here's where the sharing comes in, if you decided to keep it private but want some friends to add material you can invite them to join your twine and contribute. If your twine is public anyone can add new material to it. This is a very cool concept because it allows for collaboration on topics that otherwise would be a lot more difficult and it can really expand your twine a lot faster. You sort of decide what type of topic seed to plant and then you can sit back and watch it grow as others contribute to it.

Once you become a part of the Twine community and use it for a little while the website will begin to pickup on your interests and then start suggesting twines or posted items that you might be interested in. The website will also try to connect you with other "twiners" that match your interests thereby increasing the sense of community. Now, I must mention that Twine was opened to the public just last year in October 2008, so although there is already a significant number of users and a decent amount of content on Twine, it doesn't seem to be extremely popular yet so don't be expecting something like Facebook. But, just give it some time and I think that as time goes on and it gets more exposure Twine will grow to considerable status.

Some additional features of the site are pretty cool as well such as the user interface. The interface is very well done and pleasant to look at as well as convenient to use. There are also a number of ways to keep you updated such as the Twine interest feed, an email digest, or an RSS feed.

Now I would like to discuss a little bit more in detail some of the content I found on Twine that relates to the issues I would like my blog to encompass and might be of interest to my readers. First of all, since I am interested in international relations I found a World News twine. The creator of this twine asked people to post news from around the world and so far has received news from a number of different countries. I was also curious if there were already twines on Iran and there were a number of them from various individuals like this one www.twine.com/twine/118klqc8s-5rg/iran. The potential for something like this is amazing once the numbers of users grow. For instance, I imagine myself hearing about a political event (like an election) in Israel or Iran and then starting a new twine and asking others from those countries to contribute their feelings or opinions on the event. To be able to instantly (or at least relatively quickly) assess an event in a foreign country from multiple perspectives is something I find quite interesting.

Well that's it for my Twine spiel, if it sounds interesting, please don't hesitate to check it out for youself and join the community.

Voice Critique

Here is my voice critique of a blog titled, "Life must go on in Gaza and Sderot". This blog is written by two friends, Peaceman and Hopeman. Peaceman lives in a refugee camp in Gaza and Hopeman lives in Sderot, a small Israeli town across the border with Gaza. I decided to take a closer look at a post from each writer although Hopeman is more recent as the conflict has kept Peaceman from access to stable communication and therefore does not have as many recent posts. The first post I will talk about is titled "2 weeks and still going". 

The first thing that stood out to me as I read the post was the sense of urgency and desperation conveyed by Hopeman. Although the post itself is describing the awful situation on the ground and the events occurring related to the conflict, it is Hopeman's use of short sentences which seemed to convey to me not only a sense of desperation but of panic. They are short staccato sentences almost like someone is out of breath from running miles and cannot get the words out fluidly. It also reminds me of a machine gun firing round after round, rounds which much like these sentences, travel fast and have a critical impact. Here is an excerpt from the post, 

"On the Israeli side 1 million people are in the range of the rockets from Gaza. Many people have fled to safer areas in Israel. Most rockets are hitting in open areas, however some have injured civilians and lot's of damage has been caused to homes and buildings. People are in constant fear and alert. The war has created chaos in most of the southern part of Israel. No school or university studies, people are not allowed to crowd which means no weddings and other gatherings are not allowed, many businesses are closed and people have not been to work for 2 weeks".

The text is informative, relaying critical information to its readers with great clarity and little flare. Yet again, I am drawn to relate it to something else such as an urgent military radio transmission wherein there is only time for the most vital of information and all else is withheld. I am inclined to think that Hopeman's voice in this blog is a reflection of the the intense feelings he must have been going through when writing this. The words he uses are simple but describe the situation with great clarity and every sentence seems to carry the weight of truth. Hopeman's voice does seem to calm down a little further in the post as he begins to describe his family's situation. He then picks it back up again with these sentences, 

"It feels rather normal however as I type, I can clearly hear the sounds of war. Blasts and planes, shooting and helicopters. A horrible war so close across the border. I am horrified by the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. The civilians are to suffer once again from the brutality and incompetence of their leaders and this time the result is worse than ever".

Here we have more of the short urgent sentences but now we can begin to see the resignation of Hopeman in this matter. For me these sentences convey strong feelings of sadness and regret. Further on in the post, Hopeman uses a rhetorical question to highlight the absurdity of the idea that there was no other option but war.

"This war has broken out for the simple reason that neither side was willing to make a serious effort to avoid it. Both sides were sharpening their swords waiting for the next horrible round.Was there no other option? Of course there was!".

All throughout the post Hopeman is strongly using pathos to reach the readers and this rhetorical question is another direct appeal to the reader's emotions. There is not, in my opinion, any other way to write about war (especially when your own country is involved) that can convey the intensity of the situation to others and that can jolt people into thinking like humans again and pierce the us/them mentality. 

The post by Peaceman I looked at is titled, "war in Gaza". I found this post to be even more urgent and distressing than Hopeman's mentioned post. The post contains relatively short sentences bringing a lot of information to the readers. The text has minor errors throughout such as this one,

"But when the ground operation started, most people die is civilians and children".

Of course, I only mention such trifling errors (ESPECIALLY from a blogger in Gaza, with only limited time to send a message, whose first language probably isn't English) because they do add a dimension to the writer's voice that allows his character to be seen more clearly. The errors definitely allude to a rushed and urgent voice who I believe was probably more interested in sharing his true experiences and feelings in those fleeting moments then trying to influence unknown perceptions of the life and death conflict the Gazans are locked into. Peaceman's post was short but powerful in that it conveyed the sense of powerlessness and helplessness the Gazan's are experiencing right now. Take this post for example,

"It is hard to describe what is going on in Gaza, a terrible disaster, where the aircraft do not distinguish between civilians and military and children, no water ,electricity and difficult to get your needs".

Both writers had very strong emotional voices that still had an air of coherence and logic surrounding them. They were not just wildly raving about their fear or uncertainty or the horrible loss of human life although all those things were mentioned. Neither were they expressing any political or ideological views views except when calling for an end to the violence and a permanant lasting cease-fire. I found their voices to be of the best kind, sincere and honest.

Additional Reading

I found some additional blogs that were related to my blog's topic. I chose a few cultural ones to include here that I felt were capable of highlighting some interesting dimensions to the current Iranian-American situation both for people who are familiar with Iranian culture and lifestyle and those who are not. In addition to the cultural ones, I chose a few that were political and talked about current events relating to American foreign policy as well as Iranian politics. Here they are, each with a short description. 

1. iranwrites.blogspot.com this blog includes posts on Iranian culture and politics.
2. www.peacewithiran.com as the name suggests this site supports peace between Iran and everyone else.
3. theunknowncandidate.blogspot.com this is a great blog that covers American politics and promotes peace.
4. www.antiwar.com this site is (surprise) against war.
5. www.thisiranianamericanlife.com this blog has a lot of cool and interesting videos showing what life is really like in Iran.
6. www.parsarts.com this one is about Iranian culture and identity abroad.

Check them out.

First go at blogging

For my first go at blogging I went online and searched for any blogs that were related to the issues I wanted to blog about. I found one called “Andisheh: some thoughts on Iran”. Andisheh means, “thought” in Farsi. The blog’s subjects are politics, arts, and architecture. The writer is Cyrus Shahidi, an Iranian art student living in Geneve, Switzerland. According to Mr. Shahidi he is “pro-freedom and a supporter of a united, secular, strong and independent Iran”. It seems that Mr. Shahidi feels the same way about Iran that many Americans do about the U.S. and his basic but strong opinion is one reason why I chose to profile his blog rather than a number of others that contained a great deal of rhetoric from one political viewpoint or another. Mr. Shahidi also has many recent and frequent posts. His posts are very interesting and he gleans his information from a number of sources on the Internet and in the media. In addition, when he quotes somebody he posts links to the source article or website.

A recent post to the blog and a very interesting one at that contained parts of an interview Mr. Shahidi read from Rooz Online. The interview was with former CIA field officer Robert Bayer. Some trivia on the side, Bayer was the main inspiration for George Clooney’s character in the movie Syriana whose opening scene took place in Iran. In the interview Bayer had some very interesting things to say about Iran’s position in the Middle East, Iran’s relationship with Israel and the U.S., and the Iran-Contra affair. Read Mr. Shahidi’s post and the interview for yourself.

http://andishehblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/secret-co-operation-and-deal-between-iran-and-israel/#comments

Another fascinating post from Mr. Shahidi contains his take on the recent proclamations issued by two very important religious figures in Iran concerning the supreme authority held by the top Islamic cleric over all other positions including the president and parliament. Overall, it was a very interesting event for Iran and possibly a sign of hope for change in the future. Thank you Mr. Shahidi for bringing it to my attention.

http://andishehblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/ayatollah-montazeri-and-ayatollah-rafsanjani-on-velayate-faghih/

I feel that Mr. Shahidi's blog relates well to my blog in that it is informative and realistic and stays away from the bias and propaganda that has been running rampant for so many years now. Many of Mr. Shahidi’s posts are related to Iran and that is also similar to how my blog will run. I also get the feeling that Mr. Shahidi cares a lot about the possibility of war between Iran and America and would like to find away to avoid it, which is similar to my goals. Mr. Shahidi’s blog is not what I would call academic in the sense of strict writing and struture but it is definitely academic and scholarly in that he is actively searching for, analyzing, and critiquing current events in a competent manner. The posts are rich in detail and contain the required references when needed but they are not boring or too wordy. Mr. Shahidi lays out the situation and his opinion quite eloquently. I am not entirely certain who Mr. Shahidi’s audience is but I assume, going by some comments that I read and the country flag counter, that it is a mix of people from every continent with quite a few Iranians and people living in America. Depending on the number of American and Iranian readers, I imagine that the audience’s relevance to the field is around the same level as Mr. Shahidi’s and my own; people who have a personal stake in the situation and people who wish to stay informed and current with their information.

There is much to choose from when writing about the current situation with Iran and a number of ways to do it. So although I will probably continue to read Mr. Shahidi’s blog I will not use it as any sort of reference or generator for ideas on what to blog about. My blog will contain posts on what I feel are the most interesting or relevant topics to blog about. I would also like to focus a little more on clearing the haze of misconceptions currently spouted in America about Iran, its people, and society. Although I feel that this is a worthy goal, I also feel disturbed and ashamed by the fact that there is still so much ignorance in America concerning foreign countries, especially Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, I plan to refute any and all false information that comes to my attention concerning Iran and portray the most accurate picture I can of Iran and its people. This does not mean I will be singing Iran’s praises and denouncing America, for I will also talk about the Iranian’s misconceptions of Americans. I will give credit and criticism where it is due to both countries. I also would like to blog about current events taking place in Iran (not just political ones) in order to share more information with readers about the everyday lives of the Iranian people.

Hello

Hello everybody!!! Prince of Persia here and I have decided to blog about the current situation between America and Iran. This topic is very near and dear to me since I am an American, married to an Iranian, and have family in Iran. I am semi-fluent in Farsi and I have traveled to Iran as recently as 2007. I have a deep love for both countries and I truly desire peace for both countries and I am certain that military action would not bring prosperity or security to either country. Therefore, I would like to explore the current situation between the two countries and form analyses of America’s foreign policy and actions concerning Iran as well as the Iranian regimes reactions. I would like to explore as much as possible about the two countries relationship in order to broaden my knowledge of the situation and to better understand what can be done to bring about a peaceful resolution to the crisis as well as hopefully add to other’s understanding of the matter.

My posts will likely alternate between economical and political as wells as social and religious because Iran is an Islamic country and I would like to explore the role that religion has played in the situation. I will also possibly include a bit of history in my posts about the two countries past relationship in order to give newcomers to the situation a clearer understanding of the current crisis. Many Americans are not aware that Iran was America’s closest ally in the Middle East for many years. In fact, to have a decent understanding of the current situation you have to go back to the summer of 1953 when Prime Minister Mossadeq was overthrown by a coup d’état supported by the British and Americans. All of that particular history will most likely be referred to in various posts in the future. But, mostly I would like to post about the current events taking place and determine whether or not they are helpful or harmful to a peaceful resolution of the situation.