Monthly archive : "March, 2014"

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The New Government in Ukraine Has Many Neo-fascist Supporters

The New Government in Ukraine Has Many Neo-fascist Supporters

Kourosh Ziabari: As a heated war of words soars between the United States and Russia over the sovereignty of the Crimean peninsula where 58% of the citizens are ethnic Russians, it seems that Washington is losing the battleground to the will of the Crimean citizens who favor reuniting with Russia instead of remaining under the autonomy of Ukraine. Although the US officials have been openly threatening Russia with economic sanctions and even a military strike in the recent weeks, and while even former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to the late German dictator Adolf Hitler, a renowned American journalist and syndicated columnist believes that the United States’ threats are futile and...

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I Love Iranians Because of Their Warm Hospitality

I Love Iranians Because of Their Warm Hospitality

Kourosh Ziabari: Prof. Sheila Blair, a prominent Islamic arts scholar, says the sense of hospitality is what makes the Iranian people distinctive in their deportment and demeanor than the other nations of the world. Prof. Sheila Blair, who is a Norma Jean Calderwood University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art at the Fine Arts Department of the Boston College, says that Iranians have always been creative and innovative people and that is why the Iranian arts are so unique, subtle and delicate. “Since Iran was often the bridge from regions further east to Arabia and beyond, Iranians quickly learned of the latest in artistic and technological innovations elsewhere, and people elsewhere learned of those things that had developed in...

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Nowruz; a Harbinger of Cultural Diplomacy

Nowruz; a Harbinger of Cultural Diplomacy

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: The Persian New Year, which coincided with the commencement of the Vernal Equinox, has arrived and people across Iran and in parts of Central and West Asia and the Middle East are celebrating this ancient festival, which marks the beginning of the new solar year. Nowruz, meaning the “New Day,” refers to a set of festivities and rites that mark the arrival of spring and the Persian New Year. It is not simply an ordinary event of celebration and rejoicing or a national custom. Rather it is an historical and interregional tradition which dates back to some 3,000 years ago and connects people of different ethnic, lingual and national backgrounds and promotes regional peace and...

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The crisis that Israel adroitly manufactured

The crisis that Israel adroitly manufactured

Kourosh Ziabari - Your Middle East: The representative of the Jewish minority in Iran’s parliament (Majlis) has recently given an extensive interview to one of Iranian news agencies and discussed his different viewpoints regarding the Israeli regime and the way the Jewish community of Iran see the entity which proclaims to be representing the global Jewry. According to Siamak Mareh Sedq who has talked to the Fars News Agency, Tel Aviv needs to create crisis in the Middle East in order to survive. “If Israel faces no threat it will be destroyed within one month. Israel needs (regional) crises in a bid to continue its existence,” he said. This wise and precise analysis is exactly what the audacious commentators, intellectuals...

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Israel presented fake documents to IAEA on Iran’s nuclear program

Israel presented fake documents to IAEA on Iran’s nuclear program

  Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: The controversy surrounding Iran’s nuclear program in the recent decade has been the subject of millions of statements, thousands of news stories and articles, hundreds of speeches and interviews and tens of books and films. One of the most brilliant, revealing and educative books about Iran’s standoff with the West over its civilian nuclear program has been recently published by the prominent American investigative journalist Gareth Porter. Gareth Porter is a leading American journalist, historian, anti-war activist and correspondent of the Vietnam War. Porter’s writings have appeared on such publications as The Nation, Inter Press Service, The Huffington Post, Truthout, Al-Jazeera, Press...

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My interview with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders

My interview with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: The Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders was one of the first European politicians who traveled to Iran following the election of Hassan Rouhani as Iran’s president in the June 2013 presidential elections. He traveled to Iran in late February to explore ways for expanding political, economic and cultural relations with Iran as the European Union member states become more willing and enthusiastic to reconstruct and improve their relations with Tehran. In an exclusive interview with Tehran Times, the Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said that he thinks a final, comprehensive agreement over Iran’s nuclear program will be a win-win solution and that Iran’s trade with the European Union...

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Why Anti-Semitism Is an Outdated Pretext

Why Anti-Semitism Is an Outdated Pretext

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Why is it that any criticism of the actions and policies of the Israeli regime is denounced as anti-Semitism and hate speech, but all sorts of blasphemous insults against the Muslims, their holy book, prophet and other sanctities are vindicated and defended as a matter of freedom of speech? The hypocritical approach taken by the U.S. government and its allies in Europe, along with the mainstream media and public institutions in these countries toward the concept of freedom of speech is indescribably throbbing and disconcerting. The customary practice in the Western public sphere in the recent decades, and especially following the beginning of Second Intifada in 2000, was to protect the Israeli regime...

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Barack Obama: A Pacifist Turned Hawk

Barack Obama: A Pacifist Turned Hawk

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: When Barack Obama was surprisingly elected as the U.S. President in the 2008 elections, the world came to believe that a new phase of relationship and interaction between the United States and the international community would begin soon. That is why more than 150 world leaders rushed to send congratulatory messages to him, praising him as someone who can usher in a new era of constructive and peaceful cooperation after 8 erosive years of confrontation, militarism, despotism and bullying by President George W. Bush and his like-minded cabinet. At that time, people across the world had come to the understanding that Barack Obama, the nation’s first African-American president, can be a reminiscent of...

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