Monthly archive : "June, 2018"

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: On May 8, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Washington will de-certify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, popularly known as the Iran deal. The withdrawal of the United States from the agreement and President Trump’s promise to impose harsh sanctions on Iran has further complicated Iran-U.S. relations, resulted in more stress on Iran’s economy and as a result, caused public discontent in Iran with the government of President Hassan Rouhani who had promised improvements in the economy and a resolution to the nuclear dispute. Retired Lt. General Arlen D. Jameson, the former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Strategic Command, says the decision by President Trump to...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: During the tumultuous days of Iran’s revolution in 1979, the leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, used a statement in reference to the perceived United States intervention in Iranian affairs by saying that “America cannot do a damn thing.” Iran’s revolution was hugely anti-Western and the height of its antagonism to the West was reflected in the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979, in what came to be known as the Iran hostage crisis, and laid the groundwork for the severing of bilateral ties between Tehran and Washington. The “revolutionary” Iranians believed that the sovereignty and independence of the nation was compromised under King...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Association football is not a very successful sport in Iran, but it’s one of the most popular sports in a country with more than half of the population under 35 years old. It’s conventional for schoolchildren to develop an early passion for football and spend the majority of their leisure time playing with their close friends in the yards, gardens or street football pitches. It can be safely argued that football is the basis for many friendships among young people in small cities and rural areas in Iran. The culture of football in Iran and the passion it generates is comparable to what happens in Brazil, even though the achievements of the two countries in this sport is in no way...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The humanitarian catastrophe in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has been described as the world’s most urgent refugee crisis. The roots of the ethnic conflict can be traced back to British colonial policy in what was then Burma, but it was the decision to strip the Muslim Rohingya minority of citizenship rights on the basis of their religion that laid the foundation for most recent abuses. While 135 national ethnic groups were recognized and granted certain rights, the Rohingya were effectively rendered stateless under the 1982 Citizenship Act, creating the world’s largest stateless minority. Decades of privation and humiliating restrictions culminated in violent clashes between the Arakan Rohingya...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: 70 years after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began in its current form following the 1948 exodus and what came to be known as Nakba, the international community still appears to be unable to find viable answers for many questions arising from this conflict. Several UN resolutions, Security Council meetings, statements and peace-making committees, fact-finding missions and literally millions of newspaper articles, hundreds of TV documentaries and thousands of hours of negotiations have failed to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in the offing in Palestine and the political dilemma between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Israel is on a quest for recognition, consolidated...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Islamophobia has long been one of the major plagues of the Western societies. The rise of far-right in Europe, the exacerbation of global refugee crisis with the wars and conflicts that are breaking out across the Middle East and the surge of racial intolerance in the United States with the coming to power of Donald Trump make Islamophobia a concern that needs to be seriously addressed. Academics and researchers are the best people who can respond to unsettling questions about Islamophobia adequately. Farid Hafez is a distinguished Austrian political scientist and university lecturer. He is a senior fellow at the Bridge Initiative hosted by the Georgetown University and a lecturer and researcher at the...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Islamophobia is a huge source of concern in the 21st century, featuring itself in forms like anti-Muslim hate speech, intolerance in neighbourhoods, socioeconomic inequalities and policies dictated by governments, which are not conducive to public good. A distinguished American academician says as long as some version of the "war on terror" project lingers, Islamophobia continues to be a prominent problem. Todd Green, an Associate Professor of Religion at Luther College and a recognised expert on Islamophobia says some world leaders have done a good job in vocally condemning anti-Muslim discrimination, even though their record in standing by the Muslims and minorities has been mixed. Prof Green, however,...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Erhard Busek is a noted Austrian politician who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Republic of Austria from 1991 to 1995. He has studied law at the University of Vienna and served seven years as the Rector of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. Dr. Busek is a member of the Austrian Christian-conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) and throughout his career has been widely seen as one of the leaders of his party’s liberal wing. While serving under Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, he argued in favour of recognizing the independence of Slovenia, which created tensions between Austria and other European and Western nations regarding the issue. Vranitzky and Busek led Austria into the...