Interviews

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: New Mexico is the fifth largest state in the US. It borders Mexico to the south, its capital is Santa Fe and its largest city is Albuquerque. The state is known for many reasons, including the detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb in the town of Alamogordo in 1945, as well as its large Hispanic population who make up 46.7% of the state’s population. An ethnically diverse community, Spanish is widely spoken in New Mexico. It became the 47th state in 1912 and has two official songs, one in English and the other in Spanish. It was inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years, and its yellow and red flag was first brought to New Mexico by Spanish explorers in 1540. The state is home to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Strangulating economic sanctions are no novelty for the Iranian people, who have borne the brunt of international embargoes for almost four decades now. The United States introduced its first set of punitive measures against Iran shortly after the 1979 hostage crisis. After that tragic episode, the United States added to its sanctions on Iran on multiple occasions, rendering it a pariah state disconnected from the global banking, financial, energy and transportation sectors. The latest round of sanctions by the United States targeting Iran were announced in August and November 2018, sparking panic among Iranians, unprecedented fluctuations in the exchange market and the closedown of hundreds of...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Iran’s relations with the United States seem to have come to a nadir under the current administration. One of the first decisions President Donald Trump took after entering the White House was to introduce a widely-contested “Muslim ban,” preventing the entry of the citizens of Iran and several other Muslim-majority countries into the United States. He also withdrew the US from the UN-backed Iran nuclear deal and reimposed hard-hitting economic sanctions against Tehran. The proponents of the sanctions say they will result in a change in the Iranian government’s behavior and compel Tehran to restrain its regional influence and militarism. Opponents say the measures are controversial because of...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Croatia, the newest member of the European Union, has made enormous investments in science and academic research. In doing so, it has secured its place among the world’s major spenders on science, education and technology. The Ministry of Science and Education is tasked with overseeing primary, secondary and tertiary education, research institutions and sports in Croatia. Around 99.9% of Croatian children learn English at school, according to Eurostat, making the country a frontrunner in the EU when it comes to second-language education. The European Commission’s Education and Training Monitor reported in 2018 that Croatia has showed the best performance among EU member states when it comes to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Bordered by China to the north and India to the west, Southeast Asia is home to some of the world’s most promising economies, some of the biggest shipping trade routes and a young, digitally-connected population. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries are said to represent the greatest opportunity for fintech development. The region is urbanizing at a remarkable pace, with cities growing five times faster than in other parts of the world. Geopolitically and economically, Southeast Asia is of high importance to the European Union and the United States as an investment hotbed and trading partner that cannot be ignored. A recent report by the Global Impact Investing Network found...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Today, climate change is being talked of as the most defining issue of our time and the biggest threat the human race faces going into the future. The rise of global temperatures, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, decreased snow cover, glacial retreats, rise of sea levels, ocean acidification and extreme weather events ensure that scientists have compelling evidence of rapid climate change. This man-made catastrophe needs to be addressed through concerted supranational efforts aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making global energy consumption more sustainable. According to NASA, the current global warming trend is particularly significant because most of it is reported to be the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Over the past decade, Greece has had a difficult time with a staggering debt crisis and financial stagnation. It began in 2010 just a few years after the global financial crisis and was so severe that Greece could have left the eurozone, the region that uses the euro as a common currency. Some analysts claimed that if Greece had ditched the euro, the financial shocks worldwide would have been more striking than when Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, which was the largest bankruptcy in US history. Greek officials underestimated the depth of the debt crisis and the ensuing recession, and they had to ask for international assistance from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Greece...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: It has been more than 300 years since Iran and France launched official diplomatic ties. The initial contact between the two nations dates back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries, when the kingdom of Persia tried to secure support from European nations against a powerful neighbor: the Ottoman Empire. France was a popular destination for Iranian kings wishing to spend their time abroad, and Iran was a strategically important country at the crossroads of the Silk Road with unlimited access to the Persian Gulf. This made Iran-France relations particularly close. The two countries maintained cordial ties until the Islamic Revolution of 1979, which changed the political landscape of the Middle East...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: In June 2016, a majority of Britons decided in a referendum that the United Kingdom should leave the European Union in what has become known as Brexit. The UK is the first EU member to have triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which initiates a procedure for the withdrawal from the union. The country is scheduled to leave on March 29. Brexit has been an area of debate for the past three years. The biggest impact has perhaps been the polarization of British society and the decline of tolerance in a country where immigrants constitute the backbone of the national economy. Although leaving the European Union will render the UK more independent in establishing trade agreements with other...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: To travel is a universal human right. There are references to this in national constitutions and international covenants, such as Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. People travel for a number of reasons: experiencing new cultures, reuniting with loved ones, attending sports events, studying or receiving medical treatment, just to name a few. Tourism contributes to around 10.4% of global GDP. It creates jobs, boosts foreign exchange and empowers local economies. According to a 2018 report by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), travel and tourism created 313 million jobs in 2017. It is expected that the industry will create 413.5 million jobs in 2028. The report predicts...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: There are few reports with encouraging overtones emerging from North Korea. The country is mostly known for its contentious nuclear program and pervasive state violations of human rights. Yet despite suffering from international sanctions for so long, North Korean leaders describe it as a self-reliant socialist state. The cult of personality existing around the ruling Kim family can be found in various manifestations of North Korean popular culture. Kim Jong-un’s speeches often carry epic themes eulogizing the majestic nation and its steadfastness in the face of economic sanctions and external pressure. Human Rights Watch describes North Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong-un as one of the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The rivalry between Iran and the Arab world is nothing new. The 1979 revolution turned the previously friendly ties between Iranians and Arabs into a situation of regional competition and proxy conflicts. The most bitter moment came in the 1980s with the Iran-Iraq War, which claimed over a million lives. There have been points in recent history when Iran held amicable relations with Arab countries, especially under the presidencies of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. The presidency of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the moment that Iranian-Arab ties hit an all-time low and that post-1979 rivalries turned into outright hostility. In 2016, a group of religious extremists attacked and...