Website of Kourosh Ziabari, award-winning journalist and reporter

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: In the run-up to this year’s general election, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that he would annex large areas of the West Bank if he secured victory. The fulfillment of his promise — assuming Netanyahu wins the re-run scheduled for September after failing to form a government earlier this year — is considered by many to be yet another nail in the coffin of the elusive two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States has played a mediating role between the two warring parties, but its strong alignment with Israel has stripped it of credibility in the eyes of the Palestinians. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the US government has...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The African continent is home to 54 countries, more than 1.2 billion people and around 2,000 languages. Its challenges and success stories are as diverse as the breadth of its landmass. In terms of GDP growth, Africa is the world’s second fastest-developing region. A 2018 report by the Overseas Development Institute projected the continent’s real GDP growth at 3.9% annually until 2022. In 2010, Rwanda was named by the World Bank as the top reformer for business, and Mauritius ranked as the most prosperous African country in the 2018 Legatum Prosperity Index, ahead of economic giants like Nigeria and South Africa. Botswana, an emerging economy that has gained a reputation for transparency, holds...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Photography is the art of discovery and observation. It is about finding the unexpected in ordinary settings and capturing the beauty and wonders of life at specific moments in time. Giving new perspectives to what otherwise might be missed, or considered banal, is one of the missions of photography — of seeing and capturing emotion and all the details that fill our lives. To the photographer, his or her vocation is a window to the world and a way of expressing oneself. The prominent American photojournalist Burk Uzzle once said that photography “is a love affair with life.” Today, photography is no longer dominated by highly-trained, professional artists. Digital gadgets and smartphones...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Iran is a country in which many aspects of public life: governance, education, foreign relations and even people’s lifestyles are peculiarly determined by ideology. The authorities ceaselessly preach to citizens about the importance of adherence to religious principles, and their resistance to anything that appears to be inspired by Western values has remained unbroken since the 1979 revolution. In a recent example of the government’s opposition to Western-inspired lifestyle habits, Tehran’s police announced that nightlife in the 8.7-million-strong capital will not be permitted, and businesses, shops and restaurants are not allowed to operate after 1 am. A member of the Tehran City Council said...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: When UK voters went to polls on 23 June 2016 to determine whether the UK should remain a member state of the European Union or leave the bloc, they could hardly predict that the outcome would be an intractable challenge that has not yet been resolved three years after the referendum took place. Nearly two months after Brexit was supposed to happen, the British people elected candidates to represent them in the European Parliament as Prime Minister Theresa May failed to get her withdrawal agreement approved by Parliament and the country reluctantly remained a European Union member state. The situation today is immensely complicated and few observers can comprehend why the current mess...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: In the run-up to this year’s general election, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that he would annex large areas of the West Bank if he secured victory. The fulfillment of his promise — assuming Netanyahu wins the re-run scheduled for September after failing to form a government earlier this year — is considered by many to be yet another nail in the coffin of the elusive two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States has played a mediating role between the two warring parties, but its strong alignment with Israel has stripped it of credibility in the eyes of the Palestinians. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the US government has...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif posted a video to Twitter earlier this month of an Iranian TV show, in which a despairing mother complains the US sanctions have made it impossible for her to find prosthetic legs for her small, paralyzed son. She addresses both Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and President Donald Trump, whom she believes are responsible for her predicament. While the US in recent days sanctioned Zarif – Iran’s top diplomat – it has insisted that sanctions are not targeting the Iranian people and their ability to purchase medicine. Credible accounts from regular Iranians encountering hardship – desperately searching for medicine in local markets and online – tell a very...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The United States thrives on being a multicultural and diverse society that guarantees individual freedoms and rights to all its citizens. However, even though the brutal institution of slavery and the era of racial segregation are a thing of the past, there are indications that systemic racism hasn’t gone away and still haunts American society. In 1967, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, which was tasked by President Lyndon B. Johnson to probe the causes of the 1967 race riots and come up with recommendations for the future, concluded that the United States was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.” Almost...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Tensions between Tehran and Washington have been escalating for some time now. In the most recent episode, two commercial tankers were damaged by mysterious explosions in the Gulf of Oman on June 13, sparking a surge in oil prices and triggering speculations about the possible perpetrator. The US government was quick in pointing the finger of blame at Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the blasts were caused by the Iranian military “based on intelligence, the weapons used the level of expertise needed to execute the operation.” Iran denies the allegations. After withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the United States imposed crushing...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: A member of the Association of American Universities, the University at Buffalo (UB) is the largest and most comprehensive public research university in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. A world-renowned center for research and academic excellence,  Buffalo was established in 1846 and enrolls more than 30,000 students. The university is 89th in the 2019 Best College Rankings, according to the US News and World Report. Researchers and scholars at the University at Buffalo are credited with many important scientific discoveries, achievements and breakthroughs. For example, the university’s medical researchers have developed a vaccine that can block mosquitoes from transmitting malaria....

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: People of Iran took to the streets earlier this month to participate in demonstrations marking Jerusalem Day. Falling on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, it is an occasion when Muslims are invited to show solidarity with the Palestinian people in their fight against Israeli occupation. Although the Iranian government invests heavily on propaganda for the annual occasion, and while the country’s state-run media give extensive coverage to rallies on this day, not all Iranians agree the issue of Palestine should be a priority for the Islamic Republic at a time their country is bearing the brunt of grueling economic sanctions by the United States. Masoumeh Sharifi, a 60-year-old mother of...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Finland is a country of fascinating and stark contrasts — long and glittery summer nights and short, snowy winter days, the midnight sun and the winter darkness. The country earned its nickname, the Land of the Midnight Sun, because of the sun doesn’t set at all in its northernmost parts during summer months. Finland is a land of islands, boasting some 187,888 lakes, and is believed to be one of the most extensive and unspoiled natural environments in Europe. However, Finland has been affected by global warming and climate change in its own ways. The Finnish Meteorological Institute has projected that in the near future, temperatures will rise, precipitation will surge, snow cover and soil...