I am so excited for Sarah and her family. I hope she can get the medical attetion she seriously needs, and that perhaps Iran will realize that to get the goodwill intentions they yearn for at the UN General Assembly, they will need to release ALL of the hikers.
Iran's intelligence minister said on Sunday he had no doubt three U.S. citizens arrested last July near the Iraq border are spies and called on Washington to propose a prisoner swap to secure their release.
Interesting video, No?
A friend of mine (@meetsamer) complained that the only person that "looked 'arab'" was the lead singer.. everyone else is white. Interesting.
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua FattalLast week, when I heard that there were American hikers under Iranian custody, I got nervous. I'm still nervous. Isn't it sad the way that in these big International problems, somehow private citizens always get caught in the middle? I vote for former President Bill Clinton to go over and talk to Ahmadinejad about these hikers and getting them released. It worked with Kim Jong Il right? Speaking of which, the footage of Laura Ling and Euna Lee coming home, and seeing their families after so long, made me sob. Little Hana Lee would not let go of her mom. Good job Bill! I knew when I heard he was going to North Korea that he would be bringing the journalists home. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here for a slide show).
The following is the Huffington Post's article, released this morning, that the United States' government has confirmed that Iran does have the American's in custody. As if Iran/American relations couldn't get any more complicated..
.. Here's sending good vibes and prayers to Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal.
Hikers In Iranian Custody, Government Confirms
The Americans strayed into Iran while hiking in the mountains of Kurdish territory in neighboring Iraq.
President Barack Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, said that as of Sunday morning, the Iranian government has confirmed it has them in custody.
U.S. and Kurdish officials say the Americans accidentally entered Iran across the poorly marked border on July 31.
Reports from Iran have said Tehran was looking into whether the three were spying for the United States. But until Jones' comment, there had not been any official Iranian government confirmation that the three were in custody.
Jones spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."
BBC will start showing a three part series on the history of Iran and the West. I want to watch this! Here's the information about the show, taken from the BBC's website here.
Read more...Iran and the West: From Khomeni to Ahmedinejad
(click here to listen to excerpt from website)
For the first time, the BBC tells the story of Iran's relationship with the West over the last 30 years - as seen by the key players and political insiders from both sides.
Marking the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, each programme focuses on a different decade in Iran's history.
Archive footage and interviews recreate the diplomatic tensions, false dawns and intricacies of political negotiations that have marked the relationship so far.
Programme one:
The inside story of the beginning of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
In 1979, Iran was ruled by a monarchy in the guise of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. But he was only just clinging to power following a succession of strikes and protests.
And waiting in exile was Ayatollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader with a long history of opposition to the Shah. When he returned to the country to be greeted by several million Iranians, the royal regime collapsed as guerrillas and rebel troops began to overwhelm the forces loyal to the Shah.
Not long afterwards, the US embassy in Iran was stormed by a group of students - triggering a hostage crisis that would dominate the last year in office of US President Jimmy Carter, ultimately ending in his downfall.
Iran and the West: From Khomeni to Ahmedinejad tells the inside story of all these dramatic events, from the people who were there at the time.
First broadcast 20 July 2009
Let every nation known, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. ~ President John F Kennedy
We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" ~ President Thomas Jefferson
C'mon United Nations! Do something!!
Nobel winner seeks U.N. human rights envoy for IranBy Daniel Bases
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi called on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday to appoint a personal envoy to investigate human rights abuses in Iran.
In a letter also signed by the rights groups International Federation for Human Rights and the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Ebadi asked Ban to appoint the envoy to look into abuses in Iran following June's disputed presidential election.
A spokesman for Ban said the letter had been received by his office. Ban currently is on a trip to Myanmar in a bid to get the military junta there to release all political prisoners and prepare for credible elections next year.
The letter said Ebadi, a human rights lawyer, had made the request to Ban directly in a telephone conversation on June 23, eleven days after Iran's election. The United Nations at the time disclosed the conversation but did not mention the request for a human rights envoy.
Ebadi was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights, in particular the rights of women and children.
Action by Iranian security forces against demonstrators who charged that the election had been rigged in favor of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad drew condemnation from Western countries and from Ban. Iranian authorities said the vote was fair.
"We would like ... to reiterate our call upon you to name a Personal Envoy for Iran," the letter said.
"Such an envoy would benefit from your authority in the relations with the Iranian authorities, an authority which is denied to human rights groups from Iran or from abroad in the context of this active repression," the letter said.
The June 12 election pitted hard-liner Ahmadinejad against Mirhossein Mousavi. In the aftermath of the vote, which drew the most vigorous organized protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution, state media said 20 people died in violence.
Ebadi has called on Ahmadinejad to prosecute those who shot protesters and pay compensation to their families while also calling for fresh elections held with U.N. observers.
(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Will Dunham)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
I love it.
Photo courtesy of SChalice , twitpic.
Also, this OpEd column from the New York Times: The End of the Beginning, by Roger Cohen, is very interesting.
We now know the true identity of Neda, the woman who I posted the video of a few days ago, here. TIME Magazine has gathered a few pictures of her, and the protests around her death, in this photo essay. She was a beautiful Iranian woman.
This is the account from TIME:
By some accounts of her life, Neda was not deeply involved in politics. At the time of her death, she was with her singing instructor. The two of them had ventured out to witness the protests, but after being caught in a clash with club-wielding forces, they chose to head home. When they stepped out of a car, the fatal shot was fired.I truly hope her death will not be in vain. Read more...
Neda, a woman shown in the video below, was protesting in Iran on Saturday, and was shot in the stomach. She died on the street, the man surrounding her, calling her name is her father. This story is sad. She was just protesting, for her right to vote, for her right to speak, but in Iran, these rights are not rights that are available to all. Her name, Neda, means "The Call" in Farsi, and after the emergence of this video, her name has been the battle cry of many on Twitter and Facebook. Today in Iran, they are planning to have a Mourning vigil for her. Click here for story about Neda from CNN.
The video's not pretty.. and is graphic, so view at your own risk.
Read more...
This video is pretty powerful. Its an Iranian woman reading a poem about the people of Iran, as the background is filled with Persians saying Allahu Akbar* into the night. I got this video from this website, which was recommended on Twitter by demi moore (@mrskutcher). There are more videos, that are also pretty awesome, posted onto YouTube by people inside of Iran, click the link above to watch them.
While I was looking at more of the Iran News I found this site, and thought it was kind of funny. It shows some cartoons / art that people have made concerning the craziness of all this. I loved this one, so thought I'd share.
I also added this to my blog. Many Iranians, and their Supporters are adding it as their photo on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
As soon as the Iranians started voting on Friday, I was anxious, you could feel that this election, wasn't like any other. And, folks, it hasn't been. It has been hard to even put a blog post together, because the different news reports were bringing in conflicting information, and new reports were coming in all the time. At first, many thought Moussavi was being held under house arrest, but this morning (picture above) he arrived among his supporters. I was excited!
I really believe the Elections were rigged. I do. When Christiane Amanpour from CNN was doing some "unofficial election polls" last week, it seemed obvious that Moussavi had won, and that Ahmadinejad was defeated. Then, they both announced their victories? And then no one saw the entire weekend. Today, it is being reported that he has met with Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that the Ayatollah ordered an investigation into the fraud claims. But we all know the Ayatollah's record, so I'll believe it when I see it.
Ashton Kutcher (aplusk) through Twitter has compared it to when Al Gore won against George Bush, and the country went a little nuts. I think that that is true, and a good way for us Americans to identify with the problem. (I was one of those people going nuts in 2000). But , I know it sounds trisk but our country is free.. their country is a country where the Iranian bloggers sites are shut down for days at a time, and where during the elections cell phone use was cut off, the supporters of Moussavi (and the other challengers) were not able to use general means for their campaigns, they could not use TV ads and such, instead they used a cell phone network, a-la-President Obama's campaign. Twitter and Facebook also have been down, and then put back up. So yes, Ashton, its similiar, but at least Mr. Gore had the right to fight for his "hanging chads" but does Mr. Moussavi have that same right? Without being killed? I sure hope so..
This is from Sunday's New York Times..
She was in tears like many women on the streets of Iran’s battered capital. “Throw away your pen and paper and come to our aid,” she said, pointing to my notebook. “There is no freedom here.”Ugh. So sad.
I have wanted to goto Egypt, ever since I was little and was obsessed with watching Moses tell his pseudo brother of a Pharaoh Let my people go . The pyramids. The history. The columns. I love it all.
My mom's Aunt Connie is going on a cruise to Greece and Egypt, and I am SUPER JEALOUS! I wish I could go! I am definitely going one of these days, if its the very last thing I do... And I really think that I would want to go on the cruise, but then I'm not sure how close you get to Cairo, and the Valley of the Kings, the Important Places when you go on a Cruise there. Or if you're only really able to go to Alexandria. Hmmm, I need to find this out! {not that I'm going today.. } Here are some things I would NEED to see:
Tut! I have to see the Museum with all of Tutankhamun's stuff {even though I've already seen a TON of it a few years ago}, as well as go see where it was all found!
The Pyramids! And the Great Sphinx!
One of my most favorite Queen's, Queen Hatshepsut's Temple! 
Coptic church at Moquattan Mountain above the Christian Garbage Village
Bazaars: I have to shop!
Check out this link: Can a Comic Book about MLK change the Middle East?. Its about a very interesting theory, where they're trying to see if the MLK story of non-violence can affect the Mid East conflicts.
This comes from Dalia Ziada's blog, Human life from a Daliatic Approach, I have been following her for a few months, and I really enjoy it. Its interesting to get such a different point of view on things. She's Egyptian, and a great middle eastern activist. She also suffered from genital mutilation, which is such an awful practice. I'm glad she has the guts to stand up for what she believes in.
This is awesome: {quote from her blog, linked above}
Ziada herself is a survivor of female genital mutilation, and has since led reform efforts against the practice. “I used to fight against FGM in my family (with traditional methods) since I was 10 years-old. However, this time, I decided to use the nonviolent method of King.” It worked, and in the morning Ziada’s uncle called saying that he was convinced; his daughter went unscathed.Read more...
Pope Benedict XVI, Fouad Twal, Sheikh Taysir TamimiThe tendency to turn human judgements into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world. ~ Georgia HarknessThis week at an inter-faith meeting held in Jerusalem, Pope Benedict XVI walked out in protest of what Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, chief Islamic judge in the Palestinian Authority, had said. Apparently, he spoke after the Pope, (unexpectedly) and had prepared a written ten-minute long speech condemning Israel for their attack on Gaza just a few months ago. He called for Palestinian prisoners to be returned, and accused Israel of burning several mosques, killing people who were in their houses when the Israeli army destroyed them, as well as killing many Gaza children.
What is tolerance? -- it is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly -- that is the first law of nature. ~ VoltaireWhat do you think? Read more...
Salam is the word for peace in Arabic, the language spoken in both Darfur and Gaza.
Finally! At least a little more movement and contribution to relieving the sorrow in Darfur. See article: U.S. begins Darfur supply fights. Click here for a History on the Conflict, and here to find out how you can help.
And then there's Gaza.. I was listening to NPR this morning on the way to class and heard an interesting thought, that somehow had escaped me. The caller said that she saw the Israeli strike on Gaza as "one last chance" because they know that they have President Bush's full support in their efforts to take down Hamas. Therefore they have used the last few weeks of his Presidency as a way to strike at Hamas, because they are unsure of what President Obama's view would be. I think that's interesting. Think its true? It very well could be.
I know that it is a very complicated situation, and I keep wanting to write a blog post fully about it, and come up with a completely 100% " I feel this way " statement, but it is hard. It is a disproportionate offensive, that's for sure. Israel has so much more power than Gaza. Which, in reality, no matter who sent the first rocket of attack, shouldn't Israel realize that by putting up such a large offensive and killing so many CHILDREN, that they are really just doing an injustice to themselves? The Arab world is going to hate them even more now. And the Osama tape that came out, somehow it really just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. He doesn't even really seem all that relevant anymore.
Some disturbing facts from this Conflict:
Today, is World AIDS Day. It is the 20th Annual World AIDS Day, and fortunately, we are getting very close to a solution to the problem.. bringing more and more awareness and light to this cruel disease of HIV-AIDS. I think it's sad some of the stories you hear, about children, and adults alike, being ridiculed and prejudiced against because they have this disease. I hope that this can stop, and even more than that I hope that we won't have to celebrate the "40th Annual World AIDS Day" because there no longer will be AIDS. There is one thing I like about President Bush, I love his PEPFAR Initiative. It's really helped Africa, I wish that it could help more.. and further..I think the saddest part is that around the world, 2.7 million people were infected with HIV in 2007 alone, and there is a staggering 33 million people around the world living with HIV. 33 MILLION! That doesn't have to happen. Now that we know the causes, we know the risks, and we know how to slow down the process of the disease. Visit the World AIDS Campaign website here for more information. The Cookie Master Plus
You get 12 metal discs in different fun shapes, accent tips for decorating and filling the cookies and recipe booklets! I want it! I want it! I saw it at Joann's Crafts, but I also just found it on this website. <~ hint~hint~>
In other Babble of the day.. I'm a big babbler, I have so many thoughts! haha. To sum 'em up:
This is My December.. <~ insert Linkin Park lyrics ~>
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| 08/ 9/09 09:36 AM |
WASHINGTON — The White House says Iran has confirmed it has three American hikers in custody.