Hijab

The first day of the tour all the women had to buy a "Manteau" to make sure they were properly covered

Back from Tehran

Here is a shot of a sick man on a bus on the last day of his tour of Iran. The ladies on the bus got all the men to wear hijab.

"A Solution for the US-Iran Nuclear Standoff"

(From my peacenik listserve)

Volume 55, Number 4 · March 20, 2008
A Solution for the US–Iran Nuclear Standoff
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21112

By William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, Jim Walsh
The recent National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Tehran stopped its efforts to develop nuclear weapons in 2003, together with the significant drop in Iranian activity in Iraq, has created favorable conditions for the US to hold direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program. The Bush administration should act on this opportunity, if for no other reason than that its current position is growing weaker, and without such an initiative, Iran will continue its efforts to produce nuclear fuel that might, in the future, be used to build nuclear weapons.

William Luers, president of the United Nations Association of the USA, Thomas Pickering, former US ambassador to the United Nations, and Dr. Jim Walsh, research associate at MIT look for new opportunities in the US-Iranian relationship.



Rest of article at:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21112

is it safe for Yankees to visit Iran?

... is a question often asked of us peoples going to Iran. Actually the usual comment is not a question but "You better be careful!"

Well fogetaboutit. It's safe:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/travel/10Iran.html?pagewanted=print

That's the unamimous opinion of travelers to Iran

Don't bomb Iran

How about Iranian dissidents? What do they think about bombing Iran?

"Prominent Iranian Dissident and Former Political Prisoner Akbar Ganji on Why He Refused to Meet President Bush and the Dangers of a US Invasion of Iran."

Real Video Stream of Ganji the Dangers of a US Invasion of Iran

(from BBCPersian)

This guy is an ex-Islamic revolutionary, has spent years in prison, was tortured and has written a manifesto on getting rid of theocracy and separation of church (mosque) and state.

Mean British person makes fun of Americans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE


Here's snow Minneapolis got Monday March 31. It melted pretty fast of course. (This has zero to do with Iran but is a test run of uploading videos from utube)

Going to Iran

I'm going to Iran April 29 to May 13 as part of "citizen peace delegation".
http://www.forusa.org/programs/iran/

Its supposed to "dispell stereotypes" the US and Iran have of each other by people-to-people contact and all that, but more specifically its about giving "us an opportunity to come up with ways to de-escalate larger-scale tensions" between US and Iran.

What might those tensions be?

Fox news on Iran
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-eyuFBrWHs

McCain amusing his audience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-zoPgv_nYg

McCain calming fears of attacks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2v8cuQTVO8

Who's for bombing Iran? Not the grown-ups!
http://irannuclearwatch.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html

How far along are plans to bomb Iran?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2pJN1ga-zA

How might things go wrong and war escalate if we bomb Iran? from former UN inspector Scott Ritter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XQan1qo8T4