My Iran

Iran's official news agency IRNA reported that Iran’s Atomic Energy High Council has authorized the completion of the second phase of 1,000 MW Bushehr Nuclear Power with new contracts. The council also ordered suitable sites be studied for the construction of further reactors to generate an extra 5,000 MW from nuclear power.
Meanwhile, Al Hayat (a Saudi based newspaper) reported on possible Israeli strike at Iran's nuclear plants. Israel believes Iran would need two to three years at the most before succeeding in producing nuclear weapons.

There is an old joke that a drunk is searching under a street lamp for a set of keys. A passer-by offers to help. In vain, they search and search. Finally the passer-by asks where the keys fell. The drunk points to the other side of the street. "Why are you looking on this side when you dropped them over there?" the incredulous passer-by asks. "Because," the drunk says, "the light's much better here."
Don’t you think this is what’s happening to the war on terrorism?

This Iranian tumult for the death of an Iranian immigrant seems more funny than serious. For god sake! Do they really think they can cover the mess of killing a journalist with this ridiculous propaganda against the police of Canada? The funniest part is that the family of the victim is also astonished with the points and accusations of the Iranian government against Canada. You know what it seems to me?
I kill; you kill; now we are even!!

"Iran and all Muslim nations are a threat to America's survival"
Although there are some non-Muslim nations which are presumed as threats to America's survival, but even if we count Muslims it would be a sad fact that between every four to five human being in the world at least one is a threat to America's survival. If that is the truth (which I don’t think it is) Americans should really look at themselves and think about what they have done to the world that has caused them so many enemies.
What I see in Muslim countries is a young generation seeking liberty and justice. They are soon or late coming to the point that there is no other way than going towards democracy. It’s obvious that the despotic political systems do not want to lose power and they are and will try to stop the democratization process by any means possible. The hard-liners and terrorist groups emerge from this desperate need to preserve the falling dictatorships. They are definitely not all Muslims but a small group which are not only a threat to your survival but an active threat to ours’.
Their hands are on our throat, pushing. Believe me. It’s hard for people watching you support and help them (as you did with Saddam, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, etc.) while they are under so much pressure. That’s why some of them don’t trust you even when you are really trying to help.

It’s a tough generalization to say every Iranian has the soul of a poet but I believe it somehow has a sense of reality. Almost every Iranian I have seen in my life loves and admires poetry and uses it in daily life. Poetry is beyond just an artistic part of the Persian literature. It has found its way through people’s beliefs and life.
Just to show how deep poetry goes into the Iranian culture, before modern schools were established in Iran (history), the traditional education system used to teach a poetry book from the 13th century named “Golestan” (The Rose Garden) in primary schools. That’s why you can still find many people in Iran who do not have a proper ability to read or write but have memorized many poems and use them in daily life and speech.
Even after modern schools were established a major part of the literature books taught in every grade is poems from past and recent poets. Students usually have to memorize some poems as a part of their grade mark.
Most of the common used proverbs in Persian come from poems. Iranians read poems when they are happy and when they are sad. They read poems in the middle of a political struggle or articles, in funerals, in weddings, in national holidays, in religious events and almost everywhere. So it’s not a big surprise that you see this much poetry in their weblogs.
For more information on Persian literature you can take a look at this website.

Unfortunately, what is happening to the United States seems to me to be what has happened all over the history. Super powers always begin with a better understanding of the new world and the needs of the new era. They start growing based on this knowledge. The sad fact is that they lose their superior knowledge in this growing process.
I’m not sure whether this loss is a necessity of the growth or it just happens because they are too busy with growing. When a system becomes too big simplification is needed in order for it to be understandable and manageable. That’s why simplification and over simplification may be a necessity of growth or at least a rapid growth.
I can not say that United States is a stronger super power, militarily and economically, than the British Empire in their golden era or the Roman and Persian Empire a long time ago. What happened to all of them was trespassing their principles in the growth process which has been a start for their decline.
I believe that Americans have been the most philanthropic super power in the history of mankind (at least in what I know of it) and have respected human qualities and values more than all past super powers. Is it possible for them not to follow the path that has been followed by all past super powers?

“It seems to me to be less important that Americans know more about Iran, than that Iranians know more about America and the West.”
There is an important point in this statement which I think might be disregarded or misunderstood if you just look at the style or tone of it. A fact in the recent centuries is that the west has studied the east far more that what the east has done to know the west. You can find many valuable research works from western scholars on topics about the eastern countries. There are many departments and divisions in the western universities and research centers on the east but you can not find this in the eastern countries.
It is true that eastern countries should do much more than they have done to know the west and its culture and values, but it’s a big mistake to think that this mutual understanding is less important for one side. Especially if that side is the source of power and motion in the world.