Persian Journalism

Brain Drain

2008-06-30T10:30:00.003+04:30

Iranians are known worldwide as talented and smart people, especially in the fields of science and technology. They reside in most parts of the world and are employed by top American and European universities and companies.These universities and companies use the expertise of these Iranian scientists in gaining economic and scientific benefits. In other words, these expatriates are helping other countries overcome their technological, economic and educational problems.Every year, developed countries allocate millions of dollars to accelerate the immigration of internationally educated professionals to their countries and use their skills and specializations in different fields for the welfare of their own communities.Last week Alia Sabur, a 19-year-old Iranian-American, was declared the world’s youngest professor in history by the Guinness Book of World Records. Alia broke the 1717 record set by a student of physicist Isaac Newton, Colin Maclaurin.There are many examples of such talented Iranians bringing honor to their country of origin.In 2007, three Iranians were among the list of top 100 living geniuses compiled by a panel of six experts in creativity and innovation from Creators Synectics, a global consultant firm.Engineer Ali Javan, physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed and biological anthropologist Pardis Sabeti were respectively ranked 12th, 32nd and 49th of this list.In 1975, Professor Javan (born 1926) received from the Optical Society of America its most prestigious honor, the Fredric Ives Medal, with a citation that praised him for “producing an optical device (the gas laser) of unparalleled applicability to scientific research“. In 1993, he received the Albert Einstein World Award of Science. Arkani-Hamed (born 1972) is a leading theoretical physicist with interests in high-energy physics, string theory and cosmology. He officially joined Harvard’s faculty in the fall of 2002. In the summer of 2005 while at Harvard, he won the ’Phi Beta Kappa’ award for teaching excellence.Sabeti (born 1975) is an evolutionary geneticist, who developed an algorithm that helped establish the effects of genetics on the evolution of human diseases. He is an assistant professor in the Center for Systems Biology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.So why Iran does not employ these talented people to help develop the country in the scientific and technological fields? Unfortunately, the number of educated young Iranians trying to leave the country appears to have increased in the past years judging by the numbers sitting for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam--a requirement for immigration to countries like Canada and Australia. And the cost to Iran of not stemming this brain drain--one government estimate put it at nearly $40 billion a year. Iran tops the world in terms of brain drain. That’s the conclusion of the International Monetary Fund, which recently surveyed 61 countries. The IMF says every year more than 150,000 educated Iranians leave their country in the hope of finding better educational, working and living conditions abroad.In fact, Iran is educating millions of its youth to serve the advanced countries.The reality is that the scientific and economic gap between Iran, as a third-world nation, and advanced or `North’ countries is wide and prospects for filling this distance in the near future appear dim. If more research facilities are provided and livelihood problems of researchers are seriously addressed in a way that they would feel free to produce science and new ideas inside Iran, brain drain will slow down. These facilities, combined with the inherent interest of Iranians in family bonds, will certainly act as a brake to dissuade some from leaving the country. However, the trend will not grind to a complete halt. Therefore, the officials should take measures for promoting the social and scientific status of scientists. They must also clear the way for researchers, who are determined to leave the country and continue their studies in other countries, to establish a kind of human rapport and cooperate with their homeland in future.

War on Terror or State Terrorism

2008-06-30T09:40:00.002+04:30

The United State in past years showed that the end justifies the means--good or bad.

It uses every means to justify its imperialist policies around the world like sponsoring terrorism, covert and military operations, torturing, violating human rights, biased sanctions against countries and so on.
Since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, Americans encouraged former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, to invade Iran and open the way for implementing US policies in the Middle East and installing a puppet government in Iran.
The Bush administration also struggles to use the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Security Council to pressure the Islamic Republic to back down on its peaceful nuclear activities and recognize the Israeli regime.
The US congressional leaders agreed late last year to Bush’s funding request for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing its leadership, The New Yorker magazine reported in an article on Sunday.
The article by reporter Seymour Hersh centers around a highly classified Presidential Funding signed by Bush which by US law must be made known to Democratic and Republican House and Senate leaders and ranking members of the intelligence committees.
The report confirmed the protests of Iranian officials that the US is sponsoring operations of terrorist groups inside the Islamic Republic aimed at killing and kidnapping innocent Iranian people.
It also unearthed that the US backs dissidents’ struggling to foment a “velvet revolution” in Iran to topple the Islamic Republic.
According to Hersh’s report, the $400 million funding is benefiting the Jundollah, a vicious organization backed by Al-Qaeda, which kidnapped 16 Iranian policemen and transferred them to Pakistan, killing four of the hostages last week.
Jundollah, which operates in Iran’s eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province and Pakistan’s Balochistan, has carried out a number of attacks against Iranian civilians as well as high-profile government and security officials.
The terrorist group is widely known to be secretly encouraged, advised and funded by the US intelligence agency, the CIA.
In a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini suggested that Jundollah terrorists are supported by Washington.
“Now look at ABC television, openly interviewing Abdolmalek Rigi, the ringleader of the Jundollah terrorist group. And in Iraq, the terrorist group of the hypocrites, [the Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO)], who are on the terrorist lists in western countries, especially in the US, are active under the protection of US troops
in Iraq,” said the diplomat.
In May, Iran sent a formal protest note to Washington for spying on Iran’s nuclear activities. The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Switzerland’s ambassador in Tehran, who looks after US interests, to deliver a “strong protest over the hostile intervention of the US government”.
Tehran also had unearthed a number of spy networks aiming to infiltrate Iran and carry out sabotage actions in the west, southwest and center of the country.
Iran has complained in recent years that a series of bomb blasts in the border provinces of Khuzestan, Kurdestan and West Azarbaijan were carried out by forces backed by the US forces in Iraq.
The New Yorker’s report confirmed that US support for the dissident groups could prompt a violent crackdown by Iran, which could give the Bush administration a reason to intervene.
But the US official should know that Iran will defend its territorial integrity by all means, as Commander of Islamic Revolution’s Guard Corps Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari warned that in defense of Iran, all options are on the table.
The article clearly shows that the American government’s so-called “war on terror” is a hollow propaganda and they only pursue their hostile policies in the region which include oil and security for the Israeli regime.
Armed intervention and other direct or indirect forms of interference threatening the sovereignty and the political independence of states are against international laws.
So, Iran as a member of the United Nations should lodge a protest to the international bodies against the hostile move and urge the UN to condemn the terror-sponsoring country.

Rusty Tools

2008-04-27T10:53:00.000+04:30

In recent days, the US warmongers have launched a new phase of psychological warfare to make the Islamic Republic give up its rights.Baseless allegations ranging from Iran’s interference in the domestic affairs of neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq to the confrontation of Iranian boats by an American ship in the Persian Gulf as well as regular claims over Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities are examples of this psychological warfare.Iranian officials have rejected all claims and called on these warmongers to provide evidence for their claims, but they did not present anything except more lies.The last one was a false report by a US defense official, saying on Friday that a vessel chartered by the US military fired warning shots at two speedboats believed to be Iranian that approached it in the Persian Gulf.However, Iran strongly denied any confrontation with foreign ships in the Persian Gulf waters.In January, the US Defense Ministry also claimed Iranian boats ’aggressively’ approached three US navy battleships, warning them they would explode in minutes. Iran has said it was a routine contact and the footage of the contact was released by the Arabic-language Alalam TV. No such claims were seen in the aired footage.These events coincided on Friday with another case of rhetoric by a top US military official who said the Pentagon is planning “potential military courses of action“ as one of several options against Iran.Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a conflict with Iran would be “extremely stressing“ but not impossible for US forces, pointing to reserve capabilities in its navy and air force.Why are Americans trying to demonstrate that Iran is a problematic country?Firstly, the Islamic Republic proved that the country will not bow to increasing economic pressures and UN sanctions to halt its nuclear activities. Iran says its nuclear drive is aimed at generating electricity for its growing population.Secondly, Americans are mired in the Iraq and Afghanistan quagmires and seek a pretext to justify their mistakes at home.Lastly, they fear that Iran’s growing influence in the region is threatening their interests in the oil-rich region and can destabilize Israel. But US officials should know that their rusty tools will not derail Iran’s nuclear program. Instead of using fabricated claims against the Islamic Republic, the Americans should sit at the negotiation table without any precondition.President Ahmadinejad said recently that Iran is ready to discuss its nuclear program with any country, but will not yield to international pressure to halt its civilian nuclear work.The ball is in the US court. If the US wants to survive the regional dilemma of its own making, it should rectify its policy regarding Iran’s nuclear program and set aside its futile animosity toward the Islamic Republic.

Moderate Iranian Daily Banned

2007-07-04T19:52:00.000+03:30

Iran’s government has renewed a ban on a moderate daily newspaper, Ham Mihan (Compatriot), less than two months after allowing it to return to news stands, the paper's director said.

"The (Tehran) prosecutor's office has sent us an official notice telling us not to publish," said Gholam Hossein Karbaschi, a former Tehran mayor who also publishes the Ham Mihan newspaper.

"They told us there were some mistakes in the way our case was handled," he added.

Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi said the paper's suspension was the result of procedural error's in the handling of Karbaschi's trial and incarceration for corruption from 1998 to 2000 after his 10-year tenure as mayor.

He said the ex-mayor had failed to appear in person at his trial as the rules required.

He said Karbaschi had also left it to his lawyer to countersign the parole order which saw his release from jail.

"So it was his lawyer who was tried and not him," Mortazavi said.

Ham Mihan had only returned to news stands on May 13.

It had been widely expected to take the place of fellow moderate daily
Shargh (East), which was banned last September.

But a day after its relaunch, Shargh too was allowed to resume publication.

The judiciary banned over 100 reformist papers during the last years of the rule of Ahmadinejad's predecessor, pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami -- part of the struggle for power between reformists and hard-liners.

Democratization of Afghnistan

2007-07-01T20:06:00.000+03:30

An Afghan infant is treated in a hospital in Helmand province after being injured in an air strike by foreign forces fighting the Taliban, June 30, 2007 which left dozens of civilians dead.

Iranian Ancient Civilization Site Under Threat

2007-02-07T16:01:00.000+03:30

Head of Iran’s Architecture Luminaries Association has questioned the extent to which an organization has the authority to make a decision that can submerge the site of an ancient civilization.In an interview with Fars, Ali Reza Qahhari also expressed concern about the flooding of Sivand Dam and said that head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization has expressed approval for filling the dam with water without presenting any explanation to the Majlis or the people and will reportedly announce this in writing within a few days.He further said that the decision was made without regard to the outcome of excavations undertaken by 14 archeological teams from a number of countries.The groups conducted research works in different sections of the area, especially in Bolaghi Pass and achieved results which are unique, Qahhari said, adding that they came across mounds from the pre-Christian era, which are yet to be excavated.Meanwhile, settlements from the pre-Christian era, metal-smelting kilns, caves, stone furnaces belonging to Pars rulers, graveyards from the Ashkanid period as well as seven kilometers of stone boundary were discovered by the team, which are unique in the world.All these findings will be submerged once the Sivand Dam becomes operational, he said, noting that this is source of concern for environment experts as well as archeologists and architects.If the dam is filled with water, the area will undergo ecological changes, thus one of the beautiful areas in the world will be destroyed, Qahhari concluded.

Bush Seeks $130b for US Army

2007-02-03T17:23:00.000+03:30

The U.S. Army, which has borne much of the weight of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, would get $130 billion under President Bush's 2008 budget — a sizable increase that would help ease the strain and meet equipment needs. The proposal represents a 16 percent hike over this year, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. When coupled with additional tens of billions of dollars in emergency war funding, it "should go a long ways toward making the Army better," said Steven Kosiak, an analyst with the private Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
Officials would not comment publicly on the budget request because it will not be officially released until Monday.
While the number falls short of the Army's request, it suggests that arguments made by senior Army leaders were heeded by the Bush administration. Initial White House budget plans called for giving the Army $114 billion, which increased to $121 billion by October.
Gen. Peter Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, had said he needed $138 billion for 2008 to replace and repair equipment used in Iraq, cover other war costs and meet day-to-day expenses.
The Iraq war, which began nearly four years ago, has already exceeded the length of U.S. involvement in World War II. A recent report by a special commission on war policy warned that "U.S. military forces, especially our ground forces, have been stretched nearly to the breaking point."
The report said new attention — and billions of dollars — must be devoted to restoring the capabilities of the military so it is ready for future conflicts.
The $130 billion includes more than $46 billion for personnel, an 8 percent increase over this year, and nearly $24 billion to buy weapons and other equipment, a 42 percent hike.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates last month recommended boosting the Army's troop strength to 547,000 from its current 508,000 over the next five years, and increasing the number of Marines by 27,000 to 202,000.
With the military facing more costs for hiring recruiters, marketing and paying bonuses, the overall Pentagon budget earmarks about $12 billion to help increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps.
The administration will also seek additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in two separate requests — one for $93.4 billion to cover the remainder of the 2007 budget year, and one for $141.7 billion to cover projected war costs for 2008.
Because it bears the brunt of the fighting, Kosiak said the Army has been getting as much as 60 percent of the emergency war funds.

Iranian Becomes First Woman Space Tourist

2006-09-20T11:11:00.000+03:30

Anousheh Ansari spent her childhood in Iran dreaming of space. Now, after years of hard work and study in the United States, she has realized her dreams and blasted into orbit on a Soyuz rocket.
Ansari took off with NASA’s Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russia’s Mikhail Tyurin from the Russian cosmodrome of Baikonur in Kazakhstan to, AFP reported.
She is thought to have paid about $25 million (20 million euros) for the flight, which will last about 10 days and include a stay aboard the International Space Station.
“Ever since I can remember it has been in my soul and in my heart. I’ve always been interested and fascinated by space,“ said Ansari earlier.
But it is her grounding in business and science and her iron resolve that have made the dream a reality.
Born in 1966 in Iran, Ansari left the country with her parents at the age of 16 shortly after the Islamic Revolution. Arriving in the United States speaking only Persian and French, Ansari managed to launch herself into the study of electronics and data processing.
She has taken US citizenship, degrees from George Mason University in Virginia and George Washington University in the US capital and has filed patents in the field of telecommunications.
And although her life now is a far cry from her origins in Iran, Ansari says she has not forgotten her birthplace, widely known for its hostility to the United States.
Earlier this year, she sported the flags of both Iran and the United States on her spacesuit.
“I felt that by wearing the two badges I can demonstrate that both countries had something to do with making me the person who I am today,“ she said at Star City.
In 1993, Ansari convinced her husband to leave the company where they worked to set out on their own. Their telecommunications startup grew to employ 250 people before Ansari sold it in 2000.
Her family has gone on to invest not only in technology, but also in space exploration. The family contributed $10 million to the X Foundation, set up to encourage advances in human space flight.
The money formed a prize, the Ansari X Prize, which in 2004 was awarded to Mojave Aerospace Ventures for launching a reusable space ship that reached space twice in two weeks.
If that is not enough to convince space enthusiasts of her credentials, she is also studying for a diploma in astronomy.
“I hope that not only my flights, but the life I have lived so far, become an inspiration for all youth all over the world, especially women and girls around the world to pursue their dreams,“ said Ansari.

Solana Sees Need for Further Talks With Iran

2006-08-25T16:24:00.000+03:30

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said on August 25 he sees a need for further talks with Iran over its nuclear program following Tehran's reply to an incentive package made by world powers.
"(The reply) touches on many different elements, different from the ones that we had proposed. For that reason we will have to hold a dialogue session ... or a conversation with the ...
Iranians to improve upon some of the expressions and meanings of the subject matter treated in its document," he told Spain's RNE state radio.
Western nations have reacted coolly to Iran's response to the offer by the five permanent United Nations Security Council members plus Germany of incentives in return for a halt to uranium enrichment.
Reuters

Greater Middle East

2006-08-01T11:37:00.000+03:30

Caricature by Mohammad Ali Rajabi-IranDaily

Shame on West’s Dual-Standard Toward Human Rights

2006-07-31T14:33:00.000+03:30

UAE's Manmade Islands Jeopardize Persian Gulf Ecosystem

2006-07-31T13:02:00.000+03:30

The Persian Gulf environment will be endangered if its littoral states do not prevent the construction of the so-called "World Islands".
Having made baseless claims about the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa and the Lesser and Greater Tunb, the United Arab Emirates plans to build more than 325 artificial islands by expending billions of dollars in the Persian Gulf waters.
The World Islands are manmade islands that would be shaped as continents of the world, off the coast of Dubai.
The UAE currently possesses 60 square kilometers of Persian Gulf islands and according to Sultan bin Salim, the project manager of the World Islands, the UAE's island area will increase to 1,200 square kilometers.
The construction of these artificial islands will not only entail environmental degradation, but would also change the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf.
The Persian Gulf is presently home to many species and biodiversity. More than 500 fish, 15 shrimp and five rare turtle species inhabit the region.
Experts of international organizations have warned against the destruction of Dubai's sole coral coast and coastal nests of turtles in the first phase of this project. They have also warned about the change in the quality of Persian Gulf water.
Director general of Iran’s Department of Environment, Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Nabavi, said he has called on the officials of the Regional Convention for Cooperation to Protect and Improve Coastal Zones and the Marine Environment to examine whether the construction of manmade islands in the Persian Gulf is in compliance with the international environmental standards.
Referring to the "very sensitive" nature of Persian Gulf, Nabavi said any interference in its ecosystem as a result of these activities will negatively impact the region’s environment, Fars News Agency reported.
In an open letter to UN Chief Kofi Annan, a copy of which was faxed to Iran Daily, Seyyed Mohammad Jafar Sadat-Mousavi who heads the Majlis Environmental Faction, urged him to address the environmental concerns related to the World Islands.
Sadat-Mousavi pointed out that the project is a blatant violation of the international conventions of 1958 and 1982, as well as their provisions.

Rice’s Mission Impossible

2006-07-29T11:28:00.000+03:30

Caricature by Mohammad Ali Rajabi-IranDaily

If Peace Comes, Just Who'll Go In to Keep It?

2006-07-26T15:14:00.000+03:30

The Bush administration's effort to assemble an international peacekeeping force for Lebanon has quickly run into several roadblocks, including one especially daunting: Few countries seem willing to commit troops, especially without a cease-fire agreement in place.
The White House has said no U.S. troops would be part of such a force. Britain says it is stretched too thin to take on another deployment. France has called talk of such a force "premature," while German officials wince at the idea of their troops on Israel's border.
Such reluctance is complicating the U.S. push to deploy a force to isolate the Islamic militant group Hezbollah and neutralize its ability to strike Israel from bases in southern Lebanon.
Such a deployment would mark the first time combat-ready peacekeeping troops were stationed on one of Israel's frontiers.
U.N. peacekeepers, first deployed along the border in 1978 and currently numbering about 2,000, have never been considered a combat force, and have been overwhelmed by the current fighting.
Aside from finding troops, other problems are hobbling the potential deployment. The United States, Israel and most European countries want Hezbollah to disarm completely, as required by a United Nations resolution. Hezbollah rejects that idea.
U.S. efforts to pressure Hezbollah have been hampered by the absence of formal diplomatic ties to Iran and just low-grade official channels open with Syria — the radical group's two main patrons.
"If Hezbollah is not disarmed or rejects a cease-fire agreement, then who's going to come in? Nobody," said Robert Hunter, former U.S. ambassador to NATO who now works in the Washington office of Rand Corp.
Officials traveling with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was headed for a Lebanon crisis meeting in Rome late Tuesday, said that the force they would like to field could not begin its work until the fighting had ebbed enough to allow an unchallenged entry.
"They're not going to fight their way in," a senior Bush administration official told reporters. He declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Despite comments by Rice emphasizing urgency in achieving a cease-fire, there was further evidence Tuesday that the administration appeared willing to delay an end to the fighting to give the Israeli military a chance to degrade Hezbollah's ability to fight.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Henry A. Crumpton, the State Department's counter-terrorism coordinator, said he believed the Israeli response was "in some ways just beginning."
He noted that Israel's military appeared to have made only limited progress in degrading Hezbollah's combat capabilities.
"Hezbollah, because it has been [in] a safe haven for so long, [has] been able to build some pretty stalwart defenses, pretty elaborate bunker systems, and they're fighting hard right now," Crumpton said.
"It's going to take a while, I think, for the Israelis to get in there and deny that space in Lebanon."
U.S. officials signaled that topics of discussion in Rome would include how large an international force should be, what rules it would follow regarding firefights and whether it should operate only in south Lebanon or throughout the country, a senior administration official said.
As they search for countries willing to take part, U.S. officials confront a sticking point: If they get the diplomatic backing for the kind of aggressive peacekeeping force the administration views as essential to a stable peace, fewer nations are likely to volunteer because of the increased combat risk their troops would face.
Turkey, a Muslim country and a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member with a respected army and a good relationship with Israel, has been mentioned as a possible contributor. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said he would welcome Turkish participation.
In Ankara, the Turkish capital, a senior official said his government was open to the idea, but only if the Israelis and Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire.
"Obviously, we don't want to send our soldiers into an inferno and we want to know what the rules of engagement would be," said the official, who declined to be identified when discussing the force because of its controversial nature.
Some Turkish commentators said a commitment to the force would offer their country a chance to enhance its standing in the West and its influence in the Middle East.
"Turkey should offer to lead the peacekeeping force in Lebanon … and become a major player in the Middle East," said Hasan Celal Guzel, a commentator for Radikal, a liberal daily newspaper.
But others worried that even if the government favored participation, the parliament could veto the idea.
They noted that in 2003, Turkey's parliament refused to allow U.S. forces to travel through the country to open a second front against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Italy, a veteran of numerous peacekeeping missions led by the U.N. or NATO, was among the first countries to express willingness to provide troops for a force in Lebanon. Polls in the country indicated that about half the population supported the idea.
But the complexities of following through with its offer were brought into focus this week.
Even as Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi prepared to play host to the talks in Rome — seen among Italians as a diplomatic coup — the stability of his center-left government is threatened by a dispute over another peacekeeping mission: the deployment of 1,900 Italian troops to Afghanistan.

Tyler Marshall and Tracy Wilkinson