The Guardian has a compelling Persepolis-inspired animation about Mohammad Mostafaei, an Iranian lawyer who has saved 20 out of the 40 juveniles he has defended against the death penalty in Iran.
Weekend Readings
Scary Oil by Nouriel Roubini
Today’s fragile global economy faces many risks. But no risk is more serious than that posed by a further spike in oil prices.
Another War in the Middle East? by Fareed Zakaria
Why Israel and the U.S. must not launch a preventive strike against Iran
Silicon City by DIE ZEIT
Berlin erlebt seine zweite Interneteuphorie – wie viel Substanz steckt diesmal darin?
The Iran Job
follows Kevin Sheppard, an American basketball player from St. Croix who is recruited to play for the Iranian Super League. Judging from the trailer, the film’s a winner. Till describes Kevin as smart, warm and funny. You can see from his interactions in the film that Kevin’s got a quick humor and is a sharp observer. He becomes friends with three Iranian women and this unlikely friendship coincides with the Green Movement in Iran.
You Can help the Film to get released in 2012 by funding it via Kickstarter
Isfahan - Iran on Flickr.
Islamic Art & Architecture in Iran
Selected Pics from my recent journey to Isfahan & Yazd
Trailer Chicken With Plums
Based on a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi.
The year is 1958, the city Tehran. Celebrated violinist Nasser Ali Khan (Mathieu Amalric) has an unexpected encounter with a longlost love, but she fails to recognize him. He returns home, has an argument with his wife and, most troublingly, discovers that his prized violin has been broken. He’s unable to replace it, can’t conceive of life without the consolation of music, and soon finds that he can’t get out of bed, where he lies locked both in dreams about his childhood and projections of his own children’s futures. His reveries lay somewhere between fantasy and oblivion, and quickly assemble into a kind of thriller, riddled with flashbacks and flash-forwards (as well as a vision of a naked Sophia Loren), that illuminates his peculiar persona and the source of his despair.
Readings Week 34
Face Recognition - Anonymous no more (The Economist)
You can’t hide—from anybody
the Iranian general ‘secretly running’ Iraq (The Guardian)
The Guardian reports on the elusive Iranian with so much Iraqi influence that Baghdadis believe he is controlling the country
Saudi law - Nothing liberal yet (The Economist)
“WITH 33 people known to have lost their heads so far this year to the executioner’s righteous sword, it cannot be said that Saudi Arabia is a sissy about justice. But just to make sure, the kingdom’s rulers are making its laws even tougher.”
Readings Current Week
Economic jihad (The Economist)
Iran has undertaken reforms that other governments in the region should envy
Degrees of democracy (The Economist)
Interesting summary about studies dealing with level of education in a country and political participation
Forgotten Polish Exodus to Persia (Washington Post)
A forgotten chapter of World War II
No One Knows About Persian Cats
