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John Kerry on Iran
“The last thing we should do is give Mr. Ahmadinejad an opportunity to evoke the 1953 American-sponsored coup, which ousted Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and returned Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to power. Doing so would only allow him to cast himself as a modern-day Mossadegh, standing up for principle against a Western puppet.” U.S. Senator…
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The rival Ayatollah’s statement (translation)
Over at 0×6675636B, an Iranian expat has posted a translated version of Ayatollah Montazeri’s letter criticizing the Iranian elections and government crackdown. The full translation is below. First, a few quick quotes from the Ayatollah’s statement: “A legitimate state must respect all points of view. It may not oppress critical views. I fear that this…
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Ayatollah vs. Ayatollah
McClatchy News is reporting that one of Iran’s most senior clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, has called the election rigged. He has also criticized the government crackdown on Mousavi supporters. Montazeri himself was a leader of the 1979 revolution and a one-time rival to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for the nation’s top…
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“Pakistanis Debate Their Future On Facebook”
Sanjeev Bery, The Huffington Post, 05/18/09 As the Pakistani military rains fire down upon villagers and Taliban alike, Pakistanis and members of the diaspora are engaged in numerous online debates about the future of their country. In some cases, they are offering perspectives that the rest of us should listen to.
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Sri Lanka’s ethnic identities
When dealing with longstanding grievances between ethnic communities locked in war, it can be difficult to disentangle a historical understanding of issues of identity and polarization. There is always the easy temptation to create the “eternal battle” between rival identities that always fought. I don’t have the knowledge of Sri Lankan politics or history to…