Iran's supreme leader has repeatedly emphasized the peaceful nature of the nuclear program. Such official declarations appear to fall within an old tradition of dissimulation.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shi'ite authority, doesn't issue political or legal orders, he just gives advice. But many Shi'a in Iraq and Iran follow him -- and not because he is an official "supreme leader."
Radio jamming is the classical music of dictatorship. Now that music is being played in Iran, being played at full volume: Western radio stations broadcasting in Persian can no longer be heard there. I have my own history of relations with this classical music.
There is a compelling reason for a U.S.-EU May summit: to formulate a common Western response to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s proposal that a new European security system be constructed to replace the existing, “dysfunctional” one.
Every year on this day, thousands of Azeris staged demonstrations in the cities of Iranian Azerbaijan to call for language rights. But this year, nothing happened.
Several years ago the friendliness, sincerity, and the pure faith of the Gonabadi dervishes attracted me and, with the grace of God, I became a dervish.
The innovation economy and the creation of creative reservations for scientists are completely beside the point
Many of those who have not read the Koran regard the word of God as conveyed to the Prophet Muhammad as sanctioning such practices as the mandatory wearing of the chador by women. This is emphatically not the case.
The beginning of the battle of Marjah is being trumpeted as the model for defeating the Taliban and winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan population. But will it be a success on the ground in southern Afghanistan, or only in the Western press?
Today marks Independence Day in Kosovo and the world’s newest nation celebrates its second birthday. But the challenges facing Kosovo are still many.
The United States will soon surpass the Soviet tenure in Afghanistan, and one has to wonder what our legacy will look like 20 years from now.
Six decades of lost opportunities have shown that the only rational way forward is to quarantine the religious fanatics and take back only those who have freed themselves of the toxic ideology of the religious supremacists.
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