Arash, or Why I Love Persian Music

Arash, born in Tehran, left for the wider world like so many Iranians in the 70s and 80s. Currently living in Sweden, Arash is probably one of the best-known Persian singers since Googoosh. Greatest hits include Boro Boro, Arash, Tike Tike Kardi, Temptation, and his newest single, Donya. Arash has gone gold in five different countries and reached the top of the charts across Europe.
To celebrate the appearance of the Iranian national football team making the German World Cup in 2006, Arash collaborated with DJ Alligator to produce "Iran Iran". The song is both incredibly nationalistic and at the same time, critical of the regime.
"You are the voice of Iran - for the people of Iran!" The singer says, "I am an Iranian child... with one voice we sing, everyone with one voice: Iran! Iran! Iran!" The chorus is simply a mass of hundreds cheering "Iran! Iran! Iran!", the music video depicts Persians of all ages dancing and cheering. But the flags they are waving say "IRAN" across the white band in the middle, instead of the coat of arms of Iran, which spells the name of God with the sword of the revolution. The flag waved in the video also lacks the twenty-two iterations of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) along the border of the white part of the flag (see image), which represents the 22nd day of the 11th month - the day of the revolution.
Displaying the flag of Iran without the additions approved by the revolution is a common method of expatriates to show disapproval of the current Islamic regime.
So, curious, I searched for Arash in the archives of the Tehran Times. Nothing. I shouldn't be surprised. As an arm of Iranian government, Tehran Times probably can't discuss any hint of dissent.
It is a strange mix - patriotism and dissent. Or perhaps dissent is the most powerful form of patriotism.


On a side note, Washington Post hasn't heard of Arash, unlike their European counterparts.

Psyops!!

The Psyops Cyclops!!!

So, today in class we talked about "covert" ways to frame/set agendas... Public Relations, Advertisements, PSYOPS!!!

I just really like the word psyops.

But, seriously, what kind of moral questions are attached to psychological operations? If ends can be achieved, are the means justified? What kind of attachment to "truth" do we have? Is a psychological operation better/less invasive than other kinds of operations?

Personally, my time at Georgetown has made me more of a realist than I'm sometimes comfortable with. I find myself able to justify all kinds of quasi-ethical operations in the name of national security. What happened to my convictions about liberty??

Ahmadinejad: Iran’s nuclear drive ‘non-negotiable’

More excellent news from the Tehran Times:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview published Friday that he would reject any new incentives offered by world powers in return for suspending uranium enrichment.

Asked about possible incentives that Iran suspend its enrichment activities, Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling Japan’s Kyodo News: “This is a non-negotiable subject.”

He said, “Iran is a nuclear country and has no reason to give up the technology. If there are to be any preconditions, we must propose preconditions.”


Washington Post says:









What are they doing over there? Singing Sweet Caroline?

Aren't safe and Canada the same thing?

So while the Tehran Times is offline - a bit of humor from a "news organization" that doesn't even pretend to be independent from the Islamic Republic:

The Persian Gulf region is the world safest oil supplier, Minister of Oil Gholam-Hossein Nozari said Saturday evening.

He stressed that as a powerful country in the region, "Iran plays essential role in security of the Persian Gulf."
The minister made the remarks after a meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Abdullah al-Badri who arrived in Iran on Friday on a three-day visit.

Persian gulf? Safe? Safer than Nigeria, okay, but safer than Canada??

Fitna or Football

So in the news this week we had blond Dutch parliament member/filmmaker with his incendiary piece "Fitna" which pairs footage from terrorist attacks with quotes from the Koran. So I opened up the Tehran Times, just to see what they had to say today and... nothing? This is the headline photo:


Okay, so those poor girls have to play soccer with all those layers on but... but... I can't help but feel some small amount of hope when I look at the photo.

CORRECTION: Okay, so apparently Tehran Times hasn't been updated in over a week... probably because of Norooz, the Persian new year. My lack of oversight - should have looked at the date.
In other news, interesting that they don't publish at all during the holiday - its not a religious holiday, just a cultural one. Hmm.

Book Report?

Haven't had class in awhile - I really thought we were supposed to show up last Wednesday but there only ended up being about 10 of us so... okay!
Not sure how the book report fits in to the rest of what we are doing with these journals and etc, but I'm just going to jot a few ideas here:
1.) I just finished the Utility of Force by British General Rupert Smith, who led UN forces in the Bosnian and Gulf War conflicts. General Smith looks to "update" the Clausewitzian Trinity to the modern age and extensively looks at the role of the media and the increasingly-involved international community.
2.) Language Shock, by Michael Agar, sits on my shelf (a bookstore purchase that hasn't made it to the top of the queue yet - it's somewhere after Paris: The Secret History and The Fabric of the Cosmos). It claims to be about not taking language for granted - that language is a byproduct of culture. This relates in class to the idea of looking at the foreign media - an English translation of an article, or even an article produced in English but intended for the consumption of a specific audience is very, very different down to the level of the very words...

Tehran Times Still on Vacation

It's still the holidays in Iran and so the Tehran Times is still not publishing.
But here is a cool picture of Shiraz:!عید فطر مبارک