Tin Tin in Tehran

from Zartosht Soltani

Early man goes shopping

Banksy is known as a Graffiti artist who hangs his art in famous museum and galleries in London and New York.
Fake prehistoric rock art of a caveman with a shopping trolley has been hung on the walls of the British Museum for three days without being noticed!
His Work on gaza wall were also very impressive, Banksy who has been criticised as an as an irresponsible prankster, risked the bullets of the Israeli security services to stencil nine paintings on to the Palestinian side of Israel's separation wall. They included pictures of children digging a hole, breaking through the wall, and another of a ladder apparently going up the wall and over to the other side. Look Uk Guardian for the pictures and more details!

Norway And Denmark

One month before we got married, Walter, Nasim and me went to Sweden, we loved it so much that we decided to discover Scandinavia further, a year later we went to Helsinki in Finland, and this year we made it to Norway and Denmark.
We flew with Ryanair to Haugesund, and discovered the beautiful nature of Haugeland with its magical landscape - lakes covered with water lilies and hills covered with fragrant wild flowers and snow roses. However, after being shocked by seeing a poisonous rare adder ("Kreuzotter") next to my foot I thought that too much nature is obviously also not so nice!:)
After that we made our way with a bus to a small neat port (Skudeshaven). There we took a ferry and made our way to Stavanger, a small nice city, where we visited the Petroleum Museum. The building was built as a platform, and it was really interesting inside!
From Stavanger we flew with a Norwegian airline in about one hour to Oslo. Walter arranged before that we could stay at Grand Hotel which was a very luxury hotel and situated just in the centre! In this hotel also the nobel prize winners usually stay when they come to Oslo to receive their prices.
I liked Oslo very much, you could see everywhere modern art especially many modern statues.
Another thing that we noticed: There were more small children in Norway and especially in Oslo than in any other capital city I have visted before.
After two days we went further with a big Ferry to Hirtshals in Denmark. The ferry was more and less like a cruiseliner because of it's facilities like big restaurants and bars, swimming pool and night shows!
In Hirtshals we stayed for two nights, the beach was so fantastic and beautiful, I never saw before such a fine white sand, but the weather was a little cool to swim however Walter swam a bit, we walked around and visited the biggest aquarium in Europe there with some cute seals!:)
From Hirtshals we took a train to Aarhus, the second larges town of Denmark where we went to an open air Vikings museum and after that we had a meal in a Vikings restaurant (Walhalla) with a nordic buffet (really good and tasty). We flew back from Aarhus to London and we liked Denmark so much that maybe next year we will go there again!

Good bye Mr. President

Photo from Iran newspaper
As Today is the last day of your 8 years presidency, wanted to tell how I as many other Iranian were Proud that you were our president, however many people think you did not achieved what they expected and criticize you, but in my point of view what is changed during these 8 years is enormous specially by culture and art aspect, with your smile and peaceful attitude, your bright thoughts and your intelligent diplomacy you achieved a lot at International stage.
It is really sad that your time is finished and the thought of your replacer makes it even more difficult!
Thank you for every thing which you have done!

QUEUE

Photo from Jim Rider

DESPRATION AFTER ELECTION

There is a general depressive silence in the space after election, you can feel it even at web, many of weblogs are not updated since then.
I thought as many others there is competition between reformism Dr.Moein and fundamentalist Rafsanjani, any way it won't be so bad.
Neither of us thought the conservative could stand at the peak of power again, those grey years after revolution could repeat again, where happiness and laughing were forbidden, where bright colours as red yellow orange, pink were defined as slutty and were forbidden, where dance and music was forbidden.
where young girls were obligated to wear the darkest and ugliest uniform in the world.
Where speaking about love, being in love and making love was extremely forbidden.
Our young generation , our woman, our writers and journalist fought for along time to get back partially of what which was taken from them.
what happened that we went back again, they speak of cheating in result, however it is happened I believe it, I am so tired and fed up with all dirty bloody politic, what should we do now? Take one Look at traffic system and streets in Tehran to know how liable is this new Mr president ex major, however Tehran had once a very good major who made the city look beautiful, he begun from south part of Tehran ( where is the poor part ) made many parks, culture centres, planted every where beautiful flowers and painted all ugly old buildings after all these work where he ended was not the chair of president but he was put in jail!
I do not think that judging by appearance is right but looking at Iranian president and looking to US president I am afraid that our planet will be soon turned to the planet of apes!!

Paris

For nearly a week we were in Paris mainly because of Air Show which our company had also a stand there,but as our Hotel was situated in centre of town near Notre Dome , we (or mostly I) managed to do easily a lot of sight seeing, we climbed the Eiffel Tower, were at Jardine du Luxemburg and dined with my dear friend Aude,
I shopped at champs-Elysees ,went to Louvre and because of time deficiency looked mostly the Iranian Partthere, remembering what my history teacher at high school said " The most important precious part of Perspolis is not in Iran but in Louvre!" And she was right!
I visited also the Pompidou centre the museum of modern art, I was impressed by the extra ordinary shape of building but honestly I found the most artwork there only hideous and ugly , only a few works looked impressive, but generally the parisians are very tasteful and artistic and that is what you can see in every aspect of general every day life!
The Air Show was also interesting but maybe in my point of view was not very good organized.
At our way back to England , there was a traffic jam(mainly in Air Show area and Paris) that we could not reach our ferry and waited almost 2 hours there for the next one, we were at at 2:30 am at home!

Sean Penn in Tehran

Hollywood actor Sean Penn, adopting the role of a journalist, scribbled in his notebook .(from Reuters)

Iran followed Japan into the 2006 World Cup after a solitary goal

(Photo from BBC)
Thank you guys that you made us happy and proud!
But most of the all compliments to that group of Iranian girls and women who bravely succeed to break the antiwoman law and enter to the football stadium(In Iran women are not permitted into football areas as the government considers stadiums could be an UNHEALTHY environment for them.)

Azadi square in Tehran and freedom chain by fans of Dr.moin the president candidate!

To vote or not to vote?

As the the Iraninan president election gets closer, there is a big concern for Iranians to get involve in election or not, the group who doesn't want to get involve in election argue mostly that in the system of government of Iran the president has not enough power to perform the desired reforms towards democracy, in the past 8 years of presidency of Khatami most of the young generation who elected him with great expectation where disappointed, however the sweet smile of khatami changed a little the image of Iran in world as the International press described him as mullah with friendly face, but he didn't have enough power to make structural Changes toward democracy, there are stills many political prisoner's in Iran and still many writers and journalist and even webloggers are sent to the prison because of statement of their belief,economically in spite of Iran's big oil reservoir and fortune ,there are still many problems with inflation and unemployment.
But in spite of every thing and against all great odds in my point of view when we don't participate in fate of our country we will not be able to change anything, we should accept the changes would be graduate and needs its time, it is easy and fast to destroy but constructing and making progress is more difficult and slowly.
and as far as I am concerned it is important not to let the conservatives take the power again and win.
On the otherhand the situation did get better in compare to the past and the Iran today is not the same which I left in 1996 , at that time I was a young girl whose basic right and freedom was taken away, and I am not sure if I have had lived in today's Iran I would have immigrated to Europe!

Life is beating of earth in our hearts*

I am looking to find you and tell you something interesting that I just read about, and like the most of the time find you standing near the kitchen's window , looking to the our small garden,
waiting for another thin but powerful sprouts to come out from dark & hard earth,
waiting for another bud to forget modesty & shyness and open as a beautiful flower,
waiting for a little playful bird to eat the grain and seed which you prepared,
and waiting for Fefeli the baby squirrel to come and eat the fruit which you put there.
You love all these moments and I love the purity and tenderness of your soul!

Khordad

There is always a hot damp in the weather at the end of the May, ,it is no difference where I am , Tehran, Leoben, Athen or even in London.
And it is a kind of pleasant bringing all sweet memories from the past with it, the smell of Roses in our garden, a bright and sunny classroom with unclear glasses,and the voice of the laughs of school girls who try in spite of long,dark and ugly scarves to make themselves beautiful and disobey school rules with a hidden pink lipstick.
There is an image of dark green big leaves of an old tree which looks through the window inside the classroom and a black board which on it's surface is written by a piece of chalk: " where is the home of friend?"

Alanya/Turkey

As my sister suggested to join her and Rich for a holiday in Turkey , with a price of 250 euro in a 4 star hotel all inclusive +flight, the decision took not longer than 10 minutes and so Walter and me flew on Friday 6/05 to Graz , at the evening we manged to meet our friends Gregor and Tina in Murinsel cafe which had extremly bad loud music so we moved to another cafe!

On Saturday 7/05 we flew to Anatolia with Pegasus a Turkish airways,beside the cheap Price of Ryan air the other advantage is if you fly often with it every other airline feels luxurious!
It took about 2/30 hours to come to Anatolia and there was a bus who picked us up, and brought to our hotel in Alanya,the hotel was neat had a nice swimming pool and was on the beach, for every meal a buffet mostly vegetables and salad was available.
the temperature was about 25 centigrade which was perfect and we swam a lot in the the clear water, one day Walter made us to have a 4/5 hours walk tour to a village near by, the people were very friendly the children gave us flowers and fruit, a mother who was baking bread with her four daughter made us delicious cheese and tomatoes sandwiches with freshly hot baked bread and at our way a woman brought us freshly cut cucumbers and disappeared immediately!
However at the tourist area the people looked a bit greedy and wanted to sell their items even more expensive than in UK in Euro!
At nights there were dancing and music and different kinds of shows at the hotel and we got know some new people and a very friendly homo pair among them.
The seven days passed so quickly and that was time to say goodbye Also the the sun, it is cool and cloudy as usual in London and I still long for a hot summer !

The Breeze of Spring

The Breeze of Spring
It is a long time that I did not write in my blog, the reason was that I was too busy but fortunately in a good way.
to have a push and get a motivation for finishing the refurbishment of our flat and , we decided to throw a birthday party for me which in other hand would distract me from getting older!
So we worked hard again and although the job was not completely finished but nearly! It was nice to have a small party with Nasim, Rich, Gregor,Tina , Erik, who came all from Austria !Thank you again for coming!and some colleges of us! We spend the next day in London and in bad weather we managed to see in one afternoon: Piccadilly circus, Bigben ,Trafalgar square, Tower and Towerbridge..
After 8 years in 21st of March Nasim, my parent and me could begin the new years together again in Graz, we were so happy that made us all tearful!
And it was not all on 25 of March my little sister got married with little brother of Walter:)it was a nice celebration however they will make a bigger one next year !

Nasim and Richard our best wishes for a happy marriage again !
But every body should come at last home, so was I after 3weeks stay in Austria, it was so difficult to say goodbye, by seeing your beloved one there is always the happiness which fills your heart but feels so light and than by saying goodbye there is sadness which makes a deep hole in heart and feels so heavy! so I tried the whole of my back flight not let to my tears to flow with concentrating on seeing Walter again.
now I am again in London busy with work and interior design projects, and as it is spring we try to do a lot especially on weekend which we spend by discovering the beautiful nature and using our membership in National Trust which is for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Dresden a city with Character

Dresden a city with Character
There are cities which when you visit , you have that strange feelings , you feel that the buildings and streets have gone through different periods of times and experienced a lots of ups and downs and have a lot to tell about their history.
And so I felt as we visited ( rather because of a business meeting )Dresden for 2 days before even Walter told me about the history of the city.
It was bitter cold and was snowing but the landscape from the bridge on Elbe to Frauenkirche was so beautiful as we walked to the centre we noticed that there was a shooting for a film about the second war and the night which Dresden was burnt, the people were dressed as in second war and were running away , the old-timer cars and ambulance and smoke... looked at dark snowy night like a time travel to second war, it is more exciting to be in a film scene rather than watching it.
at second day we visited the tropical Island which was a genius Idea to turn a big bankrupted airport for zeppelin to a tropical Island with two big lake with sand and warm water and many different programs from different countries and a musical from Brazil, I found the Idea extremely interesting and after the cold weather 25 C in island was really a luxury

Baradei empört über US-Lauschangriff

Dass er mächtige Feinde hat, weiß IAEA-Chef Mohammed al-Baradei schon lange. Dennoch ist der Uno-Diplomat entsetzt darüber, dass die US-Regierung ihn belauschen ließ, um ihn mit belastendem Material aus dem Amt zu drängen. Die Lektion heißt: Wo Amerika mit Diplomatie nicht weiterkommt, sind Dirty Tricks nicht weit.
Was Mohammed al-Baradei, seit 1997 Chef der Internationalen Atomenergiebehörde (IAEA), da gestern in der "Washington Post" zu lesen bekam, überraschte ihn nicht. "Ich gehe davon aus, dass ich abgehört werde und verhalte mich entsprechend", hatte er schon im März dieses Jahres der BBC anvertraut. "Man fühlt sich nicht besonders gut dabei, weil es eine Verletzung der Privatsphäre ist."

Und doch ist der Ägypter entsetzt und empört, wie Vertraute berichten. Der Diplomat hat sich nicht vorstellen können, dass die US-Regierung illegale Lauschangriffe dazu nutzten wollte, ihn aus dem Amt zu drängen - wenn sich nur etwas Belastendes gefunden hätte.

Die Bush-Regierung will Baradei loswerden, das weiß der 62-Jährige seit langem. Der scheidende amerikanische Außenminister Colin Powell, mit dem er gut kann, hat es Baradei schon vor Monaten gesteckt. Dass die USA aber einen diplomatischen Eklat solcher Größenordnung riskieren würden, hatte Baradei nicht erwartet.

Erst war es nur Anlehnung, inzwischen ist der oberste Atomkontrolleur in Teilen der Bush-Regierung geradezu verhasst: Unvergessen blieb etwa, dass er im Weltsicherheitsrat die angeblich so eindeutigen Beweise für ein wieder aufgenommenes Atombombenprogramm des Irak Stück für Stück auseinander nahm. An einem Schwarzen Brett bei der IAEA hing damals eine Karikatur: Eine Ehepaar versprach sich die Treue - bis zum Auffinden der Massenvernichtungswaffen im Irak.

Baradei hörte nicht auf, sich mit dem mächtigsten Mitgliedsland seiner Organisation anzulegen: Die Pläne von US-Präsident George W. Bush, neue, kleine Atombomben entwickeln zu lassen, kritisierte er als Verstoß gegen den Geist des Atomwaffensperrvertrages. Und das Weiße Haus sieht in ihm den Urheber einer Geschichte, die Bush kurz vor dem Wahltag in schwere Bedrängnis brachte: Von der IAEA versiegelte Sprengstoffdepots im Irak waren geplündert worden, weil die US-Armee sich nicht um deren Schutz kümmerte. Baradei weist die Anschuldigungen zurück.

Dass der einstige Präsident der ägyptischen Anwaltsvereinigung so hartnäckig darauf besteht, dass auch die mächtigen USA sich an die Regeln halten, hat ihm in Europa und in der Dritten Welt viel Glaubwürdigkeit verschafft. Aus der einst oft allzu nachsichtigen IAEA, die sich von Schurkenstaaten leicht austricksen ließ, hat er eine hoch motivierte und erfolgreiche Detektivtruppe gemacht: Bodenproben, Wischtests, bohrende Fragen - der einst ein bisschen schlampige und allzu nachlässige Polizist ist ein echter Cop geworden.

Die Zeiten werden noch schwer, prophezeit Baradei. Die Atomkrisen um Nordkorea und Iran sind nicht ausgestanden. Große Sorge macht ihm, dass Terroristen Massenvernichtungswaffen in die Hände bekommen könnten. "Wenn für mich im November 2005 Schluss ist, kann ich endlich mein Golf-Handikap verbessern", hat er unlängst gesagt. Aber solche demonstrative Gelassenheit muss man ihm nicht abnehmen. Baradei, der 1984 als Beamter bei der IAEA begann, will weitermachen.

Er hat erkannt, wie groß in der Welt nach dem Debakel um die angeblichen Massenvernichtungswaffen im Irak das Interesse an einem Schiedsrichter, einem ehrlichen Makler ist. "Die Menschen wissen, dass unsere Arbeit den Unterschied zwischen Krieg und Frieden ausmachen kann", sagt er.

Mit ihrer Kritik an dem IAEA-Chef sind die USA ziemlich allein. Den meisten Staaten gilt Baradei als Glücksfall an der Spitze der Atomenergiebehörde. Auch die Bundesregierung hat dem IAEA-Chef schon Unterstützung für eine erneute Kandidatur zugesagt.

Alle Versuche amerikanischer Diplomaten, Unterstützung für Gegenkandidaten zu organisieren, sind bisher gescheitert. Weder die beiden von Washington genannten japanischen Diplomaten noch der australische Außenminister Alexander Downer würden bei einer Kampfabstimmung gegen Baradei siegen können. Die jetzt enthüllte Bespitzelung wird Baradei nur noch mehr Sympathien eintragen - seine Ablösung droht für die US-Regierung endgültig eine mission impossible zu werden.

Mehr Abstimmung und weniger Konfrontation hat Bush in seiner zweiten Amtszeit versprochen. Der Abhörskandal lässt eine andere Schlussfolgerung zu: Wo Amerika mit Diplomatie seine Ziele nicht durchsetzen kann, muss weiter mit Dirty Tricks gerechnet werden.
von Spiegel

Shirin Ebadi: Attacking Iran would bring disaster, not freedom

Condoleezza Rice has given assurances that a military attack by the United States on Iran "is simply not on the agenda at this point".

But notwithstanding Rice's disavowal, recent statements by the Bush administration, starting with President Bush's State of the Union address and Vice President Dick Cheney's comments about a possible Israeli military attack on Iran, are reminiscent of the rhetoric in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

And Rice herself made clear that "the Iranian regime's human rights behaviour and its behaviour toward its own population is something to be loathed."

American policy toward the Middle East, and Iran in particular, is often couched in the language of promoting human rights. No one would deny the importance of that goal. But for human rights defenders in Iran, the possibility of a foreign military attack on their country represents an utter disaster for their cause.

The situation for human rights in Iran is far from ideal. Security forces harass, imprison and even torture human rights defenders and civil society activists. The authorities attack journalists and writers for expressing their opinions and regularly shut down newspapers. Political prisoners languish in jails. Superfluous judicial summonses are routinely used to intimidate critics, and arbitrary detentions are common.

But Iranian society has refused to be coerced into silence. The human rights discourse is alive and well at the grassroots level; civil society activists consider it to be the most potent framework for achieving sustainable democratic reforms and political pluralism. Indeed, readers might be surprised to know how vigorous Iran's human rights organisations are. Last autumn, when security forces unlawfully detained more than 20 young journalists and bloggers because of what they had written, independent Iranian organisations like the Centre for Defence of Human Rights, the Association of Journalists for Freedom of Press, and the Students Association for Human Rights campaigned for their release.

This outcry, in tandem with support from the international community and organisations such as Human Rights Watch, led to the release of detainees. In fact, so great was the criticism that some of Iran's most senior government officials came out in favour of releasing the detainees.

Independent organisations are essential for fostering the culture of human rights in Iran. But the threat of foreign military intervention will provide a powerful excuse for authoritarian elements to uproot these groups and put an end to their growth.

Human rights violators will use this opportunity to silence their critics by labelling them as the enemy's fifth column. In 1980, after Saddam Hussein invaded Iran and inflamed nationalist passions, Iranian authorities used such arguments to suppress dissidents.

American hypocrisy doesn't help, either. Given the long-standing willingness of the American government to overlook abuses of human rights, particularly women's rights, by close allies in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, it is hard not to see the Bush administration's focus on human rights violations in Iran as a cloak for its larger strategic interests.

Respect for human rights in any country must spring forth through the will of the people and as part of a genuine democratic process. Such respect can never be imposed by foreign military might and coercion - an approach that abounds in contradictions.

Not only would a foreign invasion of Iran vitiate popular support for human rights activism, but by destroying civilian lives, institutions and infrastructure, war would also usher in chaos and instability. Respect for human rights is likely to be among the first casualties.

Instead, the most effective way to promote human rights in Iran is to provide moral support and international recognition to independent human rights defenders, and to insist that Iran adhere to the international human rights laws and conventions that it has signed.

Getting the Iranian government to abide by these international standards is the human rights movement's highest goal; foreign military intervention in Iran is the surest way to harm us and keep that goal out of reach.

Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is the founder of the Centre for Defence of Human Rights in Tehran
from The Independent 19 February 2005

HEAVY SNOW IN TEHRAN

Rice or Chuckey?

from DAILY MIRROR, saturday2.5.2005
CHANGING CONDOLEEZZA INTO CHUCKY IS CHILD'S PLAY
FOR TURNING?The US voice of diplomacy is easily transformed into evil doll Chuckey from Child's Play horror films!