This time Farhadi's camera is pointed not at the hypocrisies of life in the Islamic Republic but at the darker consequenes of easy-breezy serial monogamy in the secular West. It’s oddly bracing to have an artist come out of a society that we know he finds overly repressive, and immediately make a film that essentially accuses supposedly liberated Westerners of behaving like a bunch of spoiled children, and of poisoning the next generation with our reckless misbehavior. Mind you, “The Past” is a complex drama that can’t be boiled down to that one theme, and anyway the squabbling middle-class couple in “A Separation” inflicted plenty of damage on that adorably precocious preteen daughter of theirs. It’s not as if Farhadi is preaching either morality or religion. Islam played a role in “A Separation” mainly as a marker of class differentiation, and while several of the characters in “The Past” come from Muslim backgrounds, religion is never mentioned.

Continue Reading...

Carl Bernstein, famed investigative journalist who broke the story on the Watergate scandal with Bob Woodward, appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and declared this is a “matter of policy.” It goes right up to the president and the people who surround him, the very officials who have waged an unprecedented war on whistle-blowers and leaks.

He also explained, “The object of it is to try and intimidate people who talk to reporters, especially on national security matters. National security is always the false claim of administrations trying to hide information that people ought to know.”

Over 100 Journalists’ Phone Communications Collected

Continue Reading...

This could be Tehran, or what’s left of it, just after an Israeli nuclear strike.

Iranian cities -- owing to geography, climate, building construction, and population densities -- are particularly vulnerable to nuclear attack, according to a new study, “Nuclear War Between Israel and Iran: Lethality Beyond the Pale,” published in the journal Conflict & Health by researchers from the University of Georgia and Harvard University. It is the first publicly released scientific assessment of what a nuclear attack in the Middle East might actually mean for people in the region.

Continue Reading...

Inside Syria, the regime’s forces have started an ethnic cleansing campaign in the west intended to clear Sunnis from areas its Alawite supporters want to secure for themselves. The regime has also successfully pushed south toward the Jordanian border. In much of the rest of the country, there is lots of fighting but only marginal changes in the confrontation lines, which run through many urban areas, or between the urban centers and the countryside. Almost 7 million Syrians are now thought to need humanitarian assistance. The number could rise dramatically during the rest of the year.

Secretary Kerry’s visit to Moscow this week revived, once again, hopes for a negotiated settlement. He and the Russians agreed to try to convene a conference, even before the end of the month, that would include both the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime. The prospect of this conference will relieve President Obama of any need for a quick decision on unilateral action in Syria, since it would hardly be appropriate to preempt the conference. That is likely what both the Russians and the Americans wanted: more time.

Continue Reading...

Law enforcement officials in the U.S. said the target was a train that runs between New York City and Canada. Canadian investigators say Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, received guidance from members of al-Qaida in Iran. Iranian government officials have said the government had nothing to do with the plot.

"My comment is the following because all of those conclusions were taken out based on criminal code and all of us know that this criminal code is not a holy book," Esseghaier said at the hearing Wednesday. "We cannot rely on the conclusions taken out from these judgments."

The judge told him to "save that for another court," and take the advice of his lawyers. He was given a May 23 court date.

Charges against the two men in Canada include conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group. Police — tipped off by an imam worried by the behavior of one of the suspects — said it was the first known attack planned by al-Qaida in Canada. The two could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Continue Reading...

Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, had "direction and guidance" from al-Qaida members in Iran, though there was no reason to think the planned attacks were state-sponsored, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said Monday. Police said the men did not get financial support from al-Qaida, but declined to provide more details.

"This is the first known al-Qaida planned attack that we've experienced in Canada," Superintendent Doug Best told a news conference. Officials in Washington and Toronto said it had no connections to last week's bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday that there is no evidence of any Iranian involvement and groups such as al-Qaida have "no compatibility with Iran in both political and ideological fields."

Continue Reading...

State-run Press TV is reporting that at least 40 people were killed in the quake, which hit in Sistan and Baluchistan province on the border with Pakistan.

Pakistani officials told Reuters that at least five people died in Pakistan, reportedly a family whose house collapsed on top of them, while hundreds of buildings were damaged.

One Iranian official said it was the biggest tremor to hit the country in 40 years, and "we are expecting hundreds of dead."

Iran's Seismological Center measured the quake at 7.5 on the Richter scale, though the US Geological Survey put it higher, at 7.8. It struck at a depth of 9.4 miles, according to the USGS.

Continue Reading...

The development came just days after another round of talks with world powers seeking to limit Tehran's atomic program ended in a stalemate.

Iran already has uranium mines and the ability to turn the raw ore into a material called yellowcake, which is the first step in the enrichment chain. But the new facilities — the country's largest uranium mine and processing facility — give Tehran more self-sufficiency over the raw materials and underscore Iran's drive to expand its nuclear capacities even as world powers press for concessions.

Iran and the six-nation group — the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany — remain stalemated after the latest round of talks last week over efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said the "door was still open" for a negotiated pact with Iran, but urged Tehran's leaders to take the first steps to address international concerns that they could seek nuclear weapons.

Continue Reading...

1) "I have made the position of the United States of America clear: Iran must not get a nuclear weapon. This is not a danger that can be contained. As President, I have said to the world that all options are on the table for achieving our objectives. America will do what we must to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran."

2) "One thing is certain. The United States should never allow Iran to threaten the world with a nuclear bomb."

Continue Reading...

To begin with, any time you fly anywhere for the fun of it, the resultant carbon spillage pollutes your friendship with the environment. As somebody who has been writing about travel for most of the last 20 years, I’m more guilty in this area than most. And the idea of buying offsets doesn't make me feel any less responsible. Instead, I tell myself that by traveling we widen our minds, and as Americans abroad, we might be helping spread wealth and perhaps bringing home a lesson or two.

But that means paying attention when you plan a trip, and understanding where your money is going, what the local labor laws are, and how American tourism dollars might do some good. Some trips make me feel less guilty than others, and that's usually because I've done some easy homework before leaving home.

Let's start right here: If you’re sleeping in a hotel, any hotel, and not tipping the maid $2 a night or more, you’re not entitled to complain about anybody’s exploitation of anybody anywhere. Wherever you are in the world, Detroit to Djibouti, you can be sure that generously tipping the maid is going to help the working poor get richer. There are no political complications, no middle man, just you, your wallet, the top of the dresser, and the person who will be dusting that dresser-top in an hour or two.

Continue Reading...

The Stuxnet worm targeted cascades and centrifuges at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant . The attacks by Stuxnet are thoughts to have set back Tehran's nuclear program by an estimated three years, but neither U.S. nor Israeli governments have admitted to a role developing the cyberweapon.

Via Wired:

The 20 experts who produced the study were unanimous that Stuxnet was an act of force, but were less clear about whether the cyber sabotage against Iran’s nuclear program constituted an “armed attack,” which would entitle Iran to use counterforce in self-defense. An armed attack constitutes a start of international hostilities under which the Geneva Convention’s laws of war would apply.

Continue Reading...

Satrapi's bestselling novel, which in 2007 was adapted to film, is part political history and part memoir, and recounts the author's experiences as a girl growing up in Iran during an unsure era of Marxism, war and increasingly Western influences. Ironically, the book revolves around issues of identity, freedom and expression.

After facing backlash from schools, the district eased the ban and decided to remove it only from seventh grade classrooms. But the Chicago Teachers Union describes this move as "Orwellian." From the Guardian:

Continue Reading...

His arrival in Tel Aviv has fulfilled on that front: Obama hugged Bibi and cracked a joke about getting away from Congress. Then, even before heading off from Tel Aviv airport, Obama visited a missile battery that is part of Israel's U.S.-back Iron Dome missile defense system -- it was a well choreographed nod to U.S. commitment to Israeli security.

Obama's trip -- the first to Israel as president -- is understood to be an effort to reassure Israel of U.S. support, especially when it comes to Iran. Syria's civil war will also top discussion agendas between Obama and Netanyahu. Expectations for progress on the Israel-Palestine peace process are very low indeed.

Iran:

Bibi is once again expected to push Obama to define a "red line" for Iran's nuclear ambitions that, if crossed, would incur military intervention. And even the symbolism alone of Obama's visit could send a significant message to Tehran -- that despite the icy relationship between Netanyahu and the U.S. president, America and Israel remain unshakeable allys. (In speeches Wednesday, Netanyahu spoke of the “unbreakable alliance,” Obama the “unbreakable bond.”)

Continue Reading...

That’s the question I got everywhere I turned these past few days. I suppose it was a natural question to ask, seeing as I had been a high profile speaker at the conference in 2009 as a thirteen year-old conservative wunderkind, before renouncing conservatism last year. So my return this year was an object of fascination to many.

The answer to the question is: No, it didn’t feel weird. I mean, I guess it should have, but it didn’t. In a way going back to CPAC seemed like going back home and visiting your old libertarian friend from high school: it’s pretty predictable, there’s a familiarity to the situation, you know the kind of stuff she’s going to say, you never know exactly how (or why) she says the stuff she says (and neither does she, in all likelihood), and so long as you don’t talk politics and just listen, you’ll be fine.

Continue Reading...

Just days before he is to arrive in Israel for his first presidential visit, Obama told Israel's Channel 2 TV that while he still prefers diplomacy over force, but that a nuclear Iran is a "red line" and all options remain on the table to stop it.

"Right now, we think it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously we don't want to cut it too close," he said. "So when I'm consulting with Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) as I have over the last several years on this issue, my message to him will be the same as before: `If we can resolve it diplomatically that is a more lasting solution. But if not I continue to keep all options on the table.'"

The timeline for action against Iran has been one of the most fraught disputes in an already tense relationship between Obama and Netanyahu. Israel has repeatedly threatened to act militarily should Iran appear to be on the verge of obtaining a bomb, while the U.S. has pushed for more time to allow diplomacy and economic sanctions to run their course.

Continue Reading...

The talks come after officials dismissed the film about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, calling it anti-Iran propaganda in February, and again taking issue with Michelle Obama's presentation of the best picture award to "Argo" at the Oscars ceremony. The lawsuit would allege that "Argo" gives an "unrealistic portrayal" of the country, but it's not clear yet specifically whom the lawsuit would target.

As of January, the Iranian government has been working on its own retelling of the crisis, called "The General Staff."  According to the Hollywood Reporter, the project is being liberally funded by the Art Bureau of the Iranian government.

Continue Reading...

"President Barack Obama is not bluffing," he said.

In a prelude to Obama's upcoming trip to Israel — his first as president — Biden told a powerful pro-Israel lobby that the U.S. doesn't want a war with Iran, but that the window for diplomacy is closing. He said prevention, not containment, is the only outcome the U.S. will accept.

But in a sign the U.S. is still reluctant to embroil itself in another Mideast military effort, Biden cautioned more than 13,000 Israel supporters at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual conference that if Israel or the U.S. acts too hastily, without exhausting every other reasonable option, they could risk losing the backing of the international community.

"That matters because God forbid we have to act, it's important that the rest of the world is with us," Biden said to muted applause.

Continue Reading...

With prominent liberal Democrats already signing on, AIPAC's lobbying heft will likely propel a bill that, in Congressional sentiment at least, commits the U.S. to active support of a potential Israeli attack that experts think could have consequences as grave as further destabilization in the region, adverse global economic consequences, and even a hardening of Iranian resolve to get a weapon.

Continue Reading...

In 2010, the Iranian government deemed Panahi's work anti-government propaganda and imposed a 20-year ban on his filmmaking. Panahi, however, carefully circumvented the ban in 2011 with his "This is Not a Film" (a nod to Magritte's "This is Not a Pipe") and followed it with "Closed Curtain," a film about a group of people being persecuted by government officials. The movie, largely considered to be a critique of the Iranian government, incensed Iranian officials after it won best screenplay at the Berlin Film Festival. Iranian cinema chief and deputy culture minister Javad Shamaqdari said, "Making these films is illegal," according to the ISNA news agency.

With passports confiscated, Partovi and Moghadam will not be able able to go abroad to promote the film, and Panahi remains under house arrest.

Continue Reading...

Fittingly, his movie portrays a group of people trapped in a villa, evading government authorities.

"We have protested to the Berlin film festival organisers," Iranian cinema chief and deputy culture minister Javad Shamaqdari told the ISNA news agency. "We believe that the Berlin fest organisers should correct their behaviour. Everyone knows that making a film and sending it outside the country needs permission." He added that, "Making these films is illegal, but so far the Islamic republic has shown patience towards such illegal acts."

Continue Reading...