PUBLIC MARKS with tags politics & iran

Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal

an excellent article about Iran's relations with the west.

In one fell-swoop today Iran and their seemingly Napoleonic leader, Ahmadinejad, made everyone in the world further consider the possibility that Bush and Co. are all smoke when it comes to their portrayal of Iran as "warmongering" or set on anything other than than defending itself against proven aggressors. They announced plans to release British POW's as an "Easter" gift. What a coup for these witty Persians. With smiling faces on their captives they presented themselves as fair and appropriately deliberative, if not gracious.

International Women's Day was celebrated on March the 8th all around the world. However, it seems that in some countries, women have very little rights and are constantly abused, raped and treated like second class citizens. This piece talks about the womans rights advocates arrested in Iran and the lashing of a woman in Saudi Arabia

Mehrdad Mashayekhi analyses the new paradigm in Iranian democracy movements: “an epoch-making renaissance” in political culture and discourse