WWJB - Really?

Really nothing to add!


Ramin Talaie
Tehran - Iran

Not a Real "Club"

The daily English newspaper the Tehran Times jumps the gun and announces "Iran Officially Joins the Nuclear Club". I am not sure the officials of the club really welcome Iran nor if there is an "official" club.



Ramin Talaie
Tehran, Iran

Clubbing Nuke Style

Today a passenger in my taxi talking to the driver said “I hear Ahmadinejad is going to deliver some good news in Mashad.” The driver replied I hear the same and wondered out loud what the news was going to be?
Later today when I watched the news I could not believe my ears. President Ahmadinejad, claiming that Iran has been able to enriched uranium for use in its nuclear program. The speech was watched lived in some western countries over other news such as the parliamentary elections in Italy.
Technically this makes Iran a member of a very select group of nations in the so called “nuclear club”. It includes Iran neighbor Pakistan and its enemy Israel.
I feel a lot safer with Iran, India, and Pakistan having the capability to deliver a nuclear warhead but not being able to follow simple traffic regulations.
Some security exports claim this news accelerates the possibilities of military actions against Iran to as early as 2007. Such news has been worrying the older generation in Iran. They have gone through Shah’s CIA backed coup, the Islamic Revolution, the 8-year bloody war with Iraq a long economic recovery and now this.
In Tehran, people have a unified sense about the nuclear issue. It is simply a matter of pride among conservatives and reformists alike. At the same time everyone worries about being in the cross hairs of Pentagon’s next war plan.
Ahmadinejad compared the West's involvement in Iran's nuclear ambitions to the times when Iran wanted to control its own oil.
One issue that is being over looked is the fact that Iran's nuclear program for most part is being supported and built by the Russians. We are approaching the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl's disaster on April 25th.

Is it just me that sees the irony in this?

Ramin Talaie
Tehran, Iran

Motherland

After spending a day in the refer crazy, over-sexed, ultra-liberal Amsterdam, Holland, I arrived at Tehran's Aiport. Upon landing, women who were drinking wine and showing off their latest fashions and blond hair, transformed themselves into acceptable subjects of streets of Tehran. There was a woman sitting next to my row with enough botox in her lips to poison everyone on the plane. Now, she was wearing her hejab, looking even more ridicules with her Angelina Joli (sp?) lips wanna be.
The KLM jet was packed with Iranians from the U.S. and Holland heading to Iran. Everyone seems to have an un-finished business or reclaiming a property they lost during the revolution or something like that.
After going through passport check and picking up my suitcase, I had to pass through another x-ray station. An unprofessional looking man wearing 2-Tomman suite reading a newspaper took his eyes off the pages to check the content of my bag on the monitor. He asked me where I was coming from and what I was carrying. He then directed me to get my bag checked in another section. Everything was out, my underwear and my digital camera perfectly wrapped around one of my white t-shirts. Long story short, I had to explain what an R-BGAN is. That it is not a spy machine. A woman in charge of checking my bag kept asking me if it is a "receiver"? I kept saying NO! I totally could have lied that it was a lap-top, but may be next time. R-BGAN is a satellite transmitter that can work anywhere and get you access to internet.
After half and hour of haggling, they held my R-BGAN at the airport. I have to claim it on my back or show them a freaking "mojavez" (permit), a word which is used quite often in this country.
It all should be fine. I slept most of my first day here and will hit the ground tonight going to a coffee-shop....not like those in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam was cold but Tehran's weather seems just lovely. Spring in Tehran has always been nice but I already feel the heavy polluted air in my lungs.

More from Tehran soon.

Ramin Talaie
Tehran, Iran

Iran World Cup Soccer

This photo gives the word "cup" a whole new meaning to team Iran.

Caption reads: Chinese models wear bikinis with the World Cup soccer designs on during a swimsuit design contest as part of the China Fashion Week in Beijing, China, Saturday, April 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Ramin Talaie
Brooklyn, NY