Fakhredin Blog
The posts in this weblog are mainly about history, heritage, language, art, and culture of Persia (that is named Iran since 1934). Persia is, therefore, equal to Iran, and Persian is equal to Iranian. Note that Persian is a nationality not an ethnicity. Pars (or Fars) is the major ethnicity in Persia but there are also Persian Kurds or Arabs. Similarly, the official language in Persia is Persian (Farsi is the local name and may not be used internationally). For more details please read my posts.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Middle East: American version
Ralph Peters, a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, published an article in the August issue of the US Armed Forces Journal. The article named "Blood borders; How a better Middle East would look." In that article, Mr Peters suggested a new map for the Middle East. His basic argument is that the borders that Winston Churchill decided for that region, after the World War I, are "unjust" and "generate more trouble than can be consumed locally." He suggested that the borders should be re-drawn based on the language, religious, and ethnicity of the people living in that region.
The US State Department has rejected suggestions that Washington is planning to redraft the boundaries of the greater Middle East along ethnic and religious lines. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the article by Mr Peters was the work of an individual and did not reflect the views of the US government. Nevertheless, Mr Peters published this idea in his recent book, "Never Quit the Fight." It is also used as a background for another article published in the Dutch newspaper "Touw" on Saturday 30 September 2006.
I think what we should learn from the history is that more borders does not bring peace to people. What brings peace is to learn how to respect each other. Look at the European Union! The borders are fading away, because they are not of any use anymore! If borders could bring solution to people's differences, Churchill's borders would do that. He had definitely his own reasons to draw those lines, and if he was alive, he could defend himself against Mr Peters.
It is very right that people have different social identities (language, religion, etc.), and they all have the right to keep it. A while ago there was a demonstration of Turkish language people in London, asking that Turkish language should be also taught in schools in north-west region of Persia. This is, of course, a very just request, but they were shouting "Down with Persian fascism!" "Down with Persian racism!" What we should learn is that if we want others to respect our social identity, we should also respect theirs. Even if one party do not appreciate this, we should not defend ourselves by disrespecting the other party.
Our goal should be to bring up the message of "dialogue between civilization" and "dialogue between religions." That would be a long term solutions. Otherwise, if we insist on the differences and try to solve it with drawing new lines between people, in 50 or 100 years from now some new troubles will come up, and, for sure, somebody will write an article that "Ralph Peters' borders were unjust and generated more trouble than can be consumed locally!"
* Also available in Persian language
Ralph Peters, a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, published an article in the August issue of the US Armed Forces Journal. The article named "Blood borders; How a better Middle East would look." In that article, Mr Peters suggested a new map for the Middle East. His basic argument is that the borders that Winston Churchill decided for that region, after the World War I, are "unjust" and "generate more trouble than can be consumed locally." He suggested that the borders should be re-drawn based on the language, religious, and ethnicity of the people living in that region.The US State Department has rejected suggestions that Washington is planning to redraft the boundaries of the greater Middle East along ethnic and religious lines. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the article by Mr Peters was the work of an individual and did not reflect the views of the US government. Nevertheless, Mr Peters published this idea in his recent book, "Never Quit the Fight." It is also used as a background for another article published in the Dutch newspaper "Touw" on Saturday 30 September 2006.
I think what we should learn from the history is that more borders does not bring peace to people. What brings peace is to learn how to respect each other. Look at the European Union! The borders are fading away, because they are not of any use anymore! If borders could bring solution to people's differences, Churchill's borders would do that. He had definitely his own reasons to draw those lines, and if he was alive, he could defend himself against Mr Peters.
It is very right that people have different social identities (language, religion, etc.), and they all have the right to keep it. A while ago there was a demonstration of Turkish language people in London, asking that Turkish language should be also taught in schools in north-west region of Persia. This is, of course, a very just request, but they were shouting "Down with Persian fascism!" "Down with Persian racism!" What we should learn is that if we want others to respect our social identity, we should also respect theirs. Even if one party do not appreciate this, we should not defend ourselves by disrespecting the other party.
Our goal should be to bring up the message of "dialogue between civilization" and "dialogue between religions." That would be a long term solutions. Otherwise, if we insist on the differences and try to solve it with drawing new lines between people, in 50 or 100 years from now some new troubles will come up, and, for sure, somebody will write an article that "Ralph Peters' borders were unjust and generated more trouble than can be consumed locally!"
Labels: Persian history
¶ 3:35:00 pm 1 Comments
Thursday, October 05, 2006
"300" is almost ready, "Cyrus" not yet!
The film "300", based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, is a retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite.
There is, however, still no sign of the film "Cyrus," which is going to retell the beauty of the Persian Empire and the order of Human Right at that time, about which I wrote in a previous post in Persian (Cyrus the Great). I hope this film comes out soon. Great actors and actresses are going to play there, such as Sean Connery, Ben Kingsley, Daniel Day-Lewis, Hugh Jackman, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, Edward Norton, Laurence Fishburne, Live Tyler, Robert Downey jnr, ...
* Also available in Persian language
The film "300", based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, is a retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite.There is, however, still no sign of the film "Cyrus," which is going to retell the beauty of the Persian Empire and the order of Human Right at that time, about which I wrote in a previous post in Persian (Cyrus the Great). I hope this film comes out soon. Great actors and actresses are going to play there, such as Sean Connery, Ben Kingsley, Daniel Day-Lewis, Hugh Jackman, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, Edward Norton, Laurence Fishburne, Live Tyler, Robert Downey jnr, ...
Labels: Art, Persian history
¶ 11:52:00 pm 1 Comments
