Iranian Madness

Am I the only one who has witnessed a milder, more open attitude in Iran’s regime these days? It feels as though there has been an implicit truce, and relationship between the different stakeholders in the Islamic Republic are thawing.
There have been several examples that point towards this direction, some of them truly remarkable, [...]

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It’s interesting to see the ups and downs of the seemingly never-ending relationship between Iran and Italy.
Not many people know that Italy owns the largest private piece of land in Tehran (and probably in the whole Iran): the ambassador’s residence in Farmanieh, with its flourishing garden of rare trees and its Qajar-style buildings, is [...]

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Non manca la fantasia, in Iran: prima il quotidiano Emrooz, vicino al sindaco di Teheran Mohamed Bagher Ghalibaf, si inventa un logo che ricorda una ballerina stilizzata.
E poi, ovviamente, i bacchettoni conservatori fanno il loro dovere.
L’Iran è bello anche per questo: la battaglia si gioca su molti fronti, alcuni che fanno ridere (amaramente).

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The latest news from the Iranian government, apart from the endless and pointless debate about the nuclear programme, is that they have kicked off laughter classes in Tehran.
The idea may not work, as Robert Tait (perhaps the most competent journalist when it’s about Iran and Iranians) points out. Laughing during Moharram (which will start [...]

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It appears that the people of Iran are starting to have enough of the government and its continuous suppression of the largely peaceful protests that keep gathering a growing number of people in the streets of Tehran.
The institutions take these seriously, so much that they have now revived previous plans to relocate the capital [...]

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It seems that some Iranians were planning a very profitable Indonesian holiday.
It’s not too late for the Iranian government to decide to tackle the enormous drug consumption issue that affects Iran’s youth. Unfortunately, in order to do this they have to change the way the country works. And they don’t seem to be too [...]

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In spite of silence from the main media, it’s quite clear that the Iranians (especially the students) haven’t given up protesting.
The most recent videos depicting Azad university protests can be seen here. Protests keep being reported every now and then (such as in this article), but the restrictions on foreign media reporting mean we [...]

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On a lighter tone, it’s interesting to see how good ideas can be spoilt by poor implementation. And this time it’s involving no less than China, Iran’s largest ally in the nuclear tally (and in the struggle to keep laws that constantly ignore basic human rights).
The issue here is about jeans: the attempt to [...]

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Ecco una bella storia su un giovane qualsiasi, uno dei tanti ingegneri iraniani che pur di scappare da Basij e compagnia non esitano a fare mestieri ben poco consoni alle loro qualificazioni (tassisti, lavapiatti, contadini e via discorrendo).
La storia di Mahmoud, pubblicata dal Giornale di Feltri, è la storia di mille, centomila altri iraniani [...]

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The international media are (understandably) putting less emphasis on the Iranian situation, but nonetheless protests continue.
A few recent events:
1) On 6 August, green activists (supporters of Mirhossein Mousavi) blocked the Modarres Highway (it seems to be the Mirdamad overpass, but I cannot be sure from the pics)
2) Iranians keep shouting “Allah-o-akbar” (God is great) [...]

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