Apparently there are lots of Persian language weblogs (like this one - by Rasa who likes Celine Dion and opines that "Jewish = people who are against God"). It's a shame that the language barrier seems to prevent the rest of the internet from a first-hand view of what's happening in Iran. And it prevents curious Iranian bloggers from getting a wider view of the world than they probably get from their official media.

Instapundit discusses pro-war pop songs.

About 6 wks ago I was on an airplane in the US where they screened a rock video by some Pearl Jam-like group performing for the troops on a US Navy ship. It struck me that Islamists around the world would be much less likely to mess with the US if they perceived a unified, strong, and youthful American will (in addition to American military and economic strength). Though obviously diversity of will goes together with the diversity of opinion and pursuit of individual interest that characterizes a democracy.

Welcome to visitors coming in from Iran. Please leave a message to let me know if you find my blog interesting.

Also, what do people in Iran think about the war against Iraq?

Here are some messages that I received from Iran one year ago.

The Christian Science Monitor has run a begrudging correction about the caption on its Rachel Corrie photo - which incorrectly indicated that the photo was taken moments before she was run over. But the CSM didn't bother correcting the caption on the web version of the article. (another good summary on Corrie here).

Tommy Lapid of the very secular Shinui party refused to meet with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer because the latter wouldn't agree to meet at the Lapid's ministry in eastern Jerusalem (report).

From a glance at the phone book it appears that the building at issue is the Justice Ministry facility on Salah el Din street - which is a bit north of the the walled city's Damascus gate. I don't make it much to that part of town, but it's two intersections away from "Road one" that leads from downtown towards Jerusalem's northern neighborhoods and the University.

This map (from an anonymous site which offers the standard Jerusalem street atlas with Israeli buildings removed and some streets renamed to Arabic conventions) shows the adjacent Mutran stadium, but omits the Justice building.

Now that the Iraq war is pretty much over, two things will probably happen:

- the gov't will finally tell us that we can dismantle our sealed rooms.
- the Quartet "roadmap" will rise to the top of the global agenda as Britain tries to show "evenhandedness"; and we'll get to see what the new Palestinian leader Abu Mazen is really about