As all know Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Talking to people I found out her father Ahmad Ebadi was the teacher of Shajarian. You all know who that is, right?? If not, go search, while Iranian items enjoy a momentary upsurge in the news...

Reuters broke the story 15 minutes before the official announcement after the committee called her husband (8:45 local time). IRNA didn't cover it until 15:30. On returning to Iran on Thursday, for me it was like a plug had been pulled on information sources... but they have a net place in the airport now. Iran can't be isolated forever.

Isfahan: it should be the capital! Often I wonder, is that shaking a couple bonking next door or is it the BIG ONE, and it's time to dive under my desk?

Because of all these earthquakes, there are important religious questions to consider! A story all Iranians know concerns Ayatollah Gilani and his television show. (paraphrased from an article there:)

There's a two-story house, a woman is sleeping on the first floor and her
nephew on the second floor. Now if there is an earthquake and the second floor
collapses onto the first floor and the nephew falls on the aunt and she gets pregnant, is
this child a bastard or not?

More Islamic wisdom from Mr Gilani.

Nothing to say now. I know the next crisisweb report on Iran is coming out before October 31. If you read news articles, they say Iran won't make the October 31 IAEA deadline. Sanctions (tahrimha) are coming. Before then is a good time for me to leave Iran, then. I'm going on holidays for a week now...

yas-e-no closed. In Iran now "they" can close papers based on what the paper doesn't publish and where it is not published!

US Government Bill to stop Iranians and others ever coming to US. I couldn't believe it was true so I searched with google "site:gov gresham barett 3075", hmm it was true. It just sounds ridiculous, doesn't the USA want olympiad winners to study at Harvard or MIT anymore? The only prescription I have for people like Mr Barrett is to visit Iran for themselves... it makes as much sense to block people with "hatred in their eyes" or "large, Khomeini-like beards". There's enough stupidity with the passport application process in Iran. I met a guy who said that he grew a beard for his passport in the hope that they would process his application faster! Now he says he really does look like a "terrorist" on his passport!

Don't set understanding of each others' cultures back... people who are motivated enough to try to leave their home country are the people most likely to accomplish the most in their new society. (bill link from comments on freethoughts.)

My driver from Tabriz was happy that in Shahin Dezh he could buy tea from Rayat (in Iraq).

Over the last few days, I visited Tabriz, Qareh Kelisa, and Takht-e-Soleiman. Qareh Kelisa is an extraordinary church located near Maku, far away from anything else. Perhaps only isolated buildings can survive long periods of time, as there were many buildings to see in Tabriz but earthquakes have damaged or destroyed many of the famous ones there.

Takht-e-Soleiman was like Persepolis without bas-reliefs, really. I loved the setting with the lake in the middle. I didn't really understand the significance of the place, but I bought a book there which should help. If you want to visit either of these places on a day trip from Tabriz, it will cost you about $US40 for a round trip, which is 500km or more in both cases. It is good value for foreign tourists!

The car situation in Kabul sounds similar to Tehran - a few are very rich, with the BMWs, Mercedes, and Maximas. (The Maxima had a terrible accident and became a Minima!!) Mahboubeh told me that the Afghan Health Minister Dr Saddiq makes about $13 a day (I think?) so I don't know what kind of government officials they are talking about in the article.

sorry if I didn't get to your email - spam and travel are distracting. another catch-up session soon!

Ali Dizaei was a London poice superintendent born in Iran, cleared of all charges recently after an expensive investigation. Newspapers thrive on controversy so they've interviewed some of his ex-girlfriends. Like mojtaba I find I can't stop reading about it.

Ex-girlfriend Mandy is relieved her traditional Iranian beliefs helped her fight off the twice-wed Casanova cop's romancing. It sounds like he followed the advice on Iranian courtship traditions to a tee. And somehow her ``traditional Iranian beliefs'' didn't stop her from working as a stripper.

Weren't his death threats a crime in the UK? His salary of 52k pounds a year sounds like a lot in London, I don't know if it is in reality.

Politically...

Iran to cut nuclear co-operation. The attitude of the government: Iran is like a cat in the corner, nothing left to do but to attack all comers. This doesn't make sense, but the foreign policy never did to me. It's a diplomatic catastrophe.

Montazeri condemns US embassy seizure. What's wrong with US media, why don't they cover the critics of Iran's government? He also called for immediate renewal of relations with the US government! (links from iranvajahan.)

Wine-drinking women more fertile! If you want children drink up... combined with Iranian food... (picture of today's lunch with cabernet sauvignon soon).

Australian treasurer visits Palestine.

"We've heard their (Palestinian) views," replied Mr Costello. "Obviously as you try to move forward there has to be confidence building, so that both sides can trust each other . . . My view is that you either can or can't crack down on people that support terrorism. It is a funny proposition to say that you will only do it on a conditional basis."

He's right... but ending Israeli assassinations would improve things too, don't you think? Being a diplomat is tricky, everyone interprets what you don't do as well as what you do do.

Based on the names, where would you rather live... a city where all the street names are Shahid (Martyr) This or Shahid That, or a city where the places have romantic names like "Arefan va Asheghan" ("Gnostics and Lovers")? The long-term future of Kabul should be good. The very names are more uplifting than Tehran. At least my friends from Kandahar think so. I've heard that mobile phones in Afghanistan are affordable for normal people!

French travel advice for Kabul: ``avoid the places with strong concentration of expatriates (restaurants, "chicken and flower streets").'' If you can't visit Chicken Street there's no point in going.

Robert Spencer criticised The Economist's survey of Islam. (from iranvajahan.)

"Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good;
it is woman who brings shame and disgrace." --
Jesus son of Sirach, 200 BC.

"Women are not loyal, they possess inferior morals. The most respectable amongst them is still disreputable and the disreputable ones are scandalous, except for the few who under the refuge of god have been saved from corruption." -- Ayatollah Meshkini, 2003.

The men of religion have not come very far in 2200 years...

Deported Iranian admits he lied. It's a story about an Iranian who made up a story in order to get asylum. Many Iranians will do anything, say anything, and forge anything in order to get a visa. I think I've talked about this before. What was surprising about this story is for how long everybody believed it! Also, why did he leave if he had a spare $US5000? He must have had serious delusions about Canada, and was suffering from "the-grass-is-always-greener-on-the-other-side" syndrome. Another lesson is that refugee activists in the West are quite gullible. Who is paying for all the lawyers?

A Western diplomat once said to me: "Iranians have three favourite sports. The third most popular is football, the second is tax fraud, and the first is visa fraud. When Iranians are in Iran, they want to leave, and when they are out of Iran, they want to come back." The story about Ganj Nameh below is about cultural alienation, which explains this strange phenomenon.

Oh no, I didn't update! I didn't go to Khazar Shahr this time. Worse, I went alone to Shush, Choqa Zanbil, and Hamadan. Worse because I had the opportunity to visit Tabriz with a diplomat friend and his friends.

Wednesday lunch I went to Monsoon on Gandhi St and it was 12,800 tomans for 2 people. The place was full of foreigners, maybe only non-Iranians can afford it!!

On Saturday I was at Ganj Nameh near Hamadan. And I heard a girl about 20 say "who was ahura mazda? what country was he from? germany?"

Immediately I told her that I was ahura mazda, and to demonstrate my omnipotence I used my power to throw her off the cliff. Just before she hit the ground I demonstrated my omnibenevolence by having her float down into the water.

The last part didn't really happen but I did laugh!!

Some Swiss tourists are visiting Iran, keeping a German travelogue. They said that parts of the Caspian coast are like a big rubbish zone... on the way back from Hamadan to Tehran I looked out the bus window and I saw plastic bags everywhere, particularly where there were shops.

More shots fired at UK embassy in Iran. There can't be much doubt now this is official policy.

International Universities of Iran

I've heard of four so far. With time, more will open on Kish Island.

• Kish University associated with Monash University. It costs $US6000 a year. (I think: "There's a black economy in Iran, but I'm not part of it. This university must be aimed at the Nissan Maxima/Sinad Coupe driving set.")
  
• Voronezh University in Tehran. This is for North Tehranian flu$h and pro$perou$ people. Learn Russian or English.
  
• International University of Chabahar. A retired English gentleman travels regularly to lecture there. Maybe that's what makes it international? Chabahar is a hot place to live...
  
• American University of Hawaii. Discussions of legitimacy. Perhaps the adjective "American" will make it appeal here... like the American University of Beirut.
  

What's the name of the food court that will open at the top of Milad-e-Noor building in Shahrak-e-Gharb? There's a website with foodcourt.com in the name but I forgot what it was.

I've been having lots of dreams about North Korea the last few nights. It's like "The Call of Cthulhu"!! We will all wake up to a different world when they test the nuclear bomb.

There's a small statue of Hessabi in Tajrish Square... mullahs didn't like it. Martyred mullahs get much more recognition than Iran's most famous scientists. A linguistics professor told me once there's lots of money for missionaries but little for science, anyway the picture is worth 1000 words. See if you can find Hessabi's statue!

Ebrahim Nabavi is as funny as ever, confessing on Voice of America as Mohsen Sazegara and Siamak Pourzand to all sorts of crimes!! He says to the foreign radio station: "Sorry, I can't come, I'm confessing!". Last Friday he was a confused journalist: (realplayer link)

rtsp://a1327.r.akareal.net/ondemand/7/1327/2110/973023381/voice.download.akamai.com/2110/real/voa/nenaf/fars/video/fars1800v0905.rm?start="70:46"&end="77:02"

Where was I last week? I was in Shahroud. Next week maybe I'll bring you a report from Khazar Shahr!!

Khamenei lives in Niavaran, Zahir Shah lives in Wazir Akbar Khan. Therefore, Wazir Akbar Khan is the Niavaran of Kabul.

Comments on a Free Thoughts article explain dating in Iran.

Independent writes about likely culprits in the British Embassy shooting:

But it is more likely that the shootings reflect the struggle for power in Iran and were ordered by hardline religious conservatives eager to provoke the moderate President Mohammad Khatami into tougher action against Britain.

If you live in Chicago, from October 4 to November 2 the Gene Siskel Film Center is showing lots of films which showed at the Fajr Film Festival this year.

($US1 = 8550 rials)