"No, no, you must stay." - 30 years on

The NIAC blog has a link to a video which includes a great exchange between US Ambassador Limbert (at the time a hostage in the US embassy in Tehran) and Ayatollah Khamenei. Here's the money quote:

For non-Farsi speakers, the exchange between Limbert and Khamenei here is incredibly interesting. To paraphrase: Limbert politely welcomed Khamenei, who was being treated as a guest since he was visiting the hostages at their “residence” where they were being held. Limbert remarked about the Iranian cultural quirk known as “taarof,” which characterizes the uniquely Iranian version of hospitality, saying: Iranians are too hospitable to guests in their country, when we insist that we must be going, you all tell us “no, no, you must stay.”

Tehran bazaar, what's changed?

This photo from LIFE magazine's Flickr archive shows that in the last fifty years, something have changed very little. Stepping into the Bazaar-e Bozorg/Grand Bazaar in Tehran today would be like stepping into this photograph. Some of the vendors would have changed and the products, but the hustle and bustle and influence of the bazaaris on Iranian life would still be the same.

The Iranian Revolution 30 years on - the media looks back

Channel 4's Jon Snow looking back at the Iranian Revolution 30 years on, including his own reporting from the US embassy takeover. Iranian.com photo gallery. Iranian film-maker Maziar Bahari on real life in Iran. (More from Channel 4 on Iran here). Other areas of the media maybe have to look back on their reporting and ask themselves if they were as impartial as they should have been. It turns out, that after much soul-searching, the BBC finds it own's reporting was impartial (even if many in the British establishment at the time didn't think so). The BBC also has two reflections on the revolution. And Rageh Omar gets in on the action again...

A bloodless coup?

It is annoying that the BBC feels the need to include even the most reactionary nonsense in it's user-contributed content. Here was have a comment from an article on the Iranian Revolution:

We only wanted the right to live in an Islamic society, where we could practice moderate Islam freely. After voting for democracy in 1953, the Shah continued to run the country in the interests of a minority. The revolution was bloodless and a revolution of the people.

Syed Shah, Tehran ,Iran

A comment as ridiculous as it is untrue. The aftermath of the revolution saw many associated with the Shah rounded up and murdered, collaborators tortured and executed, rebels executed and thousands of political prisoners executed through the next decade.

Photo essay about Iranian nuclear power

The UPI has an interesting photo essay on Iran's nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

Iranian Revolution photo gallery

British newspaper The Times recently added a gallery of photos from the Iranian Revolution to their website. Most of the pictures are depressing, black and white shots of Khomeini, the US Embassy, burning effigies of the Shah, etc. All very out of step with the beautiful multi-colour Iran found on sites like Flickr.