'Who's on first?': Ahmadinejad-Chavez press conference turns into farce
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, self-professed religious millenarian, and Hugo Chavez, Socialist atheist, share a few moments of confusion as they try to sort out the difference between Imam Mahdi, the 12th Imam and Messiah of Shiites, and Imam Reza, the 8th Imam who is buried in the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Iran. Ahmadinejad invited Chavez to come on a pilgrimage to Mashhad. The rest, as they say, is comedic history...(For those unfamiliar with the 'Who's on first?' reference, click here)

Dead protester's mother wants answers: Sohrab Aarabi's mother Parvin Fahimi says she cannot remain s
A dead protester's mother says in a videotaped statement that she is still haunted by key questions more than four months after her son was killed. (video and translation at the end of this report) Sohrab Aarabi disappeared on June 15, 2009, a particularly deadly day for protesters in the streets of Tehran. He was 19. His mother Parvin Fahimi sought him for 26 agonizing days, before the autho

News briefs - Friday 20 November 2009
The Islamic regime has vowed that 7 million Basijis will rally on Friday, November 27, 2009, on the occasion of Basij Week. No official routes have been announced for the day's marches. This follows reports that over 30,000 Basij militiamen were bused into Tehran and paid 400,000 toumans each to counter anti-regime protesters on November 4. This plan was allegedly hatched by the new commander of the Basij, IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, and cost $14 million. Some mobile telephone owners have been randomly receiving SMS messages warning them to stay away from political demonstrations, according to Tabna

The Iran Problem: Hoover Institution discussion with Robert Baer and Victor Hanson
On October 20, 2009, former CIA case officer Robert Baer and war historian Victor Hanson sat down with the Hoover Institution's Peter Robinson for an episode of Uncommon Knowledge starkly titled 'The Iran Problem.' The program revolved around recent events in Iran, the country's nuclear program, and possible outcomes of the nuclear crisis. The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, one of the preeminent think tanks in the United States, is based at Stanford University. The program's inclusion in this bog should in no way be interpreted as an endorsement. I find some assertions by the participants to be questionable.Baer's latest book, 'The Devil

'Eternal is the one whose heart has awakened to love...': Dead Kahrizak witness's speech at graduati
Ramin Pourandarjani, a medical doctor who worked at the notorious Kahrizak detention center died under suspicious circumstances at the age of 26 on Tuesday, November 10, according to Iranian media reports. He had been called as a witness before the special committee investigating the abuse and deaths of post-election protesters and had refused to validate the regime's attempts to whitewash the atrocities. (For a report on Pourandarjani's death, updated at 12:00 PM GMT, Tuesday, 17 November 2009, go here)A new video posted on the Internet shows Pourandarjani giving a speech at his m