Controversy over the Evolution theory

An Iranian highly-visited news website, Khabar Online, has published a translation of a story from sciencedaily.com that says human walking may have originated millions of years ago as an adaptation to carrying scarce and high-quality resources.

This story brought serious discussion on its comments, some users rejected the evolution theory as a 'Darwin's bullshit' and some others admitted the theory and wrote Muslims' holy book Qur'an 'does not reject the evolution theory'.

Tehran is the new Battlefield

Two weeks after the release of Battlefield 3, Iranian users seem to be excited and thrilled about the video game which is happening in their own homeland, along the rumors on a possible real attack on Iran

The Battlefield 3 (commonly abbreviated to BF3) is a first-person shooter video game which takes place at various locations including Iran. The story happens in 2014 to stop a nuclear threat in Tehran.

The game is released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The international market which welcomed the game and reached a 10 million sell in first week of release due to its two successful previous versions.

Various Iranian online users has said the the game is “banned” in Iran.

Iranian market is not responsible about copy right concerns and although none of major game publishers have any official distribution in Iran, Iranian youth follow the famous video games just like their other fellow-youth in the world. They can buy the games on CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray, almost once they got released.

But it seems that they have problems in finding Battlefield 3 in its plot location.

At the same time Iranian young users have shown excitement, surprise and anxiety to this video game in various online reactions.


Amin says [Fa] on twitter:

I didn’t find Battlefield 3 anywhere. They have sealed a shop for selling it. No one here dare to sell it.

Another user from Tehran, AtalMatal tweeted [Fa] that playing Battlefield 3 “have a legal prosecution” in Iran.

Milad Abadani, an Iranian user on Friendfeed, says that this ban is “unofficial” and is because of the plot which takes place in Iran and Tehran.

There are some regulations for official distribution of video games in Iran but this is rare for them to be banned. This game is banned and there has been a few other games like it; but this is not officially announced so there is no list of this banned games in Iran.

However this video game has reached to its players in Iran with the benefit of broadband Internet access on online shops. Iranian users have downloaded it through torrent and direct download servers or have ordered it online to have it as soon as other world players.

Even some online users like Baha Firuzi believe [Fa] that this ban has encouraged Iranian youth to have the game and play it.

The coincidence of release of this game with rumors of an impending Israeli or American military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, made the game more significant to Iranian users. Iranian bloggers have reacted to this reports.

Ali Agha, a Toronto-based Iranian user on Friendfeed, shared a link to a demo video of the game and commented [Fa] this video game shows that “how they work on bean minds of Iranian teenagers. Be careful.”

Masoud Saedi, Iranian tweeted [Fa]:

I watched the demo of Battlefield 3. I’m thrilled. This is the soft-war which they say. We are the terrorists.

“Afsoon”, A Persian blog which writes about IT, softwares and geek things, in a brief introduction on the video game describes [Fa] it as a “childish dream of America for an easy invade of Iran”.

Golsaw, an Iranian citizen who seems to be based in UK, tweeted [Fa]:

I’m frightened to shake when I see the ads of Battlefield on buses: war in Iran.

At the same time Ali is excited about having major highways of Tehran in the game route in his tweet [Fa], and Matin tweeted [Fa]

That makes you lough when they swear in Persian in Battlefield.

Nima says [Fa] on twitter:

Battlefield is great. In all the aspects. There is a moment in it that you fly with a F18 from Persian Gulf to the Mehrabad airport for a raid. This is the maximum of excitement.

Ali Nazifpour, an Iranian blogger who is a professionally writes about video games in his blog Gaming Symmetry, believes [Fa]:

Battlefield 3 portraits a very inaccurate, ridiculous picture of Iran. [The developers] haven’t discarded the incorrect stereotypes which is repeated a lot.

He writes from Tehran:

This game has come out in a very sensitive time. Iran has never been so stormy. Iranians feel the threat of war, and this game has come out at the wrong time, to say the least.

And this blogger says he’s “worried sick” after hearing about Battlefield 3.

Arash Kamangir, a prominent Persian blogger, reminds this is not the first video game which happens in Iran. There was even some games in an opposite scenario, he says.

This blogger believes [Fa]:

There is no doubt this is not coincidental that this video game takes place in Iran, but US defense ministry is not the owner or the share-holder in EA (the developer of this game) and making some teenagers got involved to this game, is not "preparing the public opinion" about a war.

This Toronto-based Iranian blogger believes that assuming Battlefield 3 as a "PR for war" is simplifying the relations in a complex world".

Asad Zamini, another Iranian blogger, in reaction to Kamangir, writes that he is "passive to a war position against his country".

ّAsad, who has been supporting protests in Iran, writes:

Video games should grant a license to be published. Military industries influence such kill-kill games. US army deploy such games to recruit people.

In another reaction to Battlefield 3 and Kamangir post on it, Amir Masoud in his Persian blog Lemonasion says:

Yes, Kamangir is true. There is no evidence that proves US defence ministry has any share in the company which publishes this game. But it doesn't mean that this video game is an aimless or casual project.

This Isfahan-based blogger argues:

Yes, may be there is no conspiracy behind this game, but as an Iranian we should always oppose such a scenario in which our country is occupied or our fellow-citizens are killed. And we should object it.

ّAn state-run Iranian youth magazine has lunched an online petition to object Battlefield 3 for putting a “false” image of Iran.

Hamshahri Javan, which is published by Tehran municipality, put an statement on its website [Fa] and on ipetitions.com [En] which reads:

We fully comprehended that this game is created for fun purposes only and is just a game... [But] the US is manipulating the media throughout the world and is influencing the public perception of Iran. Battlefield 3 paints a negative, brutal and unrealistic picture of what our country truly is.

This Iranian youth magazine urges EA the developer of this video game for:

a written apology to acknowledge our displeasure… as well as a formal statement to the gaming industry audience, stating that this game is not in any shape or form a representative of our civilised and modern culture and has been made purely for entertainment purposes.

This petition received hundreds of signatures in first hours.

The talks about this game in Persian cyberspace has been so much that once the reports about the possible attack on Iran got published, some Iranian users compared it to Battlefield 3.

Landehour on Friendfeed compares Iranians’ discussions in this social website the game: Is this Friendfeed or the Battlefield?

Milad Abadani believes that such a game is a preparation for a real war on Iran.

And in a unique and different approach Mehri, an Iranian mother, asks on twitter:

Is Battlefield good to learn defying against America?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_3
(commonly abbreviated to BF3) is a first-person shooter video game which takes place at various locations including Iran. The story happens in 2014 to stop a nuclear threat in Tehran.
The game is released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The international market which welcomed the game and reached a 10 million sell
http://bf3blog.com/2011/10/battlefield-3-ships-10-million-copies/
in first week of release due to its two successful previous versions. At the same time Iranian young users have shown excitement, surprise and anxiety to this video game in various online reactions.
Various Iranian online users has said the the game is “banned” in Iran.
Iranian market is not responsible about copy right concerns and although none of major game publishers have any official distribution in Iran, Iranian youth follow the famous video games just like their other fellow-youth in the world.
They can buy the games on CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray, almost once they got released.
But it seems that they have problems in finding Battlefield 3 in its plot location..
AminBZ says on twitter:
https://twitter.com/aminbz/status/133136169679593472
I didn’t find Battlefield 3 anywhere. They have sealed a shop for selling it. No one here dare to sell it.
Another user from Tehran, AtalMatal says on twitter that
https://twitter.com/AtalMatal/status/134730364412379136
playing Battlefield 3 “have a legal prosecution” in Iran.
Milad Abadani, an Iranian user on Friendfeed, says:
http://friendfeed.com/rafighebikalak/d1988098
that this ban is “unofficial” and is because of the plot which takes place in Iran and Tehran.
But this video game has reached to its players in Iran with the benefit of broadband Internet access on online shops. Iranian users have downloaded it through torrent and direct download servers or have ordered it online to have it as soon as other world players.
Even some online users like Baha Firuzi believe
https://twitter.com/Bahaaa1989/status/134326499301007360
that this ban has encouraged Iranian youth to have the game and play it.
The coincidence of release of this game with rumors of an impending Israeli or American military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, made the game more significant to Iranian users.
Iranian bloggers have reacted
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/11/08/iranbloggers-react-to-military-strikes-rumors
to this reports, but users who have been playing Battlefield 3 have shown interest in this aspect of this game.
Ali Agha, a Toronto-based Iranian user on Friendfeed, linking to a demo video of the game, believes
http://friendfeed.com/aliagha5/b7f93a9f
this video game shows that “how they work on bean minds of Iranian teenagers. Be careful.”
Masoud Saedi, Iranian tweeted:
https://twitter.com/masud_saedi/status/132187758956527616
I watched the demo of Battlefield 3. I’m thrilled. This is the soft-war which they say. We are the terrorists.
“Afsoon”, A Persian blog which writes about IT, softwares and geek things, in a brief introduction on the video game, describes it as a “childish dream of America for an easy invade of Iran”.
http://www.afson01.com/archives/4158
Golsaw, an Iranian citizen who seems to be based in UK, tweeted:
https://twitter.com/Golsaw/status/133945953987198977
I’m frightened to shake when I see the ads of Battlefield on buses: war in Iran.
At the same time Ali is more excited about having major highways of Tehran in the game route in his tweet,
https://twitter.com/abbasinasab/status/131855059205099521
and Matin tweeted
https://twitter.com/alsen2120/status/134285005663903745
“that makes you lough when they swear in Persian in Battlefield".
Nima says on twitter
https://twitter.com/NimBold/status/132227123380359169
Battlefield is great. In all the aspects. There is a moment in it that you fly with a F18 from Persian Gulf to the Mehrabad airport for a raid. This is the maximum of excitement.
The talks about this game in Persian cyberspace has been so much that once the reports about the possible attack on Iran got published, some Iranian users compared it to Battlefield 3.
Landehour says on Friendfeed compares
http://friendfeed.com/landehour/4ecdcfa9
Iranians’ discussions in this social website the game: Is this Friendfeed or the Battlefield?
Milad Abadani believes
http://friendfeed.com/rafighebikalak/355ef691/feature-player_embedded-3
that such a game is a preparation for a real war on Iran.
And in a different approach Mehri, an Iranian mother, asks:
https://twitter.com/#!/Mehribanooo/status/134244806976208896
Is Battlefield good to learn defying against America

Iranians disappointed with ‘Gooder’ changes

New changes in Google Reader made many Iranian users surprised.

On the last day of October 2011, Google changed its services on Reader and integrated it with Google+, which had announced 10 days ago in advance.

Iranian users of Google Reader (who call it Gooder in abbreviation) has been objecting and protesting the Google‘s decision to reduce some social features from Reader and integrate it with Google+.

There has been the same objection from other users as well but it seems that Iranians has been more motivated to put their objection.

They put tens of comments on a post by Google’s Alan Green declaring the impending changes.

Iranians has been suffering a harder crackdown on media and cyberspace especially after the 2009 protests. The government has closed down some papers and made the internet censorship tighter. The filtering which doesn’t allow Iranian users to open Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, and any opposition news websites.

Even Google Reader has been blocked in Iran for many times, mostly during 2009 protest days, but this map shows Gooder has been the most popular website in Iran, although lots of users who surf the net with VPN or proxies and Iranians abroad are not counted.

Amirhm.com, Iranian blogger, says

Google Reader matters for Iranians” and integrating it with Google+ “will make it like any already available and banned website like facebook.

Google Reader with its removed social features has been something more than a Feed Reader and users could collaborate in reading with sharing options; which is not the same as other social services like Facebook or Friendfeed.

Even a pro-government newspaper in Iran, Haft-e Sobh did a full story on this changes in Gooder; with a title which reads [Fa]: A requiem for Gooder.

Amirhm.com writes:

In a country which all social websites and video or image sharing services and all international Persian news and all other non-governmental news website are banned, Google Reader acts like a social websites in lack of any independent news source and like a news spreading website.

The other upset users also suggest that after disputed June 2009 presidential election in Iran, developed an strong community for spreading the news.

In Iran, Google Reader has been acting more like an undercover media outlet and even there has been some services for Iranians based on Gooder; namely Likekhor which was counting the most shared and the most liked items on Gooder.

Due to this stats service, VahidOnline is one of the most popular Gooder user among Iranian users with almost 7700 followers.

He used to act like a hub for spreading and sharing the news from different sources like many other popular users.

While Iranian blog services ought to apply Iranian regime rules for their content censorship, “foreign” Blog services like Blogger.com and Wordpress.com are blocked in Iran, and that’s why many Persian blogs depend on Google Reader to be read and many user put notes in Gooder, like a blog.

Arman Amiri, Iranian blogger on Divanehsara, in a note in Google Reader implies with humor that [Fa]:

Google is shaking hands with censorship chiefs in Iran.

Another Gooder user and blogger, Kathy says [Fa]: It is like being after bombing attack warning alarm [during Iran-Iraq war]; everybody is waiting to see when then destroy here…

There were also some Iranian users who are welcoming these changes in Google Reader and this integration in Google+.

Amin Sabeti, an Iranian blogger on 'Neda-ye Emrooz', says [Fa] in Friendfeed:

I’m satisfied with changes in Google Reader. Google is stepping in a true way ahead and that was a good job to remove social features from this service.

Before the changes, Parham, an Iranian blogger and web developer, wrote in his blog [Fa] about the business aspect of this changes. He believes:

Google have been unsatisfied with the costs of keeping millions of posts and hundreds of millions of comments and likes.

He believes that Iranian users have been using social features in Gooder in a wrong way; posting in it like a blog for example.

Parham reminds that users have not been paying for this service and suggests that the profits of companies like Google and Facebook is more important than the users prefer and “the user can easily get used to new service and new designs”.

There was some endeavors to save the social features in Google Reader; including signing a petition suggested by Brett Keller which gained over 11500 signatures and a page on Facebook with more than 38800 members but none of them made any change in the Google decision and it made the changes in Google Reader and Google+ today.

Due to upcoming reactions, it seems that Iranian users are disappointed with their Google+ and they seem to have problems in finding previous features of Gooder in this service.

Here in a post on Friendfeed, These users who are not welcoming the changes say [Fa] they are not satisfied with the new manner in sharing items with friends, They are not able to read their friends shared items any more, and they are confused in finding those who used to follow in Gooder now in Google+.

In the comments of this post some users suggest that Google should have allowed the users to move their followers and those who they follow to the new platform in Google+.

Alireza Majidi, a famous well-read blogger, wrote [Fa] about this new changes:

I doubt that new changes in Google Reader would be affective to make Google+ more interesting.

He also urges that there is no alternative tool for Iranian users and others who are so attached to the late social features of Gooder and now they should get used to Goolge+.

The Google blog in Persian says Google+ is in its first steps ahead and we are working on improving it.

This post by Alan Green, Google software engineer also recommend for those are not interested in Google+ to back up their data here; which is not described that how this exports could be used in other services.

At the same time some prominent Iranian users of Google Reader are looking for some semi-alternative social features.

Nima Akbarpour, an Iranian blogger and presenter or Persian Click TV program on IT and gadgets, suggests a user style for Firefox and Google Chrome which "rolls back Gooder" for Iranian users; giving them a very few social features of Google Reader.

Inauguration in Washington DC; Live from IRIB

In Tehran, for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian state-run TV broadcasted a U.S. presidential inauguration and interviewed Iranians after the Obama speech.

A middle-aged man wearing a simple jacket said he was not surprised that Mr. Obama had not specifically mentioned the Israeli offensive against Gaza.

But another younger Tehrani said,"at least he is not aggressive in his talk as Bush used to be."

The two countries have had no diplomatic relations for three decades and some Iranians hope that their government will have a harder time demonizing an Obama administration than the Bush team.

Full Coverage on how World reacts to the new U.S. president

Iranians' hope for U.S. policy shift dims

The U.S. election campaign aroused enormous interest in Iran - more than any previous foreign vote - and even the official Islamic Republic Broadcasting system aired extensive coverage of the campaign and the results.

But ordinary citizens in Tehran, speaking in the aftermath of the elections, said they were pessimistic about how different the new U.S. president would be.

A supermarket owner in his 50s, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Saeid, pointed to the television set in his shop in northern Tehran that showed Palestinians killed and injured by Israel's offensive in Gaza.

"[Mr. Obama] has not said anything about such a massacre," Saeid said. "How could I count on him to consider my situation as a poor Iranian and suspend trade bans on the aviation industry of my country or to let us have something which [the Americans] do not like?"

Full Story

Correction on Fox News

I noticed that Fox News made a big mistake in describing the reason for shut down of a weekly magazine in Iran, “after featuring President-elect Barack Obama on its front cover and asking the question, Why doesn't Iran have an Obama?"

But the fact is that the weekly magazine, Shahrvand-e Emrooz, was not shut down for its speculations about the "Iranian Obama", as Fox News suggests.

Indeed, The magazine had already been closed down by the authorities before Obama won the elections. The administration of Shahrvand-e Emrooz, however, enjoyed the Iranian slow bureaucracy which let them publish another issue before the verdict was submitted to their office.

The commentary, which is referred to by Fox News and other sources, was in fact written by the editor-in-chief of the weekly as a reaction to the shut-down of the magazine. The regarding sentence reads "Why don't we have the Iranian Obama? Why does the Iranian government make the friends to be foes, instead of making the foes to be friends?!"

But, to mention the accurate justification for closing down the weekly, the Press Supervisory Board has announced the verdict to be based on what they mention as "the license mandated the weekly to address social and cultural issues whereas the publication in fact had contained political commentaries".

In addition, the editor-in-chief of what many consider to be "Iran's Time Magazine", Mohammad Ghouchani, has opposed the verdict, which is still to be approved by higher courts. Ghouchani still hopes to negotiate with the officials for the reconsideration on the verdict.

There were lots of criticizes even by conservatives. Even the Parliament Spokesman, Ali Larijani, who is a close political figure to the Iranian Supreme Leader, has criticized the weekly's shut-down.

Some other Iranian MPs have questioned and summoned the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran specifically for the event as well. In the Iranian constitution questioning a minister in the Parliament can potentially result in an impeachment.

Based on the political reactions to the shut-down of Shahrvand-e Emrooz, its staff are still very hopeful to be able to revive their weekly from the ban.

[Great thanks to The Archer for smoothing my English.]

Ahmadinejad is dreaming of President Mc Cain!

The election is taking place in US. Its winner would lead great impact on the world.

That's true to consider the job as the most powerful seat in the world. But this time is different and the 44th US president would even affect on who would be the next Iranian president.

Ahmadinejad is suffering his worse days. Any of economic and political problems his cabinet is suffering now was enough to disappoint any other cabinet. Though he might be the first incumbent candidate who would lose.

The affect might not be so clear now but it's easy to assume that Mc Cain would make the situation a little better for Ahmadinejad and his supporters. He would hang on supposed "President" Mc Cain's tough words to justify his own aggression and annoy to the western world.

Ahmadinejad and other Iranian hardliners would enjoy such phrases that "the enemy is waiting for our weak and for tolerance to beat us".

Iranians riveted to U.S. presidential race

TEHRAN | With only nine months to go before their own presidential voting, Iranians appear far more interested in the U.S. election than in their own, and many think the U.S. choice will deeply affect Iran.

Iranian newspapers and even the state-run Iranian broadcasting network - which typically cover only negative stories in the United States, such as school shootings and broken families - are writing and broadcasting about the U.S. campaign nearly every day and competing to report the latest events.

The Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, has plenty of supporters here, but some Iranians prefer Republican Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Even Mr. Ahmadinejad, who is expected to run for re-election in June, has had trouble hiding his interest in the U.S. campaign. He told reporters at the United Nations last month that he wanted to meet with both U.S. presidential candidates - an offer that neither Mr. McCain nor Mr. Obama accepted.

Six months ago, Mr. Ahmadinejad expressed doubts that a black man could be elected president of the United States. As the senator from Illinois has moved forward in the polls, however, Mr. Ahmadinejad has tried to appear balanced, stressing that the presidency is an American choice.

His caution is based in part on historical disappointments here about U.S. elections.

In 1980, while Iranian students were holding 52 Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini said President Carter would "take to his grave" his wish to be re-elected.

Furious at Mr. Carter for supporting the ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and giving him refuge in the United States, Ayatollah Khomeini refused to release the U.S. hostages until after U.S. elections, which helped Ronald Reagan win the White House.

Afterward, Iranian leaders realized that Mr. Reagan was no kinder to Iran than the Carter administration and that U.S. policy toward Iran was largely bipartisan.

Still, Iranians have trouble hiding their interest in the U.S. vote.

[Full story here]

Ahmadinejad sidesteps problems inside Iran

Nosrat Azizi, a carpenter who built most of Tehran's old wooden ballot boxes, said he voted in 1997 for Mr. Khatami and in 2005 for Mr. Ahmadinejad, who was then considered the anti-establishment candidate.

"I have always voted for reform and for good change, to make the situation better," he said.

Asked whether he would vote for Mr. Ahmadinejad again, however, Mr. Azizi said he would not bother because "for sure he would be president. All the presidents have won their second rounds." Still, he didn't rule out participating if Mr. Khatami or someone like him runs.

"I've heard that Khatami is going to nominate himself," Mr. Azizi said. "There are also some other names. I would vote only if there was someone better than Ahmadinejad.

Full Story>>>

Iranians historically scarred by Russian aggression

Washington Times - TEHRAN | Ahmad Tajadod makes his early morning tea in a samovar, drives an old Lada car to work, wears a Russian fur hat with ear flaps during cold Tehran winters and serves guests bootleg vodka at parties.

But Mr. Tajadod, an electrician who fixes wires in old houses, is not surprised by Russia's recent behavior in Georgia and two breakaway provinces in the Caucasus.

A native of the Iranian province of Azerbaijan, Mr. Tajadod remembers the period after World War II when a Soviet-backed communist party declared Iranian Azerbaijan an autonomous state. Intervention by Britain and the United States helped local forces make the Russians withdraw.

"We do not trust the Russians," he said.

The Story Continues...

Not an Easy Life

Ragna Kronstad is a Norwegian friend of mine who I have met the last summer when she was visiting Iran. She sends me an email from Oslo some awhile and I write her a reply. Yesterday she sent me an email and asks about how we are passing our lives these days in Iran. She is a successful Norwegian journalist in Energy and due to this fact, cares about the Iranian nuclear story. I just decided to write her a full reply but there was no mood for it and nor any its accuracy.
To be polite, I wrote her in few words that I would write her about the question in detail and admitted in brief “I would write for you about our everyday life as soon as I identified it myself that how does it going! You know, here in Iran, we are experiencing a rapid passing history in which we have at least a key important issue to think about, everyday! That is not an easy life Ragna, not easy! ...”
I was just ending my letter to Ragna with an ordinary Best Wishes that suddenly recognized what I have written and what description I have made about our daily life’s here in Iran. To be honest, I got surprised of its accuracy and sharpness … I got afraid!