Removal of MEK from U.S. Terrorist List: Likely Consequences and Proposed Solutions

■ Abbas Hakimzadeh

Delisting of the MEK has potentially enormous consequences for the Iranian regime and U.S.-Iran relations, and therefore the decision ought not to be taken lightly. Clearly, removing the MEK will be a political loss for the Islamic Republic of Iran, as it has long labored to marginalize the organization. When the European Union removed the MEK from its list of terrorist organizations, it was considered by most onlookers to be a serious blow for the Islamic Republic. However, it bears noting that the regime is expert in seizing political losses as opportunities for heightening its anti-foreign propaganda.

The different attitude towards poetry in Iran and the West

The Persian poetic mind

■ Ann De Craemer

I then fully realized how important poetry still is in Iranian daily life, and I think I know part of the answer to the question why that is the case: poetry is also political, because its subtlety, its metaphors and double meanings allow poets to express their opinion in a country where having one can lead to death. In the West, poetry is indeed a pastime: we are living in such (political and social) luxury that we don’t need the subtleties of poetry as a vehicle for freedom of expression.

An appeal to the UN Human Rights special rapporteur

The number of Iranians killed are not mere statistics but a tragedy

■ Masih Alinejad

The United Nations Human Rights Council has recently designated former Maldives foreign minister Ahmed Shaheed as the Special Rapporteur to investigate the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Renowned Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad has written him an open letter: “It is not too late for many other families to still come forward and unravel the painful truth.”

Europe should reflect on its double moral standard

Wilders et al. and the Norwegian drama

■ Shervin Nekuee

The way in which our democracy dealt with Islam and Muslim immigrants course after 9/11 is of course rather hypocrite and silly. How many words have not been spoken in various European media (especially in North and Central Europe) about the essential danger of Islam? The entire Muslim part of the population was being generalized and criminalized, and this is a community that rarely had a leader who could retort.

A closer look at life and work of a famous Iranian director - 2

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, from zealot to ambassador for the Greens

■ Ian Buruma

Mohsen Makhmalbaf is one of more than two million Iranians forced by politics to live abroad. The sooner he can return to making the films he wants to, preferably in and around his native country, the better, not only for Iran, but for all lovers of cinema in the rest of the world.

A closer look at life and work of a famous Iranian director-1

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, from zealot to ambassador for the Greens

■ Ian Buruma

Makhmalbaf became a kind of roving ambassador for Mousavi’s Green Movement, giving interviews, writing op-ed pieces, donating his film prizes to the Green Movement, and making the rounds of various European capitals, the European Parliament, and the White House. He says he no longer has time to make films because he is too busy “working for the Iranian people”.

An interview with Scott Peterson

“Iranian system will collapse by its own mismanagement”

■ Ehsan Abedi

“I am not sure that this means that, five years from now, the Islamic Republic will have been “erased from the face of time,” but I expect that this system will no longer persist as it is currently configured. That won’t be the result of any definitive outside intervention, I believe, but from the mismanagement and misjudgment of Iran’s own hardline leadership.”

Looking back with pity, but forward with hope

Two Years in Love

■ Shafagh Ashna

I can’t believe it. It is unbelievable that it is now six years that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is Iran’s president. More than 2000 days. It is terrifying. No one can believe it. Although people were disappointed with the reform period, although people said nothing changes whoever comes, no one could imagine that after the reformists were defeated, such a villain would emerge.