You’re fast on your feet, server, and dawn is breaking. Let’s have another song, and bring more wine! For summer’s new warmth has melted memories of last December, and of the hundred thousand famous kings and leaders who have been laid beneath the hard, cold earth these past few months. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar […]
- Africa (248)
- Asia (1,241)
- Australasia (34)
- Authoritarianism (384)
- Canada (7)
- Culture (555)
- Economy (1,050)
- Agriculture (3)
- Banking (67)
- Carbon Footprint (6)
- Corporations (51)
- Cryptocurrency (2)
- Debt (21)
- Degrowth (1)
- Democratic Socialism (20)
- Demographic Decline (1)
- Development (26)
- Downward Mobility (1)
- Employment (118)
- Food Insecurity (21)
- Homelessness (16)
- Industry (5)
- Inequality (425)
- Inflation (5)
- infrastructure (10)
- Insurance (1)
- Investment (92)
- Market Crash (10)
- Middle Class (61)
- Monopolies (8)
- Neoliberalism (203)
- Plutocracy (621)
- Poverty (206)
- Poverty (13)
- Regulation (3)
- Retirement (1)
- Sanctions (4)
- Taxes (37)
- Technology (3)
- Trade (114)
- Weapons sales (7)
- Education (170)
- Energy (1,723)
- Batteries (51)
- Coal (139)
- Electricity Cost (2)
- Fossil Fuels (325)
- Fracking (50)
- Geothermal (7)
- Green ammonia (5)
- Green Energy (414)
- Green Hydrogen (8)
- Heat Pumps (6)
- Hydroelectric (15)
- Mining (1)
- Natural Gas (107)
- Nuclear Energy (158)
- Petroleum (299)
- Power Grid (12)
- Pumped Hydro (6)
- Solar Energy (407)
- Tar Sands (13)
- Wave Energy (9)
- wind energy (339)
- Environment (2,659)
- Climate Change (1,645)
- Acidification of Oceans (54)
- Agriculture (26)
- Biodiversity (12)
- Climate Refugees (3)
- CO2 (125)
- Dehydration (5)
- Denialism (147)
- Desalinization (4)
- Desertification (159)
- Divestment (2)
- Dust Storms (6)
- Environmental Investment (1)
- Extreme Heat (390)
- Extreme Weather (297)
- Flooding (138)
- Food Supply (2)
- Forests (18)
- Green New Deal (40)
- Green Recycling (2)
- Greenwashing (3)
- Mass Extinction (61)
- Methane (20)
- Net Carbon Zerio (8)
- Nitrous Oxide (2)
- Rainforests (19)
- Rivers (11)
- Sea Level (338)
- Soil Carbon Release (14)
- Super Storms (263)
- wildfires (237)
- Wood Buildings (1)
- Climate Crisis (1,301)
- Drought (295)
- Ecology (1)
- Ecology (10)
- Environmentalism (392)
- Green Transportation (252)
- Ice Melt (133)
- Invasive Species (2)
- Islands (1)
- Oceans (101)
- Oil Spills (7)
- Pollution (231)
- Water (95)
- wildlife (19)
- Climate Change (1,645)
- Europe (1,360)
- Featured (4,080)
- Haiti (1)
- Health (696)
- History (356)
- Human Rights (1,588)
- Apartheid (263)
- censorship (305)
- Death Penalty (30)
- Disappeared (3)
- Displaced and Refugees (578)
- Food Insecurity (29)
- Gay rights (29)
- Genocide (56)
- Human Rights Watch (90)
- Indigenous Rights (1)
- Migrants (4)
- privacy (21)
- Rights (89)
- Slavery and Trafficking (16)
- Starvation (4)
- Torture (102)
- Trans Rights (3)
- Transgender Rights (4)
- Unlawful Imprisonment (103)
- Unlwful Killing (80)
- War Crimes (411)
- War Rape (9)
- International Politics and Economy (2,097)
- Arms Sales (73)
- BRICS (3)
- Corruption (265)
- Crime (130)
- Democracy (330)
- Dissent (435)
- Domestic Terrorism (15)
- Drones (112)
- G20 (1)
- Guns (9)
- Hacking (8)
- Immigration (21)
- Immigration (4)
- Islamophobia (382)
- Migrants (2)
- military (125)
- nationalism (117)
- NATO (37)
- Neocolonialism (1)
- Peace (138)
- Policing (2)
- Politics (305)
- Politics&Culture (21)
- Propaganda (13)
- Smuggling (1)
- Juan Cole (270)
- Latin America (101)
- media (481)
- Middle East (9,717)
- Arab World (5,222)
- Iran (1,320)
- Israel (938)
- Israel/ Palestine (3,459)
- Israel/Palestine (9)
- Kurds (291)
- Turkey (587)
- Turkiye (114)
- Patriarchy (10)
- racism (468)
- religion (1,494)
- robots (3)
- Romance (1)
- science (171)
- Secular (West) (9)
- Secularism (30)
- Spirituality (22)
- Statelessness (15)
- Stranded Assets (1)
- Surveillance (279)
- Terrorism (1,093)
- Tolerance (6)
- Uncategorized (8,081)
- United Nations (167)
- Urbanization (4)
- US Foreign Policy (1,337)
- US politics (5,342)
- Anti-War Movement (13)
- Campaign Finance (31)
- Censors (22)
- Central Intelligence Agency (63)
- Charity (1)
- Civil Rights (96)
- Congress (78)
- Conspiracy Theories (23)
- Constitution (400)
- Courts (15)
- crime (12)
- Democratic Party (971)
- Democratic Socialists of America (22)
- Domestic Terrorism (20)
- Drone Warfare (27)
- Espionage (124)
- Ethnicities (389)
- Far Right (390)
- FBI (47)
- Foreign Policy (204)
- Gay Rights (17)
- Guns (97)
- Immigration (240)
- Israel Lobbies (130)
- Marijuana (4)
- Militarization (273)
- National Security State (475)
- Native Americans (40)
- Nuclear arsenal (7)
- penitentiaries (6)
- Pentagon (564)
- Police (43)
- prison reform (9)
- Private Prisons (2)
- Progressive Politics (13)
- Puerto Rico (30)
- Religious Right (15)
- Reproductive Choice (67)
- Republican Party (2,975)
- Supreme Court (133)
- Voter suppression (36)
- Whistleblowers (7)
- Xenophobia (9)
- Veterans (35)
- Voting Rights (16)
- War (613)
- White Supremacists (229)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (557)
- workers (232)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (215)
Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam (42) “No hand would set out to break them”
As for the parts of a wineglass that have been joined together– no hand would set out to break them apart. But as for the shapely hands and feet of a temptress– whose grace joins them together? […]
Omar Khayyam (383) “it is a shame for anyone to be well-known for righteousness”
It is a shame for anyone to be well-known for righteousness. It is a great disgrace to feel distress at the injustice of the turning of the wheels of fate. To get drunk on the nose of a fine vintage born of luscious grapes is better than to be renowned to be a self-denying prude. Translated by […]
Omar Khayyam (336)
I know the outside of being and nothingness, and I know the inside of the high and the low. Even so, I should be ashamed of all my knowledge if I knew of any higher status than drunkenness. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 336
Omar Khayyam (472) “Wine, you are my insane sweetheart”
Wine, you are my insane sweetheart; I hit the bottle and have no fear of disgrace. Drink […]
Omar Khayyam (284) “God is merciful: Here, have some wine”
I staggered, drunk, outside a bar last night and saw a tipsy older man emerge, a bottle slung across his shoulder; and I said to him, “At your age, aren’t you ashamed before the Lord Almighty?” He laughed, “God is merciful: Here, have some wine!” Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 284
Omar Khayyam (283) “Last night I wandered into a dark pottery workshop”
Last night I wandered into a dark pottery workshop and saw about two thousand pots lined up in silence. But then suddenly a vase cried out, inquiring, ‘Where in the world are the potter and the customers and salespeople?” Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 283
Omar Khayyam (337) “I venerate the finest vintage so as to avoid self-worship”
I sip at wine, but never to get drunk, and I assail no one, save for my glass. I venerate the finest vintage so as to avoid self-worship of your sort. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 337
Omar Khayyam (273) “Do good, and cast it upon the waters”
My sweetheart — may she live as long as my heartbreak — today began her kindnesses anew. She locked eyes with me for an instant, then was gone– […]