Iran

No. 30 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám continues the theme of bewilderment that we find ourselves, unasked, in the world, without a clear idea of the meaning of this life. The English verses portray these acts of being born and dying “without asking” as “impertinence,” i.e. insolence or […]

Academic Freedom

Protesting the U of Arkansas for Removing Middle East Center Director over her Condemnation of the Bombing of Iran

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | – Letter to the University of Arkansas regarding the removal of Professor Shirin Saeidi as director of the King Fahd Center President Jay B. Silveria The University of Arkansas chancell@uark.edu Dear President Silveria, Chancellor Robinson and Dean Raines: We write […]

Iran

One Year After Assad’s Fall: Iran’s Strategic Collapse In Syria

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Iliya Jazaeri and Kian Sharifi ( RFE/ RL ) – One year after Assad’s fall, Iran grapples with the collapse of its key regional ally. Tehran lost up to 50 billion dollars invested over a decade, its Mediterranean access, and supply routes to Hezbollah. Iran seeks to rebuild influence, but is there a way back?” […]

Entertainment

“With them the seed of Wisdom:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:28

Juan Cole

Quatrain no. 28 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám continues riffing on stanza 121 in the Bodleian manuscript. XXVIII. With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labour’d it to grow : And this was all the Harvest that I reap’d- “I came […]

Climate Crisis

Iran’s Capital, Tehran, Faces Zero Day without Water: Climate Change and Bad Policy

The Conversation

By Ali Mirchi, Oklahoma State University; Amir AghaKouchak, University of California, Irvine; Kaveh Madani, United Nations University, and Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; United Nations University (The Conversation) – Fall marks the start of Iran’s rainy season, but large parts of the country have barely seen a drop as the nation faces one of its […]

Iran

“All the Saints and Sages:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:25

Juan Cole

Quatrain no. 25 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is about the futility of metaphysical teachings in the face of certain death. XXV. Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss’d Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn […]

Iran

“Your Reward is Neither Here nor There!” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:24

Juan Cole

Stanza no. 24 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám makes fun, as A. J. Arberry pointed out, of theologians and philosophers who spoke of metaphysical certainties. Personally, I think there is something almost Buddhist about it (see below). XXIV. Alike for those who for to-day prepare, And […]

Iran

The Dawn that Never Broke: The Unresolved Israel-Iran War

Middle East Monitor

by Kiavash Kalhor and Mahdi Niksefat Motlagh ( Middle East Monitor ) – The dawn following 13 June brought no victory for Israel. The twelve-day war between Iran and Israel did not culminate in an Israeli triumph or an “Iranian eclipse.” Instead, evidence suggests both sides concluded the first round in a strategic, fifty-fifty […]

Climate Crisis

What Policies Can Help Solve Iran’s Climate-Driven Water Shortage?

The Conversation

By Sanam Mahoozi, City St George’s, University of London and Nima Shokri, United Nations University (The Conversation) – Iran is facing its most severe water crisis in more than six decades. Major dams supplying drinking water to provinces with millions of residents are nearly empty, and groundwater reserves have been depleted. Many cities have endured […]