Blogspot was somewhat "filtered" or "blocked" for a few days in Iran and that prevented me from posting a new item this week. The problem got into the news and they fixed it a few days ago. Although access to the internet in cities throughout Iran has increased significantly but recently internet connections have been slow and in many instances cut off during certain sensitive periods. This unreliable internet status has damaged both business and scientific exchanges, which in addition to extensive filtering of political news and analysis sites leaves communications in Iran in a difficult predicament. Many observers have studied and analyzed the problems that internet users are facing in Iran, they have come to the conclusion that both technical and political issues are involved and that we need reliable, efficient and secure internet connections to ensure social and economic progress. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic has quaranteed basic freedoms including access to information. However, interpretations on the Constitution vary and in practice things have been very different.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has created a wave of concern for environmentalists throughout the world. The event awakened my memories of the oil spill created during the Iraqi aggression against Iran and the Iraqi aggression against Kuwait. Thousands of barrels of oil spilled into the Persian Gulf which is a semi-closed body of water with significant biodiversity. More than 12 million inhabitants live on the borders of the Persian Gulf, mostly in Iran, but also in Arab States. Tehran University had held the first International Conference on the Effects of Oil Spill in the Persian Gulf under the leadership of my late father Dr. Taghi Ebtekar , in 1984. Many international scholars had attended and presented their assessment of the situation. During my tenure as the Vice President and Head of the Department of Environment, we endeavored to strengthen the international mechanisms including the ROPME organization programs to protect the sea. We also conducted two research cruises in the Persian Gulf to survey the water quality and the biota. In addition, Iran presented an environmental damage claim to the UN Compensation Committee against Saddam Hussein for the destruction of the marine environment and we conducted 8 marine research projects in the area as supportive evidence for the Claim. The results indicated the scale of the widespread damage that oil had inflicted upon the coral reef, seagrass populations, costal areas and other biodiversity. Tar balls with the specificity of oil from Iraqi wells and soot from the burning of the wells was still observable in costal areas. Tens of millions of dollars of damage were estimated as part of the environmental costs inflicted. We adopted several clean up projects in 2005 prior to the elections when the Government changed.
Considering the state of relations between the two countries I doubt that Americans would ask for any advice or learn from our experiences in this regard ,but I do hope that they could take swift and serious action to address the matter and control the damage to the global ecosystem.
Showing posts with label Persian Gulf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Persian Gulf. Show all posts
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Persian Gulf: The Eternal Name
We have celebrated the national day for the Persian Gulf yesterday in Iran. During recent years there has been a deliberate attempt on behalf of Arab States in the Persian Gulf to change the historical name of this strategic body. This attempt has been encouraged by some Western governments recently.
Professor Muhammad Sahimi from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Southern California has written the following letter to the Hillary Clinton. I thought it would be interesting for many.
The State Department statement was relatively brief: "The Secretary [of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton] is pleased to announce the appointment of
Dennis B. Ross to the position of Special Advisor to the Secretary of
State for The Gulf and Southeast Asia."
Which "Gulf?" Gulf of Mexico? Gulf of Aqaba? Gulf of Tonkin?
Gulf of Aden? Gulf of Carpenteria? There are so many of them!
We read on: "This is a region in which America is fighting two wars and
facing challenges of ongoing conflict, terror, proliferation, access to
energy, economic development and strengthening democracy and the rule of
law." Oh! "That Gulf"
Well, Madam Secretary, you need first and foremost an advisor on history
because, given his long history of bias toward Iran, in addition to be
totally unfit for the job, your advisor and "expert," Dennis Ross, does
not know the history of that region. The name of that Gulf is Persian
Gulf, nothing less, nothing more. It has been that way since at least 330
B.C., when the Achaemenid Empire established the first Persian Empire in
Pars (or Persis, the region which is called Fars in the present Iran) in
southwestern region of Iran. After that historical event, Greek - not
Iranian - sources started calling the body of water that bordered this
region the Persian Gulf. It has stayed that way ever since.
In his 1928 book, A Periplus of the Persian Gulf, Sir Arnold Talbot
Wilson, the British civil commissioner in Iraq from 1918-1920, stated
that,
"No water channel has been so significant as Persian Gulf to the
geologists, archaeologists, geographer, merchants, politicians,
excursionists, and scholars whether in past or in present. This water
channel which separates the Iran Plateau from the Arabia Plate has
enjoyed an Iranian identity since at least 2200 years ago."
Madam Secretary, I know that the United States and its allies import
significant amount of oil from the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. I
know that the U.S. supports the corrupt and dictatorial Arab regimes
there, because they protect what is perceived as the vital interests of
the U.S. (although those regimes are the main culprit in the rise of
al-Qaeda). I also know that these nations are spending tens of billions of
dollars to buy weapons from the U. S. - weapons that they neither need,
nor will they ever be able to use - and that the U.S. nuclear industry is
going to make billions more by selling nuclear reactors to Bahrain and
other Arab nations in that region (but not, of course, Iran). Therefore,
the new and changed State Department - just like the old ones - wants to
appease these regimes, and avoid doing anything that would offend their
rulers. I know all of that.
But, Madam Secretary, all such considerations do not, and cannot, change
the history of that region. The 990 km long body of water that starts
from Arvand Rud that carries the waters of Euphrates and Tigris rivers,
and ends at Strait of Hormuz - another Iranian name, recognized
internationally - that connects it to the Oman Sea, has always been, and
will always be, the Persian Gulf. This has been recognized
internationally. Nothing, and least of all the billions and trillions of
the corrupt Arab rulers, can change that. If your advisers do not know
that, or are not willing to tell you that, then, you need new advisers.
To be successful in your efforts that region, the first thing you need to
know is the region's history.
Madam Secretary, President Obama has said that the U.S. talks with Iran
must be built on mutual respect. One good place to start showing this
respect toward Iran and Iranians is calling that historical body of water
what it has always been called, the Persian Gulf.
Professor Muhammad Sahimi from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Southern California has written the following letter to the Hillary Clinton. I thought it would be interesting for many.
The State Department statement was relatively brief: "The Secretary [of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton] is pleased to announce the appointment of
Dennis B. Ross to the position of Special Advisor to the Secretary of
State for The Gulf and Southeast Asia."
Which "Gulf?" Gulf of Mexico? Gulf of Aqaba? Gulf of Tonkin?
Gulf of Aden? Gulf of Carpenteria? There are so many of them!
We read on: "This is a region in which America is fighting two wars and
facing challenges of ongoing conflict, terror, proliferation, access to
energy, economic development and strengthening democracy and the rule of
law." Oh! "That Gulf"
Well, Madam Secretary, you need first and foremost an advisor on history
because, given his long history of bias toward Iran, in addition to be
totally unfit for the job, your advisor and "expert," Dennis Ross, does
not know the history of that region. The name of that Gulf is Persian
Gulf, nothing less, nothing more. It has been that way since at least 330
B.C., when the Achaemenid Empire established the first Persian Empire in
Pars (or Persis, the region which is called Fars in the present Iran) in
southwestern region of Iran. After that historical event, Greek - not
Iranian - sources started calling the body of water that bordered this
region the Persian Gulf. It has stayed that way ever since.
In his 1928 book, A Periplus of the Persian Gulf, Sir Arnold Talbot
Wilson, the British civil commissioner in Iraq from 1918-1920, stated
that,
"No water channel has been so significant as Persian Gulf to the
geologists, archaeologists, geographer, merchants, politicians,
excursionists, and scholars whether in past or in present. This water
channel which separates the Iran Plateau from the Arabia Plate has
enjoyed an Iranian identity since at least 2200 years ago."
Madam Secretary, I know that the United States and its allies import
significant amount of oil from the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. I
know that the U.S. supports the corrupt and dictatorial Arab regimes
there, because they protect what is perceived as the vital interests of
the U.S. (although those regimes are the main culprit in the rise of
al-Qaeda). I also know that these nations are spending tens of billions of
dollars to buy weapons from the U. S. - weapons that they neither need,
nor will they ever be able to use - and that the U.S. nuclear industry is
going to make billions more by selling nuclear reactors to Bahrain and
other Arab nations in that region (but not, of course, Iran). Therefore,
the new and changed State Department - just like the old ones - wants to
appease these regimes, and avoid doing anything that would offend their
rulers. I know all of that.
But, Madam Secretary, all such considerations do not, and cannot, change
the history of that region. The 990 km long body of water that starts
from Arvand Rud that carries the waters of Euphrates and Tigris rivers,
and ends at Strait of Hormuz - another Iranian name, recognized
internationally - that connects it to the Oman Sea, has always been, and
will always be, the Persian Gulf. This has been recognized
internationally. Nothing, and least of all the billions and trillions of
the corrupt Arab rulers, can change that. If your advisers do not know
that, or are not willing to tell you that, then, you need new advisers.
To be successful in your efforts that region, the first thing you need to
know is the region's history.
Madam Secretary, President Obama has said that the U.S. talks with Iran
must be built on mutual respect. One good place to start showing this
respect toward Iran and Iranians is calling that historical body of water
what it has always been called, the Persian Gulf.
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