#Iran Air London

[networkthoughts]

Are Iran Air slots at Heathrow up for grabs?

The European Union (EU) in an unprecedented move has placed more sanctions on Iran including its airlines. Iran Air, Mahan and Saha were the three airlines added to the sanctions. As geopolitics takes its own course, the aviation activity gears up differently.  Publicly available data sourced from slot coordinator ACL, airline booking engines and airport websites shows that Iran Air has a fair…

[girlactionfigure]

Know Thine enemy

I am not a Jew and I’m not a citizen of Israel. I haven’t even visited Israel. I don’t trace my religion back to a holy site in Jerusalem and I don’t have a problem with Arabs or Muslims or Christians. I’ve read about Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon; the Umayyads, the Abbasids and the Ottomans; I know about the British, the Balfour declaration, Ben Gurion and Golda Meir. I know a bit about the Six-Day War and the Intifada. I might not have any personal stake in the Holy Land, but humanity certainly does - and I’m a human being.

The women, men, children, elderly people and soldiers who were kidnapped, tortured, raped, humiliated and murdered on Saturday by Hamas in sovereign Israel were human beings too.

Those who did it to them are not.

Imagine what kind of rational and ethical gymnastics you have to do to justify the cold-blooded murder of teenagers at a music festival; or watching a child, perhaps 5 years old, being prodded with a stick and made to cry for his mother in Hebrew while children of a similar age laugh and mock him? We don’t know that child’s fate and for all we know what followed may have been much worse. It’s depraved. To even enter a conversation about these disgraceful facts with a rehearsed retort about territory or Gaza being an “open-air prison” reeks of moral bankruptcy.

If you wail and scream about your land, dignity, rights, oppression and poverty but are willing to murder, rape, kidnap, torture or humiliate children; then I don’t have to listen to your reasons. When the video footage, photographs and stories of Saturday’s carnage come not from "Israeli propaganda” but from the Hamas terrorists themselves, then how am I to read anything else into it but that you want credit for these atrocities? You want me to know you did it. You want me to know you are proud of it. You want me to see you for who you are. Well, I do.

So, if you swarmed the Israeli Embassy in London, waving Palestinian flags and calling for genocide; if you went down to Times Square to celebrate a victory for decolonisation against “apartheid Israel”; if you sang along to “gas the Jews” chants at the Sydney Opera House or hung a “one settler, one bullet” Palestinian flag over Grayston bridge in Johannesburg then you’re telling me who you are. Well, I see you - and you’re my enemy.

I’m one of those people who believe civilisation is a real thing, and I’ve resisted the poison of moral relativists in the humanities departments of universities across the west who think that being nuanced about the idea of civilisation versus barbarism is a signal of intellectual prowess or critical self-reflection. Upon even a cursory investigation of these people or their positions, you will find every sign of pedestrian intelligence and self-absorbed navel-gazing, combined with a fetishisation of victimhood and always concomitant humourlessness. They too, are my enemies.

It is always interesting to note that only western liberal democracies tolerate and give succour to the most heinous arguments and positions in public protests. You couldn’t picket on the side of quite laudable things like education for girls in Taliban Afghanistan, gay rights in Syria, or against the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. The Ayatollahs of Iran wouldn’t allow women to protest the hijab there under threats of violence. But London, New York, Sydney and even Johannesburg will embrace marches where people actively call for genocide. This is not how allies behave.

Perhaps when the dust has settled we can examine the insidious links between Anglo-American leftism and antisemitism, between Europe never reckoning with what happened in the holocaust and their growing Muslim populations, and between ignorant regimes like mine in South Africa and their determination to stand alongside the worst human-rights abusers in the Middle East.

For now, it’s no big mystery that this has nothing to do with the existence of the State of Israel and everything to do with Jew-hatred - that great, festering wound in the side of humanity from which all prejudice flows. It has been there for thousands of years and every time we think it has healed, some monstrous collective claws it open again.

Hamas aren’t hiding the ball. Their leader, Ismail Haniyeh, safely skulking in Qatar, made this clear. He celebrated dead Jews, not territory won, nor Gazan lives saved.

I’m afraid there are only two sides in a war - your allies and your enemies. On September 11th, 2001, I knew whose side I was on. I feel the same today.

Gareth

Gareth Cliff

[devilsrains]

aoike character guide book

places visited in yasuko aoike's works (translation under the cut by the lovely @asnowperson)

ENGLAND 1- London (Midnight Collector side story among others) 2- The National Gallery (London) (Pt.1 A Thousand Kisses) 3- British Museum (London) (Pt.1) 4- Salibury Military Base (Lieutenant Colonel Eberbach side story) 5- Heathrow Airport (No.11 Seven Days in September among others)

GERMANY 6- Plymouth (El halcón) 7- Bonn 8- NATO Bonn Office 9- Cologne 10- Thermal Spas on the Rhine River and the old castles (Eroica, among others) 11- Lilienthal Monastery (Shuudoushi Falco) 12- Berlin (No. 15 Nosferatu, among otheres) 13- Trier (No.17 Trojan Horse) 14- German Military Hospital (Intermission side story) 15- Dresden (No.16 The Panda’s Maze) 16-Hamburg (From Lawrence with Love side story) 17- Eberbach Mansion

FRANCE/ITALY/GREECE 18- Paris (No.17 Trojan Horse) 19- Louvre Museum (No.1 A Thousand Kisses) 20- Charles de Gaulle Airport (No.11 Seven Days in September) 21- Nice (No.17 Trojan Horse) 22- Avignon (Alcazar Oujo) 23- Catacombes (No.8 Veni Vidi Vici) 24- St.Peter’s Basilica (No.8 Veni Vidi Vici) 25- St.Peter’s Square (No.8 Veni Vidi Vici) 26- Parthenon Temple (No.4 Love in Greece)

SPAIN/PORTUGAL 27- Sevilla (Alcazar Oujo) 28- Sigüenza (Alcazar Oujo) 29- Toledo (Alcazar Oujo) 30- Jerez Castle (Alcazar Oujo) 31- Jerez Monastery (Alcazar Oujo) 32- Jaén (No.18 Judgment of Paris) 33- Plaza de Toros de Jaén (No.18 Judgment of Paris) 34- Córdoba (Eroica) 35- Zuera, Alcala (No.11 Seven Days in September) 36- Aragon region (Eroica) 37- Calatayud (Alcazar Oujo) 38- Granada (Alcazar Oujo) 39- Barcelona (Eroica) 40- Valencia (Alcazar Oujo) 41- Lisbon (No.3 Achilles’ Last Stand)

SWITZERLAND/AUSTRIA/LICHTENSTEIN/ROMANIA 42- Zürich (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 43- Luzern (No.12 The Laughing Cardinals) 44- Vienna State Opera (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 45- Vienna Central Cemetery (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 46- Innsbruck (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 47- Innsbruck Airport (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 48- Hofburg Palace (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 49- Tyrol region (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 50- Lichtenstein (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 51- Romania military base (No. 15 Nosferatu)

THE NETHERLANDS/BELGIUM 52- Amsterdam (Eroica, Madan no Shashu) 53- Bruxelles (No.17 Trojan Horse) 54- NATO HQ (No.19 Poseidon 2000) 55- European Commission HQ (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 56- Antwerp (No.17 Trojan Horse)

NORWAY/SWEDEN/DENMARK 57- Oslo Airport (No.11 Seven Days in September) 58- Mora (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 59- Copenhagen (No.19 Poseidon 2000) 60- Kronborg Castle (No.19 Poseidon 2000) 61- Lousiana Museum of Modern Art (No.19 Poseidon 2000)

TURKEY/SYRIA/LEBANON/ISRAEL/PALESTINE/IRAN 62- İstanbul (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 63- Rumeli Hisarı (No.11 Seven Days in September) 64- Turkish air base (No.6 Inshallah) 65- National borders of Anatolian plateau (No.6 Inshallah) 66- Historical remains of Palmyra (No.6 Inshallah) 67- Beirut (No.6 Inshallah) 68- Jerusalam (Saladin no Hi) 69- Gaza (Saladin no Hi) 70- Tehran (No.6 Inshallah)

EGYPT/TUNISIA 71- Ancient remains outside Cairo (No.6 Inshallah) 72- El Alameyn (No.6 Inshallah) 73- Giza Pyramids (No.11 Seven Days in September) 74- Alexandria (No.11 Seven Days in September) 75- Hotel Rosetta (No.11 Seven Days in September) 76- Carthage (No.17 Trojan Horse)

RUSSIA/JAPAN/USA/OTHERS 77- Moscow (No.19 Poseidon 2000) 78- St. Petersburg (No.18 Judgment of Paris) 79- Hermitage Museum (No.18 Judgment of Paris) 80- Siberia (A Tale of Alaska side story) 81- Uspensky Air Base (Eroica) 82- Tokyo Tower (Hiiro no Yuuwaku) 83- Alaska (A Tale of Alaska side story) 84- FBI Fairbanks Office (No.9 The Alaskan Front) 85- Tazlina Lake (No.9 The Alaskan Front) 86- Hawaii (No.9 The Alaskan Front) 87- West of Eden (Eve no Musukotachi) 88- Olympos (Eve no Musukotachi)

[mariacallous]

There are just two cables linking the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard with mainland Norway, providing almost all the data from polar-orbiting satellites to the rest of the world. And two years ago, they nearly stopped working.

Norwegian police images released in late May show the catastrophic damage done to one of the Svalbard fiber optic cables: the plastic casing slashed open, the cable exposed, and wires unfurled like a faulty electrical cord.

The unsolved January 2022 incident, which cut data flow from the SvalSat satellites and limited air traffic to the archipelago, is serving as a cautionary tale about what can happen when undersea cables—which underpin most of the global communications network—are cut. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels did just that earlier this year when they targeted a key bottleneck between Asia, Africa, and Europe—after threatening to do so in response to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

The threat is not just limited to one or two areas. NATO officials believe that Russia has a decadeslong program to map out European undersea infrastructure as part of an effort to prepare the battlefield for a possible conflict with the 32-nation alliance.

“We know the potential is there to do damage if they would want to,” said a senior NATO official, speaking with Foreign Policy on condition of anonymity based on ground rules for interacting with journalists set by the alliance. “Part of Russian war planning is knowing where the critical infrastructure of your enemy is.”

It doesn’t take a huge effort by the Russians to get the information that they need to cause harm. Most of the pipelines are run by utility companies, and much of the data on where the cables run is in the public domain because of licensing requirements.

In response, NATO now has an undersea infrastructure coordination group that brings together military and civilian officials and has the power to convene top representatives from the private sector, based out of the alliance’s Maritime Command in the London suburb of Northwood.

“The question is connecting all the dots and creating a network,” the senior NATO official said of the information and intelligence exchange.

The ambitious effort is an attempt to use computing power to protect the vast undersea cable network that undergirds much of the global economy. Since it’s nearly impossible to patrol undersea all the time without an unrealistic number of submarines—especially across the Atlantic Ocean—the alliance has to rely on computers. Drawing on data from software interfaces and the cable and pipeline operators themselves, NATO allies are working together with the private sector to create a massive alert system for the thousands of miles of undersea infrastructure in Northern Europe, relying on sensors from the cables as well as acoustic sensors attached to wind turbines, which can be used to detect irregularities.

“NATO processes, I think, are sort of in a very early phase,” said Audun Halvorsen, the director of the emergency department for the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association (and formerly the country’s deputy foreign minister). “They are basically trying to map out the landscape when it comes to jurisdictions, when it comes to authorities involved. You are facing a huge range of different regulatory regimes for the industry around the undersea basin.”

The strategy of cutting undersea cables is almost as old as modern warfare. (The first trans-Atlantic cables had been laid a few decades earlier, in 1866.) Britain began cutting German undersea cables at the outset of World War I to sabotage communications—and the Germans happily returned the favor. When submarine telephone cables began being laid in the 1950s, during the early days of the Cold War, Soviet trawlers damaged underwater cables near the Newfoundland coast. The U.S. Navy alone owns more than 40,000 nautical miles of active cables on the seafloor.

But with fiber optic cables becoming the ubiquitous plumbing that underpins global communications and trade in the internet age, the vulnerability in the seabed is growing. Norway’s undersea pipeline network provides about 40 percent of Europe’s natural gas supply, with pipelines crisscrossing the North Sea to the United Kingdom and the rest of the continent along with about 500 underwater communication cables that carry roughly 97 percent of the world’s internet traffic—some of them extending all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. That’s as much as $10 trillion in financial transactions every day.

“It is less kinetic and more a way for the Russians to show the West that ‘we know you guys are quite challenged in securing that infrastructure,’” said Sebastian Bruns, a naval expert at the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University in Germany. “They would be tackling the very seams of what ties our societies together.”

About 100 of those cables break globally every year—most by accident—and it’s basically impossible to protect all of that infrastructure, other than by adding even more redundant data cables or ensuring that more liquified natural gas tankers are waiting out at sea, providing another source of gas if there’s a break.

The concern for that infrastructure has led to the NATO effort, which began after the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that transport natural gas from Russia to Germany. Even though much of the data about where the cables are located is public, the sensor data that could determine whether a linkage is in danger of being cut is stovepiped far under the national level—meaning that it’s kept within the companies themselves. The United States alone has 85 licensed undersea telecommunications landing stations. And while many pipeline owners have taken into account the risk of corrosion and possible accidents, factoring for sabotage is less common.

Some experts believe that smaller groups of countries can move faster than NATO to protect the cables. In April, Norway and five other countries bordering the North Sea—Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom—agreed to share operational information to protect undersea cables and pipelines against sabotage. And the Council of the Baltic States recently met in Finland to condemn Russia’s hybrid tactics—incidents of sabotage that fall beneath the level of declared war, including threats to undersea cables.

Already, Russia is lashing out at Nordic countries through other means. Since Finland joined NATO in April 2023, Russia has been sending waves of forced migrants to their 830-mile-long shared border—nearly half of the entire boundary between Russia and the alliance—forcing Helsinki to shut down all of its crossings. Russia has proposed redrawing borders in the Baltic Sea, hit Sweden with cyberattacks, and even removed buoys on the Narva River that Estonia put in place to mark their maritime frontier.

“All of our economy under the sea is under threat,” Vice-Adm. Didier Maleterre, the deputy commander of the NATO maritime command, said in April.

The threat is heightened by a Russian submarine program that has resurged since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, operating from the Kola Peninsula. But problems can also be caused by unintended anchor drag from commercial ships. The Hong Kong-flagged and Chinese-operated NewNew Polar Bear, suspected of damaging the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia in October 2023, sailed away along the Northern Sea route with protection from a Russian icebreaker.

In the face of all the other challenges—shrinking navies, a resurgence in piracy, the Red Sea attacks—that undersea flank is exposed.

And officials say that Russia’s use of criminal and civilian networks—which are also deployed to create influence networks in mainland Europe—makes all of these tactics, including the sabotage of undersea pipelines, extremely difficult to pin on the Kremlin. The Russian surveys of the Baltic seabed, for instance, are carried out by ships with an ostensibly scientific purpose.

“We are still tied into this military-versus-civilian division of labor, whereas the Russians are much smarter using civilian vessels for military purposes,” said Bruns, the naval expert. “We are yet to find a solution for that.”

Scientists still understand relatively little about the form of the seafloor. So artificial intelligence is also being used to map it, providing another potential method to spot would-be Russian cable snappers. Some NATO countries and operators are even thinking about burying their pipelines in the seafloor, especially in the Baltic Sea, where the average depth is just under 200 feet. It’s already standard practice near most European coastlines, since it helps protect against bottom trawlers and ship anchors.

After the Balticconnector pipeline incident last fall, Norway began to do an inventory of its own undersea infrastructure, starting with oil and gas before branching out to map parts of the electrical grid and communications cables that ran underwater. Authorities were able to search nearly 5,600 miles of oil and gas pipelines.

“We searched everything,” said Gen. Eirik Kristoffersen, Norway’s chief of defense. “When we found something, we used our military experts to look [at], ‘what is this? Is this something that has been placed there? Is this something from World War II? Is it something that the fishermen dropped?’”

The ability to conduct such an extensive search stems from the infrastructure of the private sector. Norway’s energy industry already has preparedness mechanisms in place to help protect and repair undersea infrastructure for pipelines and electric cables, Halvorsen said, which is coordinated by Norwegian operator Equinor. It’s a model that Halvorsen believes has promise for communication cables, too. But across most of NATO, that capability is limited.

“There is basically zero capability in government hands to survey, repair, maintain, [or] replace any of this infrastructure,” Halvorsen said. “All that capability and capacity is for the civilian industry. So to protect this kind of underwater infrastructure, you need to have some kind of functioning interface between the government side … and the industry.”

[beardedmrbean]

A British-educated businesswoman has denied allegations of manufacturing the pagers used in an audacious attack against Hezbollah.

The handheld devices killed at least 12 people and injured 3,000 after they simultaneously detonated across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday afternoon in a suspected Israeli operation.

The Taiwanese company whose branding was on the technology claimed Budapest-based firm BAC Consultancy made the devices under a three-year brand licensing agreement.

But University College London (UCL) graduate Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, the CEO of BAC Consultancy, said she was just a link in the supply chain and did not make the pagers.

“I do not make the pagers. I am just the intermediary. I think you got it wrong,” Ms Barsony-Arcidiacono told NBC News.

Around three grams of explosives are reported to have been placed into the AR-924 pagers in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration.

A Lebanese security source claimed Israel’s spy agency Mossad planted explosives in thousands of the devices months before they exploded, and one US official told Axios news the Israeli military moved to detonate the devices because it feared the sabotage plot had been exposed.

The Iran-backed militant group has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.

Ms Barsony-Arcidiacono studied for a physics PhD at UCL between 2002 and 2006, according to her LinkedIn page.

She then went on to study at the London School of Economics and the University of London for various postgraduate qualifications between 2009 and 2017.

She also recently worked with the European Commission as an “evaluation expert” and as a “groundwater resource manager” for Unesco.

On her company’s website – which went offline on Wednesday morning – her work was described as “bridging technology and innovation from Asia”. The firm’s address was registered to a residential-looking two-storey building in Budapest, with its name posted on the glass door on an A4 sheet.

Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon, forms part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance”, which opposes Western and Israeli influence in the region.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel.

The group opened a second front against Israel a day after the war in the Gaza Strip began, triggered by a Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October.

Hamas, also backed by Tehran, killed around 1,200 people, with another 251 taken hostage. In response, Israel has bombarded Gaza from the air and ground.

[collapsedsquid]

On the evening of Monday, July 15, while traveling to Zanjan for the Muharram religious mourning ceremony, the ex-president's chief security officer noticed that the air conditioner in his primary vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, was malfunctioning, the London-based Iran International TV network reported. He then advised the former president to switch to another car. While in transit, the SUV spun out of control, collided with another vehicle in the convoy, and eventually stopped after hitting another car. The incident was reported to the authorities five days later. Ahmadinejad's chief security officer discovered the ongoing A/C issue and requested that Ahmadinejad use a different vehicle, per the report. The Land Cruiser was instead used to transport Ahmadinejad's associates and bodyguards when it spun out.

Fucking GenZ assassins can't get the job done apparently

[simplysiriuslyjoking]

If you support Terrorists, read this:

Gareth Cliff just wrote this.

It’s incredible I am not a Jew and I’m not a citizen of Israel. I haven’t even visited Israel. I don’t trace my religion back to a holy site in Jerusalem and I don’t have a problem with Arabs or Muslims or Christians. I’ve read about Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon; the Umayyads, the Abbasids and the Ottomans; I know about the British, the Balfour declaration, Ben Gurion and Golda Meir. I know a bit about the Six-Day War and the Intifada.

I might not have any personal stake in the Holy Land, but humanity certainly does – and I’m a human being.The women, men, children, elderly people and soldiers who were kidnapped, tortured, raped, humiliated and murdered on Saturday by Hamas in sovereign Israel were human beings too.Those who did it to them are not.Imagine what kind of rational and ethical gymnastics you have to do to justify the cold-blooded murder of teenagers at a music festival; or watching a child, perhaps 5 years old, being prodded with a stick and made to cry for his mother in Hebrew while children of a similar age laugh and mock him? We don’t know that child’s fate and for all we know what followed may have been much worse. It’s depraved. To even enter a conversation about these disgraceful facts with a rehearsed retort about territory or Gaza being an “open-air prison” reeks of moral bankruptcy.If you wail and scream about your land, dignity, rights, oppression and poverty but are willing to murder, rape, kidnap, torture or humiliate children; then I don’t have to listen to your reasons.

When the video footage, photographs and stories of Saturday’s carnage come not from “Israeli propaganda” but from the Hamas terrorists themselves, then how am I to read anything else into it but that you want credit for these atrocities? You want me to know you did it. You want me to know you are proud of it. You want me to see you for who you are. Well, I do.So, if you swarmed the Israeli Embassy in London, waving Palestinian flags and calling for genocide; if you went down to Times Square to celebrate a victory for decolonisation against “apartheid Israel”; if you sang along to “gas the Jews” chants at the Sydney Opera House or hung a “one settler, one bullet” Palestinian flag over Grayston bridge in Johannesburg then you’re telling me who you are. Well, I see you – and you’re my enemy.I’m one of those people who believe civilisation is a real thing, and I’ve resisted the poison of moral relativists in the humanities departments of universities across the west who think that being nuanced about the idea of civilisation versus barbarism is a signal of intellectual prowess or critical self-reflection.

Upon even a cursory investigation of these people or their positions, you will find every sign of pedestrian intelligence and self-absorbed navel-gazing, combined with a fetishisation of victimhood and always concomitant humourlessness. They too, are my enemies.It is always interesting to note that only western liberal democracies tolerate and give succour to the most heinous arguments and positions in public protests. You couldn’t picket on the side of quite laudable things like education for girls in Taliban Afghanistan, gay rights in Syria, or against the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. The Ayatollahs of Iran wouldn’t allow women to protest the hijab there under threats of violence. But London, New York, Sydney and even Johannesburg will embrace marches where people actively call for genocide. This is not how allies behave.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.28

202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty. 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes. 1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés. 1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh. 1835 – Elias Lönnrot signed and dated the first version of the Kalevala, the so-called foreword to the Old Kalevala. 1844 – A gun explodes on board the steam warship USS Princeton during a pleasure cruise down the Potomac River, killing six, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur. President John Tyler, who was also on board, was not injured from the blast. 1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. 1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America. 1947 – February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the death of an estimated 28,000 civilians. 1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history. 1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit. 1966 – A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett. 1969 – The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco. 1974 – The British election ended in a hung parliament after the Jeremy Thorpe-led Liberal Party achieved their biggest vote. 1975 – In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people. 1983 – The final episode of MAS*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers. 1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers. 1986 – Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm. 1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh starting a 51-day standoff. 1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 1,100 deaths. 1997 – A Turkish military memorandum resulted with collapse of the government in Turkey. 2001 – The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area. 2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, 97 people are killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in the Gulbarg Society massacre. 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415. 2023 – Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

The UK’s charity regulator is investigating videos of antisemitic speeches given by former Iranian generals to British students, as well as footage of "death to Israel" chants at the British premises of an Islamic charity.

UK officials probe Iran generals' antisemitic talks to students https://t.co/8GJvEReZt2 — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 22, 2024

Two of the videos being investigated by the UK’s Charity Commission show talks by members of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with one of them describing an apocalyptic war with Jews and Holocaust denial.

The videos, which the BBC saw and verified, were recorded in 2020 and 2021 and show three events. Two were live-streamed speeches by former and active commanders of the IRGC, while the other was an in-person event inside the Kanoon Towhid Islamic Center in western London, commemorating Iran’s top military commander, General Qasem Soleimani. 

Soleimani was killed in a US air strike in 2020. Chants of "death to Israel" were heard during the in-person event, but it wasn’t clear or known who was saying them. There is also other evidence of an IRGC commander giving online talks to British students, where the commander bragged about his role in training Hamas fighters before the October 7 attacks in Israel that claimed the lives of over 1,200 Israelis.

This is former IRGC commander Gen Saeed Ghasemi - he falsely claims the holocaust never happened and urges students to join an apocalyptic war. pic.twitter.com/oT5jMZZ6Bb — Ed Thomas (@EdThomasNews) January 23, 2024

The Islamic Students Associations of Britain (ISA) and its affiliates promoted the online talks in advance, and these events took place in Kanoon Towhid Islamic Center, which was used as a meeting place. Unlike mainstream Muslim student groups in the UK, the ISA was founded to promote the philosophy and ideology of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader and the founder of the Islamic Republic.

Kanoon Towhid is also owned by the Al-Tawheed (TUCF) Charitable Trust, which has already been investigated by the Charity Commission after reports of the event honoring Soleimani, whom the British government sanctioned for his links to terrorism. The commission is investigating the videos seen and verified by the BBC, including one footage of this event.

Orlando Fraser, chairman of the Charity Commission, has previously warned that charities must not "become forums for hate speech" or extremism. The commission has the authority to investigate, sanction, or even close down charities that violate regulations.

This is ridicuously shocking. How does this go under the radar? — Melanie Amini (@TheMelAmini) January 23, 2024

Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton who also serves as chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in Parliament, described the speeches as a “brazen act of radicalization," adding that the IRGC should be added to the government’s list of proscribed terrorist groups in the UK, which would make it illegal to be an IRGC member or show support for the IRGC.

In one Instagram Live recording from Iran, which was live-streamed in September 2020 and has been viewed about 1,500 times, IRGC commander Hossein Yekta said universities have become "the battlefront" and urged students to become "soft-war officers.” 

The other video of an online talk from January 2021 glorified the death of Soleimani. Seen by thousands of people, the video shows former IRGC commander Gen Saeed Ghasemi comparing Soleimani’s death to the movie Terminator 2, saying that after Soleimani was killed, the broken pieces would come back together, stronger than ever before. 

I thought “absolute free speech” in universities was paramount, and that students had to learn to be resilient when faced with “opposing views” or am I misremembering the last ten years or so? — Robin Chud (@MisterDanielBro) January 23, 2024

Ghasemi also falsely claimed that the Holocaust was "a lie and a fake" and talked about an apocalyptic war that British students could join to "bring an end to the life of the oppressors and occupiers, Zionists and Jews across the world."

"God willing, myself and you good students in Europe will be written in the beautiful list of the soldiers of the resistance from tonight." Ghasemi also added.

Lastly, the Instagram Live from 2020 was hosted by Mohammad Hussain Ataee, a British citizen in Yorkshire who was previously the secretary of the Islamic Students Associations of Britain. Although he is no longer the organization's secretary, he still serves as the secretary of the Union of Islamic Students Associations of Europe, an umbrella body that includes the British organization. Although Ataee, who was granted an audience with Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei last year, said the allegations against him were false, he did not answer further questions from the BBC.

==

#ThisIsIslam

[girlactionfigure]

🟣LEADERS SAY, MEET THE TERRORISTS - Real time from Israel  

🎗️WHILE THE HEALTH - of the released hostages is said to be ok, one of the hostages lost 2 fingers during the kidnapping and will likely require repair surgery.  The hostages have been taken to Sheba-Tel HaShomer hospital for a comprehensive check, psychological evaluation and rehabilitation and for reunification with their larger families (their mothers were at the transfer station.)

▪️ENDING PRESIDENT BIDEN SAYS - “The second phase of the deal includes the release of Israeli soldiers, and a permanent end to the war - without Hamas being in power or able to threaten Israel.”

▪️FORMER UK PM SAYS - Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: ‘What a picture of Hamas - thousands of armed young men mocking the brave, defenseless and completely innocent women. How is this supposed to promote reconciliation?’  (( This is an example of cognitive dissonance - how to deal with reality that is at complete odds with expectations?  Mr. Former PM: it was NOT supposed to promote reconciliation, it was supposed to promote POWER. ))

▪️PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP SAYS - last night: Hopes to meet Netanyahu "soon," but did not specify a date.

.. "Thank you to Steve Witkoff, the new Middle East envoy. He is a great negotiator and he helped us bring about a historic agreement in the Middle East."

.. Incoming US Ambassador Mike Huckabee: “A two-state solution? No. There was a Palestinian state – it was called Gaza. Look how it ended.”

▪️POLITICAL REPORTER AMIT SEGAL SAYS - “Silencing a different opinion and silencing legitimate positions is a dubious patent that led to October 7, why the attempts to recreate it?” speaking of those trying to shut up the opinion of Fin. Min. MK Smotrich (and former Nat. Sec. Min. MK Ben Gvir) on their position that this deal is VERY DANGEROUS to Israel.

▪️MEET THE TERRORIST - One of the terrorists expected to be released in the deal is Saeed Arar from the village of Qarwat Bani Zaid, a member of the cell that kidnapped and murdered Sasson Nouriel.  One of Sasson Nouriel's other kidnappers was Ali Kadi who was employed by Nouriel in a candy factory in Jerusalem. He was released in the Shalit deal,  deported to Gaza, and became the commander of the Nuchba terror battalion that initiated the October 7 massacre.

▪️MEET THE TERROR “CHILDREN” - among the released ‘children’ terrorists:

•17-year-old: carried out a shooting attack in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood - “east” Jerusalem.

•15-year-old: carried out a shooting attack in the City of David - “east” Jerusalem.

•Noel Mahmoud Abed: carried out a stabbing attack at the Commissioner's Palace - “east” Jerusalem.

•Saj Imad: Tried to stab a soldier in Farm 7 (not sure, I think in Samaria).

▪️HAMAS THANKS - for the hostage deal: Iran, Hezbollah, the Shia militias of Iraq, and the Houthis.  Missing are Qatar, Turkey, and Russia.

▪️VIOLENT ISRAELI PROTEST - The army received a report of violent disturbances in the villages of Turmus Iya and Sinjil in Samaria, in which Israeli civilians set fire to a house and vehicles. IDF and Border Guard forces were deployed to the area and used force to disperse the demonstrations - which were targeted at the home villages of released terrorists who previously murdered.

▪️AIR TRAVEL - British Airways will return to Israel on April 5 and operate the route between Tel Aviv and London. Initially, there will be a daily flight, and from April 20 there will be two daily flights.

♦️LEBANON - reports of artillery fire across the border in the western sector.

❗️NOTING THE HEZBOLLAH CEASEFIRE EXPIRES on the 26th - 6 days.

[eaglesnick]

“One of my first reservations about Zionism was and is that, semiconsciously at least, it grants the anti-Semite's first premise about the abnormality of the Jew.” ― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

Day after day, week after week, the dreadful plight of the Palestinians in Gaza has filled the airwaves. Almost every hour our main media outlets send us pictures and give commentary concerning the death of civilians -  particularly children - within Gaza. As I write this Hamas claim over 10,000 Gazan citizens have been killed by Israeli bombings.

The condemnation of the Hamas massacre of innocent Israeli families, and the kidnapping of men, women and children to be held hostage and used as pawns in the Hamas war against Israel, has now been drowned out by the condemnation of the Israeli response to this deliberate, face-to-face terrorist massacre of its civilian citizens.

 The question I am asking is why are people so exercised by this particular war? Why are thousands of people on the streets demonstrating against this particular conflict in the Middle East when other conflicts have exacted an equally, and in many cases more horrific death toll of children and civilians?

The civil war in Yemen was between the Houthi Shia Muslims and the Shiite Muslim led government. The Saudi’s, backed by Britain, the US and France, began air strikes against the Houthis in 2015 fearing the Houthis would give Iran, a Shia Muslim State and a political rival, a foothold in the region.

What resulted was a major escalation in hostilities leading to:

“8.4 million people at risk of starvation and 22.2 million people - 75% of the population - in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. Severe acute malnutrition is threatening the lives of almost 400,000 children under the age of five.”  (BBC NEWS: 13/06/18)

Where were the mass protests and daily news coverage of this humanitarian crisis? There were protests, but nowhere on the scale of the pro-Palestinian marches we are witnessing today, despite the vastly greater number of casualties:

“Yemen war deaths will reach 377,000 by end of the year: UN.”  (Aljazeera: 23/11/21)

The civil war in Syria has been raging for the last 12 years. Although there were demonstrations against the war initially these slowly petered out, and over recent years the continuing conflict in Syria hardly gets a mention. Yet, the UN calculates that 306,887 civilians were killed between 2011 and 2021, and by March 2023 this figure had risen to over half a million dead civilians.

Where are the protestors concerning these deaths? Nowhere to be seen! There have been more deaths in this conflict than in Gaza, yet “righteous indignation” seems to have dried up for the victims of President Assad’s genocide of his own people

The point I am making is that our media and the protesters are being very selective when it comes to  deaths of innocent civilians killed in conflict areas. What is it that makes one conflict more “news worthy” than another? What is it about the Hamas - Israeli conflict that grabs the attention of the protesters more than Middle-eastern  conflicts with far greater civilian death tolls?

 Accompanying the intensive media coverage and protests concerning Hamas and Israel has    been a massive increase in anti-Semitism  in the UK:

“Anti-Semitic hate crimes in London up 1,350%, Met police say.”  (Guardian: 20/10/23)

Such a massive rise in hate crimes against our Jewish population raises the question of a GENERAL anti-Semitic culture within sections of our society. (Anti-Islamic incidents have also increased but to a lesser extent) How many in the media and how many on the pro-Palestinian marches are giving vent to conscious or unconscious anti-Semitic feelings rather than having genuine humanitarian concerns for the people of Gaza? I would like to think none of them but  I fear I would be wrong.

[infj-zen]

Without a Crown : MBTI trials and tribulations of modern princes, N type edition

How do princes of different MBTI types live in the modern world?

Here are some case studies to lend an insight into what life might have been like if only one had been born (or married) into royal circumstances.

NFs

INFJ Crown Prince of Greece but for a coup d'état. Still visits for stunning family vacay pics. Born rich, married rich[er?] so investment portfolio manager in New York and London. Zorba dances probably to avoid small talk at parties. #zorba #diversifyyourportfolio #alsodanish

ENFJ AKA Mr. Princess Eugenie. Married in to British Royal Family. Manager and marketer of all sorts of businesses yet keeps a low-profile. Could secretly be managing the whole Firm. #self-made #firmglue

INFP Not in charge of Jordan; doesn't want to be in charge of Jordan. Somehow got put in charge of Security and Crisis Management?!? Trying to get out of that. Does want to run football / weed out corruption in sport / promote tolerance, peace, feminism through sport. Secretly full of oddball talents: wrestles, speaks Circassian, etc. #feminist #justfootball #notstagingacoup

ENFP Crown Prince of Iran. Born in Tehran, exiled to America. Majored in Poli Sci. Believes in Democracy. But "subjects" want him as temp. Monarch to help ditch current Theocracy that overthew Dad. Foremost freedom spokesperson for Iranians worldwide. #involuntarywalkingcontradiction #betweenarockandiraq #monarchyandordemocracy

NTs

INTJ Spare in line for [former] Iraqi throne, so works real job as Health and Development Policy Professional with World Bank. Publishes truckload of academic papers. Graduated Harvard with Ph.D. in International Health Policy and Economics. #smartprince

ENTJ No intelligent life in Saudi politics? No problem. Many, many bros. Joined Air Force. Beamed self up to space. #astronaut #fighterpilot

INTP Supposed to inherit Iraq but nothing left to inherit, so diplomat for cousin in Jordan. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Moonlights as Law Prof at UPenn. #humanrights

ENTP Throwback existential / constitutional crisis. Got Crown. Married divorcee. Quit England for France. Questionable political views. #abdication

[mariacallous]

The Pentagon says it’s confirmed that Iran has given “a number of close-range ballistic missiles to Russia.” While Washington isn’t sure exactly how many rockets are being handed over to Moscow, the U.S. Defense Department assesses that Russia could begin putting them to use within a few weeks, “leading to the deaths of even more Ukrainian civilians.”

“One has to assume that if Iran is providing Russia with these types of missiles, that it’s very likely it would not be a one-time good deal, that this would be a source of capability that Russia would seek to tap in the future,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Major General Pat Ryder told reporters on September 10. That same day, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in London that the new supply of Iranian missiles will allow Russia to use more of its own longer-range ballistic missiles for targets that are farther from the frontline.

To find out where the Russian-Iranian partnership is headed and what, if anything, changes in the Ukraine War with Tehran sending ballistic missiles to Moscow, The Naked Pravda spoke to Dr. Nicole Grajewski, a fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an associate researcher with the Belfer Center’s Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Grajewski also has a forthcoming book, titled Russia and Iran: Partners in Defiance from Syria to Ukraine.

Timestamps for this episode:

(1:54) Technical details about these ballistic missiles

(5:05) The role of sanctions and the Iran nuclear deal

(8:51) Iranian drones and ballistic missiles in Ukraine

(10:16) Russian-Iranian military cooperation

(16:07) Factional politics in Iran and Russia

[live-the-fangirl-life]

i would love if you'd shared everything that might be in aelin's list in a world away, all the dream places she wants to go or already went 🤧🥺

First of all - I am so sorry it’s taken me so long to answer this ask 😭

Second - this list is in no way complete. I could probably double it if I gave it some more time (and maybe I’ll edit this post and add some later) but I wanted to answer this ask.

Third - some things listed are cities, some are attractions, some are landmarks or monuments…it’s really a mix of everything. And some major landmarks that cover more than one country are only listed once.

A World Away

So, without further ado, please enjoy

Aelin’s Incomplete and Ever-Adapting World Travel List ✈️

Antarctica

Argentina

Iguazú Falls // Patagonia // Rainbow Mountains // Buenos Aires

Australia

Melbourne // Sydney // Gold Coast // Great Barrier Reef // Adelaide

Austria

Vienna // Salzburg // Hallstatt

the Bahamas

Belgium

Bruges // Brussels

Belize

the Great Blue Hole

Bhutan

the Himalayas

Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Stari Most Bridge // Mostar

Brazil

Rio de Janeiro // Christ the Redeemer // Amazon Rainforest // Lençóis Maranhenses National Park // Sao Paolo

Bulgaria

Cambodia

Angkor Wat

Canada

Niagra Falls // Vancouver // Banff // Toronto

Chile

Easter Island // Torres del Paine National Park // Marble Caves

China

Great Wall of China // Beijing // Shanghai // the Summer Palace // Potala Palace // Tianmen Mountain // Reed Flute Caves // Zhanye Danxia

Costa Rica

San Jose

Croatia

Dalmatian Coast // Diocletian's Palace // Krka waterfall park // Plitvice Lakes // Zagreb

Cuba

Havana

Czech Republic

Prague

Denmark

Copenhagan

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Quito // Galapagos Islands

Egypt

Cairo // The Great Pyramids & Sphinx // Nile River // Valley of the Kings // Luxor // Aswan

England

London // Thames River // Stonehenge

Estonia

Tallinn

Fiji

Finland

Helsinki

France

Mont-Saint-Michel // Louvre // Eiffel Tower // Alsace Lorraine // Paris // Notre Dame // Sacre Coeur // Versailles // Nice

French Polynesia

Bora Bora // Tahiti

Germany

Munich // Berlin // Black Forest // Oktoberfest // Neuschwanstein Castle

Greece

Santorini // Athens // Parthenon // Roman Agora // Acropolis // Mykonos // Oia // Fira // Corfu // Meteora

Greenland

Hong Kong

Tsim Sha Tsui

Hungary

Budapest // Capitol Hill // Bath Houses

Iceland

Reykjavik // Northern Lights // Egilsstaðir //Ring Road // Blue Lagoon // Vatnajökull National Park // Kirkjufell // Húsavík // Akureyri // Thingvellir National Park

Italy

Roman Colosseum // Amalfi Coast // Florence Duomo // Venice at Carnival // Piazzale Michelangelo // Cinque Terre // Pisa // Venice // Pompeii // Milan

India

Taj Mahal // Varanasi & Ganges River // Golden Temple // Agra // Mumbai // New Delhi

Indonesia

Bali // Komodo Island // Blue Flames at Ijen Volcano // Jarkarta

Iran

Hall of Diamonds

Ireland & Northern Ireland

Cliffs of Moher // Giants Causeway // Galway // Blarney Stone // Trinity College // O'Neills // Belfast // Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge // Cobh

Isreal

Dead Sea // Jerusalem

Jamaica

Japan

Tokyo // Mount Fuji // Wisteria Gardens // Osaka // Kyoto

Jordan

Petra // Amman

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Maasai Mara National Park // Lake Victoria

Kyrgyzstan

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Avenue of the Baobabs

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur // Batu Caves

the Maldives

Male

Malta

Valletta

Mexico

Cabo // Teotihuacán // Chichen Itza // Cabo // Yucatan Peninsula // Mexico City

Mongolia

Gobi Desert

Morocco

Casablanca // Hassan II Mosque // Marrakesh // Chefchaouen // Sahara Desert

Myanmar

Bagan's Temples

Namibia

Nepal

Mount Everest // Kathmandu

the Netherlands

Amsterdam // Van Gogh Museum // Tulip Festival

New Zealand

Auckland // Queenstown // Kawarau Suspension Bridge // Milford Sound // Tongariro National Park // Hobbitton // Dark Sky Sanctuary // Waitomo Caves

Nigeria

Lagos

Norway

Oslo

Panama

Panama City

Peru

Machu Picchu & Huayna Picchu // Lima // Aguas Calientes // Andes Mountains // Huacachina

Philippines

Palawan // Manila

Poland

Krakow

Portugal

Lisbon

Romania

Russia

Moscow // St Petersburg

Rwanda

Volcanoes National Park

Saint Lucia

Samoa

Saudi Arabia

Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

Scotland

Edinburgh // Loch Ness // Inverness // Glasgow // Scottish Highlands

Singapore

Marian Bay Sands

Slovenia

Lake Bled

South Africa

Capetown // Johanessburg // Isle of Elephants

South Korea

Seoul // Jeju Island

Spain

Barcelona // Madrid // Sagrada Familia // Mosque of Cordoba

Sweden

Stockholm // Sweddish Lapland

Switzerland

the Alps // Bern // St Moritz

Tanzania

Mount Kilimanjaro // Serengeti

Thailand

Bangkok // the Grand Palace // Phuket

republic of Türkiye 

Cappadocia // Istanbul // Hagia Sophia // Pamukkale

Turkmenistan

Darvaza gas crater

Turks & Caicos

United Arab Emirates

Dubai // Burj Khalifa

United States

Grand Canyon // San Fransisco // Honolulu // Kauai // New Orleans // New York City // Seattle // Portland // Los Angeles // Antelope Canyon // MOMA // Las Vegas

Vanuatu

the Vatican

St. Peter's Basilica // The Vatican Museum // Sistine Chapel

Vietnam

Ha Long Bay // Hoi An // Hanoi

Zambia

Victoria Falls

[whileiamdying]

Iranian Protest Anthem That Led to Singer’s Arrest Wins a Grammy

First lady Jill Biden presented the inaugural Best Song For Social Change award

Teresa Nowakowski

Staff contributor February 7, 2023

First lady Jill Biden presenting the Best Song For Social Change award to singer Shervin Hajipour. Kevin Winter via Getty Images for the Recording Academy

Last fall, Iranian officials arrested singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour. His song “Baraye,” posted on Instagram just days earlier, had become an anthem for the protests that were gaining momentum across the country. 

After his arrest, the song vanished from his Instagram page—and sources close to him believe he was made to remove it, according to Rosie Swash of the Guardian. But “Baraye” was already spreading like wildfire, quickly racking up millions of views. 

As its popularity grew, writes the Guardian, “Baraye” was “sung by schoolgirls in Iran, blared from car windows in Tehran and played at solidarity protests in Washington, Strasbourg and London.” It was even covered by Coldplay, who performed it alongside exiled Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani at the band’s Buenos Aires concert in October.

This week, the lyrics to “Baraye” rang out over the crowd at the 65th annual Grammy Awards, where it was named the Best Song For Social Change. The Recording Academy added the award this year to recognize “songwriters creating message-driven music that responds to and addresses the social issues of our time head-on while inspiring positive global impact,” per the Grammys’ website.

Presenting the award, first lady Jill Biden called the song “a powerful and poetic call for freedom and women’s rights.”

“Shervin was arrested,” she added, “but this song continues to resonate around the world with its powerful theme: women, life, freedom.”

Hajipour was released on bail a few days after his arrest, but he is facing charges that could lead to years of jail time, reports Jon Gambrell of the Associated Press. 

“Baraye,” a word meaning “for” or “because of” in Farsi, takes its lyrics from protesters’ social media posts, in which they write about their reasons for demonstrating with the hashtag #baraye. The song begins:

For dancing in the alleys For the fear when kissing For my sister, your sister, our sisters For changing rusted minds

to dance in the street برای توی کوچه رقصیدن To be afraid when kissing برای ترسیدن به وقت بوسیدن For my sister, your sister, our sisters برای خواهرم، خواهرت، خواهرامون To change the rotting brains برای تغییر مغزها که پوسیدن For shame, for lack of money برای شرمندگی، برای بی پولی To miss an ordinary life برای حسرت یک زندگی معمولی For the garbage child and his dreams برای کودک زباله گرد و آرزوهاش For this command economy برای این اقتصاد دستوری For this polluted air برای این هوای آلوده For Waliasr and worn trees برای ولیعصر و درختای فرسوده For victory and the possibility of its extinction برای پیروز و احتمال انقراضش Forbidden for innocent dogs برای سگ های بی گناه ممنوعه For non-stop crying برای گریه های بی وقفه For the image to repeat this moment برای تصویر تکرار این لحظه For a smiling face برای چهره ای که می خنده For students, for the future برای دانش آموزا، برای آینده For this mandatory paradise برای این بهشت اجباری For the imprisoned elites برای نخبه های زندانی For Afghan children برای کودکان افغانی For all this for non-repetitive برای این همه برای غیر تکراری For all these empty slogans برای این همه شعارهای توخالی For the rubble of the fake houses برای آوار خونه های پوشالی To feel relaxed برای احساس آرامش For the sun after a long night برای خورشید پس از شبای طولانی For nerves and insomnia pills برای قرص های اعصاب و بی خوابی For man, country, settlement برای مرد، میهن، آبادی For the girl who wished it was a boy برای دختری که آرزو داشت پسر بود For women, life, freedom برای زن، زندگی، آزادی for freedom برای آزادی for freedom برای آزادی for freedom برای آزادی

Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Shervin Hajipour

“‘Baraye’ winning a Grammy sends the message to Iranians that the world has heard them and is acknowledging their freedom struggle,” Nahid Siamdoust, an expert on Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Soundtrack of the Revolution: The Politics of Music in Iran, tells the New York Times’ Farnaz Fassihi. “It is awarding their protest anthem with the highest musical honor.”

Leading up to Sunday’s ceremony, the Recording Academy had solicited submissions from the public for the new award. According to the Times, of the 115,000 submissions received, more than 95,000 were for “Baraye.”

As the song’s popularity grows, it continues to resonate with audiences. “I’d never seen my 74-year-old mother cry like she did the day I played her ‘Baraye,’” writes Rebecca Morrison, whose family fled Iran in 1979, in Salon.

“So many of us have cried listening to it over and over,” BBC News’ Bahman Kalbasi wrote on Twitter in September. “The artist Shervin Hajipour has summed up the deep national sadness and pain Iranians have been feeling for decades, culminating in the tragedy of #MahsaAmini.”

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died in police custody in September—just days after Iran’s “morality police” detained her for wearing her hijab incorrectly. Her death sparked the protests that have been spreading ever since.

The new Grammy honor came after a year and a half of work. Singer-songwriter Maimouna Youssef, one of the artists behind the award, wanted to encourage young artists to make authentic, driven music—the kinds of songs that “bring about understanding where there was none,” she told NPR’s Leila Fadel in November.

“It is like a wildfire that you cannot stop,” she added. “You can arrest the writer, but you can't arrest the song. It's already out there. It's in the hearts of the people.”

— Teresa Nowakowski is an intern for Smithsonian magazine. | READ MORE