اندیشمند بزرگترین احساسش عشق است و هر عملش با خرد

Monday, January 1, 2024

Saving Israel by Ending Its War in Gaza

January 1, 2024
The Israeli government argues that it is in a mortal fight for survival against Hamas, and therefore must take every measure, including the very destruction of Gaza, to survive. This is false.
 An Israeli soldier carries a tank shell

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam: “When New Year’s rainclouds wash the tulip’s face”

January 1, 2024
In the quatrains attributed to the medieval Iranian astronomer Omar Khayyam, the Rubáiyát, the renewal that comes with New Year is an important theme. Since the Iranian New Year is held on the spring solstice (typically March 21), it is associated with the rebirth of greenery. This year I’m sharing some of my translations of poems attributed to Khayyam beyond those collected in the 1460 compilation of Mahmud Yerbudaki, which I translated and published at IB Tauris in 2020. These are from various medieval manuscripts, some of them excerpted and published by E. H. Whinfield in 1882.

From U.S. Politics to Global Voices: Truthdig’s 2023 Highlights

December 27, 2024
Selections from a year of long-form investigations, global dispatches, political analyses, commentaries, essays, film reviews and more.