Static archive of Arseh Sevom’s English-language website. Interactive WordPress features may be unavailable.

September 2013

#Iran — Is Rouhani The One

2013-09-30

Arseh Sevom—Could Hassan Rouhani be The One? Since Rouhani’s inauguration, a number of prisoners of conscience have been released, a more than thirty year freeze in relations between the US and Iran defrosting, and hopes raised. Some of the sanctions have been

#Iran — The Smell of Change

2013-09-18

Arseh Sevom — As we were getting ready to post this week’s review, we heard the good news that Nassrin Sotoudeh and eight other political prisoners had been released from prison. Author Pejman Majidzadeh’s nose must really be filled with the smell of change no

#Iran: Can Word Games Lead to Action and Real Change

2013-09-09

Arseh Sevom–While the war in Syria may become an international war soon, Iran and America have been engaged in some pre-diplomatic word games. Will Ta’amol, the Persian word for mutual action, enter the language the way that the Russian word Glasnost (openness

Iran — Fearing the Tyrant Not the Change

2013-09-03

Arseh Sevom–The final post of a three-part series summarizing the Hivos report, The Green Movement: Seizing the State or Democratizing Society, examines the long struggle for democracy in Iran and the stunted growth of its civil society. Editor Shervin Nekuee

#Iran — I Want My Google Play

2013-09-02

Arseh Sevom — Budget shortfalls have wreaked havoc on the state of Iran’s healthcare, which is facing more than one billion euros of debt. Since sanctions were loosened on personal electronics, Iranians can now buy iPhones and Androids. Social Media is not jus