Elmaz Abinader just said to me tonight that with this Iran crisis, she doesn't know who to read and who to trust. I suggested Juan Cole, but agreed with her that I am not sure of my sources here.
Qifa Nabki, international relations PhD at Harvard, Lebanon native, recommends Brian Ulrich, Arabic Media Shack, and Andrew Sullivan. Via one of those links I also found Iran in the Gulf.
Did you know that while there are 22,000 people studying Arabic at college level in the USA, there are only 300 studying Farsi (the chief language of Iran)? We are weak on Arab world experts in this country, but we are just stupid when it comes to Iran. Sigh.
Folks, if this is your first internet political uprising, remember: don't believe everything you read. Read widely from different sources. Mistrust anonymous sources. Don't let people you don't know take over your Twitter or Facebook or other social networks just to join a quiz/color your picture green/do some other thing that looks like solidarity. Maybe it's innocent; maybe it's a hacker/virus/trick; maybe it's some sort of obnoxious spying person trying to check up on you.
Also, take a deep breath and step away from the computer. You will learn all you need to know in fifteen minutes. More time than that is probably not useful. I know, easier said than done.
Qifa Nabki, international relations PhD at Harvard, Lebanon native, recommends Brian Ulrich, Arabic Media Shack, and Andrew Sullivan. Via one of those links I also found Iran in the Gulf.
Did you know that while there are 22,000 people studying Arabic at college level in the USA, there are only 300 studying Farsi (the chief language of Iran)? We are weak on Arab world experts in this country, but we are just stupid when it comes to Iran. Sigh.
Folks, if this is your first internet political uprising, remember: don't believe everything you read. Read widely from different sources. Mistrust anonymous sources. Don't let people you don't know take over your Twitter or Facebook or other social networks just to join a quiz/color your picture green/do some other thing that looks like solidarity. Maybe it's innocent; maybe it's a hacker/virus/trick; maybe it's some sort of obnoxious spying person trying to check up on you.
Also, take a deep breath and step away from the computer. You will learn all you need to know in fifteen minutes. More time than that is probably not useful. I know, easier said than done.
Nobody asked me, but:
My advice, for those unfamiliar with Iran, would be to invest some time in becoming familiar with the Iranian revolution, the key players (at minimum Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Mousavi, Ahmadinejad and Larijani) and organizations (Guardians, Assembly of Experts, political/clerical factions) before attempting to make sense of the news. Wikipedia is more than good enough for casual background research, although you might end up spending several hours if you follow the links: Iranian history is beyond fascinating.
For those looking mainly for real-time updates, Huffington Post, the Lede blog (NY Times), NIAC Insight and the Guardian all have frequently-updated pages which filter the news and include some critical analysis. For deeper examination, I'd second your recommendation of Juan Cole, and I'd add Gary Sick and Al Giordano (the latter not an Iran expert, but a very keen analyst of civil unrest).
Yes, I've been following this obsessively - why do you ask?
Posted by: Jonathan Edelstein | June 23, 2009 at 04:33 PM
Greg Djerejian has also blogged a bit after a long absence at Belgravia Dispatch. I have a high opinion of anything he says and his observations of these events is no exception.
[btw, Laila, I need to forward an odd email I received from germany that seems intended for you. Go figure. Couldn't find an email contact here, so pls email me at [email protected].]
Posted by: John Ballard | June 24, 2009 at 12:09 PM
[Laila, disregard that comment for the moment. For reasons I don't understand I am not able to access either gmail or my blog. Something all screwy. Very frustrating...]
Posted by: John Ballard | June 24, 2009 at 07:26 PM
I just posted a comment with a number of links to articles on Iran. It appears to have been removed. I wonder why.
Posted by: G Hazeltine | June 28, 2009 at 04:10 PM