Leaked emails indicate Syria president got advice from Iran to supress uprising:

More than 3,000 emails that activists hacked from private accounts belonging to Syria’s President Assad show that he took advice from Iran on how to handle the uprising against his rule. Assad also received details about Western journalists in Homs and was urged to “tighten the security grip” on the opposition-held city in November.

The events in the Middle East, specifically in relation to the nuclear-based tensions between Iran, Israel and the United States, have me wondering if the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will be followed by a third conflict. Then I read this article and it made me realize — perhaps the war is already underway. And there is no telling what an escalation might lead to.

Could Saudi Arabia and Iran Soon Engage in a Nuclear Cold War?

The controversy surrounding Iran’s nuclear program has one very important international dimension: What happens if Saudi Arabia carries out its assertion of going nuclear in response to Iran itself going nuclear? The implications are serious, because there would be little the West can do to affect the policy behaviour of a rich, oil-exporting country, let alone how it chooses to approach its relations with Iran.

For the wider region, a nuclear Iran and Saudi Arabia will certainly make Iraq, Syria, or Turkey think really hard about their relative positions. Already, Turkey is investing into building nuclear power stations, and this may translate into the militarization of nuclear energy within a decade.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/4181/could-saudi-arabia-and-iran-soon-engage-in-a-nuclear-cold-war

My name is Liliana Galvis and currently I work as a research assistant at my home university. I’m eager to learn about economic model (regional or individual) in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Do you have any information on the matter?

Iranian rock and roll

Rock from Iran has its beginnings in the 1970s with musicians such as Kourosh Yaghmaei. With the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini banned rock music, inspiring The Clash to write Rock the Casbah.

Today, Iran’s rock scene is largely produced in Europe and Tehran’s underground circles, and is rising to challenge “Tehrangeles pop”, which has dominated the popular music genre of Iran for decades.

Here’s Buddahead, an Iranian indie band that I like

Iran threatens to target NATO missile shield in Turkey if attacked by US or Israel.

Tensions have been rising between Iran and the West since the release of a report earlier this month by the International Atomic Energy Agency that said for the first time that Tehran was suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose was the development of nuclear arms. Israel, which views Tehran as an existential threat, has warned of a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/iran-threatens-to-target-nato-missile-shield-in-turkey-if-attacked-by-us-or-israel/2011/11/26/gIQA1R7jyN_story.html

Tensions have increased in recent weeks between Iran and the U.S., with several American neoconservatives urging the Obama administration to use covert action against Iran and kill some of its top officials, including General Ghassem Soleimani, chief of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Critical, skeptical, view of the authenticity that Iran isbuilding a bomb follows…

Iranian Actress Faces Jail and 90 Lashes’ for Appearing in Film: The news that Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr has been sentenced to a year in jail and 90 lashes for her role in a film about the limits imposed on artists in the Islamic republic speaks of a dangerous level of censorship and intolerence in the country. Ironically, the sentence seems to make Miss Vafamehr’s fate parallel that of her character in the film, and has angered opposition groups and activists campaigning for an end to censorship in Iran.

Critics warn how new technologies are helping the regime crack down on activists and dissenters. Following the disputed 2009 elections in Tehran, the government attempted to shut down social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where people were posting news about the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters.

Here’s the trailer to “My Tehran for Sale”

Great documentary on Iranian street food in Tehran, the capital .