Thirty years after his father was overthrown by a popular uprising, the former crown prince of Iran has a unique perspective on the demonstrations gripping Iran these days. On Monday, at a Washington press conference, Reza Pahlavi, the onetime heir to the peacock throne, condemned Iran’s controversial presidential election of June 12 as “an ugly moment of disrespect for both God and man” and called on the Tehran regime to allow for “freedom, democracy, human rights [and] the right to choose.” Pahlavi believes that the situation in Iran has eroded dramatically, charging that the issues go “well beyond election.
Tag Archives: internet
North Korea Tries to Ramp Up Its Lagging Tech Infrastructure
Returning home one spring five years ago from a secret visit to Beijing in his armored, fully wired train car, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il got an unnerving, firsthand demonstration of the potential downside of technology. A huge explosion ripped through the Ryongchon border station, and some officials initially thought it was an assassination attempt triggered by a cell phone. As it turned out, the fireball was more likely the result of two trains’ colliding nearby, possibly as a result of miscommunication about changed schedules stemming from Kim’s clandestine travels
Dangerous Internet search terms grow with cybercrime, financial crisis
Cyber criminals are setting snares that move at the speed of news. Panda Security, a Spain-based antivirus maker, has been monitoring an onslaught of links with malicious software, or “malware,” on Twitter by tagging hot current topics such as the Air France crash, the NBA finals, “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert and the new iPhone.
What the World Didn’t See in Tehran
Iranian state television yesterday broadcast the soap operas and covered the news about Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from Wimbledon and Pakistani operations against the Taliban as if they were the most important stories in the world. Meanwhile, arriving over the internet transom, rough and insistent and bloody, were the tiny electronic dispatches from protesters forced off the streets of Tehran, shaky videos from a city screaming for help. For outsiders tuned into the blog posts, Facebook updates, Tweets and YouTube videos, the torrent of information was compelling and confusing, emotional and rife with rumors, full of sound and fury signifying …
Arab world scrutinizing events in Iran
The Incredibly Shrinking Democrats
“This election,” Bill Clinton said in the hours before the Pennsylvania primary, “is too big to be small.” It was a noble sentiment, succinctly stated, and the core of what Democrats believe that George W. Bush has been a historic screwup as President, that there are huge issues to be confronted this year. But it was laughable as well
Obama walks tightrope on Iran
Iranians dodging government’s Internet crackdown
It’s a high-tech, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse. As the Iranian government seeks to crack down on the online networks being used by protesters who question the nation’s election results, a community of Net-savvy users — both inside and outside the country — are working to try to stay one step ahead
New iPhone 3GS heats up smartphone wars
When Apple starts selling what it bills as the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet on Friday, the company’s latest entry will only heat up the already sizzling smartphone landscape. Fans, techies and ordinary consumers eager to purchase the new iPhone 3GS may be preparing to stand in line at Apple stores around the United States and seven other countries. But they have more choices than ever when it comes to phones that act like mini-computers.
Iranians get word out despite official obstacles
Iranians have had to tailor their usual ways of communicating in the post-election tumult that has swept through the country. “Censoring is very bad here and they have reduced Internet speed,” two Iranians who had sent pictures of casualties from a reported attack on a dorm at the University of Tehran wrote to a friend outside the country