Technorati Tags:
Politics, Thoughts, Freedom of Expression, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Iranian Society, Media, BBC, Tehran, NPT, Persian Gulf, Imperialism, Islam, CIA, Fascism

No, I am not a terrorist nor a wife beater,
I don’t live in a tent in a desert

I speak Farsi, not Arabic
Iran is pronounced “EERAUN” and not “I – ran” (it’s not track & field)

News flash: Iran and Iraq are two different countries ,
Middle east is a region and NOT a continent,
And camels are not our way of transportation.

Iranian women are just as outspoken (if not more) and liberal as the
European women,

Iran is the first country to have red white and green for a flag,
A beautiful country ran by the wrong people
But still the best part of Middle East

I couldn’t have said it better…

For some other interesting info and pictures about Iran, visit his website.

Technorati Tags:
Iran, Middle East, War on Iran, Ahmadinejad, Persian Culture, Iranian Society, Persia, Tehran, Iranian Women, Persian Gulf, Imperialism, Islam

The letters exchanged between Hossein and Annette (the rep from the server in question, Hosting Matters) contain some disturbing remarks by the company rep and shed light on what free speech truly means when you start fighting with the bulls– the likes of Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle. Here they are:

03 August 2007 22:42
From: Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.
Reply-To: “Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.”
To: Hossein Derakhshan

After discussions with our attorney regarding the complaint filed by Mehdi
Khalaji, a review of the material in question, and a review of applicable US
and Canadian law as it relates to material of the sort posted to your site
and listed in the complaint, we are requesting that you remove the
references to this person as noted below from your site. As you are no doubt
aware, we do not issue such requests lightly – in fact, we would hope that
such requests would never, under any circumstance, be necessary at all. In
this case, however, given the differences in US and Canadian law regarding
posting of material that is alleged to be defamatory in nature, and
specifically regarding the material and commentary you have posted, we have
found that the material and commentary fall into a grey area regarding the
allegations made by the complainant. The most prudent course of action,
whether the allegations of defamation are valid or not in this instance, is
to remove the material from the site. Obviously, we have no desire to stifle
anyone’s rights to voice their opinions, nor are we particuarly interested
in the political or social views they may express so long as those
expressions do not violate any statute or our acceptable use policy. That
desire must be balanced, however, by the review of content that we are
required to undertake when a complaint is generated about that content and
any action we find we must take as required or advised.

We have advised the complainant, through their representative, that the
material will be removed no later than 12:01 AM Eastern US time, August 5,
2007. If we find the material remains on the site at that time, we will
either remove the material ourselves or deactivate the site pending the
removal of said material, at our discretion. We would prefer to take neither
of these actions, so please ensure that the material is in fact removed. We
would also caution you regarding any public statements you may feel
compelled to make regarding the removal of said material, specifically as it
regards our communications to you requesting its removal or our actions in
this matter. We would also caution you regarding any public statements you
feel compelled to make regarding the individual in question.

Material to be removed:

Archived item: http://i.h0der.com/archives/2007/03/070329_015899.shtml
Linked/archived item: http://i.hoder.com/linkdooni/2005_10.html
Other content where personal commentary is offered on the individual in
question

If you have any questions regarding this notice, please contact support.

Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

04 August 2007 00:26
From: Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.
Reply-To: “Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.”
To: ho—–@—–.com

Pursuant to our previous notice, please understand that we are requesting
that you pull down all reference to Mr. Khalaji in any language in which it
is posted. Additionally, you are advised that if this is not accomplished
by the time set forth in our previous letter, our attorney has advised that
we remove your entire site (in all languages) since we are not able to
translate any foreign languages. As noted before, we would prefer not to
have to take such drastic action, so please ensure that any and all
references are removed.

Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

04 August 2007 11:31
From: Hossein Derakhshan
To: “Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.”

From the material you’ve asked to be removed, I should let you know that

http://i.h0der.com/archives/2007/03/070329_015899.shtml

and

http://i.hoder.com/linkdooni/2005_10.html

are not hosted on your server. That two were the main basis of the complain.

I won’t remove ALL other references to him, unless I receive
complains. It would be a clear violation of my right for free speech
to remove them just because you can’t read them.

==

09 August 2007 21:23
From: Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.
Reply-To: “Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.”
To: Hossein Derakhshan
Cc: Hossein Derakhshan

Please remove the latest post you have made referencing Mehdi Khalaji. This
person continues to insist that everything and anything you post about him
is defamatory. While we do not agree with the assessment as it relates to
the latest post you have made, we do not have the time, interest, or
resources to invest in continually dealing with his complaints and to review
your site. Please remove that post and refrain from mentioning this person
in any form on the site you host within this network. The post needs to be
removed immediately and the entire site rebuilt so that no references remain
in any archives or category listings. In addition, any other references you
have to this individual are to be removed. Whether you archive them or not
is entirely up to you. Such postings cannot, however, remain within this
network.

Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

09 August 2007 21:34
From: Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.
Reply-To: “Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.”
To: Hossein Derakhshan
Cc: Hossein Derakhshan

Also, as an addendum to the below: this content must be removed no later
than midnight tonight. If the content is not removed and the site rebuilt to
ensure no references remain in any archive or category, the site will be
suspended. We do not take this action lightly, as we have previously noted.
However, we also will not allow ourselves to be dragged into whatever battle
is going on between the two of you, as all of this is taking away time and
energy that should be spent addressing the needs of all clients and
maintaining the service here.

==

09 August 2007 21:46
From: Hossein Derakhshan
To: “Accounts and Billing – Hosting Matters, Inc.”

I need to consult my lawyer and he comes back tomorrow from hollidays.
I request the deadline to be extended another 24 hours until tomorrow (10 Aug) at mid-night (EST.)

==

09 August 2007 21:53
From: Annette
Reply-To: billing@hostmatters.com
To: Hossein Derakhshan

The deadline remains tonight. What issues you take up with your attorney as far as potentially pursuing action against this person for any cause, such as (for example) barratry and/or harassment, is not relevant to the content posted here and which must be removed. We will not engage ourselves in the issues that the two of you have between you. If for some reason you take action against this person and are successful in that action, we will reconsider the ban on posting of anything related to him within this network – however, at this point, due to the time, energy, and monies we have already spent on this issue, we are not inclined to reverse that prohibition at this time. We do not involve ourselves in personal battles between two parties, nor will we permit our resources to be utilized in such battles to the detriment of other clients within this network.
Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

09 August 2007 22:01
From: Hossein Derakhshan
To: billing@hostmatters.com

No, I’m considering to sue YOU for violating my free speech, just
because of someone’s hollow threats.

==

09 August 2007 22:15
From: Annette
Reply-To: billing@hostmatters.com
To: Hossein Derakhshan

I have spent a week of time, money, and energy now trying to figure out a way to keep the content up, arguing with my own attorney who suggested just terminating your account, to get these people to go away, and this is what we get. You take zero responsibility for anything you’ve done, and it’s all our fault because you – a nonlawyer, unversed in defamation and libel law – have deemed this legal situation “hollow” without spending a dime and certainly without covering any of the costs we have incurred trying to defend that very “free speech” you reference. I see. In addition, for your edification, WE are under no obligation to allow you to post anything of any sort. Free speech applies to governmental interference with speech, not to private companies.

Go right ahead and consult with any attorney you like, and they’ll explain the facts of life to you. In the meantime, since you seem to think we should be spending many thousands of dollars to defend your ability to say whatever you like – including content that very likely would be found to be defamatory, under the laws of both Canada and the US – and since you seem to think we should spend an inordinate amount of resources to do this to the detriment of every other client within this network, it is clear that we are not the host for you. We expect that you will have all of your material moved to another host no later than Saturday at 10 PM Eastern US time.
Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

09 August 2007 23:49
From: Hossein Derakhshan
To: billing@hostmatters.com

Have you removed anything from my database already?!?!

==

10 August 2007 00:00
From: Annette
Reply-To: billing@hostmatters.com
To: Hossein Derakhshan

We clearly informed you previously that you were to remove all references to this person from the site or we would remove it for you. That is precisely what we did, as you failed to remove references to him from your site. The other option was to suspend the site. Believing you to be a reasonable person, we did not take that action. Given your conduct now, after everything we have done for you over time, we should have simply suspended the site instead.

I will also guarantee you of this: unlike this person with whom you have this running battles whose threats you deem “hollow”, we will make no threats should we find you engaging in any libel or slander of our service and/or actions. We will simply appropriately engage legal proceedings. At that point, everything that has been done for you to this point, including the provisioning of a server at what amounts to about $10 per month, will be made public record, along with the issues you created here and the expenses we incurred as a result of your behavior. I doubt that these items will reflect well for you in such a case, since the factual nature of any claims we make will be quite clear.

This is the last response you will receive from us unless it involves some technical issue you are having moving your sites elsewhere. On Saturday at 10 PM Eastern, the sites owned by you will be terminated from this network. No backups will be retained, so you are to ensure that whatever content you need is content that you retrieve.
Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

10 August 2007 00:21
From: Hossein Derakhshan
To: billing@hostmatters.com
I think you for all you help and service you have given me in the past
few years. But you are just giving in to some warmongers here.

This guy is working for the Israeli-lobby’s think-tank where Richard
Perle and Paul Wolfowitz serve on its board. If saying this is libel
then I think there is something wrong with you.

You are kicking me out just because you are bullied. I understand
this, but I also learnt what does free speech mean in the United
States.

==

10 August 2007 00:35
From: Annette
Reply-To: billing@hostmatters.com
To: Hossein Derakhshan

You have clearly failed to grasp the nature of their complaint and the specified content and just as clearly failed to understand why you are being informed to seek hosting elsewhere – it is certainly not because we are being “bullied” in any way, nor are we supporting “warmongers”. Rather, your failure to abide by the terms of our acceptable use policy regarding defamatory or libelous material, plus your absurd conduct in this matter, have resulted in your removal from this service. You have also not learned anything about free speech in the US, since, once again, we are NOT a governmental agency and not required to allow you to say anything at all within this network if we choose not to.

If we find a single one of these types of claims, or any other that we deem factually incorrect, in any public arena or disseminated to any third party, our attorney will be directed to immediately draw up papers for service. As there is no possible way for you to show that any of your petulant comments have any shred of fact in them, there is no doubt whatsoever that we would prevail in such a case. We would also seek the full extent of damages available to us, including punitive damages.

Ticket closed. We will not continue to address this issue with you, since you fail to even remotely understand the nature and consequences of your actions, or take any responsibility for them.

All techs: do not respond to any ticket of any sort like this from this user. Tickets of this nature are to be closed without response. Technical issues only. Saturday, 10 PM Eastern is the deadline.
Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

10 August 2007 00:39
From: Hossein Derakhshan
To: billing@hostmatters.com

My posts were not defamatory and this is precisely their lawyers said.
If they were defamatory, instead of their lawyer threatening you,
you’d have received a note from a court.

You are going to pay a price for this. I’m telling you. It would
damage your image.

==

10 August 2007 01:16
From: Annette
Reply-To: billing@hostmatters.com
To: Hossein Derakhshan

If we receive another nonsensical reply like this, your account will be terminated immediately, with no further notice. If we see any nonsensical claims by you regarding our service or actions, your account will be terminated immediately, and without notice, as well as the appropriate legal options taken. I am not kidding about any of this, and I’m not going to debate this any further with you since you are not a lawyer and have no grasp of what you’re talking about – not to mention the slack we’ve cut for you over time, over and over again, with no thanks whatsoever from you. Get your content moved elsewhere by the deadline. Your failure to do so will be your responsibility and your failure alone.
Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

10 August 2007 01:19
From: Hossein Derakhshan
To: billing@hostmatters.com

I am moving my stuff already. And i want the rest of my money back, by the way.

==

10 August 2007 01:30

From: Annette
Reply-To: billing@hostmatters.com
To: Hossein Derakhshan

We are not in the habit of keeping monies for service that is unused. However, you have no refunds due, and in fact you owe funds to us, as you have failed to pay the open invoice from MAY for hoder.info – another site we should clearly have suspended, given your behavior, this time for nonpayment, but left up as a courtesy. The remaining 14 days on the contract for hoder.com will be applied to that invoice. The remainder of that invoice, from June 1 to this Saturday when the site is terminated, is being written off, since clearly you do not intend to pay the invoice, considering the length of time it has been open. It will simply be added to our list of nonpayers as well as retained in the file we have started related to you and your account in the event it is necessary for anyone to have that information.
Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

==

10 August 2007 01:37
From: Hossein Derakhshan
To: billing@hostmatters.com

Come on! Don’t remind about your courtesy! I have seen my website has
been suspended several times after the payment was overdue. Clearly
this has been a technical problem. Please stop playing like the
responsible client-centered hosting company, now that you have kicked
me out like this!

You are going to get a lot of heat form bloggers for doing this to me.
Wait and see.

Especially because of going to my database and remove anything you
wanted! Well, that’s really new to me! Even in North Koreas, i guess,
they don’t do that.

==

10 August 2007 01:42
From: Annette
Reply-To: billing@hostmatters.com
To: Hossein Derakhshan

Accounts terminated.
Regards,

Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.

http://www.hostingmatters.com

If you think that the same attitudes may soon enough threaten you as well, you need to take action (spread the word, sign petitions, etc.) to support Hossein Derakhshan (Hoder).

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Thoughts, Freedom of Expression, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Iranian Society, Media, Canada, Israel, Hoder, UK, Imperialism, Wolfowitz, Perle, Khalaji, Fascism

For instance, one of the most abundant things people say is along the lines of ‘why are you over here if you liked Iran so much.’ Well, I’m not here because I wanted to live in freedom and democracy. I could have just as much personal and social satisfaction in Iran, in addition to the happiness that goes with being around family and in the motherland. I’m here for studies and possibly work. The main problem in Iran is bad economy, corruption and mismanagement, not liberty, democracy and free speech– which you don’t get much of here particularly if you’re originally from the Middle East these days.

So please do some proper research and thinking and avoid personal accusations before enlightening me.

Thank you.

Yet, as time goes by, and thanks particularly to George W. Bush, it is becoming more and more clear that this democracy is little more than illusion. The current president of the United States was elected by a very marginal majority in his both terms, and is constantly being criticized by other popularly-elected wings of the state, as well as the public and intellectuals. Yet, he has shown that his power is almost indefinite and unreachable: he can easily veto any legislation by the Congress and the Senate that he doesn’t like, he is the Commander-in-Chief, and more recently, he has shown that he can reverse a court’s verdict by pardoning one of his servants, Lewis Libby. What’s more, he has several intelligence agencies under his control and can manipulate one with the other; he also gets all the support typically given to the president in times of war, thereby, opening places like Guantanamo Bay and undermining justice and human rights in the name of the war on terror (the so-called “state of exception“).

Makes you wonder what really makes the Supreme Leader of Iran different from the President of the U.S. in terms of the concentration of power, and what distinguishes between the democratic republic of America and the oppressive Islamic Republic of Iran…

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Thoughts, Freedom of Expression, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Larijani, Iranian Society, Media, U.S. Congress, Islamic Revolution, Persian Gulf, UK, Blair, Britain, Mullahs, CIA, Guantanamo

But I can’t think of a single phenomenon in a single field which can be explored without historical perspective. The following short video teaches an important history lesson for anybody interested in what relates to Iran and American foreign policy in the Middle East and beyond. You may as well watch it every time you’re about to turn on the TV for the evening news or look at the front page of the New York Times!

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Movies, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Larijani, Iranian Society, Media, Islamic Revolution, Israel, BBC, Persia, Tehran, Persian Gulf, UK, Britain, Mullahs, Imperialism, Islam

Many of them congratulate themselves for being promoted to the honor of being disopsable objects for the white man. They hear voices from the Western hemisphere telling them they would be set free from the the patriarchial bounds of their society. They know nothing of the implications: the agressiveness, the deceit, the emptiness, the insincerity…Some go as far as writing Reading Lolita in Tehran to support the cause that would strip them of their last layer of decency and lead the demise of what truly made them unique.

Yet, some have their eyes wide open; they tell us a different story. We should listen to them.

Technorati Tags:
Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Larijani, Persian Culture, Iranian Society, Islamic Revolution, Persia, Tehran, Feminism, Iranian Women, Persian Gulf, Mullahs, Imperialism

Dude, you may laugh about our futile attempts to have a Jewish state in this hole, but nothing is funnier than the Iranian “democracy”.
We do have a demographic problem, even if the Palestinians will have a state that will be a good neighbor, which i doubt because they want our land. We have a big Arab population in Israel that has full rights, including voting. And they do not feel as they belong here, they want Israel to go away so they can live in Palestine.
The solution of 2 states for 2 peoples doesn’t attract them, they want either one Arab state, or two states, one purely Arab, and the other multinational. It’s not just about territory, listen to what Hammas is saying, they want to destroy Israel to the ground. But I assure you that if they do, or if you do, we can guarantee mutual destruction, if you know what I mean. Better leave us alone and mind your own business, it’s a shame that a great country like Iran, with all its oil and gas, has to threaten small countries just to get some attention and some spare dollars from Russia or US.

The above was a comment by a reader on my previous post. First, let me thank you for leaving the post. There are a few interesting points here:

1. Let’s just not laugh at each other. Iran is not and cannot be a democracy with the status quo and I have eluded to that previously. But it certainly has what it takes to get one, and is closer to getting it than almost any of its neighbors. We did have a democracy in 1953, but the CIA and the MI5 made sure it wouldn’t last more than a year…

2. My understanding is that the Arab citizens in Israel are not treated equally with the Jews at all. I believe that if Israel really wants to get these people to accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state, it has to CONVINCE them, not force them into accepting it. You can’t convince Arabs of Israel’s legitimacy by force, but by pleasing them, treating them equally, letting them hold high-ranking political offices. I assure you that the day Israel does that even the need for a two-state solution may disappear. You CAN get Arabs to live under a truly democratic Israel which treats its citizens equally.

3. You said we should mind our own business. I couldn’t agree more! I have said a zillion times in this blog that I think Ahmadinejad is a moron. We have lots of issues ourselves to take care of. Arab-Israeli issues are Arabs’ Israelis’ business. And mind you, this is not America’s or the EU’s business either.

Even though I disagree with much of what the IRI says about Israel. I do agree that there’s a fundamental issue that is always being ignored. The issue being the fact that Palestinians are paying the price for somebody else’s crimes. I understand the kind of scar that WWII left on the Jewish community, but let’s not forget who committed the crimes. Were it the Arab Muslims or European Christians? You want to prove that Jews are not the victims of history? Go after the folks that victimized you, not the ones that had nothing to do with it. You’ve been fighting the wrong enemy since day one, and your scars will not heal until you claim your rights where they were taken away from you.

The Jews have produced the greatest geniuses of man’s history, I wonder why they can’t solve their own simple equation.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Thoughts, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Racism, Israel, Tehran, NPT, Security Council, Persian Gulf, UK, Imperialism, Islam, Palestine

If Israel was to live up to its own ambition of being a Jewish, democratic state, it could not rule over a Palestinian Arab population that would one day be its numerical equal. Yet that is the statistical situation today, with equal numbers of Jews and Arabs in the historic land of Palestine. If Israel is truly democratic, and grants all those people the vote, it will no longer have a Jewish majority. If it remains Jewish, by excluding those people, then it is no longer democratic. This is the so-called demographic argument, the unavoidable choice for Israelis left by 1967: either you hold on to the West Bank and Gaza or you remain a democratic state with a Jewish majority: you can’t do both.

…occupation corrodes the occupier, slowly but unmistakably.

Interestingly, the quoted text is from Jonathan Freedland’s latest comment in the Guardian, not an IRI representative. Ahmadinejad takes this one step further and says that if democracy were to rule, there wouldn’t be a Jewish territory on the Palestinian lands any longer, and thinks that this will lead to the demise of the Jewish state the way the Soviet Union died out.

Again, I strongly believe that based on what he has been saying about Israel, his views are based on abstract arguments and not a concrete plan to destroy Israel. However, there are some serious and well-measured intentions behind the apparatus that is distorting his views and advertising his out-of-context statement about Israel on a daily basis.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Larijani, Media, Israel, Tehran, NPT, Security Council, Mottaki, Persian Gulf, UK, Mullahs, Islam

What has not been mentioned, and what I would like to bring up, is that in my opinion, Ahmadinejad is no friend of Israel and does dream of a day when you would not see a country by that name on the map. Yet this can, by no means, be translated into a plan by him to destroy Israel.

I hope that when posterity reads Ahmadinejad’s famous quote, they will also be able to read his own words as to what he had in mind as a way for Israel to be “wiped off the map”. In his own words,

“As the Soviet Union disappeared, the Zionist regime will also vanish.”

Ahmadinejad clearly finds Israeli expansion at the expense of the Palestinian people wholly unacceptable. To this end, he talks about the need for regime change. Since the Soviet Union was not atom-bombed out of existence, there is no necessary military connotation in what he said. The Soviet Union was wiped off the map through no foreign interference, but because of the conflicts and defects that were inherent to its communist-Stalinist system. In Ahmadinejad’s view, as he has clearly stated above and in his other underreported comments, the “Zionist regime” will vanish because of flaws in its foundations, what it is and what it has done.

Please note that Ahmadinejad has never used Iran’s nuclear program and his views about Israel in the same context. If you are really interested, you may spend a little bit of time reading his own comments, not what have others inferred, and you will realize to what extent his views have been distorted to the advantage of certain political trends and ideologies.

Before I am accused of anything, let me state clearly that even though I do not think Ahmadinejad is anywhere close to being another Hitler, I do think he is a moron for feeding right-wing propaganda with his statements about the “Zionist regime.” I do NOT see a day when Israel is “wiped off the map.” I think Israel is there to stay, and so is Palestine. (And that’s about as much as I care about the aforementioned nations and their conflicts!)

Technorati Tags:
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