#India's evolutionary past tied to huge migration 50,000 years ago
“They revealed that one of the three main ancestral groups in India — ancient #Iranian farmers — can be traced back to a group of agricultural farmers from Sarazm in modern-day #Tajikistan.”
Today's harvest of fresh dill from the balcony garden.
This is probably the 10th harvest I had and I'm going to use it to cook northern Iranian Baghala Ghatogh (chicken eggs, beans, garlic and dill stew).
Some people have bastardized it and using fawa beans instead, but I use the large white beans (insteadof pach-baghala used in Gilan province of Iran), soaking them in water overnight then peel them and cook them in oil for a few minutes before adding to the stew.
PS. I love the smell of fresh dill, it reminds me of my childhood and my mother's hands that smelled like fresh vegetables all the time.
Some 52 years ago, when I was in 4th grade of primary school, I found a book "who put glasses on the kid's eyes" in a small book shop in open bazaar of my hometown Ahvaz in khuzestan province of Iran.
A few days later, we had to bring a book to school and read it in front of the class. Happy as I was to have found a great book, I took it to school and read it in front of the class.
I couldn't understand why my teacher was acting so scared and stopped me before I had finished the book and sent me to the principals office.
I was nervous, didn't know what I had done wrong and our principal, who was a really nice man, and went to the same university as my oldest sister took the book and asked me where I had bought it. I knew something was wrong, so I said I bought it at the book store of our local mosque, to protect the guy who was my source of cheap and lovely books and would buy back my old ones to help me afford buying new ones.
In the evening my father came home, agitated and clearly upset. Asked me what I have done and I explained the situation, including the fact that I lied about wher I had bought the book. Told him the highlight of the book about a happy child who was living in a town with happy people who were all wearing glasses.
He was seeing flowers, colorful houses. Nice people and happy children all around him, birds flying in the sky and everyone were so friendly to him.
Until one day he fell of and his glasses broke. He couldn't believe his eyes, the flowers, colorful houses and happy people were all gone. All he could see was a run down city, with piles of garbage everywhere, people wearing worn out clothes, looking hungry and sick.
He was nece happy after that, he couldn't believe that everyone were walking around with glasses and we're happy all the time. But he was sad and miserable, because he had seen his town without those glasses.
Anyway. My father took me to a building close to the main police station on the other side of the Karun river, he spent almost entire day in a room where I could people screaming at him and a few times someone his the table very hard. But couldn't hear what they were saying.
My dad came out. Pulled my hand without saying a word, we walked for an hour to get home, didn't take taxi as we used to do.
He didn't say a word during the whole day and told me to go over my books and bring all the books I had bought from that shop, he through them in a metal bucket and poured some fuel over it, set them on fire and waited until they were completely burned, mixed the ashes to turn them into dust, filled the bucket with water and through it in the toilet.
He told me to never go back to that shop and be careful to take any books to school from now on.
That' was my first interaction with the notorious Savak police of Shah of Iran. In the next days, all the 4 book stores in our town were raided. Books confiscated and doors locked. Never heard about any of them again.
Reading the comments of pro Israeli accounts on mastodon reminded me of that book and that experience that changed my life when I was only 8 years old.
This post specially triggered those memories. Unlike the kid in my book and the people living in the town, these people know very well tat what they are posting is not true, they have seen the horror of the past 76 years of occupation, they have seen the 66 times they were subject to UNSC charges, and 45 that were vetoed by the US..
But they don't care, they see themselves as victims. They don't see the millions of starving palestinians, or the millions living in refuge camps around the world as worthy of their empathy or cause of why Palestinians and some of the world is fed up with their out of control criminal behavior
They don't have glasses on their eyes, they have chosen to be selective and above the laws of the world.
I don't like to share from media discussions, but this is just priceless, the Israeli woman claims that majority of Iranians support Reza Pahlavi (son of Iran's former dictator) and also support Israel bombing their country.
These are the same people who convinced the world that Americans wouldb be greeted with flowers and celebrated as liberators. And it ends up giving us #ISIS and millions of deaths.
Trust them. They know what #Iranian people think and want. They have some #Twitter polls to prove their ponts.
"The Conference of European #Rabbis explained that Jewish communities in Europe were raising their level of preparedness given the history of #Iranian proxies attacking #Jewish targets around the world.
"We are closely monitoring the Iranian attack on #Israel and its implications for the security of #Jews in the #diaspora," said conference president Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt. 'We are in contact with all the leaders of the Jewish communities and security officials across the continent. I call on all Jews across Europe to remain vigilant in community institutions and to act responsibly in the public sphere."
I agree.
I'd go even further re/ "de-escalation," though:
The #MullahRegime needs a face-saving "victory" against the aggressor, at least for it's populace.
Telling the world and rubbing it in that "you accomplished nothing" will only anger the Mullah Regime further, as well as a big part of the #Iranian people, against #Israel and the West ("Death to America!")
IDF and Netanyahu Regime: tone it down, better STFU!
...nation hostage is, IMO, a casus belli. Portugal should consider invoking #NATO Article 5.
The mass delivery of #Iranian drones to #RussiaIsATerroristState causes enormous hardships in the #WarInUkraine. The West is footing the gigantic financial bill.
Maybe it is time to solve the weapons problems at its root: take ot #Iranian drone and ballistic missiles factories as a response.
Iran seizes cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media says
> Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, the Iranian state-run IRNA news agency reported, days after Tehran warned it could close the area to sea traffic.
"Acts of piracy threaten maritime security by endangering, in particular, the welfare of seafarers and the security of navigation and commerce. These criminal acts may result in the loss of life, physical harm or hostage-...
Amongst #Iranian officials and the Iranian media the consistent slogans since the death of #Soleimani were hard revenge - that's the official hashtag. And there's been no real lessening of actual activity. And now as we're seeing here in 2024 with this regional war which is effectively being led by the #AxisOfResistance on whether #US forces or #Israel and its interests it's stronger than ever.
(cont.)
Following is a thread of quotes from #TheGlobalJigsaw latest episode on the #IRGC, #Quds force, #Basij militias - and th ideological blueprint for #Iran so called Axis of Resistance. Whole episode here:
Another #Iranian - the current mayor of the capital #Tehran - put it even more bluntly. He said that the Islamic Republic now ruled over four Arab capitals: #Baghdad , #Beirut , #Damascus and #Sana’a.
It was a #Libyan journalist in response to #Bush 's axis of evil' speech who said that these three countries instead formed an axis of resistance because they were against colonial and American interests and that phrase went on to be picked up by Iranian media.
Who are the footsoldiers tasked with the mission to redraw the map of the Middle East? the #IRGC , #Quds force, the #Basij - they are all part of this jigsaw.
The IRGC or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps -and the clue is in the name,- exist alongside the regular #Iranian military. The regular military is constitutionally tasked with protecting the territorial integrity of #Iran. But the IRGC Is actually tasked with protecting the Islamic revolution itself.
the #IRGC was set up in 1979, directly loyal to the Supreme Leader, formed initially out of street fighters, street paramilitaries. They fought alongside the regular Iranian military when it came to the #Iran - #Iraq war from 1980 to 1988. what they're most famous for is for the tactic that they innovated of human wave attacks on #Iraqi troops. So you can imagine these waves of religiously inspired #Iranian teenagers running at well armed Iraqi lines of defence,
(cont.)
overwhelming superior armaments with just sheer numbers and determination.
The #IRGC now is formally divided into eight bodies. But it's got a really deep and complicated footprint, far beyond its official military remit. In terms of the #Iranian economy and in terms of unofficial figures that accounts for 20-30 % of #Iran 's GDP. And this runs from just its own military output to key economic sectors, including construction, energy
it means the Basij have access to welfare schemes or employment opportunities that a regular #Iranian wouldn't have. membership figures fluctuate in the millions (there's no official record), but in terms of active #Basij members, who'd worked day to day, the number is estimated to be about a hundred thousand. They are involved in all aspects of life - They organise religious events. They do charity, disaster relief. what they are most notorious for is the suppression of protests in Iran
cont
#soleimani was seen as defending #Iran on its frontlines in #Iraq against an extremist #Sunni group - #ISIS#IS#daesh which was dedicated to the murder of #Shia Muslims, wherever they could find them. there have already been several years of speculation whether in the #Iranian press that Soleimani would actually run for President
When he was assassinated we saw a genuine huge wave of mourning in Iran, his funeral was apparently the biggest mass gathering recorded in Iranian history
cont
what has happened since #october7th, since the heating up of this regional war involving almost all of #Iran 's allies in the region - what we have seen is Iran’s pronounced unwillingness to get involved in a direct confrontation with #Israel . So while it might have this rhetoric of the former President #Ahmedinejad said "to wipe Israel from the pages of time", it is unwilling to risk any kind of conflict that could draw the U S into a direct conflict on #Iranian soil.
'British fighter jets and aerial refueling planes based in Cyprus have taken over much of the counterterrorism mission in the skies over Iraq and northeastern #Syria , freeing up American warplanes normally operating there to help defend #Israel against the #Iranian drone attack on Saturday, a British official said.'
This is uncharted territory fraught with risk and unpredictability.
#Iran and #Israel have fought shadow wars for decades, but for the first time Iran is now targeting Israel directly from #Iranian soil.
This is no longer a confrontation led by Iran’s array of powerful proxies across the region against an enemy which has long kept silent about its own attacks on Iranian assets and targeted assassinations.
(Cont.)
V WaPo:
' #Hamas on Sunday expressed support for #Iran ’s attack on Israel, calling it a “natural right” and a deserved response to an #Israeli strike on #Iranian diplomatic compound in #Syria. The militant group called upon Arab and Islamic nations to continue their support in its fight against #Israel '