The US government is now worried about Iran becoming a military dictatorship. Dahhhhhh! wake up! it is been a while since that happened and please remind me, what do you call your best pals in the government of Pakistan!

I think both policies (of Iran and the US) are suffering from this hallucination that "whoever agrees with them is right". It would be even more difficult to see who is right if Ahmadinejad would shave and hire a better tailor! 

I have been struggling to give into my temptation and buy an iMac. Just last week I went to the Apple retail store here in The Hague and man...this new 27" version is really something. BUT...that glass screen which reflects things like a mirror is something I hate...not good for photo editing at all. I think when it comes to photography, I can not be seen as so much into Apple. iPhoto is too basic and I could not convince myself replacing my well organized Lightroom 2 catalog with the one of Aperture.

I also had lots of expectations for the new Apple tablet (iPad) and I am so disappointed to see that the iPad OS is not something like Snow Leopard but like iPhone/iPhod Toch. My idea of a tablet is something you can work on it as a replacement for a computer on the go and for this that is busted. Disappointing! I wish iPad had a normal Mac OS so I could run my favorite Mindmanager software with it in meetings using multi- touch features. It is true that there is an app for the iPhone OS for just about everything but Naaa...

Update: I am receiving some strong reaction on this post :) from those who forget the fact that I am very much a hardcore Mac fan myself. I think it is fair that iPad can not have it all and at the same time be battery efficient and lightweight. I just hope that when it comes to The Netherlands, I would be able to use my current iPhone 3G internet access and somehow transfer it to the iPad when I am on the train otherwise I wonder if many people would buy another 3G subscription just for the iPad??

For the glare on the iMac, I think if I ever want to replace my good Macbook Pro with a desktop, I may buy a MacPro and an Eizo monitor. What prevents me is the money and the fact that I can change my camera gear or even go to a photo trip with the money :D

I am frozen in front of Balatarin.com live cast page. This is one of the most popular new sharing portfolios among Iranians. It is filtered inside Iran and yet so many access it with all sorts of tricks. Any day like this, it gets flooded with links to blog entries, twitter posts from mobile phones, photos, movies and reactions to the events. I shall wait for all those out chanting to get back home and upload their stuff.

It is this spirit that define the culture for us. After being invaded by so many during our turbulent history, we know that we exist and we have the will to endure. Is this another one of those occasions? Is this the turning point? We see a light in the tunnel but can it only be a lamp showing another bend? 31 years ago, we managed to go out and those who led us out tricked us into another tunnel :(

Last year, I posted a blog entry that I think still makes sense...(When I was one, we moved to an Island)

- I went to the US for an excursion in Utah and Colorado and I spent a few days around LA as well. It was great. So many photos and memories.

- I have been busy like crazy in my job but still did lots of photography. I have been building a great web gallery and I hope I can put it up soon here as well.

Ahmadinejad repeated his story of denial but this time also added fraud in his election, crack down on protesters, shooting at people, rape and murders in prisons to his list of denials. I am curious to see how the world wants to deal with this guy who feels no liability towards what happens to his electorate whom he claims to represent.

Ghadafi took my sorrow and pity to the next level. Not for him certainly but for the people of Libya. This guy has managed to rule this oil rich country for forty years. For such small population, the infrastructure of the country is a disgrace. You see the rich, who ride their expensive cars and fill them with cheap gas, living in large houses who fly outside of the country for slight need for medical care while the rest of the people are deprived of a decent hospital in the capital.

I have heard stories from my friends in Libya on how any voice of opposition is silenced and how overwhelming is the iron shadow of the regime. Ghadafi is the guy whose own home was attacked by US forces and was one of the most hated figures around. Now since he paid compensation for the bombings he sponsored, all human rights loving countries are flocking in there to suck up more oil and gas and make him and his system more indisputable.

Imagine Ahmadinejad relinquishing the nuclear program and shaking hand with the west. Imagine oil companies surging to Iran to restate exploration rights. Will any one of them would still ask "Who killed Neda?"

What started as a demand for a fair election is growing into a call for "anything but this" by lots of people. The same trap which threw us from the hole of a dictatorial monarch into an unending well of religious totalitarianism in our last revolution.

The Islamic system is continuing its grave mishandling of the situation and is repeating its bizarre idea that anything goes in Iran is a plot by westerners. A contradicting idea among many in the country is that the Islamic republic is acting like a cowards towards Russia and China just to kill its ideological pain of "west is bad in all cost". Unfortunately, people in Iran are also receptive of the idea of foreign influence. Last Friday, demonstrators chanted "Death to Russia" and "Death to China". Seems that the new revolutionists have found their own great Satan. 

P.S: Back in Feb 2007, I posted an article about the leader "The Health Function in Dictatorship equation". It is still so relevant. Read it again here

Rings any bells? This is exactly why people revolted against the Shah of Iran thirty years ago and now after thirty years with the Islamic republic, ten years of trying to reform it, eight years of bloody war, four years of Ahmadinejad and few months of presidential campaigns....here we are facing the truth as the big elephant in the room emerges from behind the curtain. Iranian supreme leader has been exploiting his position for twenty years, cooking a dish of dictatorship for Iran using the recipes of the late Shah and adding Islamic spices. Believe us dear leader, your soup tastes just like what we threw out of the window thirty years ago.