Before I Forget

I had a conversation with an Iranian last night about politics. It was a little tense. He thought all the newspapers (Zeitung) are full of crap. He said they'd take pictures of a Pakistani woman and say she's Iranian. He talked about all the footage we have of Iranians praying on Fridays. He said they go back home and forget about it; that it's just a show for their bosses or their friends. They have to be seen praying for social reasons. Still, it seems like a huge infringement on a persons freedom to require them to pray. And he was telling me about the student protests a while back, when the Iranian government shot into the crowd. He says that Iran's safe now. People know not to protest and anyone who does protest gets shouted down by the general public. The Government doesn't have to do anything. The Iranian government seems very successful if controling the public through fear is a success.

And a common theme I noticed is that everyone feels: we don't have a problem with you, just our governments have a problem. It's almost like the governments don't really speak for their subjects....

And Peter Nalitch writes some very interesting music. http://www.peternalitch.ru/
I downloaded his whole album. For free. Good stuff. Радость простых мелодий is what it's called. It means The Joy of Simple Melodies. I don't think there is a better way to describe his music. Oh, I almost forgot. Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOzkN8dHnjk