September 2009 Show

Human Rights Violation in Iran after the Elections
Friday Sep. 11, 2009
KBOO 90.7 fm
Click here to listen to this recording!

An interview with Dr. Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about the situations in Iran in aftermath of the elections fraud and people uprising. Thousands of the regular people and reform activists are still in prison 80 days after the elections. We will also hear about the welcoming ceremonies planned for president Ahmadinejad in New York while he visits the UN general assembly.

Hadi Ghaemi is the director of International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran[1], which is a project of the Dutch Foundation for Human Security in the Middle East. Ghaemi was formerly the Iran and United Arab Emirates researcher in the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch.[4] He holds a PhD in Physics.

July 2009 Show

An interview on sociological analysis of the recent events in Iran with Professor Mahmoud Sadri, Texas Woman's University, and Professor Hossein Farahani, Portland States University, and Professor Ahmad Sadri, Lake Forest College, Chicago.

To listen to this recording, Please click here!


Mahmoud Sadri is a professor of sociology at the Federation of North Texas Area Universities that includes Texas Woman's University, University of North Texas , and A&M University , Commerce. His major interests include Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Culture, and Theoretical Sociology.

Dr. Sadri regularly contributes to popular journals and newspapers in his native country, Iran, and grants interviews to radio and television programs such as BBC, Radio France, Voice of America, and Radio Australia. Also, he writes op. ed pieces for Daily StarDaily Telegraph, Newsweek, and Time have carried interviews, profiles, and quotations from him in the recent years., The Guardian, UK . The New York Times, Fort Worth

For a pre-election prediction of Dr. Sadri Click here!
Professor Sam Hosein Farahani is an International studies visiting scholar at Middle East Studies Center at Portland State University.

Ahmad Sadri is Professor of Sociology and James P. Gorter Chair of Islamic World Studies at Lake Forest College. He received his BA and MA degrees at the University of Tehran and his PhD from the New School for Social Research. Sadri is the author of Max Weber’s Sociology of Intellectuals (Oxford University Press 1992, 94) and editor and translator (from Persian) of Reason Freedom and Democracy in Islam (Oxford University Press, 2000) and (from Arabic) Saddam City (Saqi Press, 2002.) Sadri has authored three books in Persian published by Kavir, and Hermes Press, Tehran. He has also functioned as a columnist for Daily Star of Lebanon and a commentator at National Public Radio in Chicago.

Please Note that the Voices of the Middle East has now moved from Thursday nights to Friday mornings at 9 AM.

June 30, 2009 Talk Show.

Iranian Green Wave movement for democracy and US Left's skepticism

Why were ellections in Iran rigged? What Iranian Demonstrators want? Is the Green Wave in Iran another CIA staged colour revolution? for some answers KBOO's special talk show host Goudarz Eghtedari interviews Professors Hamid Dabashi and Kaveh Ehsany. Please Click Here to listen to this recording!

Hamid Dahbashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and
Comparative Literature at Columbia University's Middle East Studies, and Kaveh Ehsani is Professor of International Studies at DePaul University, Chicago and an editor of Middle East Report.

Iranian Elections, the day after...

An interview with Professor Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University, on the 10th Presidential Elections in Iran.

Click here to listen to this interview!


Born on June 15, 1951 into a working class family in the south-western city of Ahvaz in the Khuzestan province of Iran, Hamid Dabashi received his early education in his hometown and his college education in Tehran, before he moved to the United States, where he received a dual Ph.D. in Sociology of Culture and Islamic Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.

He is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, the oldest and most prestigious Chair in Iranian Studies. He has also taught and delivered lectures in many North American, European, Arab and Iranian universities.

June 2009 Show

Reflections on President Obama’s speech in Cairo and upcoming elections in Iran; A live interview with Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco, and Farideh Farhi, University of Hawaii, Manoa.
Click Here to listen to this show on-demand!


Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco , where he chairs the program in Middle Eastern Studies. A native of North Carolina , Professor Zunes received his PhD. from Cornell University , his M.A. from Temple University and his B.A. from Oberlin College . He has previously served on the faculty of Ithaca College , the University of Puget Sound , and Whitman College . He serves as a senior policy analyst for the Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, and chair of the academic advisory committee for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

Professor Zunes is the author of scores of articles for scholarly and general readership on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, international terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation, strategic nonviolent action, and human rights. He is the principal editor of Nonviolent Social Movements (Blackwell Publishers, 1999), the author of the highly-acclaimed Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2003) and co-author (with Jacob Mundy) of the forthcoming Western Sahara: Nationalism, Conflict, and International Accountability (Syracuse University Press.)



Dr. Farideh Farhi is an independent researcher and an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Her publications include States and Urban-Based Revolutions in Iran and Nicaragua (1990), as well as numerous articles and book chapters on comparative analysis of revolutions, contemporary Iranian politics and foreign policy. Her writings also appear on numerous webzines such as "Informed Comment". I'll interview her about the elections in Iran this Friday and the challenge that President Ahmadinejad is facing with 3 opponents that are gaining ground.

April 2009 Show

Morocco a look from afar – Literature of North Africa, Religion and the Moroccan Society

An interview with Moroccan author Professor Laila Lalami, UC Riverside
and Professor Kambiz Ghanebasiri, Reed College.

Click here to listen to this show!

Laila Lalami was born and raised in Morocco . She earned her B.A. in English from Université Mohammed V in Rabat , her M.A. from University College , London , and her Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Southern California . Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post and elsewhere. She is the recipient of an Oregon Literary Arts grant and a Fulbright Fellowship. She was short-listed for the Caine Prize for African Writing (the “African Booker”) in 2006. Her debut collection of short stories, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, was published in the fall of 2005 and has since been translated into Spanish, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Norwegian. Her first novel, Secret Son, will be published in the spring of 2009. She is currently Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California Riverside .

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri was born in Tehran , Iran , and grew up in the United States . He has a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University . He has taught Islamic studies in the religion and humanities department at Reed College since 2002.

Kambiz was asked by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Religious Endowments in Morocco to lead curricular reform efforts at Dar Al Hadith Al Hassania. The Islamic seminary, which has begun teaching non-Islamic religions and non-Islamic languages as well as philosophy and social sciences, asked GhaneaBassiri to direct academic affairs during the 2006-2007 academic years.

Professor Ghanebasiri, a Carnegie Scholar, currently works on his first book "Islam in America".

February 2009 Show

Iranian Islamic Revolution, 30 years later; Two views from accross the oceans. Goudarz Eghtedari speaks with Ambassador John Limbert

Thursday February 12th, 2009
6-7 PM on KBOO 90.7 fm
Click here to listen to this show on-demand!

February marks the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran . One of the most significant events in the Middle East in the last half century, it dramatically changed the political balance of power in the region and created one of the US’s greatest foreign policy challenges. The revolution caught all the western intelligence agencies off-guard. The Shah’s monarchy, characterized by President Carter a year earlier as the Island of Tranquility , had disappeared and a revolutionary government unlike anything seen before had taken over the most valuable US ally in the Persian Gulf .

US-Iran relations have regrettably gone from bad to worse over the past 3 decades. During this same period, Iran has gained great influence in the region and is a major player in all Middle East arenas – Iraq and Palestine in particular. Many analysts of foreign affairs today agree that having a normal relationship with Iran is critical if the US goal for stability of the Middle East is to be realized.

Ambassador Limbert first joined the Foreign Service in 1973, and his overseas experience also included tours in Algeria , Djibouti , Iran , Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates . From 1981 to 1984 he taught Political Science at the U.S. Naval Academy, and in 1991-92 he was a Senior Fellow at Harvard University 's Center for International Affairs. Ambassador Limbert was president of the American Foreign Service Association (2003-2005) and Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (2000-2003).

John Limbert was appointed Distinguished Professor of International Affairs at the U.S. Naval Academy in August 2006 after retiring from the Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor. His last postings before retirement were as Dean of the Foreign Service Institute's School of Language Studies and, on temporary assignment, as Chief of Mission in Khartoum , Sudan .

Born in Washington , D.C. , John Limbert graduated from the D.C. public schools and holds his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Harvard University , the last in History and Middle Eastern Studies. Before joining the Foreign Service, he taught in Iran , both as a Peace Corps Volunteer (1964-66) and as an English instructor at Shiraz University (1969-72). He has written numerous articles on Middle Eastern subjects and has authored Iran : At War with History (Westview Press, 1987) and Shiraz in the Age of Hafez ( University of Washington Press , 2004).

Ambassador Limbert holds the Department of State's highest award -- the Distinguished Service Award and Award for Valor, which he received after fourteen months as a hostage in Iran . He also holds the American Foreign Service Association's Rivkin Award for creative dissent. His foreign languages are Persian, Arabic, and French. He is married to the former Parvaneh Tabibzadeh, and has a son, a daughter and two grandchildren.

January 2009 Show

Gaza; a humanitarian catastrophe in making- A live interview with Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco, and Isaac Luria, JStreet.

Click here to listen to this show!


Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco , where he chairs the program in Middle Eastern Studies. A native of North Carolina , Professor Zunes received his PhD. from Cornell University , his M.A. from Temple University and his B.A. from Oberlin College . He has previously served on the faculty of Ithaca College , the University of Puget Sound , and Whitman College . He serves as a senior policy analyst for the Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, and chair of the academic advisory committee for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

Professor Zunes is the author of scores of articles for scholarly and general readership on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, international terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation, strategic nonviolent action, and human rights. He is the principal editor of Nonviolent Social Movements (Blackwell Publishers, 1999), the author of the highly-acclaimed Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2003) and co-author (with Jacob Mundy) of the forthcoming Western Sahara: Nationalism, Conflict, and International Accountability (Syracuse University Press.)



Isaac Luria, Online Campaigns Director. Isaac joins J Street after 4 years of experience in online organizing and consulting, 2 years of which he spent at the online marketing firm Donordigital in San Francisco . Isaac received his Bachelors degree in American Studies from Trinity College in Hartford , Connecticut . During 2007-2008, Isaac lived in Jerusalem , Israel as a Dorot Fellow. Isaac lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Sara, who is studying to become a Reform Rabbi.

ABOUT J STREET

J Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. J Street was founded to promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israel conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. J Street supports a new direction for American policy in the Middle East and a broad public and policy debate about the U.S. role in the region.

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December 2008 Show

An interview with Ambassador Farhang on issues related to the Middle East, Iran and the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights.

Thursday December 11, 2008

To listen to this show on-demand, Click here!

Professor Mansour Farhang served as an advisor to the Iranian foreign ministry and as ambassador to the United Nations following the 1979 revolution. He later resigned in protest when the Khomeini regime refused to accept the U.N. Commission of Inquiry's recommendation to release American hostages in Teheran. Early in the Iran-Iraq war, he also served as envoy in negotiations with international peace missions. During his ambassadorship, Dr. Farhang wrote and spoke about the threat of religious extremists who had come to dominate the course of the Iranian revolution. He sought refuge in United States in the fall of 1981, following the violent suppression of political dissidents in Iran . He has been teaching international relations and Middle Eastern Politics at Bennington College in Vermont since 1983.

Mansour Farhang currently serves on the advisory board of Middle East Watch, a branch of Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. And in the media, he's one of the most sought-after experts on the Middle East , appearing as a guest on numerous national and international radio and television programs

He holds a BA from the University of Arizona (1965) and a PhD from Claremont Graduate School (1970).

Books:

U.S. Press and Iran : Foreign Policy and the Journalism of Deference (Univ. of California, 1987)
U.S. Imperialism: From the Spanish-American War to the Iranian Revolution (South End Press, 1981).

November 2008 Show

President-elect Obama and a window of opportunity to resolve some of the issues with Iran.

An interview with Farideh Farhi, University of Hawaii, Manoa

Thursday Nov. 13th, 2008

To listen to this show on-demand, Click Here!



Farideh Farhi is an independent researcher and an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Her publications include States and Urban-Based Revolutions in Iran and Nicaragua (1990), as well as numerous articles and book chapters on comparative analysis of revolutions, contemporary Iranian politics and foreign policy. Her writings also appears on numerous webzines such as "Informed Comment". I'll interview her about the US election results and President-elect Obama's window of opportunity to move toward an oppening with Iran. The benefits of such involvement and impacts that it might have on the Middle East in general and stability of the Region and especially Iraq.

October 2008 Show

Presidential Candidates and the Middle East - Interview with Dr. Entessar
Thursday Oct 9, 2008

Click here to listen to this show!

Nader Entessar is professor and chair of the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at University of South Alabama . He is the author of Kurdish Ethnonationalism (1992) and the co-editor of Reconstruction and Regional Diplomacy in the Persian Gulf (Routledge, 1992) and Iran and the Arab world (St Martin Press, 1993)

September 2008 Show

Raid on Islamic Charities after 9-11, Interview with Tom Nelson
Thursday Sep 11, 2008

Click here to listen to this show

In aftermath of the 9-11, many Islamic Charities and foundations became targets of FBI raids and investigations. Al-Haramin was the first such institution in Oregon to be targeted. I have interviewed Tom Nelson who represented Al-Haramin in their law suit against the Federal government. Thomas Nelson is a local lawyer who is active with several cases dealing with Civil Rights affected by 9-11.

August 2008 Show

An interview with Robert Dreyfuss
On issues related to US presence in the Middle East: Iraq, Iran, and beyond
Thursday August 14th, 6 pm

Click here to listen to this recording!

For nearly fifteen years, Robert Dreyfuss has worked as an independent journalist who specializes in magazine features, profiles, and investigative stories in the areas of politics and national security. In 2001, he was profiled as a leading investigative journalist by the Columbia Journalism Review, and two of his articles have won awards from The Washington Monthly. In 2003, Dreyfuss was awarded Project Censored’s first prize for a story on the role of oil in U.S. policy toward Iraq. He has appeared on scores of radio and television talk shows, including Hannity and Colmes on Fox News, C-Span, CNBC, MSNBC, Court TV, and, on National Public Radio, The Diane Rehm Show and Public Interest with Kojo Nnamdi, and Pacifica's Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

Based in Alexandria, Va., Robert Dreyfuss has been writing for Rolling Stone for at least a decade, and currently he covers national security for Rolling Stone’s National Affairs section. He is a contributing editor at The Nation, a contributing writer at Mother Jones, and a senior correspondent for The American Prospect. On line, he writes frequently for TomPaine.com, and has produced a popular blog for Tom Paine called The Dreyfuss Report.

June 2008-Bread and Roses

Interview with Professor Fatemeh Keshavarz, Washington University
Click here to listen to this Interview!

Fatemeh Keshavars is Associate professor of Persian and of comparative literature, and chair of the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages & Literatures of Washington University, St. Louis, MO.

Gabi Ross has interviewed Professor Keshavarz on her book "Jasmin and Stars, Reading more than Lolita in Tehran". Interview covers more than just the book and critiques the orientalists approach to literature and emphasizes on the richness of Iranian literature and samples from Iranian women writers whose works are translated to English. This was a "Bread and Roses" show and is being presented at "Voices of the Middle East" with permission.

May 2008 Show

An interview with Proessor William Beeman, University of Minessota.
Click Here to Listen to this show!
William Beeman is a professor of anthropology and director of Middle East Studies at University of Minessota. He writes extensively about Iran and US relations and their conflicts. Dr. Beeman has recently visited Iran and is the author of The "Great Satan" vs. The "Mad Mullahs": How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other.

February 2008 Show

Dr. George Habash was remembered in an interview with historian Professor Evan Siegel (City University of New Jersey) and Dr. Mazen Malek, local Palestinian activist. George Habash was the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who died at age 82 in January in Amman Jordan.

Click Here to listen to this show on-demand.

January 2008 Show

"The important thing to know about Scott Ritter is that he was right."
- Seymour Hersh

US Tour of Duty: The Iran Talks
An interview with SCOTT RITTER
The UNSCOM Senior Weapons Inspector in Iraq and Non Proliferation Analyst

Click here for the Voices of the Middle East program that was aired on January 11, 2008.

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Video of the entire forum at Lincoln High School is available on-demand (courtesy of Mike Tabor)

December 2007 Show

The National Intelligence Estimate report and future of the Iran problem.
An interview with Barbara Slavin
Thursday December 13th, 2007 at 6 PM
KBOO 90.7 FM
Click here to listen to this interview!

Barbara Slavin has been senior diplomatic reporter for USA TODAY since 1996, responsible for analyzing foreign news and U.S. foreign policy. She has covered such key issues as the U.S.-led war on terrorism and in Iraq, policy toward "rogue" states and the Arab-Israeli conflict. She has accompanied three secretaries of State on their official travels and also reported from Iran, Libya, Israel, Egypt, North Korea, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Author of a new book on the United States and Iran entitled "Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S. and the Twisted Path to Confrontation," she is a regular commentator on U.S. foreign policy on National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting System and C-Span. In October, she joined the U.S. Institute of Peace as a Jennings Randolph fellow, to continue her research on Iran.

October 2007 Show

Interview with David Barsamian 10-11-2007, click here to listen!

As the United States stands on the brink of initiating war on Iran, the publication of David Barsamian's TARGETING IRAN, a collection of interviews with Noam Chomsky, Ervand Abrahamian and Nahid Mozaffari, could not have come at a better time. David Barsamian's Alternative Radio award-winning lecture series continues to bring critical perspectives to the airwaves throughout the US. He was named one of the "Top Ten Media Heroes" by the Institute for Alternative Journalism and received the ACLU's prestigious Upton Sinclair Award for independent journalism in 2003. David's visit to Portland is co-sponsored by KBOO 90.7FM Community Radio and the Portland Peaceful Response Coalition and is endorsed by the American Iranian Friendship Council, Peace & Justice Works, Jews for Global Justice, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Jewish Voice for Peace (Portland Affiliate), Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land - A Witness of Central Lutheran Church, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights and others.

Event: Presentation by Alternative Radio founder, David Barsamian, speaking about his most recent collection of interviews, TARGETING IRAN (Open Media).
Date: Monday, October 22, 2007
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: SEIU Local 49 Union Hall, 3536 SE 26th Avenue, Portland
Admission: FREE
Contact: 503-344-5078.

August 2007 Show

To listen to this show on-demand please click here!

Turkey a challenge between Ataturk Secularists and Reformed Islamists, in the aftermath of the elections and victory of Prime Minister Ordugan's party, what is next?

An Interview with Robert Olson, University of Kentucky, and John Olmsted, Portland State University.

Thursday August 9, 2007.
6:00 PM
KBOO 90.7 FM

John Olmsted MA, Med. is an adjunct instructor in psychology at Portland State University in Portland Oregon where he teaches a course in paranormal psychology. He is mental health therapist specializing in issues of learning, attention and the brain. John has just returned from Turkey after couplmonth of leading an educational tour from Portland Community College.

Dr. Robert Olson, University of Kentucky, Professor of Middle East History and Politics. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1973 where he studied with Professor Wadie Jwaideh and specialized in the history of the Ottoman Empire and contemporary politics of the Middle East. Professor Olson is the author of some 70 research articles, 80 essays and reference works and 180 book reviews. Fulbright Senior Professor Research Middle East Civilization Program Fellowship (1990-91); University Research Professor, (1995-96); The Albert D. and Elizabeth H. Kirwan Memorial University Professor (1999-2000); Best Book Award Third World Studies Association, 1999-2000; Distinguished Professor of the College of Arts and Sciences (2000-01); member of the Strategic Assessment Group of the Central Intelligence Agency's Future Panel on Turkey and the Kurdish Question (2000-03).

For an analogy of Turkey's role in the region with regards to Kurdish question see here!