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Iranians Mock U.S. 'Bluff' On Syria

As talks between the Syrian regime and rebels continue in Switzerland, the "Iranian Question" isn't going away. Though Tehran, which is a key supporter of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, was barred from attending the Geneva 2 talks for refusing several pre-conditions, it has made its voice heard from back home.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister who is still a key adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Western powers were disrespecting Syrian sovereignty by forcing its government to talk with "supporters of terrorism , subordinates of foreign powers and extremists," referring to rebel representatives, the reformist daily Arman reported on Monday. "We think the Syrians should decide their own fate, and this should not be done by foreign states and parties that interfere in Syria's internal affairs without legal justification."

Another conservative politician Mohammad Nabi Habibi was even more direct, saying certain participants in talks in Geneva had "stained their hands with the blood of Syrians," the daily Kar va Kargar reported.

Habibi, who heads the conservative Islamic Coalition Party, said the United States' "bluff on a military option is ridiculous," as the Americans had already tasted "heavy defeat" with their interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan .

-Ahmad Shayegan

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Society

Violence Against Women, The Patriarchy And Responsibility Of The Good Men Too

The femicide of Giulia Cecchettin has shaken Italy, and beyond. Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra looks at what lies behind femicides and why all men must take more responsibility.

A protester's sign referring to the alleged killer reads: Filippo isn't a monster, he's the healthy son of the patriarchy

Matteo Nardone/Pacific Press via ZUMA Press
Ignacio Pereyra

Updated Dec. 3, 2023 at 10:40 p.m.

-Essay-

ATHENS — Are you going to write about what happened in Italy?, Irene, my partner, asks me. I have no idea what she's talking about. She tells me: a case of femicide has shaken the country and has been causing a stir for two weeks.

As if the fact in itself were not enough, I ask what is different about this murder compared to the other 105 women murdered this year in Italy (or those that happen every day around the world).

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We are talking about a country where the expression "fai l'uomo" (be a man) abounds, with a society so prone to drama and tragedy and so fond of crime stories as few others, where the expression "crime of passion" is still mistakenly overused.

In this context, the sister of the victim reacted in an unexpected way for a country where femicide is not a crime recognized in the penal code, contrary to what happens, for example, in almost all of Latin America.

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