sereshk – Nina's Homepage

June 4, 2026June 4, 2026

Politics and the UN Security Council: Stand By Your Convictions…

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay and Adobe CC, my arrangement

Germany and the UN security council: I am German by birth and upbringing. Political and community responsibility were a central part of education as well as discussions in our family. As indeed in the majority of German families and households.

The security council was from the start and always will be a highly political body. When we look at unjust and forced decisions by its 5 permanent members over the past 80 years since its founding, we will start to realize that anywhere in the world power and third party interests influence such bodies.

We also can easily ascertain that good forces and good deeds are strong and at the moment still prevail throughout Europe, including Germany.

Yet, Germany reserves its right to stand up and point at injustice. These days, with an extreme-right-wing president in the US, a dictator in Russia as heads of government, who are basically best buddies, it’s practically impossible to ‘please all’.

You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.
(John Lydgate)

That’s also very clear:
We should not at any time confuse Israeli politics and the reactions to those politics with the past or present of people using antisemitism as a weapon in discussions.

It is tragic and also very true:
In politics and dictatorships all around the world certain methods were – and still are – used to manipulate those of less well-educated mind to gather and hunt those that were a minority, or are an easy target.

‘Minority bashing’ occurs in Russia, in China and the US, in the UK and France. The USA were the first – and so far the only nation – to use a nuclear bomb in a war against another.

They have forfeited their ‘right’ to be counted among the righteous at least in politics: Their present government is nothing to write home about. And that’s putting it rather nicely yet. What would you expect from a president who’s a convicted felon and his administration?

The same holds true for nations such as China or Russia, both also permanent members.

To stand up for our beliefs and the same right for all to justice, peace and support of those rights is a central aspect in German politics and has been for a long time.

I for my part think we can be proud and at the same time unassuming about the great history of science, philosophy and arts this country of Germany possesses.

May 31, 2026May 31, 2026

Iran – Iraq – “Weapons of Mass Destruction” – When Patterns Repeat…

An owl drawing with mandala patterns all over it, a grey mandala pattern and a coast with red sand and red reflecting light in small water lines — Images by 경복 김, Mumtaha Tabassum and Barbara A Lane from Pixabay; my arrangement

When the USA decide on making war, they are adamant. That’s a fine quality in many respects. Yet, in war…? Or making it…? Why, really? After the attacks on the twin towers the US declared war on half the world. That attack was a tragic and cruel occurrence. But it does not provide any justification for shunning international law.

On the contrary: Laws are there for all of the community. In ancient Greece Socrates, the philosopher proved it by accepting a rule that was common then – and drinking the poison from a cup he could have avoided, as a punishment. He died.

When something goes wrong, the US are the first to claim their right, their benefit… the ‘rights’ of the NATO members, for example; that is they ask for and actually pressurize the others to spend more on their annual defense budget, 5% instead of 3%, as only happened around 1.5 years ago.

But: How often did – and do – the US to this day act cruelly against other nations? Without consulting anything but their own foreign interests? What about Japan?
The first and last time ever that nuclear weapons were used in a war. As a testing ground, more or less.

The tests of nuclear weapons in the archipelagos of Bikini they used, to spare their own country? The Bikini islands feel the consequences to this day. So nice and small and quiet and right there… easy to use.

Usage. Benefit. Profit.

That are the pillars of the US-American society and have been since their founding.

The weapons producing industry is the most important, influential and powerful there. And they benefit from NATO members ordering.

In 2003 the war on Iraq was started: “Weapons of mass destruction”, so the official message, apparently had to be recovered. Since Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein had apparently accumulated them breaking international agreements they had to be made safe.

To this day, those weapons weren’t found. That’s official. None.

Saddam Hussein originally had been instated with US support. He was their ‘vassal’ in a country that also has huge reservoirs of oil and gas. When he started to become too independent, war was declared. Eventually he was found and killed.

The oil wells burned for years after that. The country is devastated.

Any old lie will do.

Check your sources. Refer to books in libraries written by respected authors of the field. Check more than one important and traditional newspaper of (reasonably) working democracies.

Iran? It’s got oil. It’s got the largest oil recovery industry in the world. Uranium enrichment control contracts were in full working order until 2018, when Trump and his ‘cohorts’ cancelled them. But: the government in place since the revolution of 1979 did not succumb to US pressure.
Regarding their internal affairs that government was a poor example of a dictatorship ‘dressed’ as democracy, including all legal pressure, limitations and punishment as well as control into the bargain typical for such systems.

But let’s remember: The last shah had been instated by the US too. He sold oil to them at dumping prices. When the literally hungry and ‘huddled’ masses rose in the country, his power waned. Finally even his downfall and flight from the country was supported by the US.

The people of Iran are of a peaceful and also proud mindset. If attacked, they fight to the last. They always did. They do not sell out their country for cheap bargains to anyone.

Looking at history as well as present ideas you can be pretty sure of that.
This completely unnecessary war has to be stopped.

May 24, 2026May 25, 2026

Pentecost: “Love Actually” – The Sense of Community and Clear Thought

The original story that is part of the Christian tradition, runs basically like this: After Jesus had been crucified, resurrected and ascented to heaven, his disciples sat around a table, in fear of the future.

Then something happened, which you might call enlightenment and suddenly they started to understand about what matters in life, really:

A strong sense of community, respect and kindness towards your fellow beings, understanding and clear thought.

I also think that the tradition, which with every reason so often states love to be at the centre of life, makes a lot of sense:
Because, it is life, to my mind. People who feel unacknowledged, even unloved may despair of life.
Babies die without love, even if properly fed, cared for and clothed.

That’s why I wish all of you good people out there:

Lot’s of love – and happy Pentecost!

A meadow with violet spring flowers in the front and a sunrise in the back. — Image by Joe from Pixabay

May 18, 2026May 18, 2026

The Sad Story of an Unnecessary War – Iran, the US and a Uranium Enrichment ‘to Use’…

War: a means to an end. Indeed, often it’s more than one end only. In this case there are several:

- Sell weapons (for the industry, the providers of supplies…), make a profit – or two.
- Get your hands on the oil in the country: The US need oil. Iran has it, in abundance. Additionally, it’s got the largest oil recovery industry in the world.
- Distract attention from severe internal problems, such as Epstein papers in the US.
  - Or the waning support for a president and his administration who seem to ‘lose it’ – not just once or twice, but regularly.
  - A president, who’s also a criminal, ruled guilty on 34 counts in front of a US legal court of law, for bribery, corruption and molestation.
  - The ever increasing drug problems of a society that far too long advocated the always handy pills – and the always ‘working human’.
- Make people forget that this had been planned long in advance, as long as 2018, at least, rather longer: When the Trump administration during his first time in office cancelled the working contracts for uranium enrichment control with Iran – that had taken 10 years to negotiate.

It would be a wise man to get proper counselling well in advance – and act accordingly. But then: Whenever did the current president prove to be wise…?

He has been proven to have committed about any felony in the book… This war is a shame and a crime. Nothing else and nothing in between.

May 14, 2026

“People of Like Mind” – The ‘Either Or-Principle’? – First Things First

“A person after my own heart.” Another way in English to express that special type of closeness you can feel at times to some people: People who think and feel similar to yourself about life. That feeling often starts even before you have exchanged a word, yet.

But it is not always sufficient to feel similarly about things for a close and supporting/sustaining friendship. The knowledge, experiences and ideas you can share can be many – or just a few. You would want a person to accept and even understand those special thoughts. Be able to not only barely trace that thread of thoughts… but fully grasp ideas and feeling.
Apart from sharing values, of course. The good ones.

I have gone through many varied times due to the fact that I grew up in the German culture, am German by birth as well as upbringing – and at the same time not only studied Persian culture and literature at university – but also spent a lot of of my adult life so far around Persians and refugees in particular.

Such experiences and realizations as well as reading and ideas cannot be shared easily among any kind of crowd.

I also from childhood was raised to use discretion and care in choosing friends.

In the Western, industrialized world we tend to think that things or people are either ‘black’ or ‘white’, either ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

People, situations, life itself are usually not just that – but many things in between. “The truth is bitter.” That’s a Persian proverb and it is sometimes true too.

“Talk is silver, quiet is golden.” That’s a German proverb I translated and it is also sometimes very true. So many people talk such a lot on any single day. It can be heartwarming to exchange ideas! To share the heart’s burden! Or just make jokes in order to relieve life’s sometimes cruel dealings. But to know when to keep quiet can be an art, as well.

I consider myself lucky, I have seen hard times a lot, but I also met quite a number of good people, was raised by kind and smart and highly-educated parents.

That’s how I learned to focus, keep my calm, focus on “first things first”. Because if you try to do everything at once, you will at one point get the receipt, the bill in the shape of minor pains or problems.

I know how to take care of myself, because:

We are not just one thing – or another. People are more than just the sum of their parts.

Greetz to all of my readers out there who can relate!

May 5, 2026May 13, 2026

War on Iran, ‘Leverage’, Negotiations – and One of the Oldest Cultures

Collage of two pictures, one ofan old water pump operated by a hand using a lever. The other showing oil wells in front of a dusky skyline. — Images licensed via Adobe CC

‘Leverage’: A nice term almost, when you think of old pumps that would bring water to the surface and into a home. A lever sometimes used to do the ‘pumping’… Exactly that is part of it when you think of getting or having “leverage” in negotiations: One or the other party to an intended deal being able to put pressure on. For their own good.

That’s what this war and the occasional recent (apparent?) ‘flares’ of attacks to break that truce indicate:

Remind each other of the respective position. Let’s remember that it was the US who started this. Internal affairs in Iran haven’t been anything easy to think of – or ‘write home about’; quite to the contrary. But this is not about that government, let’s remember that too.

It’s about oil, Iran having the largest oil recovery industry in the world(!).

About a country, the US of A, whose population looks to the car as something almost like a body appendage: indispensable. Therefore petrol must be cheap. Which in turn means oil has to be cheap too and keep flowing in…

Especially with a president and his ‘coworkers’, his ‘entourage’, or cue-givers…, who refuse to look into a future of being less dependent on fossil fuels, which in the long run could make it better for all: Better water, air and less dependency on ‘any old’ oil well.

Let’s also keep in mind that negotiations take time. Which this president hasn’t got anymore, really: His second term in office is running out. If he wants to leave any kind of legacy beyond the recall of court actions, Epstein papers and worse, he has to make haste.

In the case of Iran that is one thing to better avoid. Haste.
I love that old culture, reaching back thousands of years, into a rich and also troubled history. Full of poetry and wisdom and art.

Three crucial and very striking aspects of many people I had the joy to learn to know better in a comparatively long life are these:

- perseverance
- patience
- pride

That also has its roots in the history of the country: For a couple of thousands of years and to this day being at the heart of a region that always was the turnstile to all cultures you can think of, far east, west and near east.

The free flow of all that’s good in mankind’s history and mind into and through this country, of languages, arts and influences of knowledge and wisdom – together with the resilience built up over troublesome landscapes with hot, forbidding deserts, constant threats by neighbours attacking and earthquakes into the bargain – have created a ‘fellowship’ almost of a people who at their best will neither give in to blackmail or extortion, and will keep their calm, their pride and their preparedness for reasonable offers to the last.

A wise man will look for good counsel. But some people are not wise enough.

Hopefully this shameful war will end sooner rather than later to make room for negotiations – that will need patience and real offerings.

Picture of the tomb of Persian poet Hafez in Shiraz, 2019, courtesy Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons license

May 1, 2026May 2, 2026

“By Hook or By Crook”: The Extortion Machinery Called Trump-Administration

German flag in a gold circle, suspended from an air born heart shape by a fine chain.

(Image by Alexey Hulsov from Pixabay)

Germany’s situation is bad? Beg your pardon? We are getting along fine, taken all in all, thank you. Who started a war to divert attention from his legal problems? To finally be able to make Iran succumb to their terms because they need oil so urgently? After 2018, cancelling those uranium enrichment control contracts, without reason. (Link to New York Times report from 2018.)

Who pressured the whole of NATO into spending more on their annual on weapons in order to get the weapon’s industry in the US to calm down? 5% instead of 3%, all of NATO who didn’t already?
Since, most of NATO members buy there.

Whose economy has slumped for years? Where are thousands of people killed in the streets because that same weapons industry clings to that myth of the society needing its civilians be ‘under arms’, because the right to protect ‘house and home’ is ohhh, so important?

Who initiated the storming of Capitol Hill in 2021?

Whose universities are being threatened or actually cut off from fundings in order to get scientists to acknowledge one’s own world view?

WHO IS IT, BONDING WITH PUTIN IN RUSSIA FOR PRACTICALLY A DECADE NOW?

TO WHAT END?

To have more leverage, of course. To threaten people and scare them in their boots in order to get the ‘deals made’. Someone with no consideration for anyone but himself and the likes of him:

A bunch of self-centred, cruel and completely ruthless, wealthy, shameless crooks, in his own case already ruled guilty in front of a US court on 34 counts of bribery, corruption and molestation. Practically fleeing the shameful and horrifying truth of those Epstein papers.

SHAME ON YOU!

Author’s Note: This blog is not strictly kept along the lines and rules similar genres of text, such as commentaries in newspapers, are like. ‘Blog’ derives from ‘weblog’ originally, which in turn is based on the combination of the two words ‘web’ and ‘log’. The log being a book that recorded daily events on ships and was – and still is, as far as I know – mandatory to maintain.

‘Blogs’ therefore represent a category of entries or texts that usually are crisp, rather short and focus on the main subject primarily, often made to look like actual diaries and openly discussed thoughts.

In literature, one well-known genre is the fictitious ‘novel of letters’: A longer text or book made up of letters all written by the same person but creating the impression that several protagonists were involved at a time and wrote letters to each other, a careful ordering by fictitious dates included.
One of many famous examples in English literature is “The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins, a high-towering author among many of that also rich English literary culture.

(Recommended too: This kind of novel saw a hype that showed already in the course of the 18th century. Try Henry Fielding’s satire “Shamela” for real good fun…another one of the greats.)

I write my posts sometimes, when angry and I also like to imagine that the person addressed might ‘click by’ one day. Even if they don’t, which in some cases could be highly unlikely, in theory, I use this platform to show all who care that such voices, who think and say similar words, are there. And the numbers of visitors seem to prove me right, to some extent.

Thanks to all who come by here and who care!

April 24, 2026April 25, 2026

‘Peanuts’? ‘Drama’? Or Just ‘Life’? – Pick Your Battles

Collage of two images, two people arguing in shadow and a female figure on a hill calmly looking at the dusky sky. — Images licensed via Adobe CC, my arrangement

Many little things can happen in everyday life. Depending on your outlook you might think that complaining about any odd thing is part of being – demanding. Proving that you have ‘standards’ and do not put up with everything.

On the other hand it has been scientifically proven that getting into arguments and fights often, ‘saps your energy’:
That kind of energy that you feel is missing after emotional times; such as important, life-changing exams.

When you want to stay healthy and keep your ‘nerves in order’ you may want to think again about complaining. About fighting because of small annoyances.

There’s that little interesting story in workplace psychology that those who don’t complain are eventually ‘killed’ – as in: let go – just as the chicks of turkey are – speared by their mothers’ beaks because they consider the chicks to be dangerous strangers for not ‘crying out’; squeal.

I have gone through many hard times in the course of my life. Considering. I learned the hard way to keep my ‘nerves in order’.

So often, when we cool down we also will find that things are not that bad: Even deserve praise, actually. I learned that, too.

To change perspective can make all the difference.

“Pick your battles”. To live and fight another day.

April 15, 2026April 15, 2026

“There is a Method to the Madness”: The USA, the Trump Administration and the Iran War

A house in ruins and befor it the two hands of a person held up, showing the words stop war written in red coloour on them. — Image by pvproductions from freepik.com, free license

A madhouse, one might think, when looking at some of the online messages a so-called president, that sorry excuse for a man, Trump, sends – rather lets be sent.

That he practically does everything to ‘reign’ the news is the method, part of it, I am referring to. When you start looking into some of the connections, the ‘buddies’ and the ulterior motives to actions and policies in the past that repeat – because the underlying principles stay the same – you start also realizing that the apparent madhouse is part of an image.

Because, anything sensational ‘makes the news’.

A ‘scoop’ is what the career of many journalists depends on. News are sold, that’s why they are made to look sensational, even in cases when they aren’t really.

I posted about this before. Basically, we need to look at both sides of this outrage of a war, the plain extortion by a wealthy and greedy part of society in that country, the USA:

- The whole cruel and tragic story of that war on Iran becomes clear when looking at all the facts.
- Analyzing news and media and developing a ‘media literacy’ is crucial, just as it was before the internet was there.

The Iran war was started at least as long ago as 2018, and when you think about how things need time to be developed it started much earlier than that.

The pattern is the same as in Iraq: “Weapons of mass destruction” seemed reason enough to attack a country whose dictator had been instated with US acquiescence and support. When he started to try and become more independent, that country was seized, including the oil wells…which burned for years afterwards. With all consequences a war can have.

Those weapons were never found. And that is a fact, officially confirmed.

Iran’s last shah had sold oil to the US for dumping prices. He was a dictator really and recieved the support of several US governments all through his reign. The hungry people started to rise at last and when he became unable to control them and guarantee cheap oil, he was ‘sent packing’.

The Islamic revolution seemed an ‘inside job’ and thus manageable – but wasn’t.
Eventually, the refusal to sell other than at market price as far as oil was concerned made the need ever more urgent to get the upper hand again, from the point of view of US governments – and the two most powerful forces there:
The weapons industry.
The public clamoring for cheap gas / petrol.

The USA to this day never has attacked any country for altruistic reasons.

In 2018, the Trump administration cancelled the working contracts on uranium enrichment control; working, as officially confirmed by the IAEA, more than once.

Now they are still offering a peace on their own terms.

What do you call that in business and private life? – Extortion. It is a punishable offence.

April 7, 2026

Iran, War, a ‘Lame Duck’ President in the USA and the Inernational Community

Collage of images, the US flag in front of a cloudy sky, before that a drawing of a duck waddling towards the viewer, looking angry, beside that the shape of the ancient Persepolis palace gates and behind that the Iran flag in front of a sunrise and oil pumps. — Images licensed via Adobe CC, my graphics

The ‘lame duck’ effect is a comparatively old phrase: It describes the fact that due to the ending time in office a president in his second term is less effective. In other words, his power decreases just because everybody knows the end is near.

The Epstein files, Trump’s own guilt, ruled in front of a US court for corruption, bribery and molestation, his cruelty towards his own people in Minnesota or California; his international politics in regard to tariffs that have been found illegal in the USA itself.

He has ample reason to want to cover up. War is an ancient method for that, has been used by kings and dictators for centuries, if not thousands of years.

Additionally, Iran’s oil recovery industry is the largest in the world.

The uranium enrichment control contracts with Iran had been reached after 10 years of negotiation and were in full working order even according to official reports of the IAEA. Trump cancelled those contracts in 2018 without any reason.

This whole attack would be funny, if it wasn’t a cruel war; the typical Trump tantrums of an ill-mannered child: “This is my sandcastle, I’ll kick you and yours if you don’t do what I want.”

The bully, using scare tactics.

There’s no discussion necessary that the internal handling and rules as well as laws of the present Iranian government are horrible.

I still tip my hat to them for holding out against this huge machine of extortion.

Iran is more than just a few wild mullahs and a revolution gone wrong. It’s an ancient and beautiful culture and society in many respects of the customs and traditions that are thousands of years old.

Shame on someone like that US-criminal at the helm of a country still fighting for its own culture and sometimes having a hard time of it… Where still far too often money is the ‘sole mover’…