2007 Left Forum URPE Panel on Iran is now on URPE website in MP3

[Ruth Indeck <soapbox@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"US, IRAN AND ISRAEL: WHAT'S AHEAD?"

URPE (Union for Radical Political Economics) sponsored a panel at the
2007 Left Forum called "US, Iran and Israel: What's Ahead?". You can now
hear mp3 recordings of the four presentations by going to the page on
the "Political Economy of the Iran Crisis," found on the URPE website:
http://urpe.org/Iran_Crisis.htm

Here is a description of the panel:

"US, Iran and Israel: What's Ahead?"

The media tells us that Iran will soon be able to produce nuclear
weapons; in response, the US and Israel have been threatening to attack
Iran. Our panelists explore the political and economic forces behind
this alarming standoff. Tom talks about the devastating effect of
economic sanctions on Iran's economy, especially its deteriorating oil
sector, suggesting that Iran's nuclear capability is a political
bargaining chip in an effort to end the sanctions. The US would like to
see a recovery and expansion of Iran's oil sector, but only under a
"friendly" regime. Reza describes Iran's political factions and
rivalries, and the ways in which some politicians might benefit
politically from a limited confrontation with the US. He talks about how
this would hurt Iran, and explores what can be done to improve the
political situation. Evan discusses the history of Israeli/Iranian
relations, which have run the gamut from extreme hostility to a mutually
beneficial military/economic relationship.

Speakers:
Reza Ghorashi, Richard Stockton College
Tom O'Donnell, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Evan Siegel, New Jersey City University
Chair and Discussant: Leili Kashani, New York University

Bios:
Reza Ghorashi has a Ph.D. in economics from Fordham University and
teaches at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. His areas of research
and interest are international trade, globalization, and the Middle
East, particularly Iran. He has published articles in both English and
Farsi on the listed subject matters.

Tom O'Donnell (Ph.D. Michigan, nuclear physics) has written and lectured
widely on the global oil order, and on U.S., E.U. and Middle-East
affairs. (see: http://TomOD.com)  He teaches at the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor at: the Center for Middle East and North African
Studies (CMENAS), the Residential College, and the Michigan STS Program.
 He lectured on "The Global Oil System and the Middle East" at The
University of Algiers in spring 2005, and teaches summers at The New
School's Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA), in NYC.  Dr.
O'Donnell is currently writing a book on "The New Globalized Oil Order
and the Middle East."  He is also Associate Member of the Michigan
Center for Theoretical Physics (MCTP). Previously, he spent over 10
years as an industrial worker and organizer-activist in Detroit auto
plants and on Chicago railways.

Dr. Evan Siegel teaches math at New Jersey City University. He has a
substantial record of publication and presentation of scholarly papers
on  Iranian and Azerbaijani history. Among his works is a study of a
Palestinian response to the Iranian revolution and numerous works on the
Iranian constitutional period.

Leili Kashani is a Ph.D. student in the joint program in History and
Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. She has been
a student council member at The International Society for Iranian
Studies, and is a senior editor at Arab Studies Journal.


*************************************************


EXPLORE URPE'S WEB PAGE ON THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE IRAN CRISIS

In addition to hearing this year's Left Forum panel, you can hear talks
from 2006, read papers by a number of URPE members, and find lots of links.

Speakers and writers featured on this page include Ervand Abrahamian,
Cyrus Bina, Faramarz Farbod, Reza Ghorashi, Ismael Hossein-zadeh, Leili
Kashani, Michael Klare, Fatemeh Moghadam, Kamran Nayeri, Tom O'Donnell,
Hamideh Sedghi, Evan Siegel and Behzad Yaghmaian. The is also a link to
the RRPE page on Sage's website -- you can look up references to
articles on Iran that have been published in the "Review of Radical
Political Economics," URPE's journal, over the years. If you are an URPE
member you can download them free.

All opinions expressed in the talks, articles and books on the web page
are those of the authors and do not represent positions of URPE as an
organization. There is also a great variety of opinion among the authors
listed on this page.