Afshin Shahi - openDemocracy

Why the US should join forces with the Baathist regime in Syria

The Baathist regime is indeed guilty of great war crimes, but the human cost of a failed state would be a greater catastrophe. Washington should have learnt this lesson from Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 19 Dec 2013

Why the US should join forces with the Baathist regime in Syria

The Baathist regime is indeed guilty of great war crimes, but the human cost of a failed state would be a greater catastrophe. Washington should have learnt this lesson from Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 19 Dec 2013

So what keeps Iran’s Supreme Leader awake at night?

The biggest threat to the survival of the Islamic Republic might not come from sanctions imposed by the west, but from growing divisions that are disintegrating the regime from the inside.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 28 Feb 2013

The plight of Afghan refugees in Iran

Decades of war have led to generations of Afghan refugees in Iran. Their treatment under the current regime is worsening, but why now?

By Afshin Shahi

/ 1 Aug 2012

In defence of a 'racist'

A Swansea student's racist comments abusing footballer Fabrice Muamba have landed him a hefty prison sentence. But to what end? A past victim of racism argues that Liam Stacey's punishment will only worsen British race relations.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 5 Apr 2012

Is political Islam on the losing side of the Arab Spring ?

Islamic political narratives flourish in opposition but will suffer in the long term

By Afshin Shahi

/ 6 Jan 2012

Ahmadinejad’s Messianism

Winds of change in the conservative camp of the Iranian regime can be detected in a series of rows about the paranormal.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 30 May 2011

Military intervention against Gaddafi might shake the regime in Iran

If major western capitals reach a consensus with the Arab world to intervene in Libya, Tehran may well perceive this as a threat against its own survival.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 16 Mar 2011

February 14 in Iran: the silence of fear has been shattered

Since the new year, almost every eight hours someone has been executed in Iran. The authoritarian backlash against the major uprising of 2009 has held Iranians in a climate of fear, but the protests this week mark a new chapter for the Green Movement.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 17 Feb 2011

Hearts and minds lost in Iran over US renaming the Persian Gulf

The US Navy's decision to refer to the Persian Gulf as the “Arabian Gulf” has added a new dimension to a decades old disagreement between Iran and some of the Arab states.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 14 Jan 2011

The failure of British multiculturalism and the virtue of reciprocity

Multiculturalism has failed to create an inclusive society, while the ghettoisation of Britain is hindering cultural and intellectual fusion. Afshin Shahi argues that we must look again at the balance of rights and responsibilities of minority groups.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 8 Dec 2010

Iran's new wave of social engineering

At a time when the Islamic Republic is facing grave internal and external challenges, it is intensifying its thirty year old programme of social engineering, argues Afshin Shahi.

By Afshin Shahi

/ 29 Sep 2010