Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

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Dr Kaveh L. Afrasiabi is a political scientist and author of Iranian origin who has lived for many years in the United States.

Contents 1 Teaching 2 Books 3 Media 3.1 Peace/media activism 4 References

[edit] Teaching

Afrasiabi has taught political science at Tehran University, Boston University, and Bentley College. Afrasiabi has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, Binghamton University, Center For Strategic Research, Tehran and Institute For Strategic Studies in Paris.^[1]

[edit] Books

Afrasiabi has written several books in relation to international relations, Iranian foreign policy and Iran – United States relations, including After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (1994),^[2], Nir/North: A Cinematic Story about the Iran-Contra Affair (1996),^[3] Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction (2006)^[4] and Reading in Iran's Foreign Policy After September 11 (2008).^[5] Afrasiabi has also written several book chapters on Islam, environment^{[clarification needed]}, and theology, published by Harvard University Press, Chicago University Press and Wadsworth.^{[citation needed]}. Also, Afrasiabi has published a chapter on Islam, globalization, and ethics of non-violence in a compendium on Mahdism published by the Islamic Center of London.

[edit] Media

Afrasiabi has worked as a consultant to CBS's "60 Minutes" and has appeared on numerous television programs including CNN, MSNBC, Voice of America, and Al-Jazeera. Afrasiabi is a regular contributor to the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Global Dialogue, and Asia Times. Afrasiabi has written hundreds of articles in these and other newspapers and in scholarly journals including Harvard Theological Review, Harvard International Review, UN Chronicle, Brown's Journal of World Affairs, Middle East Journal, Journal of International Affairs, Telos, and Mediterannean Affairs. A supporter of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad^[6], he has spoken out in support of the fairness of the 2009 presidential election results on CNN^[7] and elsewhere^[8] and has been critical of protests over the results.^[9] He is also a supporter^[10] of Iran's nuclear power program that was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. Afrasiabi has called for education on the holocaust in the Muslim Middle East as a "moral imperative."

[edit] Peace/media activism

Afrasiabi is a former consultant to the United Nations "Dialogue Among Civilizations", for which he interviewed the former Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami.^[11] He occasionally contributes to the UN Chronicle on peace and human rights related topics.^[12][13] Afrasiabi is frequently referred to as the director of an non-governmental organisation called Global Interfaith Peace.^[12] On 24 December 2002, he issued a statement on behalf of the organisation in opposition to the risk of an invasion of Iraq.^[14] Afrasiabi vociferously denied the rigging allegations of the 2009 Iranian election and has in various TV interviews criticized the U.S medias for misrepresenting the situation in Iran, and insinuating the political might of the Western governments. Afrasiabi has been a self-professed supporter of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president of Iran, in the controversial 2009 presidential election. On Jun 25, in a debate with Ali Ansari hosted in PressTV, Iranian government funded TV channel in London, Afrasiabi cited the statistical analysis of Prof. Walter Mebane of the university of Michigan as an indication of conformance of the election results with statistical laws, thereby dismissing Ansari's preliminary report in support of the rigging hypothesis.

[edit] References