Jester
08-31-2006, 05:51 PM
I thought this was an interesting read.
The Backlash Against Iran's Role in Lebanon
The notion that Iranian dollars are going to Lebanese Shi`ites is fueling animosity between the Persian community and the Arab world
By AZADEH MOAVENI
This is the first installment of Lipstick Jihad, a regular column by Azadeh Moaveni, TIME's Tehran correspondent and author of Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran.
One very early morning this week, the people in my neighborhood who wanted fresh bread for breakfast congregated outside the local bakery, wondering why the doors were locked and the stone oven cold. Fifteen minutes later, when it became clear there would be no bread that day, people began speculating why a bakery that has been open every weekday for literally decades should mysteriously be shut. The small crowd swiftly concluded the worst: the Iranian government had sent all the country's flour to Lebanon.
By noon, when I was up and contemplating a sandwich, word had spread around the neighborhood. Everyone blamed the dearth of fresh bread on the government's over-generous aid to the Shi`ites of Lebanon, displaced in the recent fighting between Israel and Hizballah. I should point out that my neighborhood is split between religious and secular families, and that the most pious of the bread-deprived were just as quick to shake their heads with resentment. No one said "let them eat cake," but it came pretty close.
Continued (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1515755,00.html?cnn=yes)
The Backlash Against Iran's Role in Lebanon
The notion that Iranian dollars are going to Lebanese Shi`ites is fueling animosity between the Persian community and the Arab world
By AZADEH MOAVENI
This is the first installment of Lipstick Jihad, a regular column by Azadeh Moaveni, TIME's Tehran correspondent and author of Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran.
One very early morning this week, the people in my neighborhood who wanted fresh bread for breakfast congregated outside the local bakery, wondering why the doors were locked and the stone oven cold. Fifteen minutes later, when it became clear there would be no bread that day, people began speculating why a bakery that has been open every weekday for literally decades should mysteriously be shut. The small crowd swiftly concluded the worst: the Iranian government had sent all the country's flour to Lebanon.
By noon, when I was up and contemplating a sandwich, word had spread around the neighborhood. Everyone blamed the dearth of fresh bread on the government's over-generous aid to the Shi`ites of Lebanon, displaced in the recent fighting between Israel and Hizballah. I should point out that my neighborhood is split between religious and secular families, and that the most pious of the bread-deprived were just as quick to shake their heads with resentment. No one said "let them eat cake," but it came pretty close.
Continued (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1515755,00.html?cnn=yes)