Word: persian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...avoid notice, my grandmother left her family and risked her life to cross the border from Syria into Lebanon, eventually making her way to Italy. My grandmother is only one of approximately 850,000 Jews dispossessed and displaced from Muslim countries of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf before 1948. Her family had lived peacefully and prosperously in Aleppo, Syria for generations, but after the partition of Palestine, Jews living in Syria, as well as in other Muslim countries, were persecuted through government legislation and action that deprived them of human and civil rights, nullified their citizenship...
...Conversely, even if you got a great price on a rug that doesn't fit in your apartment, you're still a sucker. Early on, I decided that I much prefer simple, single-knot tribal rugs that have a homespun quality to them, as opposed to the grand, Persian, double-knot silk carpets that go well in a living room full of ivory elephant tusks. This may mean my tastes aren't very elevated, but it has saved me a lot of money...
...affair born of shared history: Tea, for example, that most English of drinks, was first cultivated in India by British growers, who quickly undercut their Chinese competitors on price. Like cricket (which the English introduced to India) and polo (though its origins are Persian, the modern game began in northeast India and was later encoded and spread by the British), drinking tea is a joyous ritual that binds Delhi and Doncaster. (Polo is a rich man's sport, of course, but class and caste have long mattered in both countries...
...Because, it seems, the Bush Administration has other fish to fry. The first is Moqtada al-Sadr, whose movement features a defiant nationalism that is traditionally both anti-American and anti-Persian (although Sadrist elements have been willing to accept help from the Iranians in recent years). Under questioning from Hillary Clinton about the Maliki government's recent abortive offensive against Sadr's forces in Basra, Petraeus admitted that U.S. troops would have provided resources and "different actions" for a more carefully planned attack. An intelligence source told me that the operation had been planned for June...
Good Friday Purim, a Jewish festival celebrating the biblical book of Esther Narouz, the Persian New Year, which is observed with Islamic elaboration in Iran and all the "stan" countries, as well as by Zoroastrians and Baha'is. Eid Milad an Nabi, the Birth of the Prophet, which is celebrated by some but not all Sunni Muslims and, though officially beginning on Thursday, is often marked on Friday. Small Holi, Hindu, an Indian festival of bonfires, to be followed on Saturday by Holi, a kind of Mardi Gras. Magha Puja, a celebration of the Buddha's first group of followers...