Word: persianism
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...steam consolidate its hold on power and survive eight years of the Middle East's deadliest modern conflict. Tehran's quest for nuclear energy, widely embraced as a key to development in the 21st century, has also long been a potent unifier of Iran's disparate political factions. Persian national pride has been a powerful force for millennia...
...large painting hangs in Abdullah's drawing room. It is a variation on the traditional Persian theme of a Sufi master sitting on a rock, jesting with his loving disciples. In this canvas, though, the turbaned Sufi teacher is replaced by Masood and his disciples are several scruffy-looking guerrillas plus Abdullah, who stands out, neatly combed, with the hint of a halo. As a military man, Masood understood that in Afghanistan, political disputes are often settled by force. This is a lesson passed on to his disciple Abdullah and one, he says, that Karzai should learn, too. "Karzai blames...
...riddled with gaping holes in the ground where improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been laid. And blackened divots are visible where suicide bombers - or 'human IEDs,' in colloquial parlance - blew themselves up. The streets of Kandahar, once a thriving business hub, go empty at sundown as shops selling Persian carpets and gold signet rings pull down their shutters. Thin slivers of smoke are seen rising from the roadside iftar stalls selling kebabs, the only visible sign of life after dark. Those, too, fade away after a while...
...that he is not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On the other hand, Karroubi, though less well-known, attracted a circle of advisers from among the country's most respected reformist technocrats, and ran on a specific program of reforms targeted at specific electoral groups such as women, students and the non-Persian minorities who make up close to half of Iran's population. Along with policies supporting fiscal restraint and strengthening the rule of law, Karroubi promised that, if elected, he would sign Iran up to international protocols on women's rights, and would end patrols by the country's religious police...
...European companies are especially drawn to Libya because its so close to Europe; Italy, for example, avoids giant shipping costs involved in importing oil and gas from the Persian Gulf, by bringing in natural gas through a pipe under the Mediterranean. Libya is keen for investment to help fund much needed work in roads, rail links, telecommunications, and even on its oil rigs. Libya's Soviet-era military equipment is also in bad need of an overhaul, and France, Britain and Russia are all vying for multi-billion-dollar defense contracts. "Libya can offer a lot of investment opportunities," Zainy...