Word: souks
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Last year's spectacular crash of the Souk al-Manakh, Kuwait's unofficial stock market, has also had a depressing effect. More than $90 billion in debts was outstanding when the wildly speculative market collapsed. While the Kuwaiti government has moved to bail out small investors, losses are still widely felt. "The debacle has cast a terrible shadow over business in the gulf," notes one foreign observer...
Apart from the intermittent tension caused by Iranian bombing forays, the mood in Baghdad is little different from that of prewar days. "We are not afraid of the Iranians or anything they might do to us," said the owner of a small shop in the Baghdad souk, or marketplace. His remark reflects not so much bravado as the fact that there have been few Iranian bombing raids in which civilians have been hit. Even in the famed Shi'ite Muslim Al Kadhimain mosque, where posters of Ayatullah Khomeini once hung during religious festivals, there is little evidence of special...
Iraqis are not reticent about discussing the war, but in a country where informers and government surveillance are everywhere, it is unrealistic to expect honest opinions. Said a book salesman in the souk: "Oh, I'll tell you straightaway that we support the war 100%. Our nation is united against the Persian aggressors. They took our land, and now we will take their lives." The merchant looked up at one of the omnipresent portraits of Saddam Hussein on the wall and handed his visitor a stack of propaganda from the ruling Baath Party. Said he with a smile...