Thursday, March 08, 2007
"We've always been at war with Eastacia"
"Washington views Iran as a rogue nation that arms militias in Iraq, wants to build a nuclear bomb and seeks Israel's destruction. From Arab kingdoms on the Persian Gulf to Lebanon on the Mediterranean, however, Iran is also viewed through another prism, as a non-Arab, and, for some, heretical power intent on expanding the clout of itself and fellow Shiites at the expense of the region's Sunni establishment."
I've managed to find a recent article on Bahrain by Andrew Higgins at the Wall Street Journal online.
I'm not too convinced that recent animosity towards Iran is "stirring passions rooted in centuries of theological, political and ethnic rivalry", and this :
"The hostility between Sunnis and Shiites began with the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 and a dispute that followed over whether his father-in-law (the Sunni choice) or his son-in-law (the Shiite candidate) was the worthy successor."
is not accurately described. I'm pretty sure that the Sunni- Shia categorisation emerged over this issue (and that the term Shia comes from "Shi'a-ni-Ali" meaning partisan of Ali).
But otherwise, the article itself is interesting and looks into the local myth making over "Iranians buying land in Muharraq".
I've managed to find a recent article on Bahrain by Andrew Higgins at the Wall Street Journal online.
I'm not too convinced that recent animosity towards Iran is "stirring passions rooted in centuries of theological, political and ethnic rivalry", and this :
"The hostility between Sunnis and Shiites began with the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 and a dispute that followed over whether his father-in-law (the Sunni choice) or his son-in-law (the Shiite candidate) was the worthy successor."
is not accurately described. I'm pretty sure that the Sunni- Shia categorisation emerged over this issue (and that the term Shia comes from "Shi'a-ni-Ali" meaning partisan of Ali).
But otherwise, the article itself is interesting and looks into the local myth making over "Iranians buying land in Muharraq".
