Thursday, June 15, 2006

"Arab, Persian - oy, it's a gulf!"

From the Jerusalem Post:

Iran has banned The Economist magazine for describing the Persian Gulf as merely "the Gulf" in a map published in the latest edition, state television reported late Wednesday.

Tehran believes in aggressively defending the historical term "Persian Gulf" against "Arabian Gulf," which it regards as a name dreamed up by Arab nationalists. While Iran dominates the eastern side of the waterway, the western shores are held by Arab countries.

The Iranians are a bit touchy, it seems. I guess painting a line down the center of the gulf isn't practical. It's probably not the real reason for banning that particular magazine anyway.

The JP site is worth going to see just for the "Sea Front Homes In Israel" and "Jewish Software" ads. Things I never knew of or even thought about before.

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