So now the Islamic Solidarity Games have been called off because host-country Iran inscribed “Persian Gulf” on the tournament’s official logo and medals.
This, as we know from last week, is bad news (see Iran and the “Arabian Gulf”).
Check out the New York Times article: “Muslims Won’t Play Together.”
Article about Dubai and it’s porous border with cross-gulf neighbor Iran: “Dubai Helps Iran Evade Sanctions as Smugglers Ignore U.S. Laws.”
Money quote from a member of Dubai’s Iranian Business Council (IBC):
“You can get anything you want, and you can ship anything you want to Iran,” says Morteza Masoumzadeh, an IBC director and owner of a shipping company that transports goods between Iran and Dubai. “Every company in Iran is either here or has representatives here.”
One of the things that struck me when we lived in Dubai was that everyone called the Persian Gulf by the name “Arabian Gulf”.
Guess it made sense, we were living in Arabia. Of course, the United Nations guidelines are clear:
The term “Persian Gulf” is used as the standard geographical designation for the sea area between the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The full term “Persian Gulf” is always used to designate that sea area when it is first referred to in a text and is repeated thereafter whenever necessary for the sake of clarity.
But Arab states still call it otherwise, upsetting Persians.
So what’re they going to do about it?
How about: “Iran Threatens Airline Ban Over “Arabian Gulf” Tag.”
We were talking about “what if Iran finished a nuclear bomb” at work the other day, and I was all over the map with what I was saying. Then yesterday I read this quote from a blog by Scott Thomas that sums up my point better than I:
That being said, the results of a Nuclear Iran would probably be a lot less spectacular than people making both pro and con arguments realize. Israel will always have its second-strike submarine based arsenal, and attacking Israel wouldn’t further the Iranian agenda in any way. And as North Korea has found out, having a nuclear strike capability isn’t a golden ticket into the First World or make you the baddest kid on the block. Of course, all this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t keep trying to dissuade them diplomatically and economically from arming themselves.
Josh finally lives in Maine again
after four years at Boston University, a stint in Southern California with
Walt Disney Feature Animation,
and two years in Dubai, UAE,
where he created and wrote
Newlywed in Dubai.
