Fighting against the odds to succeed: gay, female and blind in Iran
I am a minority among minorities. First, I am woman, living with all the limitations that women have in this society. Next, I am blind, and have to deal with all the issues of a disabled person. Third, I am a lesbian.
I was born in a small town near Shiraz. Two of my brothers are also blind. Early in life I could see a little, but because of a genetic defect I gradually lost my sight. I now have something like five percent of my sight. I went through a very difficult time until I reached 18. I knew that I was losing my sight little by little. I was an ambitious person, but unfortunately I had very little room for personal independence —and little power to make decisions.
Source: Iran Wire
Sorry we're not sorry: a tribute to a Lebanese-ism
According to the classically terrible 1970 film, Love Story, love means never having to say you’re sorry.
But in Lebanon, we say sorry a lot.
One of the first phrases any foreigner learns upon coming to Lebanon is how to actually say the word, "sorry."
Suh-REE is the correct pronunciation. Not like the Canadian SORE-ee or the American SAWR–EEE, it’s more like the Indian garment sari, but rapid, with an almost imperceptible roll of the tongue at the 'r', and always with an upward inflection at the end, so it sounds like a question.
Source: Beirut.com
Egyptian attitudes toward the Yemen war
On March 25, Saudi Arabia led a pan-Arab military campaign in Yemen known as “Decisive Storm” to expel the Iranian-backed Houthis, who seized control of the country in January after deposing President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
While much has been said about Sunni-Shia sectarianism, the conflict should really be viewed as a struggle for regional influence between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The proxy war in Yemen is also about whether Yemen is part of the pro-Western Sunni Arab alliance that includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, or if it’s part of the anti-Western Shia alliance led by Iran and its allies, Hezbollah and Syria.
Source: Your Middle East
