[TIME] Azadeh Moaveni - One morning this week in my Tehran neighborhood, the local bakery failed to open. The small crowd outside concluded that the Iranian government had sent all the country's flour to Lebanon. That people so readily accepted that their government would forsake their daily loaf for a distant Islamic cause speaks to the overwhelming bitterness these days in Tehran. Most people are convinced the government is spending outrageous sums on the Lebanese. Nightly news broadcasts that Iranians watch on their illegal satellite dishes have shown Hizballah doling out thick stacks of cash, courtesy of Iran, infuriating the majority of Iranians who are barely scraping by. The more Ahmadinejad panders to public sentiment in the Arab world, the more Iranians feel neglected.
2006-09-01 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive