Shiite banana
n.— «Iran is heading toward—and it seems unstoppable—acquiring nuclear weapons. Talk in the Middle East is about the “Shiite Crescent” (some refer to it as the “Shiite Banana”). Iran is trying to to create a geographically connected zone extending from Iran to its Shiite allies in Iraq—and via the pro-Iranian regime in Syria, controlled by the Alwaites (which is a minority and ruling Asad family is part of it)—all the way to Lebanon.» —“Post Global: Iran Cannot Dominate” by Yossi Melman Washington Post Dec. 8, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...