9 definitions by tuma

A colonial algomation of Pashto-Persian, Turkic, and Mongol ethnic groups into one great buffer state durring the "Great Game" for influence between Britain (British India) and Imperial Russia durring the nineteenth century. Afghans are warriors if nothing else, they were the only actual resistance to the Mongol hordes, out-lasting Persian armies from the west and scaring off the British and Russians (later demolishing the Soviets).

Before the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan was a stop-over on the great Asian back-packing trails, from Istanbul to Katmandhu or Bangkok. It was known for fascinating music, awsome food, and even better hashish. How things change.

After the Soviet invasion, the great powers used Afghanistan as a much-larger version of Lebanon: to fight an international war using third party proxies. The Mujahhadddin were the fighting for America with Chinese-supplied weapons and based out of Pakistan, while the Soviets rained down hell from their jets flying out of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Every major power armed someone basically.

Today, Afghanistan is at the center of a corporate power-play to set up for a new century of Central Asian gas from the Caspian basin, evident in the selection of a former Unical employee (Mohammed Karzai) as "President". Taliban elements remain in the mountains, but Bin Laden's long gone.

Also a song by Farhad Darya.

Sortof like an Indian Paella, Basmati rice pressure-cooked with vegetables and/or meat and generally loads of spices. Often incarnated in "Shajahani Biryani", was developed durring the Mughal Golden Age in the 1600's and generally a rich dish of the court until more recently.

Arabic for "land" or "our land", used casually among Arabs to refer to their specific area (EX Bilad ash-Sham, "land of Syria", including what's now Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon).

Fem. of "Muslim" in Arabic, used for Muslim women. Usually used among more religious Muslim women to describe each other . Often connotates a "hijabi", a woman who wears the "Hijab" or Muslim vail. Muslimas are ussually very pious and have loads self-respect, eat halal and pray at least once a day.

The hillbilly dialect of the French language. Barelly intelligible with metropolitan French. Obsene grammar structure and words which fell out of use everywhere else two hundred years ago, all in a weird twang almost reminiscent of it's cousin Cajun.

Short for "Lebanese", used casually among Lebanese to refer to each other, or by white Australian bigots as some sortof derogatory. Lebs are either Arab or Armenian (5% only), and many Palestinian refugees also fled to Lebanon. The language is a hybrid of Syrian Arabic and French, and to a lesser extent English, Portugese, Greek, Turkish, and Armenian. Lebs are famous for their food, their festivals (ussually around Churches or Mosques), and have a somewhat deserved reputation for being loud, somewhat crazy, and clannish. Lebanon suffered a brutal 15-year civil war which made us over-protective and sometimes paranoid, and our mountain roads make us the world's best drivers. Lebs are a huge mix of religeions; Greek Orthodox/Catholic, Maronite Christian, Sunni/Shi'a Muslim, Druze, and Armenian Christian and the civil war was largely fought along sectarian lines. Huge Leb communites exist in Brazil, Argentina, Australia, France, North America and all over Europe.

Short for 'Lebanese Forces'. Ultra right-wing Catholic militia notorious for it's massacres of civilians durring the Lebanese civil war and it's alliance with Israel. Merger of the Phalange, Guardians of the Cedars, National Front, and other assorted baby-killers. In short, total raving psycopaths with guns. Supposedly disarmed in 1990, it still shows up at oppurtunistic moments. Members are generally the most closed-minded and bigottous in Lebanon, and wish to return the country to Christian Hegemony.