Arabs Step Up Cold War Against Iran

'Two of the Arab worldâ??s biggest satellite broadcasting companies, Nilesat and Arabsat, have taken the Iranian channel Alaam of the air for breach of contract. Needless to say, no specific, verifiable breach has been mentioned. It doesnâ??t take much of an imagination or much understanding of the Middle East to believe that this was done for political reasons and that this â??breach of contractâ?? business is but the laziest of covers. Hezbollah, for example, Iranâ??s proxy, have come out and decried this change, citing political pressures.

In numerous fields, Arab Sunni states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia have, for years now (or for centuries in different â??formatsâ??), been engaged in what can broadly be described as a cold conflict with Iran/Persia. Occasionally this conflict bubbles to the surface in, say, the form of the Iran-Iraq war or even verbal jostling as to the name of the Gulf separating the Arabian Peninsula from modern-day Iran. Alaam must be seen in this context.

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