Remember The Iron Sheik?

(tap on the title)

Associated Press-
KABUL, Afghanistan - Khosraw Basheri feverishly pumped iron and toned his body so it rippled with muscle and veins. His hard work paid off Saturday, when he claimed a historic title in his war-battered country — Mr. Afghanistan
At 96 kilograms (212 pounds), Basheri was among the heaviest contenders in the event, which featured nine weight classes and was held at a dilapidated movie theater in the Afghan capital, Kabul.Forty-eight competitors from across the country struck poses onstage, twisting their oiled torsos to display swelling back and abdominal muscles or extending legs to show off sinewy calves. Some winced, others forced smiles.
More than 200 spectators — some wearing turbans, others three-piece suits — crammed into the theater to watch the bodybuilders, who qualified for the event by winning contests in their home provinces and represent the sport's national appeal.




Me thinks Thomas Friedman said it best, but missed the glory, in a column describing why terrorists hate us americans:
"...globalization is in so many ways Americanization: globalization wears Mickey Mouse ears, it drinks Pepsi and Coke, eats Big Macs, does its computing on an IBM laptop with Windows 98. Many societies around the world can't get enough of it, but others see it as a fundamental threat." The upside: maybe after we get them to devour our bounties and pick up our culture, we can get them to see the world without the blinders of hate, as Stalin said "Ideas are more powerful than guns". How glorious a victory would that be?

-amshinover lives in amshinov plus or minus a week