By fitting a special antenna they can watch Iranian television's Arabic-language channel, which shows foreign television footage of the war.

ECONOMIST: On the very eve, Baghdadis were still optimistic

Even after the Arab conquest, Persian remained the language of local rulers, as Iranian administrators, mullahs and traders settled in the cities of Transoxania (which covered much of today's Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan), and is the basis of the language spoken by the Tajiks today.

ECONOMIST: At the crossroads | The