The money comes primarily from wealthy countries in the Middle East, in the Persian Gulf.

CNN: Peter Carbonara: Following the al Qaeda money trail

The town lost its Persian-speaking middle class long ago, to gradual migration.

ECONOMIST: Now wait for the political tremors

Mr. BRZEZINSKI: I think the United States is getting itself involved in a deeper and deeper conflict which it fundamentally misunderstands, and if it persists in the policies in which it has embarked, and worse, if it widens the scale of that conflict in the Middle East and in the Persian Gulf region, then I do not see how the United States will win.

NPR: The War on Terror, Five Years Later

The small island kingdom in the Persian Gulf plays a key strategic role in the Middle East and is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

CNN: Protesters decry unity plans in Bahrain

One of the most beloved pieces Matisse made during those last few years is an abstract take on "One Thousand and One Nights, " the famed collection of Middle Eastern folk tales relayed by the fictional Scheherazade each evening to avoid death at the hands of a murderous Persian king.

WSJ: Matisse's The Thousand and One Nights in Pittsburgh