So That's What I've Got

Middle East Revolt Fatigue Syndrome. Read the symptoms. Recognizing your illness is the first step to recovery. Perhaps we need a twelve-step program. Hat tip to Amy Hawthorne via Facebook.

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On a Lighter Note

With so much revolution happening, there hasn't been much room for humor lately. Oh, there's Qadhafi, but the more of his people he kills, the less amusing he is. So I thought I'd note a fine bit of parody.

Last week, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, known for drawing broad metaphors (the Lexus and the Olive Tree; the world is flat, etc.), wrote a piece in which he pontificated on the revolutions in the Middle East and drew some rather broad conclusions about the reasons (Barack Obama, Google Earth, the Beijing Olympics among them). You need to read the column first, to understand what follows. A lot of bloggers who wish they made as much money as Friedman does (I wish I did too) have skewered the Friedman column, but the funniest treatment I've seen is by Cairo-based Sarah Carr. (Strong language warning.)

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Why are These Men Smiling?

The Enduring America blog has this great picture and is holding a caption contest here.

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Via Twitter

Oh, how I wish I'd said that.

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A Joke from Cairo Today

I hope someone compiles all the jokes flying around about recent events, since Egyptians are geniuses at political humor, for too long their only outlet. One from today:

After the triumphant revolutions of Friday, January 14, and Friday, February 11, Colonel Qadhafi has acted swiftly to avoid the fate of his neighbors on either side.

He's issued a decree abolishing Fridays.

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Qifa Nabki Explains What Mubarak is Thinking

Qifa Nabki discusses Mubarak's strategy.

If you came in late, he's referring to how this picture:


became this picture in Al-Ahram last year:

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Best Line of the Day

Even when they're angry, Egyptians still have a sense of humor. Somewhere on the Internet today (I hope that narrows it down) I noticed that one of the chants being chanted was Mubarak, Mubarak, al-Saudiyya intizarak. "Mubarak, Mubarak, Saudi Arabia is waiting for you."

Ben Ali and family, of course, fled to Saudi Arabia.

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Mubarak Jokes

Issandr El Amrani, the blogger at The Arabist, has a gallery of Husni Mubarak jokes over at Foreign Policy. Some background at his blog. Old Egypt hands may have heard most of these (and a few were told of earlier Presidents), but if you need a little political humor, enjoy.

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Snakes on a Plane . . . and a SQUIRREL?

No, I never saw the movie of that name. But The National reports that Abu Dhabi airport had an interesting security event:

The Saudi passenger was said to have been carrying four snakes, two parrots and a squirrel in his hand luggage.

He was caught at the first security checkpoint after arriving at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Etihad Airlines flight EY471 from Jakarta, which landed in the capital shortly before midnight on Thursday.

The animals were not licensed for international transport. They had no health certification, nor confirmation that they were not on any endangered list.

Abu Dhabi police officials expressed surprise that the passenger had cleared security at Jakarta with the animals.

Perhaps Jakarta's version of the TSA isn't quite as intrusive. Also, I realize the snakes and parrots may be exotic and thus valuable specimens with a high resale value, but he was smuggling a squirrel? If he gets out on bail, he can have his pick of my backyard, no charge.

This is likely to be one of those stories where you never see a follow-up, and are left scratching your head forever.

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Egypt Elections Won by Cairo Traffic

The Higher Elections Committee announcement on preliminary results of Egypt's elections was supposed to start a little while ago, but is on hold because the person with the results is stuck in Cairo traffic.

Or so several people are saying on Twitter. Some things never change.

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World-Class Falafel Bagger

For something a bit lighter, from The Arabist, who got it via Anonymous Arabist, a falafel bagger who would hold the Guinness record, no doubt, if they had a category for falafel bagging, in a restaurant in Jenin:

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This is NOT Mubarak's Granddaughter: Berlusconi Drags Mubarak into His Latest Scandal

Let's get this clear to begin with: the young woman at left, a 17-year old Moroccan belly dancer who calls herself Ruby Rubacuori, or Ruby the Heart Robber, and whose real name may be Karima, is not the granddaughter of Husni Mubarak. Mubarak has one granddaughter, Gamal's daughter Farida, who is less than a year old. Though no photos of Farida have been published, I'm pretty sure we can say that this isn't she. This young (underage in fact) lady is, however, the cause of a flap between Italy and Egypt, since Mubarak's sometime good friend Silvio Berlusconi dropped Mubarak's name in trying to get his young friend (if that's the right euphemism) out of jail.

I pay only peripheral attention to European politics, but sometimes the Middle East gets dragged in. Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi seems to have a penchant for scandal, usually involving women (singular or plural) or money or frequently both, but his latest one, through a particularly impolitic ploy, has embarrassed his good friend Mubarak. You can read the basics here. It's too funny to ignore, frankly. And it makes me feel sorry for Mubarak, which takes some doing.

Berlusconi has been linked to the 17-year old Moroccan belly dancer pictured above (her Facebook profile pic), which is not as shocking, apparently, to his Italian support base as it might be if he were an American politician (though the Moroccan connection alone would be enough to qualify as fodder for this blog), and it's hardly his first trespass, though the fact that the girl is under age adds a bit of flavor. (There are now several Facebook pages devoted to her, some of which, despite my lack of Italian, are clearly bogus or satirical. And many now list her as a "Public Figure" which, given the photos, may be an intentional pun.)

The young lady (to use the polite term) in question is supposedly the mistress, or perhaps I should say a mistress, of Signor Berlusconi, who is known to enjoy female company, sometimes in excess, and in plural. She found herself arrested in Milan on suspicion of theft. According to the authorities, someone not yet identified in the Prime Minister's Office called the police and urged her release, telling them she was a granddaughter of Husni Mubarak. As already noted, Farida Gamal Mubarak is not yet a year old, and he has no other granddaughters. As the Guardian story linked above notes, "According to Italian media reports, a showgirl turned politician close to Berlusconi collected Ruby following her release." You really can't make this stuff up. The "showgirl turned politician" springs the underage belly dancer from the slammer.

This is causing some scandal in Italy because, despite Berlusconi's frequent flaunting of his sexual escapades, this one involved a potential abuse of Prime Ministerial office. And it also has a diplomatic angle, since he, or someone acting in his name, dragged Husni Mubarak into the mix. (He's also of course a good pal of Qadhafi: that would possibly have been even funnier.)

The Egyptian press has been pretty quiet but the Egyptian Embassy in Rome and the MENA news agency went out of their way to emphasize that she is not a granddaughter, niece, great-uncle or any other relative of Mubarak's. So Egypt is clearly annoyed. Berlusconi has brazened his way through a lot of scandals, mostly through sheer gall, but this one with its underage belly dancer and international embarrassment and apparent abuse of office, might prove different.

[NOTE: If one of those Facebook pages is correct, she was born November 1, 1992, and so may have just turned 18. Perhaps Berlusconi has been saved by the calendar.]

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New Website responds to Juan Williams: Muslims Wearing Things

In the wake of the whole Juan Williams/NPR firing episode (in which the commentator was fired for saying seeing someone in Muslim garb when he flew made him nervous), someone has inevitably created a website of Pictures of Muslims Wearing Things. Since humor is usually the best response, bravo. Muslim in NYPD uniform, Rima Fakih, other well known folks.

And do note the picture of King ‘Abdullah II (when he was a Prince) in a Starfleet uniform in a 1996 episode of Star Trek: Voyager. [UPDATE: Go to Page 1 or 2. The site has grown exponentially over the Weekend.]

Have a good weekend.

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Egypt's Kind of Town, Chicago Is

There's been a lot of international pressure on Egypt to allow international observers at this fall's Parliamentary elections, in part because of a fair number of cell phone videos last time around that showed pre-marked ballots being stuffed en masse into the ballot boxes. While the Egyptians may balk at international observers (except perhaps in selected [by the government] precincts), there may be a source of observers even the Mubarak campaign could love. I refer to the great American city of Chicago, City of the Big Shoulders, home of Polish sausage, deep dish pizza, and a Democratic political machine known (perhaps unfairly) as a true Jeffersonian democracy: one man one vote, at least; no voter discrimination, even against the dead, etc. Now I shouldn't evoke an outmoded stereotype, especially since our current President is a Chicago man, but then, just when you think the stereotypes are dead, we find this in today's Chicago Sun-Times:

The last name of Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is misspelled as "Whitey" on electronic-voting machines in nearly two dozen wards -- about half in predominantly African-American areas -- and election officials said Wednesday the problem cannot be corrected by Election Day.

That's right: in 23 wards, half of them African-American, the Green Party candidate is listed (admittedly, on the review screen), as "Rich Whitey."

Oh, sure, it's the review screen, and sure, the odds of a Green Party candidate being elected governor of Illinois are, um, slim. And it could be a typo, though it hasn't been reported from downstate (AKA "little Dixie") so far.

Ah, Chicago. Mubarak's kind of town.

At least if they overlook the "Hog butcher to the world" part.

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