The Ambassador of Giggles

The Saudi Arabian ambassador to Canada has a career ahead of him as a stand-up comedian if a column he wrote for the National Post this week is any indication of his extreme sense of humour.

According to Abdulaziz Al-Sowayegh, the Mecca Accord that saw the pali factions reach a deal not to slaughter one another in the streets anymore should be accepted by the world. Canada, particularly, he says, should accept it because our reputation as an "impartial peace broker in the Middle East" has suffered of late.

Well, to begin with, Canada has never been an "impartial peace broker in the Middle East" because it's never brokered peace in the Middle East. No one's every brokered peace in the Middle East because there is no such animal and one will probably not be coming along anytime soon.

Secondly, thank God, the Arab world doesn't see us as impartial anymore. Canada should not be impartial about the Middle East; rather it should demand an end to the theocracies, murderous intentions, brutal repression and misogyny that is rife throughout the Arab world.

Thirdly, the last country that should be talking about fostering peace is Saudi Arabia. Well, maybe not the last but close to the bottom, despite the ambassadors claim that the Saudis have played "a positive role" in the region. Saudi Arabia's sponsoring of crazy wahabbist thought, its funding of radical madrassahs in many countries, most particularly Pakistan, its utter contempt for women's rights and its spreading cash around to various terrorist groups is hardly an example of peaceable actions.

Lastly, there is nothing in the Roadmap for Peace that calls for palis to treat one another in any specific way. The Roadmap for Peace calls for a recognition of Israel and a cessation of terrorist activities against it. The internal palestinian conflict is not why the palis have been cut off from the international money trough nor should any short-term agreement in that regard change international opinion.

The Russians, of course, jumped all over this because Russia is busy trying to re-establish itself as the natural enemy of the western world while cozying up to every piece of shit thug out there. If another Beslan happens but it occurs in Israel or the US, the Russians won't mind...they'd even help pay for it.

So far, though, the other key European nations have held firm (a small miracle in itself) and Canada, the first country to cut funding after the election of hamas, has a government with no intention of indulging any arab fantasies.

The best Mr. Al-Sowayegh accomplished was to give a few readers a morning giggle. Which is likely why the Post editors agreed to print it in the first place. Its editorial slant is often quirky, humorous and self-deprecating so a little Middle East fiction fit in quite nicely.