On Plebeian Jackasses, Middle East Politics, Netanyahu, and CPAC 2009

Back to asses and donkeys of the Middle East:
I have received a couple of comments from people objecting to my recent reference to asses and donkeys in the context of the Middle East and Arabia. I did not mean to single out asses from our region, but this blog is about the region and therefore it is normal that I cover Middle East asses, especially Arab ones, more than other asses.

The fact is that we have, in our native region, our fair share of donkeys and asses: some of them in high places, many of them write in the local nausea media, and a few are even bloggers. I don't mean here to equate our more highly-placed asses with the plain plebeian asses, what some in my native country call the hiffai. Despite what a great Declaration says, all jackasses are not equal. Maybe they are created equal, but are no longer so, especially in the Middle East, where ironically some of the biggest asses belong to the oligarchies and their retainers.

This is not to say that there are no donkeys and asses in other parts of the world. There are plenty of those. And since we are on the subject of asses: did you know that Bibi Netanyahu is almost back in power in Israel?
I have traveled and lived in many parts of the world and I know, for example, that Europeans have their fair share of jackasses, and maybe more. Just look at Silvio Berlusconi in Italy, and there are many more in high places (I exempt Carla Bruni but Nicolas Sarkozy is on probation).

As for America: did you see the (U.S) Republican National Convention last summer? And the CPAC 2009 this past week? That should have convinced you that asininity has long crossed the Atlantic and is a worldwide phenomenon and not confined to one continent or one faith. Maybe it is part of the new globalism. It may even be exportable: George W. Bush may live to fight another day as Bibi Netanyahu.
I still like the old Latin adagium: asinus asinum fricat. Look it up, but it is not in calculus books, that would be asymptotes (vertical or horizontal).
Cheers
Mohammed