Arnold Stang and the Middle East

Barry Rubin has succeeded in using an Arnold Stang analogy while explaining the way power works in the Middle East.

And so, if you’re going to have a superpower protector, the relatively moderate Arab rulers prefer Arnold Schwarzenegger to Arnold Stang (an actor specializing in playing wimps, who made Woody Allen look husky by comparison). They want John Wayne, not Wayne Newton; Humphrey Bogart, not Humpty Dumpty; Indiana Jones, not Joan Rivers. OK, you get the point.

I tip my had to you, Professor Rubin. (Read the whole thing.) And I tip my hat to Arnold Stang, who gave me hundreds of hours of enjoyment when I was a child (and who can be seen in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, one of my all-time favorite films). By the way, read the column in full. It’s well worth your while.