The 'offending' Diplomat
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Canadian embassy in Washington. One of the largest foreign missions in the Capital.
Diplomatic relations between nations are governed by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. That is the protocol is dictated by the convention.
For instance, the manner in which nations great foreign missions and they open them, the rights of diplomats and the rights of the hosting nation over foreign diplomats.
The convention, for instance, stipulates that a hosting nation can dictate the amount of space a foreign embassy may employ and the site of the embassy. When the Russians decided on a new location in Washington D.C., for example, many foreign nations expected the United States to cite the convention to deny the Russians their selection of a top hill which would give the Russians a great advantage in intercepting communications. But American did not object. In any case, such are the protocols.
One of the main tenets is the ideal of diplomatic immunity. Foreign diplomats, even when the commit serious crimes, are free from domestic prosecution. But what the hosting nation can do to any offending diplomat is kick them out. The ideal of persona non grata.
And nations can refuse to accept any diplomats that offend them for whatever reason. That is what the Saudis have recently done and in a story which could only take place in Saudi Arabia. The following is no joke:
Despite having served for years as a distinguished Pakistani diplomat, Akbar Zeb reportedly cannot receive accreditation as Pakistan's ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The reason, apparently, has nothing to do with his credentials, and everything to do with his name -- which, in Arabic, translates to "biggest dick": In Saudi Arabia, size does count.
According to this Arabic-language article in the Arab Times, Pakistan had previously floated Zeb's name as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, only to have him rejected for the same reason. One can only assume that submitting Zeb's name to a number of Arabic-speaking countries is some unique form of punishment designed by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry -- or the result of a particularly egregious cockup.
Akbar Zeb actually translates to "bigger dick". Il-Akbar would make it "the biggest dick". Either way, point well taken. And to think his surname is "fee a'lam". Poor guy, shuffled from one rejected post to another. But it is obvious he choose the wrong professor.
What's gigolo in Arabic?
