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The Permanent Reprehensive

<p>Bashar Ja&#8217;afari, Syria&#8217;s ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations in New York April 21, 2012. (Courtesy REUTERS/Allison Joyce).</p>
Bashar Ja’afari, Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations in New York April 21, 2012. (Courtesy REUTERS/Allison Joyce).

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As I wrote in this blog earlier today, the ambassador-- or “Permanent Representative,” to use the correct UN language--of Syria was recently elected to a position in the UN Special Committee on Decolonization.

And I noted that Syria’s official news agency happily reported this event. A more careful reading of the report by SANA, the official Syrian news agency, shows that someone in Damascus has either imperfect English--or perfect English and a terrific sense of humor. For the SANA report said that

The Permanent Reprehensive of the Syrian Arab republic to the UN, Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari, was unanimously re-elected as Rapporteur of UN Special Committee on Decolonization.

There are alas many other regimes whose ambassadors to the UN might equally well be called “the Permanent Reprehensive.” It’s a glorious new title, and we should all thank SANA for supplying it.

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Update: A friend has pointed out to me that China has a Deputy Permanent Reprehensive.