One last Shoe post

I don't mean to betray an unhealthy fixation on the shoe-throwing incident, but these short words from Ezra Levant (a pugnacious, Jewish-Canadian journalist) really hit a few nails:

I have just two quick thoughts:

1. Is there anywhere else in the Arab world where a reporter could throw shoes at a head of state and not be killed for doing so? Saudi Arabia? Syria? Or how about Iraq under Saddam?

2. What do you think things would be like if the, uh, shoe were on the other foot? If, during a trip to the U.S., someone like Iran's Ahmadinejad or Saudi Arabia's Abdullah had been pelted with two shoes from an American reporter? To be more specific, do you think the death toll of the angry riots would be in the thousands, or merely in the hundreds? Do you think the U.N.'s General Assembly would issue more or less than five angry resolutions?

Just asking.