The New York Sun has been covering recent research on UN diplomats who ignore parking tickets (as they are able to do via their diplomatic immunity. It is an anti—America thing.

"Researchers who examined tens of thousands of parking tickets issued to United Nations diplomats found those least likely to pay up were from countries where people hold a dim view of the United States," the AP reports.

The study was conducted by economists from Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, who were hoping to uncover why officials from some countries frequently abused their diplomatic immunity by parking illegally, while others played by the rules.

Their main finding was that diplomats were more likely to run up unpaid parking fines if they hailed from countries with a history of unchecked corruption, such as Nigeria. But a second factor —— poor U.S. image —— emerged when the researchers matched the list of offenders against a 2002 world public opinion survey performed by the Pew Research Center.

Between November 1997 and the end of 2002, diplomats accumulated more than 150,000 unpaid parking tickets in New York, racking up $18 million in unpaid fines. Based on statistics supplied by the city, the report said the worst offenders during that period were Kuwait, which averaged 246.2 unpaid tickets per diplomat per year, followed by Egypt, with 139.6; Chad, with 124.3; and Sudan, with 119.1.
 
Keep in mind that we saved the Kuwaittis from Saddam Hussein at great cost and that Egypt is the second—largest recipient of American foreign aid (over 2 billion dollars a year). These "diplomats" just don't believe in laws and this certainly puts to the test the idea that Arabs, because of their tribal origins, tend to be good hosts and guests. Also we are helping Chad via World Bank loans and efforts to defend Chad's territorial integrity from terror threats they face from neighbors.

Ed Lasky   7 7 06