"The humour of the people of Egypt is well-known in the Middle East. Some believe it is born of crippling poverty - if you've no other choice, you have to laugh the hardships away. The same is true in Iraq. Except that, in addition to poverty, we have daily, random violence, foreign soldiers all over the place, a state sector riddled with corruption, and public services that have fallen to pieces. So we laugh all the harder"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7976381.stm
It reminds me of the Cold War era Russian humor:
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/a...ls.php?id=7412