The Department of Just Desserts

Unsufferable windbag Zahi Hawass, long the czar of archaeology in Egypt, was lately promoted to Minister of Antiquities by the dying Mubarak government, perhaps in the hope that his television charisma would help the fading dictator's cause. Ever the ladder-climber, Hawass leaped at the chance, putting this notice on his web site:

Many people make the mistake of thinking that dreams cannot come true, but they can. You have to believe, and know that they are more than just imagination.

Typical of Hawass that his dreams consist of promotions rather than, say, actual archaeological discoveries. But then this is the man who regularly tells interviewers things like:

I'm damn good. . . . I am already famous and powerful. [What] I do I do for Egypt. It is the first time that Egypt has been correctly explained to the public.

Yes, it's true, everything you have ever read or heard about Egypt before is wrong!

Alas, Hawass probably did not dream that his ascendancy would be greeted by a demonstration organized by young archaeologists:

"Get out," a crowd of 150 archaeology graduates chanted outside the office of Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass, who threw in his lot with the old order when he accepted a Cabinet post in the last weeks of Hosni Mubarak's rule.

Whether Hawass, entrusted with preserving Egypt's museums and monuments, will go the way of Mubarak and resign is uncertain. . . .

The archaeologists' protest was also deeply personal, with protesters saying Hawass was a "showman" and publicity hound with little regard for thousands of archaeology students who have been unable to find work in their field.

"He doesn't care about us," said 22-year-old Gamal el-Hanafy, who graduated from Cairo University in 2009 and carried his school certificates in a folder. "He just cares about propaganda."

In response,

Hawass has maintained that his first love is Egypt's heritage, not himself, and that courting publicity raises the national profile.

Because, you know, the archaeological treasures of Egypt are so obscure that they need a self-serving ass like Hawass to promote them. And no, I've never seen his show, because the brief appearances I have seen are so appalling I can't imagine 30 minutes of the man.