Sometime last winter, I did a series on “safe zones,” or the lack of them. I was decrying the intrusion of politics into what should be non-political spheres. I guess the fullest expression of the safe-zone theme came in this column.

Okay, I know a pair of newlyweds who just spent a couple days in New York. They were telling me about their tour guides on the Gray Line. (They took two such tours, I believe.) Both fine guys, both fine guides. But get a load of this:

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Passing Grant’s tomb, a guide said, “Yeah, there were a few good Republicans — Grant, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.” Well, at least he gives us that.

Passing an Army recruiting office, a guide said, with unseemly satisfaction, “No one goes there.” (The husband in my pair of friends thought to himself, “There goes your tip, buddy.” My friend is the son of two career military people.)

Finally, on Sixth Avenue, one of the guides said, “Behold Fox News, the Voice of Evil.”

My friends are thinking, “Why do these guys think they can alienate the people who may be Republican or conservative on the bus?” Because ideology trumps everything, basically, including simple manners — maybe even especially them.

Let me repeat a point that others have made (because what am I good for, if not repetition?). President Obama has gone a long way in courting Arab regimes and alienating, and frightening, the Israeli government and the Israeli people. And what is the payoff? To what end?

Says the Associated Press, “Jordan on Monday mirrored Saudi Arabia in publicly rejecting U.S. appeals to improve relations with Israel to help restart Middle East peace talks, throwing a damper on the Obama administration’s push for Arab support behind new negotiations.”

Yes, and Jordan is just about the easiest, best Arab state. Hell, King Abdullah sounds like a policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, when you talk to him. Still . . .

Nice going, Barack, Hillary — all you guys. Really nice.

In the old days, PLO and other Arab leaders played a double game: They would say one thing to the West, in English, and quite a different thing to the home crowd, in Arabic. But for some years, that game has been less easy to play. The reason? MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute. They give us translations of Arab newspapers, TV programs, and so on.

When PLO men visit international conferences, such as Davos, they are sweetness and light, most of the time. But what about at home? Here, via MEMRI, is Tawfiq Tirawi, security adviser to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas:

But let me tell you, Jerusalem needs thousands of martyrs. If we live to see the day, and you become the leaders of the future, mark my words: It is impossible for Jerusalem to be restored to us without thousands of martyrs. Anyone who thinks that America will restore Jerusalem to us is mistaken. It will never restore Jerusalem to us. And if it does not give us Jerusalem, how can it possibly give us the Right of Return?

And so on. How would we know such things, without MEMRI? It would be impossible. And, like many other institutions, MEMRI is starved for funds, having a hard time continuing. We need this outfit. If you are so disposed, donate (here).

Incidentally, I wrote a piece about MEMRI way back in 2002 — here. They were invaluable then — we joked that “invaluable” was part of their name: The Invaluable Middle East Media Research Institute — and they are invaluable now.)

Spare a thought for Mohannad al-Hussani, a Syrian human-rights lawyer. As reported here, Hussani, “who has been handling high profile political cases, was summoned Tuesday to State Security, one of a multitude of intelligence agencies in the Arab country, which has been ruled by the Baath Party since it took power in a 1963 coup. Hussani has not been heard from since . . .”

This is the exact moment at which our American administration is cozying up to the Assad dictatorship. Swell.

I look forward to seeing what the payoff is — but I won’t wait up nights, and I don’t recommend that you do either.

There is a kind of “multiculturalism” I like, and a kind that is poisonous, possibly fatal. May I tell you about a story I saw (here)? The headline read, “Sikh soldiers guard Queen Elizabeth II,” and I thought, “Uh-oh, watch out, Betty — remember what happened to Mrs. Gandhi.” But then I read the article. 

Queen Elizabeth II has switched bearskin hats for turbans outside Buckingham Palace, where Sikh soldiers have begun guarding the monarch and her treasures, Britain’s defense ministry said Friday.

Signaler Simranjit Singh and Lance Cpl. Sarvjit Singh are the first Sikhs to take part in patrols outside the queen’s residence and to stand watch over the Crown jewels at the Tower of London across town.

Guard duties are usually carried out by the Guards of Household Division, famed for their bearskin hats and crimson coats that attract picture-taking tourists in their thousands. The ministry said the Sikh soldiers instead wore turbans and blue uniforms. . . .

Sarvjit Singh, who was born in India and is a member of 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, said he was thrilled to have had the opportunity to guard the queen.

“My experience being a Sikh on the queen’s guard is beyond words,” said the 28-year-old. “It is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I feel privileged to have this honor.”

“Being in London and parading in front of hundreds of people has been brilliant. Being Sikh hasn’t made any difference,” said Simranjit Singh, 26, from Coventry in central England, who is attached to the 21 Signal Regiment (Air Support).

You know what I mean? That is assimilation, that is ethnic flavoring, that is harmony — that is civilization. Unlike . . . lots of other stuff. (Remember the blind Briton who refused to budge from the bus, when a Muslim woman was screaming about his seeing-eye dog, complaining that such animals are unclean? He is a hero for our times.)

I thought this was kind of interesting, from the AP — see what you think: “Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 million drivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spending stimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easier projects like repaving roads, an Associated Press analysis shows.”

Someday, there is a book to be written about this Obama “stimulus” — and it cannot be pretty. (For that full AP article, go here.)

“Dear Mr. N.,” writes a reader.

Several days ago, I was at the intersection of Amsterdam Ave. and 125th St., just about a block from where I live. [This is New York City.] On the corner I was passing through stood a small table and display devoted to hawking the Communist party (whether it was the CPUSA or a variant, I’m not sure). A genial, sixtyish black man with a sheaf of newspapers offered me one. I kept walking and said, “No, thanks — I gave up on Marx a long time ago.” Still genial, the man said, “Then you’ve given up on humanity!”

I just laughed and unfortunately was almost a block away before I thought of what I should have said: “No, just the gulags.” Or something . . .

I have to remember these lines, both for New York and for return visits to Ann Arbor . . .