Malta and Naguib Mahfouz

You don't find Malta mentioned too often in books especially novels.... unless they are about Malta or are somehow related to something Malta did.......

I was relaxing at home, after a nice coffee with Andre at the Corinthia, immersed into Naguib Mahfouz's Palace Walk - an account of life and society in Egypt at his time.... one of his masterpieces and thus part of the Nobel Prize winning Cairo Trilogy ..... when I suddenly came across this paragragh.....

"Go ahead, play the coquette, you bitch. Didn’t we agree on a date? But you’re right to hold back…. One of your breasts could destroy Malta. The second could drive Hindenburg out of his mind. You’ve got a treasure. May our Lord be gracious to me. May our Lord be gracious to me and to every poor rogue who can’t sleep for thinking about swelling breasts, plump buttocks, and eyes enhanced by kohl."

I'm puzzled!!!!

I don't know if to be proud that the destruction of Malta is synonymous to the driving mad of one of the important figures of World War 1 and President of one of the biggest powers at that time...... or to be offended that Mr Mahfouz actually said that my country could be destroyed by a woman's breast!!!!!