Celebrity Boxing V: POWell v. AraPHAT

Don't worry - that's as bad as it gets. (Could it get worse? I dunno). Colin, however, does have some choice diplomatic words for Yasr, who's getting his best chance in years to refurbish his image as an enemy of the imperialists and a fighter.

We didn't deal with Yasser Arafat when we were putting the road map together so his comments don't mean a lot to me. I'm not really responding to them in any way. Arafat has not been playing a helpful role and if he wanted to play a helpful role, he would be supporting Prime Minister Abbas, not frustrating his efforts.

Powell, however, needs to bash someone of greater stature than Arafat if he wants to get back his image as the voice of reason/diplomacy/brains in the Bush administration. Powell would do well to diplo-smack Rummy or one of the Democratic candidates even... or the Chinese Communist leadership for that matter. Arafat is just too easy.

Thanks to Ha'aretz for the quote. In other news, Palestine's most seasoned diplomat, Saeb Erekat, has been approved by Abbas to head negotiations with Israel and the U.S. Erekat's reputation of being tough but respectful should serve him well, and he's probably the best man for the job, even though he is an Arafat loyalist.