NO CHANGE ON SANCTIONS FOR ABBAS

And yet, "Mickey D'Orsay", as Phillipe Douste-Blazy is nicknamed, proved to be as bad and insulting as his own boss, Chirac. From the AP Wire:

PARIS - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ended his European tour Saturday without persuading any country to end crippling economic sanctions based on his power-sharing deal with the rival Islamic militant Hamas.

The bright spot in his trip was a promise Saturday from French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to work with a government that includes Hamas and Abbas' more moderate Fatah party. His comments were more positive than those of other European leaders during Abbas' four-country tour. But Douste-Blazy made no commitments on resuming aid frozen since Hamas won parliamentary elections a year ago.

Enough pushing the "moderate" tommyrot already, AP. As for Douste-Blazy, while he may not have made any commitments on aid, he's still a disgrace if he's willing to work with Abbas (and I wouldn't be surprised if Britain's government was even even more welcoming in their reception, even if it doesn't actually say so here).