Arafat Abroad

I watched this morning as the cable news networks covered Yasser Arafat's departure from Ramallah aboard a Jordanian helicopter, en route to Paris via Amman.

Of all the hospitals in the region and throughout Europe, why exactly did he need to go to one in Paris? I really don't know if this Paris hospital has a rare specialty but I've never heard of anyone in this country needing to go to Paris for anything like Arafat's condition.

On a note that may or may not be related to the long-term future of the Middle East, here's a Debka story from last week I meant to share sooner. Apparently the Hashemites want to reassert control over the Muslim holy places, which would mean control of Islam itself. This could only be an improvement over the current stewards, the Wahhabi Saudis.

And if you believe in subverting oppression, you might take heart in this development concerning Iranian bootleggers.
  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 5:19 AM