Tuesday, November 27

Why the hell was China's foreign minister invited to Annapolis?

And why Portugal, Slovenia, Mexico and the Vatican for that matter? Look at the guest list! It's not a conference on developing a new framework for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. It's a circus.

No wonder a member of the Palestinian delegation, or maybe it was a member of the Israeli delegation, said that Annapolis was going to be "The mother of all photo-ops."

But toward what end? Maybe Condoleezza Rice's idea is to show Hamas and Iran that the whole world is wishing Israel and the Palestinians well in their attempts to negotiate? But in that case why not invite Hamas -- and Iran? Even if they refused the invitation, something akin to a point would have been made. But I'm not sure that is the point. Maybe the point is the high school snub? It's our party and you're not invited?

I give up. I just give up. If I don't give up, I'm going to go mad trying to fathom Condoleezza Rice's logic. I think I shall spend the winter in the south of Italy and go nowhere near a newspaper, radio, television set or computer. Do nothing but eat pasta, drink wine and laugh. Maybe this way I can return to Washington, DC in the spring with my sanity still intact.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The heads of each delegation attending the Mideast peace summit in Annapolis, Md., as provided by the State Department.

_ Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

_ Palestinian Authority, President Mahmoud Abbas

_ United States, President George W. Bush

_ European Union Commission, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, external affairs commissioner

_ European Union High Representative, Javier Solana, high representative for common foreign and security policy, secretary general of the council of the European Union

_ European Union Presidency, Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado

_ Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

_ United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

_ Quartet Representative, Tony Blair, Middle East envoy

_ Algeria, Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci

_ Bahrain, Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa

_ Egypt, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit

_ Jordan, Foreign Minister Salaheddine al-Bashir

_ Lebanon, Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri

_ Morocco, Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri

_ Qatar, Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Abdulla Al-Mahmoud

_ Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal

_ Sudan, Ambassador John Ukec

_ Syria, Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad

_ Tunisia, Foreign Minister Abdelwahab Abdallah

_ Yemen, Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi

_ Arab League, Secretary General Amr Moussa

_ Canada, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier

_ China, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi

_ France, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner

_ Germany, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier

_ Italy, Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema

_ Japan, Tatsuo Arima, special envoy for the Middle East

_ United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Miliband

_ Brazil, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim

_ Denmark, Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller

_ Greece, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis

_ India, Kapil Sibal, minister of science and technology and earth sciences

_ Indonesia, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda

_ Malaysia, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar

_ Mauritania, Foreign Minister Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lemine

_ Mexico, Foreign Relations Undersecretary Lourdes Aranda

_ Netherlands, Frans Timmermans, minister for European affairs

_ Norway, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store

_ Organization of the Islamic Conference, Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu

_ Oman, Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdulla

_ Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan

_ Poland, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski

_ Senegal, Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio

_ Slovenia, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel

_ South Africa, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma

_ Spain, Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Angel Moratinos

_ Sweden, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt

_ Turkey, Ali Babacan, foreign minister and chief EU negotiator

_ United Arab Emirates, Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan

_ Vatican, Pietro Parolin, undersecretary of foreign affairs

_ International Monetary Fund, Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn

_ World Bank, President Robert Zoellick

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