EUROHYPOCRISY: Andrew Stuttaford makes a point that some bloggers have made:

EU leaders are indignant at George Bush’s suggestion that he would rather not work with a Palestine run by Arafat. This is, they claim, interfering in the Palestinians’ right to choose their own leadership. Well, it’s an argument, I suppose, but it’s rather difficult to reconcile with the EU response to Austria’s elections two years ago. These elections (which were, incidentally, infinitely more democratic than anything ever seen in the Palestinian Authority) led to the formation of a government that many EU politicians found unacceptably right-wing.

The EU’s response?

Sanctions.

Yeah, but Haider’s worse than Arafat — because he’s critical of the EU. Arafat, on the other hand, loves the EU. And why shouldn’t he? They’re his chief financial backer.