Friday, November 05, 2004
Arafat rumors (via email)
A few minutes ago I got a couple of emails from home that Arafat had died.
Then I saw a wire story that the French hospital had said that he was still
alive. FWIW, the people I am with in a conference room in a Parisian law
firm say that he is in a coma. If I hear more local skinny I'll post again
later.
UPDATE: OK, I actually dispatched this post via email 30 hours before the posted date, when it was actual news, but Blogger ate it for some reason and only just barfed it back up like so much hairball. It actually was some pretty interesting news at the time.
For what it's worth, the French papers are reporting that Arafat is brain dead [as if this were somehow new news - ed.], and I assume that the American press has reported the same (although CNN seems to be clinging to the tale that Arafat is fighting for his life, as if he had a life left to preserve, so perhaps you Americans are still in the dark). In any case, I had an amusing Arafat-themed encounter with a French wino out on the Champs-Elysee this evening.
Wino: "A little money, please" (decent English, obviously).
TigerHawk: "Sorry."
Wino: "But I'm Arafat's doctor!"
TigerHawk: "Good!"
TigerHawk's co-worker: "I don't think he understood your point."
UPDATE: (6 pm, EST, Friday): CNN International is reporting that the Palestinian Authority is denying that Arafat is brain dead. Nonetheless, the French press is asserting that he is. Reluctant as I am to side with the French press on anything, it strikes me as the more credible story.
Then I saw a wire story that the French hospital had said that he was still
alive. FWIW, the people I am with in a conference room in a Parisian law
firm say that he is in a coma. If I hear more local skinny I'll post again
later.
UPDATE: OK, I actually dispatched this post via email 30 hours before the posted date, when it was actual news, but Blogger ate it for some reason and only just barfed it back up like so much hairball. It actually was some pretty interesting news at the time.
For what it's worth, the French papers are reporting that Arafat is brain dead [as if this were somehow new news - ed.], and I assume that the American press has reported the same (although CNN seems to be clinging to the tale that Arafat is fighting for his life, as if he had a life left to preserve, so perhaps you Americans are still in the dark). In any case, I had an amusing Arafat-themed encounter with a French wino out on the Champs-Elysee this evening.
Wino: "A little money, please" (decent English, obviously).
TigerHawk: "Sorry."
Wino: "But I'm Arafat's doctor!"
TigerHawk: "Good!"
TigerHawk's co-worker: "I don't think he understood your point."
UPDATE: (6 pm, EST, Friday): CNN International is reporting that the Palestinian Authority is denying that Arafat is brain dead. Nonetheless, the French press is asserting that he is. Reluctant as I am to side with the French press on anything, it strikes me as the more credible story.
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