No one should be under the illusion that the histrionic purported recognition of the Palestinian Authority as the government of the fictional state of Palestine, of uncertain borders, by Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Australia is responsible for any progress. The supposed leader of this beneficiary of western appeasement is Mahmoud Abbas, the 89-year-old survivor of 70 years of comparative and well self-paid moderation in a Potemkin regime in Ramallah that has little authority and to which the Palestinians themselves rightly attach no credence. He is a former KGB agent and, to his credit, for decades a rival of Yasser Arafat, and the recognition of him as Palestinian leader is conditional on the so-called Palestinian Authority being renovated by free and fair elections and a comprehensive program of reform and suppression of its profligate corruption. It is also conditional upon the return to Israel of the remaining hostages seized by Hamas, and the removal of Hamas from the government of Gaza. Mahmoud Abbas has no more ability to deliver on those clauses than any reader of this column. The Palestinians see Abbas as a crook and an over-bribed puppet of Israel masquerading as a legitimate spokesman for the Palestinian interest.