Diplomats-with-Funny-Names Week Continues!

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R) greets members of the media with Hungary's Foreign Minister Dr. Kinga Goncz, at the State Department in Washington October 12, 2006. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES)

It's great that the whole Korea thing is all cool now, so Condi can continue her important, megacharged meetings with crucially important world powers like Iceland and, today, Hungary. You know who I'm really worried about, though? The Principality of Liechtenstein. And the Seychelles. Because, I mean, if Condi drops the ball with them, she'll lose the rest of the most inconsequential junior countries.

Also, I like the dilemma these uneventful matching armchair affairs present to the wire service photo caption writers. I mean, they can't really say Here's Condi sitting on her ass while the world explodes, so they come up with things like this:

US President George W. Bush met with top Chinese official Tang Jiaxuan who agreed on the need for "strong measures" against North Korea following Pyongyang's nuclear test announcement, US officials said. Tang also met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , seen here at the State Department, to discuss the issue of strong sanctions on Pyongyang.(AFP/Karen Bleier)

Isn't that cute how they take the picture of the day, crop out the obscure, irrelevant Hungarian, and then pretend that Condi isn't being kept as far, far away from the Korean stuff as possible? Poor Condi: She's forever stuck at the kiddie table, but at least the party photographers are always super nice.