Sep 21, 2007Quickie Link: Nice try, but ... -- By Peter Tatchell
By vanrozenheim
(UK) - Whatever you think of Gordon Brown and New Labour, it was in many ways a bold, brave move for the prime minister to declare that he will unilaterally boycott December's EU - African Union summit in Lisbon if President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is allowed to attend. At last, some moral leadership from a government that has been rather short on principles in recent years. Is this the first sign of a welcome revival of the long discarded ethical dimension to Labour's foreign policy? We live in hope, but my advice is: don't hold your breath. But unless Brown is planning a one-leader boycott, which seems unlikely, he has to get other EU and AU leaders to join him in making the same commitment: if Mugabe goes, we don't go.
