A unilateral slap in the face to Europe
by France. President Jacque Chirac invites Zimbawean president Robert "No Food If You Don't Vote For Me" Mugabe to a pan-African meeting in Paris. The conference seems to have scheduled to fit Mugabe's calendar: it begins the day after EU sanctions run out against Zimbabwe, giving France the right to do whatever they want with Mugabe. Chirac threatens to block the regularly-scheduled EU sanctions against Zimbabwe if other EU reps try to renew sanctions while Mugabe is visiting. Britain's ominously labeled 'shadow foreign secretary' says that "in one fell swoop [Chirac] has betrayed the Zimbabwean people and weakened the EU's stand on human rights." And poked a thumb in Blair's eye.