The EU's political leaders behaved just as their diplomatic posture requires. Be "nice" and polite to Russia's Putin, and, of course he would reciprocate. Unfortunately for them, Putin is not a man for whom the opinions of polite society count more than his own self—interest. So they are "shocked" that he has rebuffed their earnest pleas on behalf og human rights. The BBC reports:

Insiders' reports from EU leaders' dinner with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday suggest Europe's diplomats have begun the week suffering from diplomatic indigestion.

All 25 European Union leaders met Mr Putin in Finland.

Accounts of the meeting from some of those present there speak of unusually blunt exchanges between the two sides, in which Mr Putin said he would not listen to lectures about human rights, and rejected EU demands over its vitally important oil and gas business.

Like some blazing row between world celebrities in a private club, word of the verbal fisticuffs is coming out in dribs and drabs and is still spreading.

I do not expect them to draw the appropriate conclusions about the ineffectivenes, no make that counter—productiveness, of pretending that sweet talk is any kind of substitute for power. At least this time the fate of the world does not hang in the balance. Al Qaeda and militant Islam are another story.

Hat tip: Joe Crowley

Thomas Lifson  10 125 06