The EU has dispatched an official mission to the Mideast in hopes of brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and sending humanitarian aid to Gaza (French President Nicholas Sarkozy is going on his own separate mission, but that's another story).
At the same time, the European Commission (a major EU institution) declined Russia's request to send EU monitors to investigate the source of shortfalls in Russian gas shipments through Ukraine to Europe. The Russians say the Ukrainians are to blame; the Ukrainians say it's the Russians. The Commission spokesman said the EU had no plans to get involved in what it regarded as a bilateral dispute. (Thanks to euobserver.com.)
Does anybody else notice the disconnect? Why isn't the Mideast problem a 'bilateral dispute' that the EU will wisely avoid? Perhaps the truth is that, much as the Europeans malign Israel, they know the Israelis practice restraint and respond to Western imprecations. No particular evidence the Russians would do the same - and they're important energy suppliers.
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