Gordon Brown says that he is "saddened and angry" at the Burmese court's decision to keep Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for a further 18 months.
The "saddened" part I can understand. Indeed it chimes in with the reaction in Asia, with spokesmen for both Malaysia and Indonesia declaring themselves "very disappointed" with a judgement that was hardly surprising (indeed some had feared worse) but was nonethless deeply distressing to anyone who hoped that the Burmese generals might be moving to a more conciliatory stance on the leader of the opposition.
But "anger"? It's such a pointless emotion for a British Prime Minister to express, and irrelevant. The idea that the Burmese government is remotely impressed by emotional outbursts from abroad is simply ridiculous. They've never shown any real sensitivity, let alone responsiveness, to the criticism of their internal rule even from their neighbours, let alone from a European country that can easily be painted as an ex-colonialist still trying to meddle in their own affairs.
And where does it lead you? President Sarkozy of France, always trigger-happy on these occasions, has called on the EU "to respond quickly by adopting new sanctions against the Burmese regime," a cry backed by the UK foreign minister, Ivan Lewis, who said Britain would "move quickly to secure further EU sanctions targeting the regime's economic interest".
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