Sunday, October 22, 2006

The Invited Guest - III

The Lahti EU dinner must have been a fairly mind-boggling experience for those taking part, especially when the guest of honour rose to say a few words. George Parker in the FT has an account of the Gogolian proceedings. Excerpt:
Mr Putin occasionally had his hosts staring in disbelief into their artichoke soup or choking on the rosemary grilled goose, as he made it clear he would not take lectures from Europe on issues such as human rights and corruption.

His fellow diners even smiled politely (some perhaps agreed) when he reportedly announced that the EU’s most important challenge was to “safeguard Christianity in Europe”.

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