EUROPE AND LEBANON….The Telegraph reports on European proposals for ending the conflict in Lebanon:
Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, was already in Beirut to call for “an immediate truce”, while President Jacques Chirac urged the creation of an international force with the “means of coercion”.
Tony Blair supported the idea. He said: “The only way we are going to get a cessation of hostilities is if we have the deployment of an international force into that area that can stop the bombardment over into Israel and therefore give Israel a reason to stop its attacks on Hizbollah.”
….Romano Prodi, the Italian prime minister, said that [Kofi] Annan hoped to send about 8,000 more troops, four times larger than the [current] Unifil contingent.
The European Union said that several members had expressed their readiness to send soldiers and President Vladimir Putin did not rule out Russian participation.
Two questions: (1) Are the Europeans really serious about this? (2) Would it work?
