Mugabe

[Zen]

First it was Jack Straw,"I didn't realise who it was in the dark"
Great advert for laser eye treatment! Now it's Prince Charles who shook hands with Mugabe,Do you think they should have gone to Specsavers? as the ad says.

[El D]

Indeed - impossible to say given the circumstances but in both cases it implicated a lack of bottle to me. Now if he had withdrawn his hand and delivered a rebuke, despite the conditions, he would have earned my respect. Despite which Mugabe remains a horrific parasite and he should never have been invited anyway - what kind of religious leader sanctions his actions? Pathetic people . . .

[silly moo]

Under normal circumstances I would tend to agree, BUT this was part of the church service when ALL present 2share the peace of Christ".
Can yo imagine the outrage if Prince Charles had refused to share the love and peace of god during the Pope's funeral.
He was really in a lose / lose situation here,
Maybe those who think he was wrong are not churchgoers and so did not realise the actual circumstances.
We must remamber that JC sat and shared with all sorts of people.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Mugabe's a very clever manipulator. It's a natural reaction to shake a hand put before you and I suspect Mugabe takes advantage of this to get the hand shake before his victims have quite noticed who he is. Next thing you know, his press is full of 'Prince Charles shakes the president's hand' stories etc.

[Daisho]

I'm suprised Charles didn't ask Mugabe 'And what do you do then?'

[El D]

I think Charles can be excused as he was undoubtedly taken unawares. Jack Straw however was on an official visit to the country -  who did he think was going to be there . . .

[smudge]

El D - you pipped me to the post. Apparently, Charles was indeed taken by surprise - so what else could he do? He could hardly stick his nose in the air & turn away could he?

[slimfandango]

Did it to Diana...