39 Quotes by Robin Oakley

There's a lot of breast thumping as leaders take up their negotiation positions, and certainly Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have indicated that this summit could turn into a real standoff,

For him to lecture these applicant countries or these accepted members on their way in was really behavior like the worst of what the French complain about in the United States,

It's also the key to possibly getting NATO involved.

It's been a very, very big turnout and it will mean a huge sigh of relief for the 10 applicant countries and for European Union leaders across the continent.

They are now talking much more about the suffering of the Iraqi people. The British government used to say nothing of regime change, ... both (leaders) need a second U.N. resolution.

They will underline their readiness to keep more troops there if necessary, as well as their readiness to press ahead with a new U.N. resolution -- partly because that new U.N. resolution is the key to getting countries like France and Germany, who were opposed to the war in Iraq, much more involved in post-conflict operations,

incredible charm offensive ... (which) is starting to show dividends.

It has dominated the media, ... There is deep worry about the image of the British army and deep worry about the effect on Iraqi elections.

But it comes at a time when the IRA is under intensive pressure. It has been put on the defensive over the arrests in Colombia of IRA members working with FARC rebels and there are allegations it was involved in a burglary of Special Branch offices in Belfast in March,