Blair Makes Threats

Guardian:

In a sign of increasing British impatience, Tony Blair today warned of a "different phase" if diplomatic efforts fail to secure the release of the 15 British service personnel held by Iran.

With the impasse entering its fifth day, the prime minister described the group's capture as "unjustified and wrong", while the foreign secretary Margaret Beckett demanded their safe return in "very robust" terms.

This afternoon Mr Blair's spokesman was keen to emphasise that British diplomats were engaged in talking "discreetly" to the Iranians, and only if those talks failed would the government have to become "more explicit" about why it knows the group was in Iraqi waters.

I'd like hear how they know. It matters.

Guardian:

Tony Blair is pushing the United Nations to declare a no-fly zone over Darfur, enforced if necessary by the bombing of Sudanese military airfields used for raids on the province, the Guardian has learned.

The controversial initiative comes as a classified new report by a UN panel of experts alleges Sudan has violated UN resolutions by moving arms into Darfur, conducting overflights and disguising its military planes as UN humanitarian aircraft.

Mr Blair has been pushing for much tougher international action against Sudan since President Omar Hassan al-Bashir reneged earlier this month on last November's agreement to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur to protect civilians.

This, on the other hand, is long overdue.