Bono and Brown or Bush and Beinfeldt?

OK, maybe I should try to make a lot of critical points but honestly I thought that the press conference and economic seminar with Gordon Brown yesterday was great. Sure, the agenda was not surprising (how to handle globalization from a center-left perspective and, of course, Africa). But the day ended in such a great contrast: the leader of the Swedish conservatives (Fredrik Reinfeldt) said during the "After speech" that peace-keeping operations should be counted as foreign aid. To mix these two things, the first often ending up being military operations in places like the Balkans, Liberia and Afghanistan, is an idea that Reinfeldt now shares with George W. Bush.
When pressed on the issue, Reinfeldt continued to say that to strive for a certain fixed goal when it comes to foreign aid should not be that important... (The way in which he wants to slash Swedish foreign aid would mean that Sweden would not reach the "1 percent to foreign aid goal"). So the choice is clear. Either we stick to Brown (who praised that Sweden will reach the 1 percent goal next year) and Bono (who already gave our minister Carin Jämtin a 0,7 percent t-shirt). Or you can jump in the other B-boat with Bush, Bolton, Barosso, Berlusconi, Buttiglione and Beinfeldt. My choice is, as you also can read here, very clear. And please tell the rest of the world that Reinfeldt is letting Africa down on this issue!