It might be 'vindication'

John Dalli with Muammar Gaddafi in his tent in 1987. Are those white socks?

I’m beginning to think that John Dalli said what he did on purpose, and not just because of his links to the Gaddafi regime. All the praise his erstwhile rival is getting for handling the situation so well must really rankle.

So he pops out with something that undermines Malta’s now clear stance against Gaddafi.

See the ‘dishonourable mention’ in The Guardian, beneath.

Cameron relief as Obama declares open mind on no-fly zones

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 March 2011 20.14 GMT

Cameron and other European leaders have been left in no doubt by Washington that the EU should be in the lead or the moment in responding to the crisis in Libya. “The Americans think that Europe should get its act together in north Africa which really is in the EU’s sphere of influence,” one source said.

Cameron is taking the lead with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, in drawing up plans for an emergency EU summit that will be held in Brussels next Friday. But one key British idea – to link assistance given by the EU to north African and Middle Eastern countries with political reform – may run into trouble with the French because Sarkozy’s government uses the EU “neighbourhood policy” to deliver focused economic benefits to Francophone countries in the area. At least they will agree that John Dalli, Malta’s European commissioner, does not speak for the EU on Libya. He was quoted by euobserver.com as saying: “I think Gaddafi has made the first attempt towards conciliation.”