The Vanguardia is making a very big deal about the Pope's antiwar stance. Their lead editorial, however, points out, "What would have happened if the English and the French had listened to Pius XII and not declared war on Hitler?" Good question, that. Anyway, Tareq Aziz, of all people steeped in sin, Saddam's Ribbentrop, gets to visit the Pope next Friday. Assuming he's still alive. Aziz, by the way, is a Christian. Or claims to be one. "Member of the Christian, as opposed to Muslim, socioethnic group" might be the best description of Mr. Aziz. Let's see if the Pope can get him to see the error of his ways. Bet it don't take.

Gearhead and Jockitch are still being bolshy and Rumsfeld sentenced, "War is the last recourse, but we've tried diplomacy, sanctions, control of the no-fly zones in Iraq, and they didn't work." He also directly warned Paris and Berlin that they run the risk of isolation. The Vangua says we have 110,000 troops in the area, and the British have 1200 in the area and more than 40,000 more, including their Ark Royal aircraft carrier group, on the way. The Aussies have two carrier groups there, the Darwin and the Anzac, and 500 ground troops. The Bulgarians and Czechs are sending special bacteriological clean-up teams. We Americans damn well had better be grateful to our allies when this is all over. Confusingly, the French will commit a squadron of 40 transport planes should they line up with the rest of the alliance. Screw the French. If they line up with us it won't be because they want to, it'll be because they were too chicken not to.

No real news on the ETA killing. The town, Andoain, where the killing happened, is evidently the residence of a whole bunch of goddamn terrorist sympathizers and wannabes. A local journalist, José Luis López de Lacalle, another Socialist--the just-murdered police chief, Pagazaurtundua, held a Party card and was also a member of the UGT, the Socialist union, as well as an anti-ETA activist, a member of ¡Basta Ya! (Enough Already!)--was murdered in May 2000, and the Socialists on the City Council have had their houses attacked and their cars torched. Now, I'm no Socialist-lover, but the Socialists have enough backbone to stand up to ETA. It takes a pair of brass balls to be a Socialist activist or open sympathizer in the Basque Country, because they are targets, even Council members in tiny towns. You have to give them credit for that. Their official statement reads, "The Basque Country is the only place in Europe where people are still killed because of ideas, where ideological cleansing, and the physical elimination of all those who dare to raise their voices to denounce the situation in which we live, takes place." That's the way to talk. I wish I had that kind of guts. I really hate the ETA.

The Spanish government is leaking to the domestic press that Aznar is taking his pro-US position because he sees the US as looking to dominate the Middle East and he believes that it's smart to be on the winning side, that it's in Spain's national interest; that allying with America will bring Spain more importance in the world; and that America will owe Spain a favor should Spain ever need one. Aznar doesn't trust his European "friends", continues the leak, as he remembers French backing for Morocco in the Isla Perejíl mini-crisis during last summer. The Government considers it important to pacify public opinion, and is really hoping for a second UN resolution declaring open season on Iraq; if so, the governing PP will look like they were right all along and the Socialists will look dumb. This leak obviously comes either from Aznar personally or from somebody very high-up--Rodrigo Rato is a pretty smooth politician, for example--and is a preparation for winning back popular support on the issue of the war. It makes Aznar look like a smart guy, pulling strings to get benefits for Spain, being a realist, looking out for the national interest, and making the best deal he can get. That's an spin people around here will love--Aznar is so smart that he's outwitted the Yanquies! I hope it works, and I'm sure that it is at least partly true. The other part is Aznar's genuine ideological alignment with the Bush Administration. And a third part is probably Aznar's sheer joy at doing anything that makes the Socialists look dumb--admittedly, the Socialists aren't exactly first division competition, but he takes the pleasure out of it that he can. That's why I like the guy. He enjoys baiting Socialists.

Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, from the movie-stars-against-the-war people, is complaining that the government has censored her. Apparently, what they did was criticize her and her pals for turning the Goya movie awards show into a circus. That, you see, is censorship, at least in Aitana's Garofalo-sized brain. Perhaps we could use Garofalos as a standard of measurement for intelligence. You know, "Oh, Almodóvar's no dummy, though his movies are kind of absurd. He's at least six or seven Garofalos smart, though he's only about five feet tall." Aitana Sánchez-Gijón is about half a Garofalo smart or so. Penélope Cruz is at least two Garofalos smart, since she figured out that by covering up for Tom Cruise she could get Hollywood rich-and-famous. However, she's not smart enough to have checked with Tom about their official position on the war on Iraq, since he says he's for it and he's a big fan of Bush, while she showed up with a "No War!" sticker on her aesthetically-pleasing right boob at the Goya Awards. Oh, gee, maybe she got confused and thought Tom was saying "Yes" when he was really saying "Chess", his planned new musical foray onto the Broadway stage. Her English still isn't too good. Antonio Banderas is only about a Garofalo-and-a-half smart, since he made it over to America just fine, shacked up with the obligatory fading starlet, but then chose only absolutely horrendous roles in bomb movies. If you're still reading it can be plausibly argued either that your intelligence is at least fifteen or so Garofalos, because you are capable of absorbing my complex thought, or that your intelligence is about a fifteenth of a Garofalo, because you don't comprehend that my thought is really rather more, say, banal, than complex.

This guy is about a quarter of a Garofalo smart. He's Steve Nash, Canadian point guard for the Dallas Mavericks. He said that the war on Iraq would "be a serious mistake and would have incredible consequences, not only in the Middle East but also in the US. In the American Constitution it says that war can only be used in case of necessity or self-defense." Well, Steevo, first, I checked the Constitution and it says no such thing. Second, it can easily be argued that this is a case of both necessity and self-defense, anyway. And third, Steevo, you're a pro athlete. In Dallas. They're going to hang your Canadian ass off one of those basketball goals, Steevo. You better start running now.