From the "With Allies Like These, Who Needs Enemies" department, here's Xavier Batalla in today's Vanguardia:

The Bush Administration has decided to turn the screws on the Iranian regime, which will not renounce its nuclear program, now minimized by Jacques Chirac, though he later rectified. Washington is officially motivated by the ideal of changing a dictatorship into a democracy. And in order to achieve this, it wants worldwide sanctions on Teheran, an initiatie that has caused concern among the other members of the Security Council.

Why is this initiative not convincing? Because the United States is the only member of the Security Council that has nothing to lose. Washington ended its political relationship and most of its commercial links with Iran a quarter of a century ago. And the Iranians are now buying automobiles from France, arms from Russia--which is courting them over natural gas--, and air conditioners from China, which in return gets 18% of the petroleum it consumes. The European Union, beginning with Germany, which sells generators to Taiwan, represents one-third of Iranian trade.

What a bunch of weasels.

From the "We're Not Anti-Semitic, We Just Don't Like the Way the Jews Are Running the World" department, by Manuel Castells, boldface mine:

...(The perspective of negotiations with Iran and Syria) is blocked, of course by Bush, but also by the powerful pro-Israeli lobby among the Democrats, including Senator Lieberman, who has the key to breaking ties in the Senate and who directly represents Israel's interests. And also Hillary Clinton, whose electoral base and financial support have decisive influence in the pro-Israeli media, particularly in New York.

Mr. Castells apparently does not know that, in the US, alleging that a person is not loyal to the US first and to any other country or organization second is considered bigotry and prejudice. For example, it wasn't until John F. Kennedy that the false idea that Catholics were loyal first to the Pope and only second to the United States was finally put to rest.

The Spanish media is also on a massive global warming kick; in an orgy of antiglobalization propaganda, La Vanguardia devotes its first-page main headline and three more interior pages to Green orthodoxy today.