Here's one for you Cataloonies. In my free time I play this psychotic computer game called Europa Universalis II, which is sort of a combination of Risk, Diplomacy, Civilization, and Simcity, but historically based. You start in 1419. I am playing the Crown of Aragon, so I started out with Catalonia, Rousillon, Valencia, Aragón itself, the Balearics, Sardinia, and Sicily. What I did was simply not have Ferdinand of Aragon marry Isabella of Castile, but rather marry someone from the House of Savoy. Aragon was thus never absorbed into Castile, but rather grew connections with Southern France and Italy. In three wars with the French, we took over all of Southern France south of about Dijon, and all of Italy south of Bologna except Florence, which is not going to be independent for much longer, and Rome, where the Pope is our slave, effectively--we took over when we had the chance under the Borgias. We also hold Turin and French Switzerland around Geneva. We established a foreign empire first in what is today Quebec, New England, and the mid-Atlantic states, then Hispaniola, where we are growing sugar out the wazoo with slave labor, then what is today South Africa, and then the southern tip of India. Right now it's 1741 and the game ends in 1819. Next stop is the conquest of Florence and then Genoa, and then we're going to take a whack at the Ottoman Empire and grab their islands in the Mediterranean (Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu) and their trading posts along the coasts of India and East Africa--and the Greek-speaking parts along the Turkish coast, like Smyrna and Aleppo. Then, after that, we'll take a whack at the Hapsburgs and run them out of Milan and Venice. By then that ought to be the end of the game.
So we're running a multinational Mediterranean empire with the capital at Barcelona and tentacles sticking out all over the world. (We've built a couple of spectacular cathedrals and a great university at Barcelona, too, along with an armaments factory in Zaragoza and a distillery at Valencia, from where we traffic in brandy all over Europe.) By the way, we haven't had to fight Castile or Portugal at all; we've had a military alliance since the beginning of the game which none of us has ever broken. Castile did take over Navarra but we let them have it. Visca el Imperi Català!
My favorite Europa Universalis comment on the bulletin board the company runs is this one 17-year-old kid somewhere in the States who commented that since he got into the game, they put him in AP European History in his high school because he'd learned so much about 16th century European warfare and economy.
(AP, Advanced Placement, are high-school courses that allow you to take a test and get college credit for what you studied in high school assuming you pass. They're pretty elitist--only about 10% or so of the students in a good high school qualify. It's something like the old A-levels in England--the tests are pretty goddamn hard, they're run by the people who run the SAT, and they're graded on a 200-800 scale like the SAT. I scored 800 on the AP European history exam in 1984, along with scores over 700 in English literature and American history. I'm so cool. One of the choices for the essay question that year was a compare-and-contrast of Goya's Los fusilados and Picasso's Guernica, which I belted out of the park. I got lucky on the English lit essay, too, where one of the choices was Siegfried Sassoon's war poetry, another one for the bleacher seats.)
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Thursday, January 13, 2005
The talk all over the place here in Spain is what's going to happen with the Retch Plan. If you haven't been keeping up, the Basque Parliament approved Basque Prime Minister Juan José Ibarretxe's plan to hold a referendum on Basque "self-determination", whatever Woodrow Wilson meant by that. The vote passed with the support of Herri Batasuna, the ETA's political branch. Supposedly, if Ibarretxe's plan for the Basque Country ever comes into effect, the result will then be a hypernationalist enclave within Spain with effective Home Rule, including the right to discriminate against non-Basque nationalists (since a Basque "nationality" will be created, and some people obviously won't want to be part of that). Note: for more information fill something like "ibarretxe plan" into the Search box above; we've talked about this before in greater detail.
I don't think it's going to happen. 1) The Basque Parliament does not have the Constitutional right to call a binding referendum. Any referendum they call will be totally meaningless and have no legal effect. 2) The Spanish Parliament will massively vote down the Retch Plan anyway, so nothing in it will go into legal effect. 3) The Tribunal Constitucional will declare the Retch Plan unconstitutional if it ever gets that far. 4) Should Ibarretxe actually call a referendum, its results will have no meaning to anyone except the radical Basque nationalists, who will claim a moral victory for their cause. I imagine that if Ibarretxe does call a meaningless referendum, the Spanish government will not do anything to interfere just so they can't be accused of suppressing democracy or anything like that. The referendum will go to the polls in the Basque Country with the support of the Basque autonomous government, it will be massively boycotted, and "self-determination" will win. So what? The vote's non-binding. Now, if the Basque autonomous government actually begins taking the steps of the Retch Plan that the referendum will supposedly approve, they will be legally invalid and unenforceable. If the Basque government should then actually go so far as to use force to impose the aforesaid Plan, that's when we send in the Guardia Civil to arrest the lot of them and damn the consequences, they can't do that, that's open armed rebellion and it has to be crushed with force. I will personally bet one bajillion dollars that it does not go this far, however.
Part of the problem with language in Spain is that languages have at least two purposes. The first, of course, is communication. The second is as a sign of identity. What goes on around here is a lot of people think Purpose Number Two is more important than Purpose Number One, which I think is totally bassackward. Purpose Number Two people are frequently known around here as Spainiacs, Cataloonies, and Basquetballs (everything they say is complete balls).
I am, frankly, a believer in the free market of languages. Purpose Number One people, among whom I count myself, learn the languages we need to communicate. Of course it helps me enormously to be a native educated speaker of English; that's one less thing I have to worry about. Living here in Barcelona, I need to know Spanish. I can't get along at anything higher than a tourist level if I don't. Catalan, frankly, comes after Spanish for me, because everyone who speaks Catalan can also speak Spanish. However, it's useful to know and if you know Spanish you can pick up understanding Catalan and speaking a little without much trouble. I haven't made much of an effort with Catalan because I quite frankly really don't need to. I can speak enough to get by and of course I read and understand it fluently. I never write it; I have no reason to. As for French, I can read it, and I can speak enough for tourism purposes and a little more; same with Italian, though my spoken Italian is even worse than my spoken French except for the accent. There's no reason for me to put forth any more effort. Were I to move to France or Italy, of course, I would immediately embark on crash learning of that language, as I would then need it very badly.
Some of my thinking is no doubt standard American, though I will point out that the language I use most every day (Spanish) is not my personal identity language and that doesn't bother me in the least. Still, though most non-immigrant Americans don't know foreign languages at all, most Yanks aren't too hung up on language. There are always a few people looking for conflict (unfortunately I think Victor Davis Hanson, who I admire so much on other issues, is one of them), but we don't have a national language and in many places in the States languages besides English are used. Nobody seems to much care as long as we can understand one another.
Here's an example of Purpose Number Two thinking in today's La Vanguardia. In the Catalan Parliament they're talking about a new regional government constitution called the Estatut d'Autonomia. Among other things, if this version of the Estatut goes anywhere, 1) Catalans will have the "duty" to know Catalan 2) All products sold in Catalonia will have to be labeled in Catalan 3) Every citizen will be allowed to demand that he be served in the language he chooses--it doesn't specify whether this is by the government only or by private business as well.
Well, I don't think anyone has the "duty" to know any language unless his job requires him to, and the language(s) that the job demands ought to be clear to both the employer and the worker as part of the original agreement between the two. Labelling products sold in Catalonia in Catalan is just fine if a company wants to do so, but requiring it is ridiculous because everyone who can read Catalan can also read Spanish. And who's going to make Mahmoud the Pakistani attend his clients at his corner shop in Catalan? Come on. Be serious. If there's something in it for Mahmoud--for example, he can communicate better with his suppliers or his clients if he learns Catalan, or he feels more integrated into local society because he knows Catalan, or he discovers some authors in Catalan in which he has an interest, or he wants to understand what Carod-Rovira is raving on about--then he'll learn it of his own free will. If there's not, he won't. And, right now, there's not much in it for Mahmoud. He'd be much better served improving his Spanish, the language that all his clients and suppliers know, rather than Catalan, which is used preferentially by only some of them.
One thing that some Cataloonies are being real dicks about is their demand that people from other parts of Spain be legally obligated to give them service in Catalan if they're doing business here in Catalonia. This pisses off non-Catalans no end, and justifiably so, since what kind of a doofus buying products from a company based in Albacete is going to demand to be served in Catalan? Well, a few Cataloonies, that's who. Here's an apposite letter from today's Vangua; it's from a guy named Manuel Romana from Madrid. He is responding to a demand by another letter-writer, Albert Bastardas--yes, that's a real surname here--that non-Catalans should have to just deal with whatever the most extreme Cataloonies want.
Regarding Albert Bastardas's letter, I wanted to add a personal experience: several years ago I had to send some papers to the Basque Country. I had them in two different versions, and the better one was in Catalan. In Bilbao this was not well-received, because Catalan was a strange language for them, but not for me (I live in Madrid but I work in all of Spain). That's all my experience. I have not yet had the opportunity to send a text in Basque to a Catalan company, but that day will come.
Has Albert Bastardas thought that one day they might send him a document at the University of Barcelona in Basque, and it would be his obligation to understand it or translate it at his expense? I'm sure he hasn't because what he wants is that other people be asked to understand him, and not the other way around.
Languages are a cultural blessing, and they must be preserved. But they don't all exist at the same level...I hope the day never comes when Eroski (a Basque supermarket chain) applies for a permit to the Sabadell City Council in Basque.
Manuel Romana, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid
I don't think it's going to happen. 1) The Basque Parliament does not have the Constitutional right to call a binding referendum. Any referendum they call will be totally meaningless and have no legal effect. 2) The Spanish Parliament will massively vote down the Retch Plan anyway, so nothing in it will go into legal effect. 3) The Tribunal Constitucional will declare the Retch Plan unconstitutional if it ever gets that far. 4) Should Ibarretxe actually call a referendum, its results will have no meaning to anyone except the radical Basque nationalists, who will claim a moral victory for their cause. I imagine that if Ibarretxe does call a meaningless referendum, the Spanish government will not do anything to interfere just so they can't be accused of suppressing democracy or anything like that. The referendum will go to the polls in the Basque Country with the support of the Basque autonomous government, it will be massively boycotted, and "self-determination" will win. So what? The vote's non-binding. Now, if the Basque autonomous government actually begins taking the steps of the Retch Plan that the referendum will supposedly approve, they will be legally invalid and unenforceable. If the Basque government should then actually go so far as to use force to impose the aforesaid Plan, that's when we send in the Guardia Civil to arrest the lot of them and damn the consequences, they can't do that, that's open armed rebellion and it has to be crushed with force. I will personally bet one bajillion dollars that it does not go this far, however.
Part of the problem with language in Spain is that languages have at least two purposes. The first, of course, is communication. The second is as a sign of identity. What goes on around here is a lot of people think Purpose Number Two is more important than Purpose Number One, which I think is totally bassackward. Purpose Number Two people are frequently known around here as Spainiacs, Cataloonies, and Basquetballs (everything they say is complete balls).
I am, frankly, a believer in the free market of languages. Purpose Number One people, among whom I count myself, learn the languages we need to communicate. Of course it helps me enormously to be a native educated speaker of English; that's one less thing I have to worry about. Living here in Barcelona, I need to know Spanish. I can't get along at anything higher than a tourist level if I don't. Catalan, frankly, comes after Spanish for me, because everyone who speaks Catalan can also speak Spanish. However, it's useful to know and if you know Spanish you can pick up understanding Catalan and speaking a little without much trouble. I haven't made much of an effort with Catalan because I quite frankly really don't need to. I can speak enough to get by and of course I read and understand it fluently. I never write it; I have no reason to. As for French, I can read it, and I can speak enough for tourism purposes and a little more; same with Italian, though my spoken Italian is even worse than my spoken French except for the accent. There's no reason for me to put forth any more effort. Were I to move to France or Italy, of course, I would immediately embark on crash learning of that language, as I would then need it very badly.
Some of my thinking is no doubt standard American, though I will point out that the language I use most every day (Spanish) is not my personal identity language and that doesn't bother me in the least. Still, though most non-immigrant Americans don't know foreign languages at all, most Yanks aren't too hung up on language. There are always a few people looking for conflict (unfortunately I think Victor Davis Hanson, who I admire so much on other issues, is one of them), but we don't have a national language and in many places in the States languages besides English are used. Nobody seems to much care as long as we can understand one another.
Here's an example of Purpose Number Two thinking in today's La Vanguardia. In the Catalan Parliament they're talking about a new regional government constitution called the Estatut d'Autonomia. Among other things, if this version of the Estatut goes anywhere, 1) Catalans will have the "duty" to know Catalan 2) All products sold in Catalonia will have to be labeled in Catalan 3) Every citizen will be allowed to demand that he be served in the language he chooses--it doesn't specify whether this is by the government only or by private business as well.
Well, I don't think anyone has the "duty" to know any language unless his job requires him to, and the language(s) that the job demands ought to be clear to both the employer and the worker as part of the original agreement between the two. Labelling products sold in Catalonia in Catalan is just fine if a company wants to do so, but requiring it is ridiculous because everyone who can read Catalan can also read Spanish. And who's going to make Mahmoud the Pakistani attend his clients at his corner shop in Catalan? Come on. Be serious. If there's something in it for Mahmoud--for example, he can communicate better with his suppliers or his clients if he learns Catalan, or he feels more integrated into local society because he knows Catalan, or he discovers some authors in Catalan in which he has an interest, or he wants to understand what Carod-Rovira is raving on about--then he'll learn it of his own free will. If there's not, he won't. And, right now, there's not much in it for Mahmoud. He'd be much better served improving his Spanish, the language that all his clients and suppliers know, rather than Catalan, which is used preferentially by only some of them.
One thing that some Cataloonies are being real dicks about is their demand that people from other parts of Spain be legally obligated to give them service in Catalan if they're doing business here in Catalonia. This pisses off non-Catalans no end, and justifiably so, since what kind of a doofus buying products from a company based in Albacete is going to demand to be served in Catalan? Well, a few Cataloonies, that's who. Here's an apposite letter from today's Vangua; it's from a guy named Manuel Romana from Madrid. He is responding to a demand by another letter-writer, Albert Bastardas--yes, that's a real surname here--that non-Catalans should have to just deal with whatever the most extreme Cataloonies want.
Regarding Albert Bastardas's letter, I wanted to add a personal experience: several years ago I had to send some papers to the Basque Country. I had them in two different versions, and the better one was in Catalan. In Bilbao this was not well-received, because Catalan was a strange language for them, but not for me (I live in Madrid but I work in all of Spain). That's all my experience. I have not yet had the opportunity to send a text in Basque to a Catalan company, but that day will come.
Has Albert Bastardas thought that one day they might send him a document at the University of Barcelona in Basque, and it would be his obligation to understand it or translate it at his expense? I'm sure he hasn't because what he wants is that other people be asked to understand him, and not the other way around.
Languages are a cultural blessing, and they must be preserved. But they don't all exist at the same level...I hope the day never comes when Eroski (a Basque supermarket chain) applies for a permit to the Sabadell City Council in Basque.
Manuel Romana, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
RED-HOT RUMORS FLYING!
Here's the real inside dope on what's going down here in B-town...A little birdie told us that La Vanguardia's dashing Uselessman-About-Town, Josep María Casasús, has been spotted at several very in venues with Catalan television star Carmen de Mairena...Hey, that's just what we hear! Only the latest dish, straight from the bright lights of Barnaville!...You know, that Luis Aragonés fellow just keeps making friends! Wait, we can't repeat what he said here...Can't stop the music! David Hasselhoff and Ricky Martín...oops...wait...are we allowed to say that? What about Jesulín de Ubrique and the...no, not that one either? Well, guess that's about it...
Right Wing News has an interview with Victor Davis Hanson; I thought the following exchange was worth quoting in full. Go read the whole piece.
John Hawkins: A related question – Europe and the U. S. do have a lot in common. We’re both Western civilizations. Many of our citizens emigrated from Europe at one point or another in time. We fought in many of the same wars. Yet, we’re so puzzlingly far apart on basic issues like the war on terrorism, Israel and Palestine, & the use of military force. Why do you think Europeans and Americans seem to have such a dissimilar view of the world these days?
Victor Davis Hanson: I wish it was because of issues that divide us on principle, but I’m afraid a lot of it has to do with the absence of 300 Soviet divisions. During the Cold War, the U.S. subsidized the defense of Europe and it kept Russia from going in and doing to Western Europe what it had done to Eastern Europe.
With the demise of the Berlin Wall, the Europeans immediately began to follow up on their socialist utopia. They not only increased social spending, but they cut defense because they were just convinced that the danger was over with. They thought that all of these nukes, all of these divisions, all of these tanks and planes that the U. S. had stationed and protected them were, kind of, if not our fault, at least we were as culpable as the Soviet Union. Now it was the time to let European soft power, money in the U. N., these international bodies, & the EU, adjudicate trouble.
All of a sudden the U. S. says, you know, “Look at the 20th century, whether it’s Prussian militarism, Tojo, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin or Mao, there always seems to be a mass murderer that appears on the stage and every time there’s collective action proposed no one acts. It’s always the U. S. that acts and we’re not going to disarm even though we did cut back radically." Europe saw that as sort of, “Ohmigosh, these guys are retrograde, they’re Neanderthal, they’re going to pull the world back to the use of force,” and so the U. S., I guess, represents a stinging reminder of how weak they are and how the rest of the world does not operate on their premises and that bothers them a great deal.
The very emotional response with Europeans is almost like a child telling the parent, you know, “I can take care of myself, I want the world to work my way,” and then the parent says, you know, “Sorry, you’re on your own.” The child then gets angrier and angrier as he sees the world isn't up to their visions, a very puerile, immature view of the world.
John Hawkins: A related question – Europe and the U. S. do have a lot in common. We’re both Western civilizations. Many of our citizens emigrated from Europe at one point or another in time. We fought in many of the same wars. Yet, we’re so puzzlingly far apart on basic issues like the war on terrorism, Israel and Palestine, & the use of military force. Why do you think Europeans and Americans seem to have such a dissimilar view of the world these days?
Victor Davis Hanson: I wish it was because of issues that divide us on principle, but I’m afraid a lot of it has to do with the absence of 300 Soviet divisions. During the Cold War, the U.S. subsidized the defense of Europe and it kept Russia from going in and doing to Western Europe what it had done to Eastern Europe.
With the demise of the Berlin Wall, the Europeans immediately began to follow up on their socialist utopia. They not only increased social spending, but they cut defense because they were just convinced that the danger was over with. They thought that all of these nukes, all of these divisions, all of these tanks and planes that the U. S. had stationed and protected them were, kind of, if not our fault, at least we were as culpable as the Soviet Union. Now it was the time to let European soft power, money in the U. N., these international bodies, & the EU, adjudicate trouble.
All of a sudden the U. S. says, you know, “Look at the 20th century, whether it’s Prussian militarism, Tojo, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin or Mao, there always seems to be a mass murderer that appears on the stage and every time there’s collective action proposed no one acts. It’s always the U. S. that acts and we’re not going to disarm even though we did cut back radically." Europe saw that as sort of, “Ohmigosh, these guys are retrograde, they’re Neanderthal, they’re going to pull the world back to the use of force,” and so the U. S., I guess, represents a stinging reminder of how weak they are and how the rest of the world does not operate on their premises and that bothers them a great deal.
The very emotional response with Europeans is almost like a child telling the parent, you know, “I can take care of myself, I want the world to work my way,” and then the parent says, you know, “Sorry, you’re on your own.” The child then gets angrier and angrier as he sees the world isn't up to their visions, a very puerile, immature view of the world.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Reliable sources in Barcelona today pointed out the eerie physical similarity between La Vanguardia's Uselessman, Josep María Casasús, and Catalan pop superstar Josmar. It is widely rumored here that they are one and the same person with two different identities. Said Anna, a Barcelona resident, "Boy, those guys sure do look alike. And another thing, have you ever seen them both in the same place, except maybe for the Blue Box?"
Update on soccer racism: Sunday, as Atlético de Madrid was losing at home 0-3 to Real Madrid, the crowd broke into racist "monkey" chants directed at Real's Brazilian defenseman Roberto Carlos. In the 83rd minute the referee directed Atlético's on-field representative to announce over the stadium PA system that the racist chants should stop; they only increased, of course. Atlético's response, rather than, say, apologizing and taking steps to see that this doesn't happen again, was to justify their fans' behavior on the ground that Roberto Carlos had taunted the Frente Atlético, where most of the racist bullshit probably originated. La Vanguardia's take on the story is not "this is a disgrace" so much as "this is one more black eye for Madrid's Olympic Games candidacy".
Meanwhile, on Dec. 12, 2004, Barcelona's Cameroonian forward, Etoo, received racist abuse from the fans during a game at Albacete. The Albacete club was fined, get this, 600 euros by the League, which was reduced to 300 on appeal. People, this is not the sort of fine that's going to make the clubs do something to root this out. No action has been taken by the League regarding racist abuse of Etoo in Getafe on November 28 and of Roberto Carlos in Barcelona's Camp Nou on November 20.
Takling about an absolute disgrace, the UE and its member countries have restored diplomatic relations with Cuba and the Castroites are crowing victory. The EU broke off relations with Cuba in June 2003 after 75 dissidents were jailed. 14 of those dissidents have been freed. Gee, this only leaves 61 innocent political prisoners in Castro's mini-Gulag, so we'd all better hurry up to plant a big fat smooch on his ass.
Iberian Notes's official response to the CBS News scandal:
1. They were out to get Bush. Mary Mapes's E-mails are damning.
2. Both the documents and the allegations are bogus. It is not true that Bush got in the Air National Guard through family pull, it is not true that there was a waiting list to get into the Guard, it is not true that Bush committed any infractions during his Guard service, it is true that Bush served his full six years, it is true that he was a fighter pilot who flew interceptions of Soviet planes, and it is true that Bush actually volunteered to go to Vietnam.
3. CBS was completely irresponsible in running the story. They broke just about every journalistic standard in the book. And their motivation was not so much to get a scoop but to damage Bush and possibly impede his re-election; they rushed the story through with minimal fact-checking and ran it in late September at the height of the Presidential campaign. Then their reaction of jumping to defend their story without even looking at the serious charges made against it was both incompetent and arrogant.
4. They, at the very least Mapes, were most likely in cahoots with elements of the Kerry campaign. Again, the e-mails are damning.
5. The blogosphere had something to do with this, though it was not the only nor even the primary factor. I think what happened was that a few bloggers got on the documents right away, made their case, and managed to get the word out to the right-wing sector of the media (that is, Fox, the talk shows, certain columnists) and to the Bush campaign. Then the snowball rolled.
The Vanguardia reprints parts of a Wall Street Journal piece on the Zap government. I quote, translating back from Spanish:
(Zap) is facing probably the worst political crisis since Spain restored democracy three decades ago...Zapatero must wake up to the challenge to Spain's existence caused by the Basques. This crisis can be resolved quickly and peacefully. But if the Spanish socialists try to compromise with Basque hard-line tactics, they will endanger not only the future of their country, but constitutional democracy in all of Europe...Spain needs strong leadership now. In both foreign and domestic policy in the last ten months Zapatero has inspired little confidence...(the Socialists' soft line) has evidently failed...(the Basques) have every right to ask for constitutional changes, but by constitutional means...the Basque nationalists are out on an extreme in Europe, willing to tolerate methods that democratically illegitimize their struggle...the Catalans are seeking similar goals to the Basques, but, differently, the Catalan nationalists respect the Constitution and reject violence...A four-vote majority in the Basque parliament does not give the Basque nationalists a green light to act by decree...For the good of all Spaniards, Madrid cannot let these local politicians hijack the Spanish Constitution. If it does, Spain as a country will be history.
I think the WSJ is being a little exaggerated here. There is absolutely no chance the Retch Plan will get past the Spanish Parliament, and if Retch calls a wildcat illegal referendum, it will be ignored as it will be invalid by definition. Also, saying "the Basques want this" or "the Catalans want that" is a false generalization, since at least half of the people in the Basque Country and Catalonia are not regional nationalists. Finally, there is one minority ultranationalist political party here in Catalonia, Esquerra Republicana, that is weak on Basque terrorism and doesn't have any respect for the Constitution. Fortunately they never get more than a few percent of the vote.
I will add that I think they are exactly correct in their assessment of Zap.
Meanwhile, on Dec. 12, 2004, Barcelona's Cameroonian forward, Etoo, received racist abuse from the fans during a game at Albacete. The Albacete club was fined, get this, 600 euros by the League, which was reduced to 300 on appeal. People, this is not the sort of fine that's going to make the clubs do something to root this out. No action has been taken by the League regarding racist abuse of Etoo in Getafe on November 28 and of Roberto Carlos in Barcelona's Camp Nou on November 20.
Takling about an absolute disgrace, the UE and its member countries have restored diplomatic relations with Cuba and the Castroites are crowing victory. The EU broke off relations with Cuba in June 2003 after 75 dissidents were jailed. 14 of those dissidents have been freed. Gee, this only leaves 61 innocent political prisoners in Castro's mini-Gulag, so we'd all better hurry up to plant a big fat smooch on his ass.
Iberian Notes's official response to the CBS News scandal:
1. They were out to get Bush. Mary Mapes's E-mails are damning.
2. Both the documents and the allegations are bogus. It is not true that Bush got in the Air National Guard through family pull, it is not true that there was a waiting list to get into the Guard, it is not true that Bush committed any infractions during his Guard service, it is true that Bush served his full six years, it is true that he was a fighter pilot who flew interceptions of Soviet planes, and it is true that Bush actually volunteered to go to Vietnam.
3. CBS was completely irresponsible in running the story. They broke just about every journalistic standard in the book. And their motivation was not so much to get a scoop but to damage Bush and possibly impede his re-election; they rushed the story through with minimal fact-checking and ran it in late September at the height of the Presidential campaign. Then their reaction of jumping to defend their story without even looking at the serious charges made against it was both incompetent and arrogant.
4. They, at the very least Mapes, were most likely in cahoots with elements of the Kerry campaign. Again, the e-mails are damning.
5. The blogosphere had something to do with this, though it was not the only nor even the primary factor. I think what happened was that a few bloggers got on the documents right away, made their case, and managed to get the word out to the right-wing sector of the media (that is, Fox, the talk shows, certain columnists) and to the Bush campaign. Then the snowball rolled.
The Vanguardia reprints parts of a Wall Street Journal piece on the Zap government. I quote, translating back from Spanish:
(Zap) is facing probably the worst political crisis since Spain restored democracy three decades ago...Zapatero must wake up to the challenge to Spain's existence caused by the Basques. This crisis can be resolved quickly and peacefully. But if the Spanish socialists try to compromise with Basque hard-line tactics, they will endanger not only the future of their country, but constitutional democracy in all of Europe...Spain needs strong leadership now. In both foreign and domestic policy in the last ten months Zapatero has inspired little confidence...(the Socialists' soft line) has evidently failed...(the Basques) have every right to ask for constitutional changes, but by constitutional means...the Basque nationalists are out on an extreme in Europe, willing to tolerate methods that democratically illegitimize their struggle...the Catalans are seeking similar goals to the Basques, but, differently, the Catalan nationalists respect the Constitution and reject violence...A four-vote majority in the Basque parliament does not give the Basque nationalists a green light to act by decree...For the good of all Spaniards, Madrid cannot let these local politicians hijack the Spanish Constitution. If it does, Spain as a country will be history.
I think the WSJ is being a little exaggerated here. There is absolutely no chance the Retch Plan will get past the Spanish Parliament, and if Retch calls a wildcat illegal referendum, it will be ignored as it will be invalid by definition. Also, saying "the Basques want this" or "the Catalans want that" is a false generalization, since at least half of the people in the Basque Country and Catalonia are not regional nationalists. Finally, there is one minority ultranationalist political party here in Catalonia, Esquerra Republicana, that is weak on Basque terrorism and doesn't have any respect for the Constitution. Fortunately they never get more than a few percent of the vote.
I will add that I think they are exactly correct in their assessment of Zap.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Among some circles in Barcelona, it was widely speculated today that La Vanguardia's Uselessman, Josep María Casasús, arrived at work this afternoon at one PM because he had spent the morning in one of the private booths at the Blue Box sex shop on Calle Aragón. Said Anna, a passer-by, "Boy, that guy in the stained raincoat sure looked a lot like that fellow from La Vanguardia."
Power Line has a piece on European soccer. The Italian soccer star Paolo di Cinio of the Roman team Lazio gave a fascist salute to a cheering crowd last weekend after scoring a goal. Di Cinio is well-known as a Fascist; he openly says he is one. This is apparently not that unusual in Italy, where Mussolini's granddaughter is in Parliament; I am sure that giving the Fascist salute is not illegal, but is almost certainly against the rules of the Italian league. I would hit the guy with a long suspension and a major fine if I were the league president.
Power Line, I think, understimates the racist and radical elements that are part of European soccer. Virtually every team in Spain has a band--a street gang, basically--of extremist supporters; Barcelona has the Boixos Nois, Espanyol the Brigadas Blanquiazules, Real Madrid the Ultras Sur, and Atlético Madrid the Frente Atlético, just for example. The last bits of extreme violence I remember were at (I think) a Celta-Compostela second division game where somebody got stabbed and badly hurt, and before that, a couple of years ago, some Frente Atlético guys killed a Real Sociedad fan outside Atlético's stadium.
These bands of extremists are normally made up of skinheads and fascists, though among the Sevilla crowd they're radical leftists--I believe Sevilla's crowd is the only active hooligan squad on the left, not counting the Athletic Bilbao thugs, who are pro-ETA. The Sevilla crowd beat the living shit of a stadium security guard a couple of years ago; it was all filmed and shown later on TV. Barça's crowd, contrary to popular belief, is just as fascist and racist as any other gang of hooligans. The shameful thing is that these crowds of extremist supporters are normally allowed into the stadium free and even recieve subsidies from the clubs, since they're the loudest and most fanatical fans. Several years ago one of the Boixos Nois leaders died of a drug overdose--this guy had a police record as long as my, uh, arm--and they held a minute of silence for him in the stadium. Supposedly the Joan Laporta regime at Barcelona is doing something about this, but whatever's being done isn't nearly enough.
Every soccer crowd in Spain has racist elements, largely but not exclusively the work of the skinhead hooligans. What they do is make "uuh-uuh-uuh" monkey noises whenever a black player on the other team gets the ball, and they scream "macaco" and "mono" (Spanish for monkey). Occasionally the odd banana is thrown on the field. Barcelona's crowd is notorious for baiting Real Madrid's Brazilian player, Roberto Carlos; several years ago somebody hit him in the head with a cigarette lighter thrown from the stands in the Camp Nou, and he dropped like he was shot. Madrid's crowd is, in turn, known for baiting Barcelona's Brazilian star, Ronaldinho. Back a few years ago Barça had a black player named Giovanni; they treated him so mercilessly in the Santiago Bernabeu that when he scored he flipped off the crowd in triumph and bought himself a suspension. He still probably thinks it was worth it. I certainly do.
The most recent European scandal was a couple of months ago, when at a Spain-England international allegedly friendly match at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid the crowd pulled this racist crap before international cameras and made Spain's football fans look like a gang of fascist thugs, since the non-hooligan part of the crowd got into it big-time, too. This was right after Spain's national coach, Luis Aragonés, referred to Thierry Henry as "un negro de mierda", which was generally translated as "a black shit" and what I would translate, slightly more idiomatically, as "a fuckin' nigger".
Clearly Spain has a long way to go. The very first thing they have to do is ban all those thugs from the stadiums. They should be able to sell those seats (the gangs usually occupy one particular part of the stadium) to the general public with some decent marketing; if you can't get the fans out to see great players like Ronaldinho and Deco, you've got problems. Banning the hooligans would clean up the atmosphere no end. It's worked in England. And in the US we have nothing similar; the Oakland Raiders' fans are a bunch of fat drunk guys in makeup pretending they're tough, and that's about as extreme as it gets for organized sports thuggery.
As far as the sports side of soccer news goes, Real Madrid stomped Atlético last night 3-0 and Villarreal cleaned up the pitch with Barça by the same score. Barça had probably its worst game of the season; let's just hope their mediocre play was the result of their having the last couple of weeks off and not the result of these guys all running their legs off. Riquelme and Forlan had great games for the "yellow submarine", as Villarreal is called because of its yellow shirts. Barcelona is down to 14 first-team players. Supposedly they want to sign a forward and a midfielder, but they don't like what's on the market right now. Besitkas wants five million for Carew and I might actually give them that, since Carew's pretty good and still young. He's no superstar, but he can fill in adequately at center-forward, spelling Etoo or allowing him to move to one of the wings, until Larsson gets back, and he can then compete with the aging Larsson for the spot as Etoo's backup, most likely successfully. Not that I don't like Larsson, but Carew's a guy who still has an upside to his career and might stick around for a while, while Larsson is like 33 and is out for the rest of the season with a busted ligament. Barcelona is still in first place with a seven-point lead over Real Madrid.
Power Line, I think, understimates the racist and radical elements that are part of European soccer. Virtually every team in Spain has a band--a street gang, basically--of extremist supporters; Barcelona has the Boixos Nois, Espanyol the Brigadas Blanquiazules, Real Madrid the Ultras Sur, and Atlético Madrid the Frente Atlético, just for example. The last bits of extreme violence I remember were at (I think) a Celta-Compostela second division game where somebody got stabbed and badly hurt, and before that, a couple of years ago, some Frente Atlético guys killed a Real Sociedad fan outside Atlético's stadium.
These bands of extremists are normally made up of skinheads and fascists, though among the Sevilla crowd they're radical leftists--I believe Sevilla's crowd is the only active hooligan squad on the left, not counting the Athletic Bilbao thugs, who are pro-ETA. The Sevilla crowd beat the living shit of a stadium security guard a couple of years ago; it was all filmed and shown later on TV. Barça's crowd, contrary to popular belief, is just as fascist and racist as any other gang of hooligans. The shameful thing is that these crowds of extremist supporters are normally allowed into the stadium free and even recieve subsidies from the clubs, since they're the loudest and most fanatical fans. Several years ago one of the Boixos Nois leaders died of a drug overdose--this guy had a police record as long as my, uh, arm--and they held a minute of silence for him in the stadium. Supposedly the Joan Laporta regime at Barcelona is doing something about this, but whatever's being done isn't nearly enough.
Every soccer crowd in Spain has racist elements, largely but not exclusively the work of the skinhead hooligans. What they do is make "uuh-uuh-uuh" monkey noises whenever a black player on the other team gets the ball, and they scream "macaco" and "mono" (Spanish for monkey). Occasionally the odd banana is thrown on the field. Barcelona's crowd is notorious for baiting Real Madrid's Brazilian player, Roberto Carlos; several years ago somebody hit him in the head with a cigarette lighter thrown from the stands in the Camp Nou, and he dropped like he was shot. Madrid's crowd is, in turn, known for baiting Barcelona's Brazilian star, Ronaldinho. Back a few years ago Barça had a black player named Giovanni; they treated him so mercilessly in the Santiago Bernabeu that when he scored he flipped off the crowd in triumph and bought himself a suspension. He still probably thinks it was worth it. I certainly do.
The most recent European scandal was a couple of months ago, when at a Spain-England international allegedly friendly match at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid the crowd pulled this racist crap before international cameras and made Spain's football fans look like a gang of fascist thugs, since the non-hooligan part of the crowd got into it big-time, too. This was right after Spain's national coach, Luis Aragonés, referred to Thierry Henry as "un negro de mierda", which was generally translated as "a black shit" and what I would translate, slightly more idiomatically, as "a fuckin' nigger".
Clearly Spain has a long way to go. The very first thing they have to do is ban all those thugs from the stadiums. They should be able to sell those seats (the gangs usually occupy one particular part of the stadium) to the general public with some decent marketing; if you can't get the fans out to see great players like Ronaldinho and Deco, you've got problems. Banning the hooligans would clean up the atmosphere no end. It's worked in England. And in the US we have nothing similar; the Oakland Raiders' fans are a bunch of fat drunk guys in makeup pretending they're tough, and that's about as extreme as it gets for organized sports thuggery.
As far as the sports side of soccer news goes, Real Madrid stomped Atlético last night 3-0 and Villarreal cleaned up the pitch with Barça by the same score. Barça had probably its worst game of the season; let's just hope their mediocre play was the result of their having the last couple of weeks off and not the result of these guys all running their legs off. Riquelme and Forlan had great games for the "yellow submarine", as Villarreal is called because of its yellow shirts. Barcelona is down to 14 first-team players. Supposedly they want to sign a forward and a midfielder, but they don't like what's on the market right now. Besitkas wants five million for Carew and I might actually give them that, since Carew's pretty good and still young. He's no superstar, but he can fill in adequately at center-forward, spelling Etoo or allowing him to move to one of the wings, until Larsson gets back, and he can then compete with the aging Larsson for the spot as Etoo's backup, most likely successfully. Not that I don't like Larsson, but Carew's a guy who still has an upside to his career and might stick around for a while, while Larsson is like 33 and is out for the rest of the season with a busted ligament. Barcelona is still in first place with a seven-point lead over Real Madrid.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Notes on the Spanish Military:
It's considerably more professional now that most of the old Francoists are long dead and the army is professional rather than conscript. It's still ungainly, though, and its role is not focused.
Spain has basically these military responsibilities, in approximately this order:
1. Do not allow Morocco to take over Ceuta, Melilla, and the Canary Islands.
2. (they can't say this out loud) Do not allow any attempt at revolt within Spain.
3. Fulfill its alliance with NATO and the United States.
4. Be useful in humanitarian efforts.
5. Participate actively in international military coalitions.
So here's what I'd do. I'd maintain "tripwire" forces in Ceuta, Melilla, and the Canaries. Morocco is not going to do anything silly, since its bilateral alliance with the US will restrain it, and all of NATO would come down on Morocco if that didn't work. But just in case everything goes to hell, Spain needs a small but elite, effective integrated air / naval / land force based somewhere in Andalusia that could be sent to any or all of these places in the event of a Moroccan attack. That takes care of responsibility number one, and this force might also be useful for responsibilities number three and five, assuming Spain only goes into such a coalition with the US and / or NATO.
Regarding responsibility number two, I would maintain a small, well-trained force of light infantry. These guys wouldn't be much good for combat, though they could fight if they had to; they wouldn't have very sophisticated weaponry, but they wouldn't need it because their real job is to suppress any uprisings that might happen in the Basque Country. The biggest pieces of weaponry they'd need would be Bradley light tanks, patrol helicopters, and ground-to-air missiles, and just a bare minimum of that. I would spend money and time training all of these guys as paramedics, truck drivers, military police, construction engineers, and communications / electronic pros. Then they'd also serve for responsibility number four, and they would be able to defend themselves though not mount any offensive operations; we can assume that Spain would be in no position to send out humanitarian aid if there were a real threat within the country.
Regarding responsibility number three, this one should not be where you spend your big money. There's no point in Spain possessing anything more than the bare minimum of planes and ships to patrol the areas around it in case US and NATO forces are needed elsewhere. Even if Spain spent jillions of euros, it could never catch up to American military competence, and since we have no evil imperialist plans to grab Algeria's natural gas or whatever, there's no point in even trying.
It's considerably more professional now that most of the old Francoists are long dead and the army is professional rather than conscript. It's still ungainly, though, and its role is not focused.
Spain has basically these military responsibilities, in approximately this order:
1. Do not allow Morocco to take over Ceuta, Melilla, and the Canary Islands.
2. (they can't say this out loud) Do not allow any attempt at revolt within Spain.
3. Fulfill its alliance with NATO and the United States.
4. Be useful in humanitarian efforts.
5. Participate actively in international military coalitions.
So here's what I'd do. I'd maintain "tripwire" forces in Ceuta, Melilla, and the Canaries. Morocco is not going to do anything silly, since its bilateral alliance with the US will restrain it, and all of NATO would come down on Morocco if that didn't work. But just in case everything goes to hell, Spain needs a small but elite, effective integrated air / naval / land force based somewhere in Andalusia that could be sent to any or all of these places in the event of a Moroccan attack. That takes care of responsibility number one, and this force might also be useful for responsibilities number three and five, assuming Spain only goes into such a coalition with the US and / or NATO.
Regarding responsibility number two, I would maintain a small, well-trained force of light infantry. These guys wouldn't be much good for combat, though they could fight if they had to; they wouldn't have very sophisticated weaponry, but they wouldn't need it because their real job is to suppress any uprisings that might happen in the Basque Country. The biggest pieces of weaponry they'd need would be Bradley light tanks, patrol helicopters, and ground-to-air missiles, and just a bare minimum of that. I would spend money and time training all of these guys as paramedics, truck drivers, military police, construction engineers, and communications / electronic pros. Then they'd also serve for responsibility number four, and they would be able to defend themselves though not mount any offensive operations; we can assume that Spain would be in no position to send out humanitarian aid if there were a real threat within the country.
Regarding responsibility number three, this one should not be where you spend your big money. There's no point in Spain possessing anything more than the bare minimum of planes and ships to patrol the areas around it in case US and NATO forces are needed elsewhere. Even if Spain spent jillions of euros, it could never catch up to American military competence, and since we have no evil imperialist plans to grab Algeria's natural gas or whatever, there's no point in even trying.
La Vanguardia's Uselessman, Josep María Casasús, did not mention the little problem with the front-page color photos of the wrong disaster in his column this week, either. He most likely spent the week masturbating in his cubicle while fast-forwarding through six to eight "barely legal" porno movies per day, according to knowledgeable sources here in Barcelona.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Zap and his minions had their meeting and decided that Spain would send 650 military personnel to Southeast Asia, including five planes and a hospital ship. The cost of the mission will be some 6 million euros. Everybody seems to be keeping score here, as both Catalunya TV and Libertad Digital--and those are two rather different media outlets--pointed out that this will make Spain the fifth largest contributor of troops overall and the third among European countries. It still hasn't been announced where they're going, though the first contingent will begin leaving on Monday. Hey, at least they're doing something. Individual Spaniards have been generous in their contributions, and the government is kicking in six million euros in real money and fifty million in loans that can only be used to buy Spanish exports, as well as a moratorium on paying back the debt (some 500 million euros) that the affected countries currently owe Spain. Well, hey, that's something. The PP is complaining that the Zap government's reaction has been slow, that announcing millions of euros in aid is sort of cheesy when ninety percent of it is loans to prop up the Spanish export market, and that six million in real money ain't enough. Precisely the same complaints and criticisms that the Spanish media leveled at the United States, which swung into action as soon as it was possible to get the ships steaming.
The big domestic stink going on is that this ETA guy who murdered 25 people is going to get out of prison. He was sentenced to nine billion years in jail, but in Spain the maximum time served is thirty years. This dude got twelve years off for good behavior, and they're going to turn him loose after eighteen years in prison. They have to. That's the law. He earned his time off according to the rules. Three other major ETA terrorists, all multiple murderers, are also scheduled for release this year after serving less than 20 years. I actually sort of admire the well-meaning naivete of the Spanish judicial and penal system, with all that emphasis on rehabilitation--but let's face it, this is completely nuts. If you can't lock up a terrorist multiple murderer for life, what is the point of a prison sentence? This guy will be right back in business as soon as he gets out; he's showed no repentance.
The big domestic stink going on is that this ETA guy who murdered 25 people is going to get out of prison. He was sentenced to nine billion years in jail, but in Spain the maximum time served is thirty years. This dude got twelve years off for good behavior, and they're going to turn him loose after eighteen years in prison. They have to. That's the law. He earned his time off according to the rules. Three other major ETA terrorists, all multiple murderers, are also scheduled for release this year after serving less than 20 years. I actually sort of admire the well-meaning naivete of the Spanish judicial and penal system, with all that emphasis on rehabilitation--but let's face it, this is completely nuts. If you can't lock up a terrorist multiple murderer for life, what is the point of a prison sentence? This guy will be right back in business as soon as he gets out; he's showed no repentance.
Friday, January 07, 2005
Just a few quotes from the news pages of La Vanguardia:
"The UN retook yesterday the leadership and coordination of international aid to the victims of the December 26 earthquake...the most vulgar political games had become so notorious that it was impossible to hide them...Invoking the "operability of humanitarian action", Washington's initiative expressed its hostility toward the relative autonomy of international organisms..."
Wait a minute. Washington and Canberra are the only governments that can actually do much of anything on the ground, which is why they've been doing it, and the last thing we need is another layer of UN incompetent bureaucrats getting in the way. Read the Diplomad if you don't believe me.
"European and Asian criticisms yesterday caused Colin Powell to state that this group would be dissolved and would align itself under the direction of the UN...Powell Sunday began a pressurized tour of the region to try to overcome the bad image that Washington's cold official reaction to the catastrophe was causing...When Jan Egeland described this attitude as stinginess, Washington raised first to 15 million and then to 35...Until the brains in the White House realized their chance to improve their deteriorated image in Southeast Asia and the world in general, the sum was not multiplied by 10 to the current 350 million dollars. A sum that is less than the UE's $3 billion, Japan's $500 million, or the more than $800 million announced by Australia, but the great military and media mobilization has placed the US in the center of the news about the humanitarian effort...Each year the United States spends $450 billion on defense..."
"The principal regional objective is to station troops on the Straits of Malacca, in order to control the energy supplies of China and East Asia with the excuses of antiterrorism and piracy...as well as new concessions for the two American companies present in the gasfields of Aceh. One of them, Exxon Mobil, has annouced a donation of $5 million as part of its PR campaign. Only ten days away from the human disaster, the reality of political games makes its manifest apparition...To Kofi Annan, it is imperative that $977 million appear rapidly and in cash."
Nope, no matter what you do you just can't please some people. These people are called "knee-jerk anti-Americans". Meanwhile, Spain is still dithering, though the Spanish Red Cross has apparently sent three planeloads of supplies, and Zap is talking about sending troops and a medical team, which of course won't arrive until after they're no longer needed. Zap hasn't mentioned how many troops there will be or where they will go or how much it will cost or even when they will be leaving; this will all be decided at a big old meeting tomorrow. Spain has pledged over $60 million in aid, but the problem (as Barcepundit says) is that the great majority of the dough is not in cash gifts, but in loans that can only be used to buy Spanish imports. In other words, Zap is trying to subsidize the Spanish export economy while the Vangua accuses the Americans of playing political games. In its news pages.
(Note: One thing the Spanish Red Cross sent were five water treatment plants to purify drinking water--good move, but they didn't have the capacity to move them themselves, so a US Navy ship did it.)
"The UN retook yesterday the leadership and coordination of international aid to the victims of the December 26 earthquake...the most vulgar political games had become so notorious that it was impossible to hide them...Invoking the "operability of humanitarian action", Washington's initiative expressed its hostility toward the relative autonomy of international organisms..."
Wait a minute. Washington and Canberra are the only governments that can actually do much of anything on the ground, which is why they've been doing it, and the last thing we need is another layer of UN incompetent bureaucrats getting in the way. Read the Diplomad if you don't believe me.
"European and Asian criticisms yesterday caused Colin Powell to state that this group would be dissolved and would align itself under the direction of the UN...Powell Sunday began a pressurized tour of the region to try to overcome the bad image that Washington's cold official reaction to the catastrophe was causing...When Jan Egeland described this attitude as stinginess, Washington raised first to 15 million and then to 35...Until the brains in the White House realized their chance to improve their deteriorated image in Southeast Asia and the world in general, the sum was not multiplied by 10 to the current 350 million dollars. A sum that is less than the UE's $3 billion, Japan's $500 million, or the more than $800 million announced by Australia, but the great military and media mobilization has placed the US in the center of the news about the humanitarian effort...Each year the United States spends $450 billion on defense..."
"The principal regional objective is to station troops on the Straits of Malacca, in order to control the energy supplies of China and East Asia with the excuses of antiterrorism and piracy...as well as new concessions for the two American companies present in the gasfields of Aceh. One of them, Exxon Mobil, has annouced a donation of $5 million as part of its PR campaign. Only ten days away from the human disaster, the reality of political games makes its manifest apparition...To Kofi Annan, it is imperative that $977 million appear rapidly and in cash."
Nope, no matter what you do you just can't please some people. These people are called "knee-jerk anti-Americans". Meanwhile, Spain is still dithering, though the Spanish Red Cross has apparently sent three planeloads of supplies, and Zap is talking about sending troops and a medical team, which of course won't arrive until after they're no longer needed. Zap hasn't mentioned how many troops there will be or where they will go or how much it will cost or even when they will be leaving; this will all be decided at a big old meeting tomorrow. Spain has pledged over $60 million in aid, but the problem (as Barcepundit says) is that the great majority of the dough is not in cash gifts, but in loans that can only be used to buy Spanish imports. In other words, Zap is trying to subsidize the Spanish export economy while the Vangua accuses the Americans of playing political games. In its news pages.
(Note: One thing the Spanish Red Cross sent were five water treatment plants to purify drinking water--good move, but they didn't have the capacity to move them themselves, so a US Navy ship did it.)
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Just a reminder to a couple of the folk who post in the Comments section: I generally don't respond to trolls, though I make occasional exceptions. However, before you "challenge" me to write about a subject of your choice, I suggest you use the search function above, because I have most likely already written about it. It actually works. For example, if you type in "Truman", you'll find this piece I wrote way back in November 2002.
Saturday, November 30, 2002
Posted 16:00 by John
This was a good question from the Comments section, and I thought it deserved a good answer, so here it is.
Just a thought, but why didn't the victorious allies get rid of that cunt Franco at the end of the war?
Des | Email | 11.25.02 - 8:55 pm
During the war, Franco's personal sympathies were with the Axis. However, he managed to avoid openly committing himself to their side (in part he got lucky; he made major demands on Hitler in 1940 in exchange for joining the Axis, which Hitler refused. If Hitler had met those demands Franco would have entered the war and gone down for sure) and by '44 Churchill was openly flirting with Franco, knowing the war was won and not wanting to make it any longer by having to fight Spain, too. Using military force to overthrow Franco was never on the Allies' menu.
Anyway, on June 19, 1945, at the San Francisco Conference, the United Nations (which was the reincarnation of the Allied Powers) voted unanimously to exclude Franco's Spain. Then, at the Potsdam Conference later that summer, Stalin proposed that everyone break all relations with Spain, a worldwide total boycott, and that the Allies should aid the "democratic opposition" within Spain; Truman was in favor, though he feared another civil war, but Churchill wasn't. (This might be the last time the Americans and Soviets ever agreed on anything.)
Churchill pointed out, first, that Britain had strong trade links with Spain and the last thing anybody needed in Britain in 1945 was more people out of work due to a trade cutoff. He also said that "interference in the internal affairs of other states was contrary to the United Nations Charter." (Paul Preston, Franco, p.540; Chapter XXI in general). So Churchill made the same argument against getting rid of Franco that the anti-war people are making against getting rid of Saddam, who, to use your terminology, is an even bigger cunt than Franco was. Now, I'm not saying Franco wasn't a right cunt in many ways, but Saddam manages to out-cunt him, in my opinion. In the middle of Potsdam, Churchill lost a general election to Clement Attlee, who became Prime Minister; Attlee and Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin did not change British policy toward Spain. Anyway, the decision made at Potsdam was to definitely exclude Spain from the UN, but not to use economic and other diplomatic sanctions to try to force Franco out. Britain won out over the Soviets and Americans.
Bevin washed Britain's hands when he said to the Commons on 20 August 1945, "The question of the regime in Spain is one for the Spanish people to decide." Charles de Gaulle, president of the French Council of Ministers, "sent a secret message to Franco to the effect that he would resist left-wing pressure and would maintain diplomatic relations with him" sometime in summer 1945; French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault was also against action against Franco.
In January 1946, Dean Acheson, American Undersecretary of State, "suggested a joint declaration from France, the United States, and Britain that for Spain to be accepted into the international community, the Spanish people would have to remove Franco and set up a caretaker government to organize elections." But by then Washington was coming around to London's position, and Lord Halifax, the British Ambassador in Washington, pointed out the danger of a Communist takeover in Spain to Acheson. "American pressure diminished...British policy in fact aimed at restraining the French and the Americans from taking precipitate action against Franco." (p.552)
On 26 February, a month after De Gaulle's resignation, the French government closed the frontier with Spain and broke off economic relations after Franco executed ten left-wing guerrillas. France wanted to bring the question of a total economic blockade of Spain to the UN Security Council, but both London and Washington did not want to give the Soviets a chance to influence anything. On 4 March Paris, Washington, and London released the Tripartite Declaration, in which they called Franco a right cunt but said "There is no intention of interfering in the internal afairs of Spain." Franco privately accused Truman of being a Mason, which, of all things, he really was. It was no secret; it's in his autobiography.
Then on 5 March Churchill made the "Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton, Missouri, and it was all over.
Saturday, November 30, 2002
Posted 16:00 by John
This was a good question from the Comments section, and I thought it deserved a good answer, so here it is.
Just a thought, but why didn't the victorious allies get rid of that cunt Franco at the end of the war?
Des | Email | 11.25.02 - 8:55 pm
During the war, Franco's personal sympathies were with the Axis. However, he managed to avoid openly committing himself to their side (in part he got lucky; he made major demands on Hitler in 1940 in exchange for joining the Axis, which Hitler refused. If Hitler had met those demands Franco would have entered the war and gone down for sure) and by '44 Churchill was openly flirting with Franco, knowing the war was won and not wanting to make it any longer by having to fight Spain, too. Using military force to overthrow Franco was never on the Allies' menu.
Anyway, on June 19, 1945, at the San Francisco Conference, the United Nations (which was the reincarnation of the Allied Powers) voted unanimously to exclude Franco's Spain. Then, at the Potsdam Conference later that summer, Stalin proposed that everyone break all relations with Spain, a worldwide total boycott, and that the Allies should aid the "democratic opposition" within Spain; Truman was in favor, though he feared another civil war, but Churchill wasn't. (This might be the last time the Americans and Soviets ever agreed on anything.)
Churchill pointed out, first, that Britain had strong trade links with Spain and the last thing anybody needed in Britain in 1945 was more people out of work due to a trade cutoff. He also said that "interference in the internal affairs of other states was contrary to the United Nations Charter." (Paul Preston, Franco, p.540; Chapter XXI in general). So Churchill made the same argument against getting rid of Franco that the anti-war people are making against getting rid of Saddam, who, to use your terminology, is an even bigger cunt than Franco was. Now, I'm not saying Franco wasn't a right cunt in many ways, but Saddam manages to out-cunt him, in my opinion. In the middle of Potsdam, Churchill lost a general election to Clement Attlee, who became Prime Minister; Attlee and Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin did not change British policy toward Spain. Anyway, the decision made at Potsdam was to definitely exclude Spain from the UN, but not to use economic and other diplomatic sanctions to try to force Franco out. Britain won out over the Soviets and Americans.
Bevin washed Britain's hands when he said to the Commons on 20 August 1945, "The question of the regime in Spain is one for the Spanish people to decide." Charles de Gaulle, president of the French Council of Ministers, "sent a secret message to Franco to the effect that he would resist left-wing pressure and would maintain diplomatic relations with him" sometime in summer 1945; French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault was also against action against Franco.
In January 1946, Dean Acheson, American Undersecretary of State, "suggested a joint declaration from France, the United States, and Britain that for Spain to be accepted into the international community, the Spanish people would have to remove Franco and set up a caretaker government to organize elections." But by then Washington was coming around to London's position, and Lord Halifax, the British Ambassador in Washington, pointed out the danger of a Communist takeover in Spain to Acheson. "American pressure diminished...British policy in fact aimed at restraining the French and the Americans from taking precipitate action against Franco." (p.552)
On 26 February, a month after De Gaulle's resignation, the French government closed the frontier with Spain and broke off economic relations after Franco executed ten left-wing guerrillas. France wanted to bring the question of a total economic blockade of Spain to the UN Security Council, but both London and Washington did not want to give the Soviets a chance to influence anything. On 4 March Paris, Washington, and London released the Tripartite Declaration, in which they called Franco a right cunt but said "There is no intention of interfering in the internal afairs of Spain." Franco privately accused Truman of being a Mason, which, of all things, he really was. It was no secret; it's in his autobiography.
Then on 5 March Churchill made the "Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton, Missouri, and it was all over.
Take a minute to check out the blogroll. I've edited it down, removing blogs that seem to be dead or that I can't find a current link to. I fixed every link I could find. Then I added ten or fifteen links that I've been reading a lot recently. Most but not all of them are pretty well known.
I just wanted to comment that a couple of very fine websites that I read regularly, like ¡No Pasarán!, have posted recently about a new French paper called "L'antiaméricain primaire", which is on its second issue. Go check it out on their site or just Google the name of the paper. I am convinced it is a joke, that it's a satire of French anti-Americans rather than an anti-American sheet in itself. The tone reminds me of "Larry the Liberal" on the blog Blame Bush! (which I need to put on the blogroll, too). I mean, come on, with headlines like "Americans lay turds that are too big", or "They did not either land in 1944", this can't be for real. One more thing is that the expression "antiaméricain primaire" is common in France; it means "knee-jerk anti-American" and is only used as a criticism, e.g. "Oh, you just say that because you're an antiaméricain primaire." But go check it out yourself and see what you think. Especially, click on the press kit at the bottom of the paper's webpage under the two front covers that are displayed. There's a hilarious profane rant aimed at visitors who are "working for an american mass media" along with phony headlines like "The biggest American star is French!" next to a photo of Brad Pitt, or "The Eiffel Tower is taller than the Statue of Liberty!", or "We've got the real French fries!" or "Let's see you build a bridge like the Pont du Millau!" next to a photo of a flock of sheep with the bridge off in the distance.
I just wanted to comment that a couple of very fine websites that I read regularly, like ¡No Pasarán!, have posted recently about a new French paper called "L'antiaméricain primaire", which is on its second issue. Go check it out on their site or just Google the name of the paper. I am convinced it is a joke, that it's a satire of French anti-Americans rather than an anti-American sheet in itself. The tone reminds me of "Larry the Liberal" on the blog Blame Bush! (which I need to put on the blogroll, too). I mean, come on, with headlines like "Americans lay turds that are too big", or "They did not either land in 1944", this can't be for real. One more thing is that the expression "antiaméricain primaire" is common in France; it means "knee-jerk anti-American" and is only used as a criticism, e.g. "Oh, you just say that because you're an antiaméricain primaire." But go check it out yourself and see what you think. Especially, click on the press kit at the bottom of the paper's webpage under the two front covers that are displayed. There's a hilarious profane rant aimed at visitors who are "working for an american mass media" along with phony headlines like "The biggest American star is French!" next to a photo of Brad Pitt, or "The Eiffel Tower is taller than the Statue of Liberty!", or "We've got the real French fries!" or "Let's see you build a bridge like the Pont du Millau!" next to a photo of a flock of sheep with the bridge off in the distance.
As you have probably heard, the Basque Parliament voted in a surprise on December 30 to pass what is called here the Ibarretxe Plan, named for Basque Country prime minister Juan José Ibarretxe of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV). They got the support of the ETA's political wing, Herri Batasuna or whatever their name is this week, which holds three seats in the Basque Parliament and normally abstains from voting. The details of the plan don't matter, because it's never going to happen, but the main plank of the platform is a referendum within the Basque Country on Basque "sovereignty", whatever that is. Now, this is clearly unconstitutional and there's no chance it's going to happen.
Zap is actually handling the crisis reasonably. He's called up Ibarretxe and arranged a meeting, at which he might make a couple of mild concessions, but he will attempt to convince Retch that this whole thing is dumb and a waste of everyone's time. Zap won't convince him, but he'll be able to say he offered dialogue. Then the Retch Plan will go to the Spanish Parliament, where it will be shot down with both the Socialists and PP against it. Then, if it somehow gets past the Spanish Parliament, of which the possibilities are about the same as those of legalizing gay marriage in Saudi Arabia, Zap will take it to the Tribunal Constitucional and they'll declare it unconstitutional.
So nothing is going to happen. Lots of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Some bunch of experts decided that it would be a good idea to send the Generalitat de Catalunya archives from the 1930s to Barcelona from Salamanca, and so Zap is going to follow their recommendations. The Cataloonies are jumping up and down in joy. The Spainiacs are spewing fire and brimstone. I, personally, don't care. It's just symbolic. I would certainly hope that the Catalan government is going to pay for the transfer of the files, but except for that I don't see how this affects anybody or anything. I mean, I assume all these files are on microfilm or maybe even on-line anyway, so they can be consulted easily by any historian or researcher who needs to consult them. If they aren't, maybe that ought to be a higher priority than actually moving the damn papers themselves around.
Just a few sentences from today's La Vanguardia, all from the news pages:
"Washington's growing protagonism is seen in some circles as an attempt to deprive the United Nations of relevance, besides the evident political interest in improving America's image in Asia and prevent the crisis from feeding political radicalism--Islamist, in the Indonesian case--in societies already very unstable...The absence of the Democrat ex-President, Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been extremely critical of the war in Iraq, was widely noticed...The Administration suffered criticism due to the timid initial response to the catastrophe, above all when one remembers the avalanche of sympathy toward the US after the September 11 bombings..."
Now, wait a minute. I was here in Spain and there was not even a ripple of sympathy toward the US after the September 11 bombings. The general attitude in the media and among too many ordinary people was one of "those goddamn Yankees had it coming", with some honorable exceptions. What I remember was "The world awaits Bush's revenge", or whatever the exact wording was, as the main headline on El País's front page. That's what I remember.
"The presence in the delegation of the President's brother is officially justified by his experience in managing emergencies, like the hurricanes that often strike Florida, but there are also those who speculate that this might be a way to promote his status regarding future political ambitions, including the Presidency...The United States, India, and Australia to a lesser degree Australia are playing a geopolitical game in order to extend their influence through the region through aid...It is only fair to recognize that the American people has a long philanthropic tradition that is taught in school and that is very present in everyday life."
Well, that last comment is more than fair and quite generous. I'm not so sure about the other five, though.
Zap is actually handling the crisis reasonably. He's called up Ibarretxe and arranged a meeting, at which he might make a couple of mild concessions, but he will attempt to convince Retch that this whole thing is dumb and a waste of everyone's time. Zap won't convince him, but he'll be able to say he offered dialogue. Then the Retch Plan will go to the Spanish Parliament, where it will be shot down with both the Socialists and PP against it. Then, if it somehow gets past the Spanish Parliament, of which the possibilities are about the same as those of legalizing gay marriage in Saudi Arabia, Zap will take it to the Tribunal Constitucional and they'll declare it unconstitutional.
So nothing is going to happen. Lots of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Some bunch of experts decided that it would be a good idea to send the Generalitat de Catalunya archives from the 1930s to Barcelona from Salamanca, and so Zap is going to follow their recommendations. The Cataloonies are jumping up and down in joy. The Spainiacs are spewing fire and brimstone. I, personally, don't care. It's just symbolic. I would certainly hope that the Catalan government is going to pay for the transfer of the files, but except for that I don't see how this affects anybody or anything. I mean, I assume all these files are on microfilm or maybe even on-line anyway, so they can be consulted easily by any historian or researcher who needs to consult them. If they aren't, maybe that ought to be a higher priority than actually moving the damn papers themselves around.
Just a few sentences from today's La Vanguardia, all from the news pages:
"Washington's growing protagonism is seen in some circles as an attempt to deprive the United Nations of relevance, besides the evident political interest in improving America's image in Asia and prevent the crisis from feeding political radicalism--Islamist, in the Indonesian case--in societies already very unstable...The absence of the Democrat ex-President, Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been extremely critical of the war in Iraq, was widely noticed...The Administration suffered criticism due to the timid initial response to the catastrophe, above all when one remembers the avalanche of sympathy toward the US after the September 11 bombings..."
Now, wait a minute. I was here in Spain and there was not even a ripple of sympathy toward the US after the September 11 bombings. The general attitude in the media and among too many ordinary people was one of "those goddamn Yankees had it coming", with some honorable exceptions. What I remember was "The world awaits Bush's revenge", or whatever the exact wording was, as the main headline on El País's front page. That's what I remember.
"The presence in the delegation of the President's brother is officially justified by his experience in managing emergencies, like the hurricanes that often strike Florida, but there are also those who speculate that this might be a way to promote his status regarding future political ambitions, including the Presidency...The United States, India, and Australia to a lesser degree Australia are playing a geopolitical game in order to extend their influence through the region through aid...It is only fair to recognize that the American people has a long philanthropic tradition that is taught in school and that is very present in everyday life."
Well, that last comment is more than fair and quite generous. I'm not so sure about the other five, though.
Monday, January 03, 2005
Here are the answers to the Christmas quiz on American statistics, since I figure anybody who would have sent in an answer has already done so.
1. b
2. c
3. c
4. a
5. a
6. c
7. d
8. a d c b (b and c are actually almost tied; don't count a d b c as wrong)
9. d
10. d
11. a d c b
12. a
13. c
14. b
15. c
1. b
2. c
3. c
4. a
5. a
6. c
7. d
8. a d c b (b and c are actually almost tied; don't count a d b c as wrong)
9. d
10. d
11. a d c b
12. a
13. c
14. b
15. c
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Hmmm. This is interesting. If you go to La Vanguardia's website, www.vanguardia.es, and then click on "Clasificados", the classified ads, right on the top bar there of the home page, and then from there click on "Contactos", you get this website:
http://www.bcnexcita.com/index.html
There's La Vanguardia looking out for its readers' needs again. Looks like they're providing visitors to their website with prostitution services as well as the weather, the horoscope, and Fred Basset. I wonder if the Conde de Godó knows he's a paid shill for pimps. Wanna sue me over that?
http://www.bcnexcita.com/index.html
There's La Vanguardia looking out for its readers' needs again. Looks like they're providing visitors to their website with prostitution services as well as the weather, the horoscope, and Fred Basset. I wonder if the Conde de Godó knows he's a paid shill for pimps. Wanna sue me over that?
La Vanguardia has committed the worst, stupidest screwup you can possibly imagine. On Friday they ran two big color pictures on the front page showing a group of people standing on a beach and then trying to run away as a huge wave comes in on them. The captions labeled the photos as having been taken December 26, the day of the tsunami, in Indonesia. Newspapers around the world contacted them in order to get the rights to the photos.
Today the shit hit the fan. They were hoaxed. Some guy who is supposedly a Spanish businessman out there e-mailed them these photographs that they printed. He, in turn, had supposedly received them from an Indonesian company he has contacts with. Turns out the pictures are from a typhoon in China two years ago. Their excuse is they did a lame-ass fact-checking job--they assumed the photos were legit because the guy didn't ask for any money, and they did determine that the photos hadn't been Photoshopped. Here's part of the fun: they learned later on Friday, that very day, that the photos were not what La Vanguardia had claimed they were, but they didn't get around to running the correction until today. Our hard-working ombudsman, Josep María Casasús, did not mention the incident in his column today, though he had all of Saturday to write up his piece. (He did write about his journey to Villalba, Lugo, on November 20, 2004, where he was present at the XV Congress of Communication of the Xunta de Galicia along with two other ombudspersons.)
La Vanguardia ran the correction in a small box on the front page below the fold and printed a more ample story on page eight. Remember when the Daily Mirror got caught over those fake photos of British troops "torturing" Iraqis? When it hit the fan they printed a screamer headline all over the front page saying "Sorry, we were hoaxed". I believe some important people resigned over it. Of course, CBS News had to run a massive apology, Dan Rather in person, when they ran that fake story about George Bush's National Guard service, and Rather was forced to resign. Two big powerful guys at the New York Times resigned over the Jayson Blair fake stories scandal. Heads rolled at the BBC after they got caught running bogus information about the Iraq War.
What do you think's going to happen at La Vanguardia? Probably Casasús will come out next week with some excuse about how it wasn't really their fault and they were just trying to do what such a fine upstanding organization as theirs does, which is run sensationalistic graphics guaranteed to shock and thrill their readers without bothering to check if it's true...oops, I mean inform their readers of important events around the world.
What he did this week was run some long gassy words full of nothing while he justified his lack of any action at all regarding the opinions that La Vanguardia's reporters print as facts in every story that they write. According to him, if he did anything, that would be censorship, and if you don't like it sue us. The last line was, "We must not forget that the press has a commitment to values of liberty, justice, and truth that justify it as the ethical motor of solidarity and progress."
What a worthless bag of wind this man is. And if he doesn't like it, he can sue me.
Today the shit hit the fan. They were hoaxed. Some guy who is supposedly a Spanish businessman out there e-mailed them these photographs that they printed. He, in turn, had supposedly received them from an Indonesian company he has contacts with. Turns out the pictures are from a typhoon in China two years ago. Their excuse is they did a lame-ass fact-checking job--they assumed the photos were legit because the guy didn't ask for any money, and they did determine that the photos hadn't been Photoshopped. Here's part of the fun: they learned later on Friday, that very day, that the photos were not what La Vanguardia had claimed they were, but they didn't get around to running the correction until today. Our hard-working ombudsman, Josep María Casasús, did not mention the incident in his column today, though he had all of Saturday to write up his piece. (He did write about his journey to Villalba, Lugo, on November 20, 2004, where he was present at the XV Congress of Communication of the Xunta de Galicia along with two other ombudspersons.)
La Vanguardia ran the correction in a small box on the front page below the fold and printed a more ample story on page eight. Remember when the Daily Mirror got caught over those fake photos of British troops "torturing" Iraqis? When it hit the fan they printed a screamer headline all over the front page saying "Sorry, we were hoaxed". I believe some important people resigned over it. Of course, CBS News had to run a massive apology, Dan Rather in person, when they ran that fake story about George Bush's National Guard service, and Rather was forced to resign. Two big powerful guys at the New York Times resigned over the Jayson Blair fake stories scandal. Heads rolled at the BBC after they got caught running bogus information about the Iraq War.
What do you think's going to happen at La Vanguardia? Probably Casasús will come out next week with some excuse about how it wasn't really their fault and they were just trying to do what such a fine upstanding organization as theirs does, which is run sensationalistic graphics guaranteed to shock and thrill their readers without bothering to check if it's true...oops, I mean inform their readers of important events around the world.
What he did this week was run some long gassy words full of nothing while he justified his lack of any action at all regarding the opinions that La Vanguardia's reporters print as facts in every story that they write. According to him, if he did anything, that would be censorship, and if you don't like it sue us. The last line was, "We must not forget that the press has a commitment to values of liberty, justice, and truth that justify it as the ethical motor of solidarity and progress."
What a worthless bag of wind this man is. And if he doesn't like it, he can sue me.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Good God. They're talking at least 125,000 confirmed dead and as many as 400,000 more in Indonesia. There are maybe millions of refugees all over the place; fortunately, fears of massive epidemics seem to have been exaggerated. This is the worst thing I ever remember happening. The photos of the bodies piled up on the beaches--you've seen them. The aid is beginning to get there. The Americans, Aussies, and New Zealanders have got an airlift going and they're flying supplies into Banda Aceh, by far the worst-hit area, in C-130 transports. Unfortunately, one of the things they're carrying in are 80,000 body bags. The very professional and fairly large Indian Navy is sending out missions all over the Bay of Bengal, and the Americans are sending two battle groups loaded with supplies. International aid is flowing in from all over the world; they're saying they've already collected $500 million. Dozens of countries and millions of individuals are contributing. There's so much stuff coming in it's already piling up at Banda Aceh; they're having transport difficulties, not enough trucks and the roads are all washed out anyway. Sounds to me like helicopters might be a good idea; how about all the traffic helicopters at all the radio stations across America fly over there? They could make it in, say, 500-kilometer jumps by way of Alaska, and the cost of fuel and its availability would of course be no problem. They could be there in two or three days. Or we could stash several dozen of them inside one of those huge transport planes. The British did something similar at Dunkirk, but instead of traffic helicopters it was fishing boats. If the Saudis want to help out, a big old tanker full of gasoline would be nice. I bet they have plenty to spare. InstaPundit says that an easy way to give is through Amazon, which is running an aid campaign; 100% of the money Amazon collects will go directly to the Red Cross. Fox News says that, and I quote, a coalition of "the United States, Australia, Japan, India, and the United Nations" will be coordinating aid. So Clare Short has this to say, from the Scotsman via Matt Drudge.
United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster.
The president has announced that the US, Japan, India and Australia would coordinate the world’s response.
But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN.
“I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,” she said.
“Only really the UN can do that job,” she told BBC Radio Four’s PM programme.
“It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.”
Ms Short said the coalition countries did not have good records on responding to international disasters.
She said the US was “very bad at coordinating with anyone” and India had its own problems to deal with.
“I don’t know what that is about but it sounds very much, I am afraid, like the US trying to have a separate operation and not work with the rest of the world through the UN system,” she added.
Fuck you, Clare Short. You're no goddamn help at all, and all you can do is bitch. Besides, if Fox News is right, you're wrong, because they say the UN is part of the coalition. Jesus Christ. This is the clearest case ever of "no matter what you do, it's wrong" anti-Americanism, not to mention a slam at the uppity former colony India, which is of course incapable of doing anything like, say, taking some responsibility and getting some shit done, because it's just got too many problems, you know.
United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster.
The president has announced that the US, Japan, India and Australia would coordinate the world’s response.
But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN.
“I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,” she said.
“Only really the UN can do that job,” she told BBC Radio Four’s PM programme.
“It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.”
Ms Short said the coalition countries did not have good records on responding to international disasters.
She said the US was “very bad at coordinating with anyone” and India had its own problems to deal with.
“I don’t know what that is about but it sounds very much, I am afraid, like the US trying to have a separate operation and not work with the rest of the world through the UN system,” she added.
Fuck you, Clare Short. You're no goddamn help at all, and all you can do is bitch. Besides, if Fox News is right, you're wrong, because they say the UN is part of the coalition. Jesus Christ. This is the clearest case ever of "no matter what you do, it's wrong" anti-Americanism, not to mention a slam at the uppity former colony India, which is of course incapable of doing anything like, say, taking some responsibility and getting some shit done, because it's just got too many problems, you know.
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