Current Affairs

A US company, Pandemic, is going to sell a videogame, named Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, in which a US invasion is simulated in a country ruled by a tyran with the grasp of the oil refineries and with the final objective to throw out the tyran. This has worsened even more the US-Venezuelan relationship.

“The players take the place of soldiers to throw out a hungry tyran/dictator who varies the supply of Venezuelan oil, unleashing an invasion that makes the country a war place“. The simulated mission is began by a Marines’ commando to take it by a military assault.

This happens when Caracas has reinforced its alliance with Iran about the nuclear crisis. Ahmadinejah said:

“We hace a lot of common ideals and aims that unites us profoundly. And our common enemies’ position are each day less strong”.

Their common interests are so great they lack the same thing: oil refineries. As a result they are just making a new one jointly.

This came afterwards Bush said he was worried about an important erosion in democracy both in Bolivia and Venezuela.

Newsweek comments also about Chávez:

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is the new rock star of world politics. His impassioned rants against globalization, with animated poses to match, make front-page headlines almost daily. The commentariat-particularly in Europe-seems to buy Chávez’s line that Latin Americans are so disenchanted by their short tryst with liberalism that they now prefer a strongman to spread the benefits of a commodity boom. The recent moves by a Chávez soulmate, Evo Morales, to renationalize the energy resources of Bolivia reinforce a growing perception that Latin America is lurching to the radical left.

Read it all.

US had made arrangements to consider Lybia is fighting against terrorism. I was not the least happy about it. And at the same time Gadaffi says he is going to receive Chávez. As a result, Washington is going to suspend the selling of weapons to Caracas because of its lack of collaboration with the fighting of terrorism.

So Chávez is going to ask Oliver Stone to make a film about the failed coup d’état that took place in April 2002. “I am sure that there are a lot of people that are not willing the truth to come out because this people is going to investigate to have the truth and is going to tell both the good and the bad that happened then”, Chávez said. What? The same man who said that Castro is one of the wisest man on Earth is going to find the truth?

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These last days, we have been living here the “Debate on the State of the Nation”, although no one has told us which Nation they are referring to. One of the things everyone was very anxious to see is what does Zapatero wants to do about ETA. But nothing was spoken about it in the 1st day of the Debate.

Of course, the second day it was considered, but just because the PP had no possibility of contradicting and critisize the Zapatero Administration.

ETA terrorists have been appearing in TV in an Ossama bin Laden style. But the PM said he wanted, nevertheless, to begin talks with them.

He said: “Just as I announced, next month I will communicate to the political forces the start of the process of dialogue to achieve the end of violence with Eta.”

BBC is biased as ever: they titled a special about ETA “The end of an era”. That is curious: there is no end, really. There are a lot of people, ETA victims, which are there, suffering the pain of having lost parents, wifes, husbands, sons, daughters, etc. Or being themselves severely wounded.

With ETA terrorists happens just the same as with Islamic terrorists. If I criticize the terrorists, I am only critisizing people who are using terror and force to achieve political gains. But there are people who are confounding both the Islamic terrorists with all Muslims and Eta terrorists with all Basques, just as Barcepundit says here.

Of course, ETA victims have been organising peaceful demonstrations to show their reject to Zapatero’s program. This photo is from the one of June 4th 2005:

Anyway the Government has made everything posisble to diminish the importance of these protests. Here you can read what one of the victims’ association thoght about Zapatero in May 3rd 2005, just three months before this demonstration.

Another photo from Times On Line:

In this stage Rajoy asked in Parliament: are you going to negotiate the autodetermination right with Basque Country? And Zapatero said: No, what happens? don’t you listen to the PM? See this video:

(video in Spanish). Found here.

So, now the President of PSE (Basque Socialists) Patxi López, has said they are going to have talks with Batasuna, the political wing of the terrorist organization. Then José Blanco, the Secretary of Organization from PSOE, also said they were supporting that, but only “if Batasuna respects the law”. Well, it’s curious but the Antiterrorist Agreement between PSOE and PP, and the subsequent Political Parties Law, said political parties who were interested in violence or defended it were going to be illegalised. This is the case of Batasuna, which has not condemned any of the terrorist attacks ETA has made along these years. Zapatero has also added he will negotiate even if there is no peace, even if ETA is not for an end of violence. What people here believe is that they are going to be legalised again without any consideration to those Agreement and Law. PP has just said that any possible meeting will be illegal.

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From BBC:

France and Morocco have agreed to work together to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy agreed the deal with his Moroccan counterpart, Chakib Benmoussa.

Mr Sarkozy was in Morocco as part of an African tour, widely seen as a prelude to his presidential bid next year.

He has already visited Benin and Mali, where there were street protests over his tough immigration policy, designed to keep out “unskilled” foreigners.

French MPs have already backed Mr Sarkozy’s immigration bill but it can only become law after it has been passed by the Senate.

Wow! This is marvellous. I am very confident in them working together. They are just going to send more inmigrants to Spain, that’s all. From Spain Herald:

Saharan human rights activist Aminetu Haidar said yesterday in Seville that prime minister Zapatero’s support for his own Alliance of Civilizations project is “incompatible with permitting the tortures that the Moroccan government inflicts on the Saharan people.” After speaking before the Andalusian regional parliament, Haidar said that if the Spanish government does not act in favor of self-determination for the Western Sahara, “it will be responsible for the genocide and massacres that are going to begin, if they have not already…Spain and France are the two governments that support Morocco’s state terrorism against the Saharan people.”

She called Zapatero’s proposed Alliance of Civilizations “a makeup job that the administration applies to its face while it turns its back on the Saharan people, who have not received any support from this government, despite the strong support that the Spanish people have given us.” Haidar added, “Morocco does not respect the Saharans.”

Aminetu Haidar also called on Spain to accept “its historical and legal responsibility with respect to the Sahara, and recognize the crimes committed against the Saharan people.” Therefore, she said, “Spain should take a clear position on self-determination.”

I think that we are more indebted with this people that with American indigene population. While our American domination was ended because of an independence war, Saharan people were left alone after Franco’s death and Morocco, with international support or at least not much critisizing of their position, invaded their territory.

But the aggressions to Saharan people continue: you can see photos here. The problem is that most of the documents are in Spanish. Anyway,there has been arbitrary detentions made to Saharan activists since the Moroccan invasion. The problem is that with the new antiterrorist measures, they are detained as Islamists or terrorists, being none of that (someone has heard of a Saharan terrorist? ehh, … NOPE).

Socialists at first were very much interested in defending Saharan cause as they thought that it was so good to oppose right-wingers. But everything changed with Mr. Zapatero new political approach. As Perejil conflict showed, Mr. Aznar’s relationship with Morocco was not the best. And so Mr Zapatero had to change this policy as well, not taking into account that most of the accused in March 11th bombings were Moroccans. He has not said anything about Saharan situation before Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, -in fact, he has not said it at any time- and several Socialists have praised them openly. Even when international opinion was critical with Spanish handling of inmigrants in Ceuta and Melilla last year and it was proved that Moroccan police killed two inmigrants and the rest were obliged to walk thrpugh Moroccan desert, where 24 -at least- were dead of thurst.

Moroccan authorities have been denying pass to foreign delegations that intended to defend Saharan Human Rights. For example, from Norway, Spain. Spanish journalists have also been expelled (example).

By the wat, there are also connections with the Oil-for-Food scandal, coming from Morocco.

That is why when I read this kind of news, I just burst out laughing… just for not crying. I know Islamism is a threat -that is why I keep TAJP- but at the same time, I do think these decissions are nothing more than an international pose just to appease foreign critics and as such to diminish the importance of democracy and opposition movements inside it.

UPDATE: I am even more concerned now that I have read this: France and Morocco will help Spain with inmigration problem. According to Sarkozy and Benmoussa joint communiqué, “taking into account the situation of the arrival of inmigrants to the Canary Islands coasts, the ministers have decided to take the necessary measures without waiting, (…) mainly the related with technical and financial support to benefit the countries that need it“.

Related posts:

• Spanish Inmigration Problem.
• New EU Directive on free Movement.

Tags: Aznar, Human Rights, Inmigration, Moratinos, Morocco, religious freedom, Sahara, UN Security Council, Zapatero

It appeared in an Italian television…

Tags: Italy, Spain, Zapatero

From Spain Herald:

Police union spokesman Rodrigo Gavilan said yesterday that the administration canceled a flight that would have carried 90 officers to Grand Canary island in order to proceed to the deportation of 180 illegal immigrants to Mauritania and Guinea. However, those two countries were not willing to accept the deportees. Gavilan added that, as it is not possible to deport the immigrants, “all those that arrive are transported to mainland Spain, five thousand so far.”
Deputy prime minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega said that due to the mass arrival of open boats carrying illegals to the Canary coasts, that all illegal immigrants would be repatriated. She also announced agreements with the illegals’ countries of origin to return them. According to Gavilan, however, reality is very different.

News24.com:

With the Canary Islands struggling to cope with a stream of would-be immigrants from Africa, the Spanish government has launched a diplomatic offensive to bring the situation under control.

On Thursday, foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said a special ambassador and a team of diplomats would begin “three to six-month” missions in Africa from Sunday. He said the diplomats would operate in Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Niger. Almost 7 000 people have survived the maritime odyssey to reach the Canaries in makeshift vessels so far this year. Moratinos, speaking a day after Madrid called on African governments to help stem the number of arrivals, said the diplomats would “work jointly with the countries to face up to the migratory flux”.

Thursday saw dozens of more arrivals, with 57 immigrants picked up at Los Cristianos port in southern Tenerife.The immigrant hopefuls added to the 278 who landed on the island in “cayucos”, makeshift boats from Senegal and Mauritania, on Wednesday.

6 785 illegal immigrants have arrived so far

Moratinos said the Spanish cabinet would approve the “immediate” sending of an ambassador to Mali on Friday. Malians make up a large proportion of the immigrants coming to Spain. He said: “Spain will set up a bureau for the centralisation of all efforts (to deal with the immigrant issue) in sub-Saharan capitals.”

In fact they are so much that they are overflowing Canarian facilities, whatever Vice-President De La Vega says (By the way, she was proposing that Spanish people should use an “inhabitant solution of only 30 m2 while she has built for herself one of 505 m2. What a good example of equality! Just like the Chinese one I was referring to in this post).

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Who would guess someone was going to take advantage of the physical similarity of Che and Aznar?

Well, at first no one. But Converse’s poster designer, the Polish Andrej Dragan, has infuriated the far-leftists in Spain with this new campaign (poster: right). Because for them Che, is so opposed to Aznar that this is an insult. And they are seeing both united in one photo.

For them, Aznar is the one who caused March 11th terrorist attacks -just forgetting about the real authors of it-. They have just changed his support, more moral than real, for Iraqi intervention, into the leit-motiv of their oposition.

But I really think it is going to be somewhat difficult to make Ché and Aznar the same thing. Che was nothing but a intelectual terrorist and Castro supporter who defended :

hate as a fight factor; intransigent hate against the enemy, who impulses human being to a place far beyond his limitations, and makes him a violent and cold killing machine”.

I really can not imagine someone who made Spain rise above the corruption scandals and the dirty war against ETA, saying or even thinking, something like that.

But that Polish designer, has accomplished what he wanted: that people talk about his campaign.

Note: Trackback sent to Carnival of Trackbacks.

Tags: Aznar, Converse, Publicity