Spain

Why Are Pacifist Europeans Declaring War on Libya?
By March 23, 2011 Read More →

Why Are Pacifist Europeans Declaring War on Libya?

An unintended but highly illuminating irony of the military intervention in Libya is that it has exposed the duplicity behind European pacifism.

Posted in: Geopolitics, Spain
Spain Goes on Mosque-Building Spree
By December 30, 2010 Read More →

Spain Goes on Mosque-Building Spree

The city of Barcelona has agreed to build an official mega-mosque with a capacity for thousands of Muslim worshipers. The new structure would rival the massive Islamic Cultural Center in Madrid, currently the biggest mosque in Spain. The Barcelona mayor’s office says the objective is to increase the visibility of Muslims in Spain, as well […]

Posted in: Islam in Europe, Spain, Spain
Spain: A Political Risk Analysis
By June 1, 2010 Read More →

Spain: A Political Risk Analysis

Spain’s debt-laden Socialist government is caught in a Catch-22 situation in which it has failed to satisfy conflicting demands to cut its budget and stimulate job creation and economic growth. If the government cuts public spending to the level needed to reduce the deficit, it will drag down economic growth and make it more difficult […]

Spanish Presidency of the EU: High Hopes, Low Expectations
By February 13, 2010 Read More →

Spanish Presidency of the EU: High Hopes, Low Expectations

Spain holds the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-member European Union from January through June 2010. The following analysis explains the domestic political and economic context facing the Zapatero government during Spain’s EU presidency. It then examines in greater detail several of the Zapatero government’s stated priorities for Spain’s EU presidency, and then closes with […]

Spain’s EU Presidency Greeted with Skepticism
By January 12, 2010 Read More →

Spain’s EU Presidency Greeted with Skepticism

Spain’s six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, which began on Jan. 1, 2010, is off to a bumpy start. With the Lisbon Treaty now in effect, the traditional role of the EU rotating presidency has been downgraded.

Mr Zapatero Goes to Washington
By October 13, 2009 Read More →

Mr Zapatero Goes to Washington

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s second term in office has not been a happy affair for Spain. With his poll numbers now at an all-time low, Zapatero is hoping that his October 13 visit to the White House will reverse his foundering political fortunes.

Posted in: Euro Crisis, Europe, Spain
Fifty Years of Basque Terrorism
By August 1, 2009 Read More →

Fifty Years of Basque Terrorism

The Spanish government has accused the Basque terrorist group ETA of responsibility for back-to-back bombings last week that killed two people and injured more than 50 others. The bloody attacks came as ETA — short for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Fatherland and Freedom — marked the 50th anniversary of its founding.

Spain Steps Back from Universal Jurisdiction
By July 3, 2009 Read More →

Spain Steps Back from Universal Jurisdiction

The Spanish National Criminal Court (Audiencia Nacional) said on June 30  it was scrapping an investigation into a 2002 Israeli Air Force bombing in Gaza that killed a suspected Hamas militant and 14 civilians. The move comes just days after the lower house of the Spanish Parliament voted to limit the scope of a 1985 […]

Franco-Spanish Sub Dispute Shows Challenges Facing EU Defense Market
By May 28, 2009 Read More →

Franco-Spanish Sub Dispute Shows Challenges Facing EU Defense Market

  As if to illustrate the challenges facing an integrated European defense market, the French naval shipyard DCNS is suing Spain’s leading state-owned shipbuilding firm, Navantia, for allegedly stealing trade secrets relating to the Scorpène submarine project.

Immigration Policy a Casualty of Unemployment in Spain
By May 14, 2009 Read More →

Immigration Policy a Casualty of Unemployment in Spain

As the once-vibrant Spanish economy plunges deeper into recession, the government of Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is struggling to staunch the country’s skyrocketing jobless rate. And among the first casualties is Spain’s famously lenient immigration policy.

Posted in: Spain
España frente a la inmigración ilegal
By August 28, 2007 Read More →

España frente a la inmigración ilegal

El primer ministro español José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero merece un premio especial para la audaz transatlántica. Durante su reciente visita a México, él terminó la cena celebrada en su honor brindando al presidente mexicano Felipe Calderón con un ejemplo clásico del pontificado pos-moderno por el cual los izquierdistas españoles son tan famosos: “No hay pared […]

Posted in: Latin America, Spain
Spain’s Immigration Superiority Complex
By August 16, 2007 Read More →

Spain’s Immigration Superiority Complex

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero deserves a special award for transatlantic chutzpah. During his recent visit to Mexico, he ended the state dinner held in his honor by toasting Mexican President Felipe Calderón with a sterling example of the post-modern pontification for which Spanish leftists are so famous: “There is no wall that […]

Posted in: Islam in Europe, Spain, Spain