Comments on: Are they taking notes in Spain?

By: raj

raj — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 21:42:01 +0000

What does the parliamentary form of democracy have to do with that?
Parliamentary forms of government ususally provide for votes of “no confidence” whereby the opposition can force a new election. The problem for the opposition Tories in the UK is that they have no viable candidate for prime minister, and they aren’t going to try to force a new election until they can come up with one. It’s as simple as that.
I’d compare the bombings in London with those in Madrid, too, but the only apparent similarity is that they were bombings of public transportation facilities. The contrasts between the two seem to be more striking, and I have described the contrasts. You seemed to liken the bombings in London to those in Madrid, and you seemed to be complaining about how the Spaniards responded in their situation, and that was what I was responding to.
It should be noted that there were rather significant bombings against British interests in Istanbul a while ago, so these attacks in London should not come as much of a surprise. Does that mean that I approve of them? Not by a long shot. Does it mean that the bomb blasts were not much of a surprise? Frankly, yes.

By: C M

C M — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 21:11:13 +0000

I don’t understand the basic disrespect for the wishes of the people that are reflecting in negative comments on Spanish voters. If the people of a democratic state are overwhelmingly opposed to a war that their leader puts them in to it’s damn well their right to replace that leader with someone who more conforms to that view. If you disagree with their take on things go ahead, but respect the rights of the electorate to put those in office who represent their views.

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 18:13:32 +0000

Balta, in response to your last three paragraphs to me…
1) OK
2) Yes, this spring has seen an offensive by the Taliban, but Spain shifted their troops in the spring of 2004, when Afghanistan looked mostly like a peacekeeping mission, save for the hunt for UBL.
3) I’m not going to get into *that* argument again…at least not on this thread.

By: Balta

Balta — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 17:45:25 +0000

“Balta, you sure seem to have reemerged from blogospheric hibernation — er, aestivation? — lately”
-personally my blogosphere activities lately seem to depend largely on my schedule…for example, yesterday I spent several hours sitting next to a phone waiting for an important call, so I had time available. On the other hand, 2 days ago I was working on a powerpoint presentation until the wee hours of the morning, so I don’t believe I did much commenting all day. Monday I’m on the SEM, so I doubt i’ll be commenting much that day, etc. This is why I just don’t think I can run my own personal, solo-blog…I can’t give a constant amount of time to it every day.

By: Balta

Balta — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 17:25:50 +0000

Eric...the CNN link from my original blog post is dead, but here's the post I made at the time. I will grant you this...they did not add the same number to Afghanistan that they pulled out of Iraq, but just from memory I believe it was a decent chunk of them. And Eric...2 points on Afghanistan. First...it is still most definately part of the front line. This spring has seen a renewed offensive by the Taliban, including attacks, suicide bombings, and so forth, to the point that Britain has been trying to figure out ways to put more troops into that nation to prevent "Civil War" (their words, not mine) And secondly, it is simply wrong to say that "Iraq is now the central front in the war on terror" without acknowledging how it became the central front in the war on terror; George W. Bush decided to invade the place, and therefore gave rise to a terrorist breeding ground on the scale of the Soviet disaster in Afghanistan in the 80's. Just because George W. Bush decided to create a huge number of new terrorists in Iraq doesn't mean that the Spaniards have to accept that its tied together with the formerly independent bastards who hit us on 9/11.

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 15:37:22 +0000

Yes, raj, I’m comparing the 7/7 attacks in London to the 3/11 attacks in Madrid. Both were major terror attacks, and the people of both nations reacted differently on a gut level. What does the parliamentary form of democracy have to do with that?

By: raj

raj — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 15:01:42 +0000

Paul, the people who are directly affected by ETA’s terrorist activity are of course directly affected. But in grossen und ganzen their political effect has been minimal. ETA has been about as effective as the Rote Armee Faktion (Baader-Meinhof gang) in West Germany from the 1970s, and the RAF was sponsored by the East Germans.

By: raj

raj — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 14:52:44 +0000

Eric, I have read what you have written. I have also made inferences from what you have written, based on my knowledge. It struck me as being a bit silly to liken the Spanish situation to the British situation, which is what appears to be what you were trying to do with your post. That was my point.
I have to ask you, if you were not trying to liken the situation in Spain to the situation in the UK, why did you even raise Spain in your post?

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 14:35:41 +0000

Raj, try reading what I’ve written before you start proclaiming what I do or don’t understand. I haven’t said a damn thing about elections. I’m talking about the public reactions in general following the Madrid bombings.
Your blind loyalty to the Bush administration agenda is disturbing.
I love this comment from JK. What on earth does this post have to do with the Bush administration?
Nooooooo. The ETA is the IRA of Spain, and a right-leaning Spanish anti-terror government would have many, many more reasons to point to domestic terrorism over al-Qaeda.
Granted. That doesn’t mean they didn’t anticipate that if it were al-Qaeda, that would add a great deal of momentum to the anti-war faction opposed to the current government. But it was likely a combination of reasons.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 14:16:42 +0000

I should also point out that the IRA, too, is a cross-border terror group acting on behalf of a cross-border ethnic group.