Spain's
PSOE Socialist Party
Follows The Same Foreign Policy
As The PP Under Aznar
By Agustin Velloso
29 November, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Madrid :
Ex-President Aznar made himself dismally famous four years ago when
he chose to ally his fate with that of US President Bush in the war
of aggression against Iraq.
The lies, cliches and slick,
superficial slogans, that mixture of political machismo and fake Spanish-ism
that are typical of Aznar, have broken out again lately, the difference
being they come not from him - although he backs them 100% - but from
the PSOE Zapatero government Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos.
Just before the start of
the war on Iraq, Aznar said, "in a fight, Spain knows who to stand
by and it will stand with its friends, with the USA". This is the
same ill-starred mental bewilderment afflicting Moratinos, published
by the EFE news service on November 15th, "Spain, simply, whatever
the circumstances will always be on the side of Israel."
The same news service added
"The Foreign Minister has confirmed that whoever is acquainted
with him knows the links "of friendship, assistance and commitment"
towards Israel so it "lives in peace and security" is "absolute
and total"." What was said before about Aznar, one now has
to repeat about Moratinos:
Everyone is well aware that
Spain has to be on the side of international law. Neither Aznar nor
Moratinos are free to choose bad friendships while being President or
Minister of a member State of the United Nations Organization. The UN
has not authorized aggression by the United States (nor Israeli attacks
on Arab nations : Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq or Syria). Nor has it authorized
the partition of Iraq (or in the case of Palestine the separation Wall,
the settlements, or the occupation of territory, including Jerusalem).
Are we to ally with a State
condemned by the International Court of Justice for breaking international
law? (Israel has the world record for breaking international law and
UN Resolutions.) Aznar and Moratinos have forgotten their good buddy's
criminal record and are unwilling to note Israel's likely current recidivism
as it threatens Arab neighbours and Iran too.
It seems there is a tendency
on the part of Spanish and European political leaders, without, of course,
forgetting their US colleagues, to regard Israel with deference and
servility, utterly oblivious to the obligations of their own positions
and completely unafraid of ridicule.
It is unimaginable, for example,
that a Spanish left wing official might, for example, declare total
support for Venezuela's Bolivarian project towards socialism. As well
as that project being attractive to those who call themselves socialists,
we are joined to that country by history, language, customs, religion,
blood and whatever else one might want to add.
Still, Moratinos the socialist
throws all Spain's weight - the slightness of which he recognises, at
least - behind a country that has broken international law since its
founding 60 years ago, with which Spain has had diplomatic relations
for just 20 years and with which it has little in common except military
exchanges and arms sales; a country which is a pariah State not just
for a billion Muslims but for a large part of the world; a country that
daily kills and thieves in Palestine and which is the main ally - or
more correctly, accomplice - of the other great planetary delinquent,
the United States; a country that has recently attacked Lebanon leaving
it with thousands dead and littered with bombs ready to explode; a country
that threatens Iran and which has been covertly or openly involved in
wars around the world, in Nicaragua, Colombia, South Africa and Iraq;
a country with nuclear weapons; a country that has sentenced the Palestinians
to genocide by means of a blockad
e unique in human history for being applied to refugees who are supposed
to be protected - clearly no more than theoretically - by international
law. The list goes on....
No doubt Israel has sought
an expression of public support from Spain through convenient channels.
It is out of the question that Moratinos, repeatedly presented in Spain
for years as a recognised expert on the Arab world, as well as being
a good friend to its peoples, suddenly, off his own bat forgets Israel's
history and changes friends just as Israel now tries yet again, this
time in Annapolis, to paint itself before world public opinion not as
the unrepentant aggressor it really is but rather as a partner for peace.
One needs to look back at
the recent past to explain the re-heated love affair between zionism
and the PSOE. Just over a year ago on July 20th 2006, Moratinos attended
a breakfast of the New Economic Forum with leading zionist business
people. According to El Pais the next day, one of these, Mauricio Hatchwell,
expressed the "indignation" of Jewish people in Spain at some
remarks the day before by Spain's President, "They are anti-Israeli
and anti-semitic statements and we cannot accept them." He was
referring to the mild - not to say cowardly - assessment by Zapatero
of Israel's attack on Lebanon which he described as "an excessive
use of force", something any high-school student of a course like
Citizenship, Ethics or Religion would identify with no difficulty as
a war crime.
In case such remarks by a
private citizen might not have impressed the Minister, Israel's then
ambassador to Spain, Victor Harel, according to the same newspaper,
made very clear that "the protest demonstrations against the attacks
on Lebanon held last night in various cities - ""in which
the government's party is included", he said - are a gift to Islamic
terrorism". And Harel added, lamenting, "although we are now
in our twentieth anniversary, I do not believe relations (between Spain
and Israel) are at anything like their best. One finds here very hard
criticisms, very unfair to Israel, going far beyond the EU consensus".
If one sets aside the Zionist
interference in Spain's politics, and the bad manners and contempt for
the Minister, for the PSOE and for Spanish society - in regard to which
one hears no patriotic protests or op-eds against the Zionists in El
Pais or in other media, in contrast to what happens with Chavez - one
can see that the above rebukes had an educative effect on Moratinos.
The award of two of the 2007
Prince of Asturias prizes to the Holocaust Museum (one refers here to
the historical one of the Nazis against the Jews, not the current, active
one of the Zionists against the Palestinians) and to the writer Amos
Oz, signified little more than that he had learned the lesson in time
to prepare public opinion for the recent declaration to the four winds
that Spain supports Israel "totally and absolutely". The Minister
is one of the signatories of the letters in support of Yad Vashem for
the Prince of Asturias 2007 Concordia prize. Among the other signatories
one finds those arch-protectors of human rights, Shimon Peres, Benjamin
Netanyahu, Vicente Fox, Kofi Annan, Hillary Clinton and Israel Meir.
One could fill a horror museum
with the results of the actions of these beacons of contemporary humanism,
with torture chamber, testimonies of massacres, recordings of children
torn to bits by missiles, stories of families buried alive in their
houses toppled by earth-movers and other princely examples of Judaeo-Christian
concord. So perhaps it is no surprise that a leading PSOE Minister can
hardly wait to add his signature to those of the group proposing the
prize.
While it may seem that things
are not going badly for Aznar, not all his money nor all his friends
will manage to clear his name from the list of reviled Presidents, where
his place is assured in perpetuity. His party and the deputies who cheered
his lies and blustering in Congress, slink away unjustly almost unobserved.
If Moratinos prefers Zionist
goodwill to his own good name, that is his own affair. Whoever wants
to can join him. But he has no right nor the authority to enlist everyone
in Spain in a revolting and illegal policy.
What appears hardly surprising
at all right now is that the PSOE shamelessly apes the foreign policy
of the Partido Popular under Aznar, stating publicly its unqualified
support for a criminal State and its extreme right wing policies. What
is perhaps surprising is that no PSOE member has handed in their party
card. After Spain's role in Lebanon, now Israel. Why not PSOI : Politicians
Submissive and Obedient to Israel?
translation copyleft tortilla
con sal
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.