»

[KennyR]

The Spaniards have thrown out their conservative government, replacing them with the Socialist party. Despite 90% of Spanish people being against the war in Iraq, the conservative Popular Party in power supported it anyway, and now they've paid the price.

Spaniards have said to have flooded the voting booths in unusual numbers, bomb or no bomb, to show their contempt for their leaders supporting an unwanted war in their name.

BBC Story.

Now...why isn't there a gloat smiley? :-)

[that_punk_guy]

KennyR wrote:
Spaniards have said to have flooded the voting booths in unusual numbers, bomb or no bomb, to show their contempt for their leaders supporting an unwanted war in their name.

Wouldn't it be nice to see similar happenings in certain other countries? :-)

[FluffyMcDeath]

And Bush kept saying "it's ETA, it's ETA" to try and help them out. Geez, he could have tried harder to help them out a year ago, by like, not leaning on them to back his crusade.

Ha. Now he has to deal with socialists. That's gotta hurt.

[KennyR]

tpg wrote:
Wouldn't it be nice to see similar happenings in certain other countries? :-)

Yes, provided that country actually has a credible socialist movement. In the US where it seems to be most needed, if you mention the word "socialist" most people seem to reach for their .38. (Or a dictionary. ;-))

"They take away your liberties! By uhm, not going to war when the people don't want to and giving people jobs! {bleep}s!"

:-D

[iamaboringperson]

Ha. Now he has to deal with socialists. That's gotta hurt.

[Cyberus]

KennyR wrote:

Yes, provided that country actually has a credible socialist movement. In the US where it seems to be most needed, if you mention the word "socialist" most people seem to reach for their .38. (Or a dictionary. ;-))

Aww, come on! "most people"? I see what your point is, but you shouldn't really be implying that the American people are all gun-toting hicks or stupid.

Countries indeed have political traditions that are difficult to change, and historically the US has not pursued particularly socialist policies, but most of the nations that have are in a terrible state as a result.

You just ask someone from Finland if they would rather have had Finland being a SSR, which probabky would have happened if they hadn't fought the 'winter war' against the Soviets. Look how prosperous Finland is and how good its standard of living

Even though Estonia has seen the most foreign investment since 1991 and has one of the highest GDPs of E European countries, the journey across the Baltic sea from Tallinn to Helsinki highlights the difference between a country with a socialist legacy and one without.

I believe that every country should have a strong socialist voice in parliament. But to have a socialist government would be terrible.

[Glaucus]

A BBC correspondent in Madrid says criticism of the way government ministers handled the initial investigation into the attacks may have lost them the election.

"It's the first time I voted. I feel very happy because the government had to change... because of the Iraq war," a Spanish law student told the BBC.

If it is true that Al Qaeda is behind this attack (and it does seem like they were), then this may in fact be the first time their terror attacks have had a direct effect in the down fall of a government - and a Western democracy to boot! This wasn't how the war on terror was supposed to happen, was it?

As for Spain, well, I have mixed feelings. I'm no fan of the socialists in general, so I can't say I'm happy to see them win. But on the other hand, I didn't care much for Aznar either and his support for the Iraq war - he got what he deserved. I'm sure Tony Blair took special note of the outcome.

Btw, what is the new government's policy on Iraq? Will they pull out?

- Mike

[Glaucus]

iamaboringperson wrote:

Awe, don't cry Iama, Greece elected a new, slightly less socialist govenment just last week. Of course they're still anti-Iraq war and most certainly anti-US, but 1 of out 3 aint bad, right? ;-) :-D

- Mike

[BADHead]

Its a tragedy what happend in Spain.

I think this only the start of the political fall out.I
only hope terrorists dont think they can influence election
outcomes by such cowardice acts

[Fade]

You guys act like this this is something unusual for Spain.
Aznar was the exception, not the Socialist party.
They have just gone back to their old way of thinking.

[manicx]

Glaucus wrote:
Awe, don't cry Iama, Greece elected a new, slightly less socialist govenment just last week. Of course they're still anti-Iraq war and most certainly anti-US, but 1 of out 3 aint bad, right? ;-) :-D

- Mike

Yes, we are {bleep}s for not electing the Socialists again. What a terrible mistake. Now, they accepted NATO's help for the Olympics. This sucks. I am sure that Al Qaeda people will not be happy for that. Just one week in the leadership and they've done a big mistake here.

Anyway, Spanish people proved that they are a democratic nation. Brave result against a chicky {bleep}. Nice for him hoing home, nice for Socialism to be back. Happy man manicx :-) !

[Glaucus]

To answer my own question....

Btw, what is the new government's policy on Iraq? Will they pull out?

Spain PM-elect: Troops out of Iraq

It seems that "Old Europe" just got bigger as the "coalition of the willing" just got smaller. This leaves Britain and Poland as the only two major European players in Iraq.

- Mike

[Glaucus]

Yes, we are {bleep}s for not electing the Socialists again. What a terrible mistake. Now, they accepted NATO's help for the Olympics. This sucks. I am sure that Al Qaeda people will not be happy for that. Just one week in the leadership and they've done a big mistake here.

It's hard to say. If Al Qaeda is to attack on the Oylmpics they would have already had it planned out and had the ball in motion for an attack. If an attack does happen, at least with NATO security forces in Greece at the time, Greece won't be given 100% blame for it. Normally I would say Greece is rather low on Al-Qaeda's hit list, but the Olympics changes things. Generally speaking though, terrorists don't attack when you most expect it, so it's not very likely that they will attack during the games.

- Mike

[angrybrit]

So soon before the elections. Hmmm...

Did ETA commit this act of terrorism, using fake evidence à la some Al-Queda scapegoat, to finally push out the anti-ETA political party and install some appeasers to bend to the ETA terrorist's will (Basque independance)?

TERRORISTS: 1, FREE WORLD: 0

Next round...

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna - Wikipedia

[Wilse]

I think one of the main factors was the perception that
Aznar was trying to blame Eta, so as not to look
culpable in reaping the harvest of supporting the war.

Whether he actually did try to blame Eta deceptively is moot.

It also reminded people in Spain how much they were against the war.

Spain is doing rather well under Aznar and could very easily slide
into decline under the socialists but I believe for many it
became a matter of principle.

The situation in Spain before the attacks was not entirely
different to that here in the UK, which is a bit worrying
with election time not that far away.

The thing is, the Government can repeat the same old
pish, "We will not give in to terrorism", but if the
electorate think the gov't brought that terrorism on
themselves, it doesn't matter, they're out.

In this case, the terrorists *did* win.