I was unable to access the wikileaks cablegate website so I searched on other websites and came across this article. Due to Bush's interrogations while he was president, a sensitive message was delivered to Spain by a Florida senator. The message was: Don't indict former President Bush's legal brain trust for alleged torture in the treatment of war on terror detainees. Doing so would chill US-Spanish relations."
The "episode" that the article is referring to relates to five captives on Guatanamo Bay that have ties to Spain. However, it was done to stop a former Spanish attorney from investigating a torture complaint. The Bush insiders were accused of ordering the abuse of these detainees following the September 11, 2011 attacks.
http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/wikileaks-how-u-s-tried-to-stop-spains-torture-probe/
September 29, 2011
September 28, 2011
Spanish Housing Costs
The rising price of housing cost is a Growing concern for Spaniards. Between 1997-2002 prices sky rocketed 78% in Spain. It is a very hot issue in the next election for both parties to try and cover.Strong demand and low interest rates have helped fuel this incredible increase.
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2004/02/04MADRID604.html
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2004/02/04MADRID604.html
A Meeting About Africa
The cable I was most interest in was a cable about Johnnie Carson, The Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, and his meeting with the Spanish Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs. They discussed different issues prominent in West Africa. Angel Lossada, the Spanish Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, requested the U.S.'s opinion on getting involved with Africa. Some of the issues that Africa needed help with were, narcotics, terrorism, human trafficking, pirates, and drug traffickers. During this meeting Carson, stated that he realized the need to help take action in West Africa because a lot of the problems starting in Africa were causing problems in Spain as well. The end to the meeting consisted of Lossada asking for more help from the US and carson saying that when they work together, they are stronger. This cable is from February 16th 2010.
The cable can be found here.
The Crisis Taken to the Extreme
I read an article about a man that deliberately set fire to two cashpoints machines. His desired outcome was to be sent to jail. He explained that he only had 15 euros to his name, he didn't have a home, and he had no job. In his eyes, prison was much better then the life he was living. The court suspended the case and will most likely not send the man to jail. This article really put the intensity of the crisis into perceptive for me. Just in my spanish household itself, three out of four people are jobless. This article also lead me to think about what will need to be done to get out of the crisis. And I wonder if the change of office will make much of a impact on changing the economy.
The article can be found here
Election Outlook a month before March 14th Elections
This was one of the most interesting articles I found on Wikileaks. It is part of a document that details possible election results a month before the March 14th elections. It states that the polls show a Popular Party victory. The only things that may possibly stand in Popular Party leader, Mariano Rajoy’s, way is the Populist Party’s overconfidence, the public’s view of Rajoy’s passive persona, or if the 1300 Spanish troops in Iraq suffer large casualties. Yet even with these “wildcards” the article still states, as according to the polls and different analysts, the only major doubt during this election is whether or not the Populist party will win an absolute majority. And if so, what destruction this majority entails for the Socialist party.
King signs a new amendment to the constitution
I found this article about a new amendment to cap budget deficit to be quite interesting. It asserts this “revision to Article 135 of Spain's constitution is the fruit of a pact between the governing Socialists and the conservative main opposition Popular Party”. As we having been discussing the upcoming elections and Spain's political parties in class I thought it was relevant. What does this new legislation implicate for Spain? Not only in terms of solving the budget crisis, but also in terms of the shift in power that is approaching?
Last member of Franco's Regime targeted in Explosion
I thought this was pretty interesting considering we’ve been talking about Franco and his lasting influence on Spaniards today. Anyway it is a rather small article about how two small bombs were detonated outside of Manuel Fraga Iribarne’s childhood home in Galicia. The bombs didn’t hurt anyone and they only damaged the outside of the house, which has been turned into a museum by the Popular Party (conservative, or a la derecha, if you will).
Galicia has its own separatist movement called Resistencia Galega (REGA) which has claimed responsibility for many attacks on dozens of political party offices and banks, having said that, no one has taken responsibility for the bombs.
Manuel Fraga Iribarne was a minister under Francisco Franco’s regime. Then when Franco died he became vice president and Interior Minister (the Spanish Equivalent to Head of Homeland Security) under Carlos Arias Navarro's government. It was during this time that he lost a lot of popularity due to the strict measures against protesting he took during Spain’s transition to democracy. Once famously saying, “La calle es mia” (The streets are mine), the streets didn’t belong to the people and their protesting, but rather to the state. Once Spain became democratic he formed the Popular Party.
September 27, 2011
Final Day of Bullfighting in Catalonia
The Catalonia region of Spain had it's final bullfight on Sunday in Barcelona's monumental bullring. The enthusiasm of the crowd was very unusual, considering it is no longer the norm. Many animal rights activists speak out against bullfighting. Also, it has confronted a financial crisis which has put the business in trouble. Not only are the actual bullfighters affected, but also bull breeders in the countryside.
Leopolda de la Maza who has a form in Spain said, “next year will be for sure as hard as this year, if not worse, because we already have to absorb with this year’s excess supply” of bulls. He added: “A lot of bulls will just have to stay out on the field, which in economic terms is a disaster.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/world/europe/adeu-to-catalonias-matadors.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=spain
Leopolda de la Maza who has a form in Spain said, “next year will be for sure as hard as this year, if not worse, because we already have to absorb with this year’s excess supply” of bulls. He added: “A lot of bulls will just have to stay out on the field, which in economic terms is a disaster.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/world/europe/adeu-to-catalonias-matadors.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=spain
Extradition of two guantanimo prisoners
In february 2004, judge Baltasar Garzon requested the extradition of two detannies for he prosecution of a terrorist cell caught in Spain. The cell was lead by Barakas /yarkat and the two individuals were believed to be recruited by Barkas in Spain. The extradition request was accepted and the two detainnies in question:Jamil Abdul Latif Elbanna and Omar Amer Deghayes, were sent to Spain for prosecution along with a third Morrocan detainnie.
1.http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2004/02/04MADRID583.html
1.http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2004/02/04MADRID583.html
September 23, 2011
Spain and Libya Relations - Post Qadhafi Threat
In this Wiki leaks from the Embassy of Madrid, it states that due to Qadhafi’s threat to attack U.S. Facilities in Spain if the Ambassador to Tripoli went to Libya. The Embassy then immediately heeded his request, but now bares slight resentment towards Foreign Minister Ordonez. Especially considering that same day, Ordonez stated the last Qadhafi threat to Spain had actually been taken out of context and exaggerated. So this article tried to prove to its readers two main points: Spain’s current stance to Qadhafi is to appease, and Qadhafi’s volatility disallows Spain to trust his government’s assurances of safety.
Education Strikes Across Spain
On the news recently, I have seen many protests concerning the education system in Spain and could only pick up bits and pieces from the news reporters and mi madre. Luckily, this week I was able to find an article that helps us non Spanish speakers become a part of the conversation.
Last Wednesday (September 14) a protest was held in Madrid against the budget cuts towards education. These cuts focused mainly on reducing the need for temporary staff by having all “regular” teachers work an extra two hours a week. It is stated the cuts of the temporary teachers will add 13,000 to the already 4 million unemployed in Spain, “which at 20.9 percent has the European Union’s highest jobless rate”. The lack of temporary teachers also has far reaching effects in the education world itself. Without these teachers, programs in school that provide students with individualized attention will be significantly smaller, and in some cases, eliminated altogether. This is especially worrisome considering Spain has “one of the highest drop-out rates in Europe with about 30 percent of school leavers aged under 16 years”, and with these new budget cuts it seems as if this percentage will only increase.
This Wednesday (September 21), protests in Galicia have been organized and the movement definitely does not seem to be slowing down. And keep your calendars marked for October 22nd where a massive protest is planned in Madrid.
SIDE NOTE: Although both my sources are from Reuters, the US Reuters says the cuts save Spain 2 billion euros, while the Spain Reuters says the cuts save Spain 2 million euros. Then when trying to find a third source another number that popped up is 80 million euros. Sooo that’s peculiar.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/14/spain-teachers-idUSLDE78D0H820110914
September 22, 2011
Hikers released after two years from Iran
Two hikers were released from an Iranian prison. The two hikers, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, were picked up by Iranian officials on spying charges. The two were released from Irans famous prison Erin and recieved by swiss and omani officials because there is no US embassy in Iran. The 1million dollar bail was posted by the omani government and the release was secured by a joint effort between swiss and omani officials. The release comes just days before the president of Iran is two give speech in front of the United Nations. It is speculation that this was done as a way to ease the tension.
1. edition.cnn.com
1. edition.cnn.com
EU to handover financial transactions data to us
Sweden holds a conference over the Swift agreement between the U.S. and the European Union. Europe has agreed to share all banking data with th United States due to the recent shift within the SWIFT network. SWIFT is telecommunication company that relays all banking data betwen a station in the Netherlands and a spot within the United States due to customer disatisfaction the bank is now moving from the US to Switzerland, this means the CIA can no longer monitor the finances of Europe and the agreement was sparked.
September 21, 2011
Madrid Terrorist Attacks 2004
Interesting document on the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid. The document asserts the ETA was responsible for the attacks that resulted in at least 191 deaths. After some research I found it was concluded the ETA was not involved, instead the attacks were thought to have links to al-Qaida, and a Moroccan national was convicted . Nevertheless, it prompted my curiosity into researching the ETA and the the role they have in Spanish history.
U.S Weapon Sales
This is a Wikileak from the Regan administration in 1987. It is unclassified information on U.S plan to sell Saudi Arabians 500 million dollars in fighter plains after already selling war supplies to them. In the Article it shows the heated debate by congress and explains that saudi had given Aid to Nicaragua a In my opinion USA's Foreign Policy and Ambitious goals of The 80's-90's have created a disaster in the middle east. U.S set a proposal of over 12 billion dollars to the oil rich country at this time and fueled a war.
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/1987/05/87STATE154739.html
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/1987/05/87STATE154739.html
The unemployment rate in spain is skyrocketing for the youth of Spain. The Indigenent party of spain has been leading protests in Madrid to protest the unemployment that has been plaguing Spain. The have already had many rallies in spain and plan for one on Thursday. This is an artical explaining past rallies. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/05/18/spain.protests/index.html
Teacher Strikes in Madrid
A short article from the Associated Press about the strikes in Madrid and Galicia over the budget cuts to the education system. Illustrates how the struggling economy, in the midst of the Euro crisis all over Europe, is affecting everyday life in Spain. Protesters assert “Education is not an expenditure, but an investment”, and cuts to education will only worsen any problems Spain faces in the future.
Major ETA Attack on Madrid Foiled
My hope was to find an wikileak that really interest me. I found one that did just that. This article is about a major attack planned by the ETA that got intercepted by the police. On February 29th, the spanish police stopped two ETA members on the highway about a hundred miles outside of madrid. One member was driving a van with 500kg of explosives and the other was driving a lookout car. Their goal was said to be detonation of the explosives in Madrid, which would have left Madrid as a crater, 35 meters in diameter. Anyone with 60 miles of the explosion would have been killed. The police stated that the ETA members are inexperienced and prone to error. This tells me that this was not the first failed ETA mission. The article states that the ETA are determined to succeed and are aiming to lash out during high publicity times.
After I read this article, I learned that the ETA is an armed terroist group focused on gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country which is located in northern Spain and southern France. I was left wondering if ETA had any success stories? And what, if anything, are they up to now.
The link to my wikileak can be found aqui.
Illegal Immigration in Espana
The other day I was walking home from the beach. I was passing a bunch of vendors selling purses, jerseys, sunglasses, and other things. I was walking with my head phones in so I could not hear any sounds around me. All of a sudden the vendors grabbed up their sheets with all of their goods and started running. I looked up and saw two police men walking down the esplanada. This experience brought the question of illegal immigration quickly to my mind. What is immigration like in spain? Is it as big of a problem in spain as it is in the states? Is it hard for immigrants to enter the country? Where are most of the illegal immigrants from?
I looked up some research on it and found that in the last decade the amount of illegal immigration has decreased. I found some interesting numbers here.
September 20, 2011
Rising housing costs in Spain
This article is about the growing costs of houses in Spain. I found this article to be interesting because I had previously read about the Euro crisis and how greatly Spain has been impacted. The economic consensus that the price of real estate in Spain is much too steep is definitely a contributor to this crisis. This housing concern is categorized as the “fourth most important issue facing the nation.” The average price of new housing has doubled in Spain in the last eight years. In addition to this, the supply is much lower than the current demand.
Wikileaks – MADRID 000604
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2004/02/04MADRID604.html
Euro Crisis
The Euro crisis has greatly affected Spain, as it has the “highest combined budget and current account deficits” of any European country (except for Iceland). The article states that Spain has over 225 billion euros in debt, comparing this amount to the size of Greece’s economy. Spain has reached its highest unemployment rate, with 21 percent of people jobless, more than twice the European average.
This financial crisis has caused more than 40 percent of the 20-24 year old population unemployed.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/spain/index.html
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