Spain no longer wishes to be a part of the "Coalition" It will withdraw its troops by the end of June, unless UN assumes power. Is it something commendable or deplorable?

__________________

Neither. Like other states, Spain has the right to do what they feel is their best interests. I don't, though, think that arab extremeists will leave them alone; capitulation is often a bad strategy.

__________________


The best daily political cartoons can be found here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/commentary/index.html

What could the Islamists possibly hope to achieve by continuing targeting Spain?

__________________

I don't know what their next demand will be. What I do know is that France refused to join the coalition in the war against Iraq and Islamists are stillthreatening France because of the government's decision to bad headscarves.

Many of these extremist groups have, as their main objective, to install pro-Islam governments in all countries. If you were the leader of a country, would you really want to keep giving in until they demanded more than you could possibly deliver?

__________________


The best daily political cartoons can be found here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/commentary/index.html

Were I a leader of a country, under no circumstances would I comply with the terrorists' demands. Spain situation, however, is different. 90% of its population were against the war in Iraq. The socialits made withdrawal of the Spanish troops the cornerstone of their election campaign. So, the terrorist attacks did not change anything.

__________________

Of course it changed things. Before the attack, the populist party had a healthy lead in the polls. If the polls were right, which they usually are, the terrorists swayed enough of the population to cause the socialists to win the election.

The point is: that if the polls were right, the people complied with the terrorist's wishes by changing their government. This is completely different than Germany where the people chose Schroader because of his anti-war position.

__________________


The best daily political cartoons can be found here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/commentary/index.html

According to El Mundo newspaper, the PP was ahead of the socialists by mere 4.5%. I really doubt Spaniards changed their preferences because they were cowering with fear. I think they were just enraged by their government trying to blame ETA and dismissing all other suspects

__________________

That's a way to interpret what happened (not mine ). Another way is to think that some spanish people changed their mind because:

1- The government lied to them about who was responsible for the attack
2- It reminds them that Aznar involved them in a war almost none of them wanted

I don't think the first reaction of countries struck by a terrorist attack is to surrender. And that's specially true for the spanish people who have fought against ETA for years.

First of all hi to all!

The attack has definitely had some bearing on the election results, although its not all as strightforward as it seems. The PP has only actually lost about 4 hundred thousand votes, which is a lot, but nonetheless not as much for the PSOE to win so easily. There have been 3 million new voters. Those in Catalonia and the Basque country who were not pro independence have swayed to the left, and those who were in the left have pledged their vote to PSOE, not IU, the other leftist party, who have lost thousands of votes to PSOE.
To claim Spain has cowered due to the attacks is shallow and lacks hindsight. To say Aznar has lost the election (or rather Rajoy) because of Iraq is also an erroneous judgement. Aznar had fed up many people with his one man party crusade, his tirades against the left and the centralisation of power in Madrid. The Prestige disaster and the Yakovlev incident lost him many votes. What Aznar did do was leave Spain at its best economically. He overturned a country in 8 years. If he has now lost the election despite a good, some mighht say great legislation... somethings adrift. One thing is for sure, tensions in Spain are escalating. The 10 million odd voters of the PP will not sway their loyalty, and are already on the defence about the circumstances in which they lost the elections. The left are enjoying their success and are using their resentment towards the right wing. Nationalism is more of an issue than ever in the Basque Country and Catalonia, where ERC has risen drastically to become the 5th largest party. And the PSOE owes them big for handing them power in Catalonia. And PSOE keeps dwindling money to satisfy voters in andalucia, where they have become accustomed to privileges they fear losing if PP won...and the Basque Country.... Spain is a right mess, before we start thinking about who we side with in europe, lets see how we side with ourselves. Bad times are a-coming, just hope Kerry wins to ease mounting international pressure on the new govt
Over the past week, I have seen friends bicker, families arguing.... the resentment of the left towards the right has exploded, and ironically, the right have gone from absolute majority to leaders of the opposition, albeit with no political deals in sight.
The PP have the majority in the Senate, the second chamber for reviewing laws before these take effect, so PSOE are not free to do as they please.

Does the Senate have real power in Spain? In some countries the second chamber is just a formality...

__________________