Sabre rattling in Spain | 42 comments (42 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Saber rattling in Spain (none / 1)

That Bono character is fighting every good cause, from the cancellation of third-world debt to the seperation of army and government.

Ok seriously, very interesting stuff here Migeru.

I'd dismiss that lieutenant-general on the spot, with a demotion going along with his retirement.

As for Catalonia, frankly, in the 21st century, no civilized country is going to even consider stopping a region from proclaimining independence (which this isn't even about). It's just not even possible - the backlash from the media, from the world, would be so immense. Besides no soldier would want to shoot. So considering that this would be the case for independence, militarily stopping a region from being more autonomous just doesn't cut it at all.

by Alex in Toulouse on Sun Jan 8th, 2006 at 06:37:12 AM EST

Re: Saber rattling in Spain (none / 0)

Bono is just the Minister of Defence, but I have to agree that Zapatero's goverment is fighting for all the good causes.

Regarding Catalonia's autonomy statute, this is not something that the Catalan parliament can do on their own. They submitted a draft to the national Parliament and it is not being debated and amended. If it is passed, it will have the rank of Ley Orgánica, second only to the Constitution itself. As such, it cannot contradict the constitution. It would then be possible to file an unconstitutionality appeal before the Constitutional Court, whose ruling would stand. So Lt. Gen. Mena is out of line in any case.

It may be of interest in this case that Mena was due to retire in march, so he may have felt that he did not have anything to lose, or he might really not have realised the impact that his words would have.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 8th, 2006 at 10:06:54 AM EST
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Re: Saber rattling in Spain (none / 0)

As such, it cannot contradict the constitution.[..]So Lt. Gen. Mena is out of line in any case

Putting it this way, then it's clear that this guy is totally out of line. As you say it may be because he wanted to leave with a bang.

Regarding Bono, I was just making another one of my trademark lousy jokes (referring to the U2 singer).

by Alex in Toulouse on Sun Jan 8th, 2006 at 10:10:41 AM EST
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D'uh EOT (none / 0)

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 8th, 2006 at 10:44:14 AM EST
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More typos (this one serious) (none / 0)