[tanuki]

I hadn’t heard about the botched operation against ETA during the first Socialist government. This brings up interesting questions about how long and extensive were Sr. Rubalcava’s ties to ETA. I can see a scenario where cowardly Socialist politicians, after trying to deal with the Devil the hard way, find a dealmaker to bring him onto their side. After the moral shortfall that would take, what would the dealmaker and his partners be capable of doing to advance themselves further?

[J Aguilar]

No, they are not negotiating, tanuki. Everything was negotiated before 3/11, the question now is how to sell it to the public opinion.

Among other issues, it was agreed that ETA's political branch was going to return to the local and regional governments, which yields them access to tax and census information to identify the targets of their extortion; and subsidies to political parties up to €320 million. Therefore, the police operation against ETA's economic branch, in which was also involved a high rank officer of the Basque Nationalist Party, then and always allied of the Zapatero's government, contradicted what was agreed, and it had to be stopped at any cost, even in such rude way.