[Unam Sanctam]

Well that's an optimistic take. I hope you're right and the Socialists show some backbone against terrorism, although the Spanish electorate has served to embolden the terrorists with their craven surrendur to the terrorists' dictates.

[empirekin768]

Spain is no pacifist nation, she's intensely nationalist. If you just looked at press coverage of our demonstrations you'd think the same of us at present.

The PSOE isn't a pacifist party either. Take a look at their long policy history relative to ETA. Pacifism in Spain works like pacifists in the US more than in the UK. That is, a militant policy is ignored or supported by the pacifist sector if it's taken by the PSOE (or the Democrats here) and opposed if it's taken by the PP (or GOP here).

[empirekin768]

Well that's an optimistic take. I hope you're right and the Socialists show some backbone against terrorism, although the Spanish electorate has served to embolden the terrorists with their craven surrender to the terrorists' dictates.

 

Well, even if I am wrong and the opposite (although unlikely) comes to pass, that is Spain completely withdraws from the WOT and begs AQ not to hurt them...so what? We're a few years into a multi-decade or even century long struggle here. During the course of this conflict, governments will rise and fall. The PP wasn't going to stay in power for the next fifty years anyway.

What I believe this will ultimately do, is cause a realignment in Spanish politics much as it did in the US, where both parties become nominally anti-Terror. The investigation and the response now becomes the PSOE's responsibility, which will have quite an effect on their collective perceptions of the events.

 

[empirekin768]

See, I told you so: "My immediate priority will be to fight all forms of terrorism," Zapatero vowed after the minute elapsed. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/75439/1/.html