Blame Israel and the USA!

In response to the sudden influx of 'immigrants' into the Spanish town of Ceuta, the Spanish government has determined that the fault lies with... Israel!  And the United States!  Even Iran agrees with this assessment.  Gee, it must be true.

No, it isn't a logical response to the incentives of recent Spanish laws and court rulings.  Spain just legalized hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and the Spanish courts have ruled that deporting those who arrive by water is near impossible.  Look at those incentives.  Spanish citizenship - with its sweet, sweet welfare checks - is just a short swim away.  But no, that can't possibly explain the hordes of invaders.

Clearly, Israel is furious about Spain's stance on the Gaza issue.  And the US is peeved that Spain barred US access to Spanish airbases during the dustup with Iran.  Obviously, Israel and the US engineered this border breach to punish Spain.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez needed to shift blame from his disastrous policies that have set a reversal of the Reconquista into motion.  He's a socialist so he isn't going to take responsibility for this.  Better to blame those who are already unpopular with the Spanish people.  Maybe they will buy it.

As for Iran, they have jumped on Sanchez's bandwagon since it drives a wedge between Western nations.

A Glimpse of Europe's Future

Ceuta is a Spanish enclave on the coast of Africa.  It has been a Spanish enclave since 1415.  The population is somewhere around 80,000 people.  This week, tens of thousands of Moroccans flooded into the area, overwhelming border enforcement and leaving residents in panic.  Thanks to the new law passed by the Spanish government, these folks can claim asylum.  If that happens, the flood will continue until Spain is destitute and no longer Spanish.  The seriousness of the situation is clear in that fellow Schengen Zone members are closing their borders to Spain.

Where some European countries (e.g., Denmark, Sweden, Italy) have begun to push back against the continuing waves of non-assimilating immigrants, others have left the borders open (e.g., U.K., Spain, Ireland).  Unlike the United States, which is not a country based on an ethnicity, most Europeans are.  Thus, though a person from Japan could become an American, he could not become English, French, or Swedish.  Rudyard Kipling may have been born and raised in India, but he was always an English.  On the current path, Europe is doomed.  The immigrants are having far more kids.  Without remigration in the very near future, much of Europe will suffer a similar fate to Ceuta.

Reconquista

In this short video, Professor Casagranda once again tries to mislead the viewer.  Oh, how can a different people reconquer a region?  You aren't the Germanic people who were kicked out by the invading Arabs.  It was never yours, so this is just a landgrab.  Casagranda has chosen the framing of Germanic people being displaced by Arabs rather than Christian people displaced by Muslims.  With that change in framing, the previously Christian Iberian Peninsula was once again Christian.  Hey, now Reconquista makes perfect sense.  I could figure that out and I don't have a PhD.

The Pride and the Passion (1957)

1810, Spain

Napoleon has defeated Spain and placed his brother, Joseph, on the throne. During their retreat, the shattered remnants of the Spanish Army abandon the largest cannon in their possession. Royal Navy Captain Anthony Trumbull (Cary Grant) lands in Spain with plans of retrieving the giant cannon, both to aid the British efforts against Napoleon and to keep it out of the hands of the French. With the Spanish Army in disarray, he finds himself bargaining with a shoemaker turned guerrilla leader, Miguel (Frank Sinatra). Miguel agrees to assist the captain in recovering the gun, but insists it is used to liberate Avila before it can be transported to the British. Trumbull reluctantly agrees. There follows a series of adventures as Miguel's band of guerrillas battle French patrols and recruit help along the way. More importantly, Miguel's girlfriend, Juana (Sophia Loren), falls in love with the dashing British officer. Will she stay with Miguel or leave with Anthony? This is the most important question of the film.

The story is ludicrous. The idea that these guerrillas can haul this titanic gun across the countryside while not being noticed by French cavalry patrols is silly. That the French did find them in a canyon at one point and proved unable to capture the gun was unbelievable. When the gun is finally emplaced before the walls of Avila, the French just look on in amazement but don't take any offensive action. Nope, we'll just wait here on the walls. When the wall is breached, do the French have cannon ready at the breach to mow down the Spanish guerrillas? Nope.

The love triangle is no more engaging. Miguel is hard to like and Anthony is Cary Grant! Despite some great headliners in the cast, none of them give a noteworthy performance. Sinatra is bland and boring, doing little more than reading his lines off cue cards. He is not helped by a script that has him moping about Juana's growing attachment to Anthony. Some alpha male you are, buddy. Grant is similarly hampered by a clunky script that sees him lovestruck and perhaps joining this silly campaign just to stay near Juana. Though Sophia Loren did not speak English at the time and had to deliver her lines phonetically, she gets the best role here. Of course, she is the object of everyone's affection. Exactly why this woman is following the guerrillas is unclear, but she often feels like the 3rd in command.

Mediocre. Skip.

Catalonian Independence

As a fan of federalism and local control, the idea of Catalonian independence sounds great.  The region has a its own language, Catalan, which I tried unsuccessfully to learn while in Barcelona.  All the signs are in both Spanish and Catalan.  With Spain having surrendered a large chunk of its sovereignty to the European Union, why can't Catalonia ditch the middleman in this arrangement and have its own representatives at the EU?

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

This is foundational to the United States and who are we to oppose others making the same decision?  If a people declare the intention to dissolve the bonds, then those wishing the bonds to continue need to make the case.  A majority vote to leave - whether held legally or not - does not happen in the response to good government.  Of course, if Spain allows Catalonia to go, the Basque country is next.  Freedom and centralized authority do not mix.

 

If Catalonia secures independence, I recommend an immediate withdrawal from the EU.  Don't trade Madrid for Brussels.