Spanish Elections

[M]

What happened in Spain was terrible and unf\dermined some of my faith in human nature. Effectively, the Spanish people caved intio terrorism and allowed it to influence the democratic process. This has nothing to do with capitalism and socialism, militarism or pacifism. This has to do with an appeasement mindset, that perhaps if you seek accomodation with a murderer he will leave you alone.

This mindset has been popular in the West for at least a century, and here's why: in a democratic country, with an established tradition, most differences are resolved passibly. A dialogue exists between people, sometimes an angry one, but the communication is with words. Everyone wants something, and usually it is reasonable to work towards a sensible goal, often through compromise. Occasionally there are criminals who brake the code and do something unforgivable, and they are dealt with, sometimes with force, but even there we try  very hard to make sure they get a fair shake and justice is not arbitrary.

And so this mindset overwhelms us. Everyone is a pretty good person, or at least has reasonable goals. Then there are these junctures in history when we run up against a real monster, a truly pathological killer, someone who will stop at nothing, not murder, rape, oppression, enslavement, nor threatening the entire world with destruction. The classic example, of course, is Adolf Hitler. His arguments, we civilized folk of the West believed, were reasonable. The indemnities of Versailles was crushing. The Rhineland was indeed Germany's own backyard. The postwar borders were unfair. And who really cared about the Jews anyway? And so the West strove to be fair, to help Germany establish sensible borders.

At each turn the Nazis saw weakness. Allowing the Rhineland's militarization proved the West would avoid war at any cost. Allowing the anschluss meant the borders of Europe could be tampered with, the Munich pact recognized that even democraciers would not be protected because the allies trembled before Germany's might. And so the Germans grew stronger, and in the end at least 50 million lives were lost in the most terrible confict our world has ever seen.

What happened in Spain is niot about the war in Iraq. What happened was that Al Qaeda hit Madrid, slaughtered dozens, and within 80 hours the Spanish government had pledged to withdraw soldiers from Iraq, thus fulfilling one of Al Qaeda's goals. Make no mistake: Al Qaeda knows they have altered the balance of power between Paris and Washington, destroyed the old legend of Spanish Pride, and put a less hostile government in Spain. But that is not the main thing they have learned. They have found a terror tactic that works. They have found a fundamental, perhaps fatal, flaw of democracies. And they will not hesitate to use it again, and again, and again.

[M]

Now calculate it including SpanishAmerica, Spanish West Indies incl Trinidad, Phillipines, Guam, Two Sicilies, Milan, Sardinia, Malta, the Low Countries, Oran, Rio de Oro, and Rio Muni, please.

[M]

If you include Charles V's Habsburg Empire at it's greatest extent, then throw in much of Cental Europe as well.

[M]

Yes, before the line was moved from the the Madeiras to the Azores, Spain had a legitimate claim on Brazil too.