THE CATALAN TRAGEDY
The ecstasy and the agony. Puigdemont's declaration of Catalan independence and its immediate suspension:-
HT to Lenox of Business over Tapas for that.
Steps forward?? The Catalan president has said he's open to dialogue and the Spanish president has replied that he's willing to discuss anything that's within the law. So, probably no real progress. Possibly more encouraging is the assurance of the PSOE leader that President Rajoy has agreed to a parliamentary commission on the reform of the Spanish constitution with the aim of revising the relationship between the centre and Spain's 17 regions (the Autonomous Communities). Possibly jam tomorrow. And maybe after elections which have strengthened Rajoy's hand in non-Catalan Spain. So, just a chimera far away on the horizon?
The Current Situation: Here's Don Quijones' doomladen overview. And his pessimistic take on current (non?)developments. The euphoria, he says, is surely premature. And he has to be right about this.
What's Happened: Madrid has given the Catalan president a few days to say whether he's pregnant or not. If he says he is, he'll be given 2 or 3 days to get an abortion. If he doesn't, Madrid will apply the - so far unused Article 155 of the Constitution - and rip baby Cataluña from the womb in a violent caesarean operation. And all hell will break loose.
The Catalan Nationalist Players: I've mentioned that both the Catalan and Spanish presidents are right wing capitalists. Which can't really be said of the former's main coalition partner - the CUP (the 'Coop'). Which is a rabidly nationalistic party which, Lenox reminds us, wants to create a “socialist, feminist and ecologically sustainable Catalan republic". Politics, they say, makes for strange bedfellows but nothing could be odder than this couple. It surely won't last much longer. Especially if Puigdemont resiles further next week from his bewildering semi-declaration of independence of Tuesday last.
Cataluña Conclusion: All so bloody predictable. All so bloody tragic for both Cataluña and Spain. Not to mention the EU and the world. The genie is out of the bottle and can't be stuffed back in. We now await to see what shape it assumes. And how much violence and bloodletting it engenders. I say 'the genie' but there are really two of the damn things, fighting to the death.
Spain Conclusion: Spain is still 'different'and will never be the same again. Both Catalan and Spanish prideful nationalists are heading for a fall of unquantifiable proportions. With the price being paid by everyone else. You'd think they'd have all learned something from the 1930s but apparently not. Those who don't study history are condemned to re-live it, said Santayana. It certainly looks like it in this case.
Global Conclusion: Nationalists can be very, very stupid. But I knew that already.
Let's hope I'm being too pessimistic.
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