Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spanish politics- Oh, dear. The Catalan Parliament has voted on seeking an amnesty and exercising the right to self-determination in response to the upcoming potential guilty verdict for the Catalan leaders behind the 2017 independence referendum. More here
- Wisely, the Vatican says it won't opposed the removal of Franco's bones to the family crypt in Madrid, notwithstanding the opposition of the local residents. Who fear disruptive 'pilgrimages' from Vox supporters. They could always shoot them . . .
- I suppose the PM means here the biggest possible risk. One can think of others bigger but less likely.
- Someone's view of the best place to live in Spain.
- Spanish justice is renowned for being anything but speedy. A case in point.
- These are said to be our regional government's priorities in negotiating with Madrid on the issue of autonomy:-
2. Financing
3. Health
4. Galicia's Weight/Influence in Madrid
5. Macho violence
6. Industry
7. The 2021 Jacobean Year
8. Brexit
9. Infrastructure
10. The political framework
Given what the PM is reported above to have said, it's odd to see Brexit so far down the list. Especially given the importance of fishing right to the Galicians.
Pontevedra Life
- On my way up the hill to my home yesterday, I gave a lift to a gypsy I know from his custom of begging at our gates every Sunday. 'Just drop me at the stow', he said. This turned out to be the Stop sign at the end of the road to the infamous gypsy settlement. I'm not sure but I think he explained that there was no 'final plosive P' in the gypsy language, Caló For which there might be some support here.
- I forgot my armbands last night so crossed to O Burgo bridge very carefully indeed. Looking back, it was clear that this is the least bright spot on a busy 4 lane ring road. An invitation to an accident.
- British MP's rushed back to the Commons on Wednesday, as there was so much to do before the end of October. They spent the day bawling at each other, which will only have further damaged their already parlous image with the public. Then, yesterday, about 640 of them found something better to do than attend a debate on The Principles of Democracy and the Rights of the Electorate, having earlier voted a day off for themselves today. A cabinet minister initiating the debate declared: The opposition were desperate to discuss these things, yet here we are, mid-afternoon on a Thursday, 2 days in, and I can count the number of Labour Members present on the fingers of one hand. YCMIU
- Still awaiting 'serious, legally binding' proposals from the British government, with a deadline of the end of next week. Chances can't be high.
- All you need to know on the Ukraine issue. Though there's an awful lot more in the ether.
- I'm still posing the question: Is there any limit to Frart's stupidity? Inter alia.
- See Ambrose Evans Pritchard on the impeachment issue below. I hope he's not being too optimistic. He usually isn't. On anything.
- Word of the Day: Vidrio.
- On Tuesday night, I chatted to a young English 'pilgrim' who said she was a chef and the writer on a book of Sri Lanka recipes. On Wednesday, I took at a look at the reviews on Amazon. As usual) these ranged from many of 5 down to several of 1. Anyway, this morning I received an email which I think is in the main Sri Lanka language, Sinhala. Spooky or what?
Like Watergate there is a 'cancer on the presidency' and it looks terminal for Donald Trump: Ambrose Evans Pritchard.
The release of the whistleblower complaint against Donald Trump is not a smoking howitzer but it probably spells the end of the Trump presidency as we know it.
The coming months will be consumed by impeachment war on Capitol Hill. The Washington press corps will enter a feeding frenzy. Subpoenas will fly. The United States will tear itself apart.
This has potent implications for financial markets and for the global geopolitical landscape. The poisonous atmosphere on Capitol Hill makes it even less likely that there will be any fiscal stimulus if the US economy slows further and drops to stall speed. It therefore raise recession risk, ceteris paribus.
The CIA official behind the complaint was not a direct witness to events. He was not in the room when Mr Trump asked Ukraine’s leader to cough up dirt on Joe Biden, the Democrat front-runner for the 2020 elections. He is identified in the text of the CIA inspector general’s report as having a political ‘bias’.
Some Republicans in Congress (though not all) are seizing on these points. Mr Trump’s political base is already calling the affair a plot by the deep state, or score-settling by the CIA. This has created the conditions for a long and bitter fight. But weaknesses in the whistleblower case do not change the fundamental facts.
There will be long grueling hearings on Capitol Hill. Testimony taken under oath will peel away layers of the onion until the truth is out. That is the lesson of Watergate.
As the inspector general says, the information taken as a whole appears “credible”, points to a “flagrant abuse”, and meets the threshold of an “urgent concern”. The details are frankly devastating.
During my Washington years I covered both the Iran-Contra hearings against Ronald Reagan and the scandals leading up to Bill Clinton's impeachment. This one feels different.
It is more like the “cancer on the presidency” under Richard Nixon. My guess is that there will be a drip-drip of revelations as there was after that “third-rate burglary”. White House aides will squeal as the pressure mounts. A John Dean will appear soon enough.
“The President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main political rivals,” states the whistleblower.
The call to the Ukrainian leader occurred days after Mr Trump had issued instructions to “suspend all security assistance to Ukraine”. One might infer that the White House was using $400bn of US aid to put the screws on a vulnerable country.
The unfortunate Volodymyr Zelensky was asked to dish the dirt on Joe Biden and his son, as well as turning over the servers used by the Democratic National Committee in 2016.
The letter alleges that horrified White House lawyers understood the significance of this malfeasance at once and quickly conspired to cover up the call. They ordered officials to “lock down” the transcripts by transferring the records. The Attorney-General was allegedly involved. Mr Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani appeared to be acting as enforcer against Ukraine, running a parallel State Department.
Adam Schiff, the Democrat chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the transcripts of the telephone call (what we have so far) smack of a mob shakedown. “This is how a mafia boss talks, and it’s clear that the Ukraine president understands exactly what is expected of him”.
When the House impeached Bill Clinton for perjury in the Lewinsky affair (the wrong abuse of power in my view, but never mind), Senators refused to convict. They could sense the national mood. The American people did not want their president toppled for a sexual affair, perjury or no perjury.
The Ukraine affair touches deeper on American democracy. And the Republican leadership does not regard Mr Trump as one of their own. They tolerate him.
It would not surprise me to see them turning on him if - and when - the hearings start to chip away at his poll ratings. I do not think he will succeed in playing the martyr to energise his base. The facts are too awful.
To the extent that the affair also damages Joe Biden - which it does - it catapults Elizabeth Warren into pole position for the Democratic nomination. This is a quirky turn.
There is now a higher chance that she will be the next US president. She is ultra-protectionist by conviction, unlike Mr Trump who at least pays lip service to free trade.
She is proposing an American variant of Corbynism. A follower of French neo-Marxist Thomas Piketty, she wants a wealth tax, free healthcare for all, workers on company boards, and the immediate shutdown of oil and gas fracking. She also wants an active devaluation policy. This means currency war.
On balance, it means China may think it better to try to secure a quick trade deal with Mr Trump, judging that he is now sufficiently weakened to need a 'victory', and that they would face their real nemesis with a President Warren. If so, we could see a paradoxical market rally in the short-term.
In the Nixon and Clinton impeachments there was never any serious likelihood that these two presidents would provoke a ‘wag the dog’ conflict abroad to deflect attention and muddy the waters. We can have no such confidence in Trump. He would not hesitate.
Fortunately, the US military and foreign policy staff would resist such an abuse of American power. But it is an extraordinary and dangerous situation for the world that it has come to this.
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