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The New Spain
The new Spain is lead by Zapatero. A pragmatic socialist, Zapatero's first measure when he won the Spanish elections a while ago was to withdraw from Iraq, a response to the Spaniards discontent and to the March 11 terrorist attack that caught Spain by surprise, ironically after having dealt with their own private terrorist/separatist group ETA. Actually, it was Aznar's poor handling of the attack that caused him a major loss and the loss of power. At the time, Aznar's government tried to point the finger at ETA, whose attacks are usually much smaller in scale, usually announced before time and with a very limited number of victims.
The newest thing that made the CNN headlines is Spain's deal with Venezuela. Chavez is buying 12 ships and 8 airplanes for defense purposes. The US has tried / is trying to block the deal by means of technicalities, but José Bono's response, Spain's Defense Minister, has been: "Autonomy is a condition that should adorn human beings. The administration of my country wants to be an administration worthy of a sovereign and autonomous country". Chavez has also taken the opportunity to express his ideas against imperialism.
In my opinion, if more European countries were like this, Europe wouldn't have so many difficulties trying to have a voice in the world, a voice so necessary when the US is governed by the likes of Dick Cheney and friends.
The story by the Spain Herald here.