There is a popular joke among Spaniards these days, it says: “In what do you think Bolivia and Spain are similar? The answer is that Bolivia has a Department of the Navy but does not have coastline. Spain has a Department of Justice but not justice! In itself and in view of what is going on in the Spanish courts at the moment it is not so funny, but could be considered realistic. Read the rest of this entry »

Friday 13 means in many countries bad luck. France, Austria and seven other countries in Europe are probably agreeing with that now as yesterday, January the 13, the US based ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut France and Austria triple -A rating by one notch to AA+, and downgraded the other seven countries -Spain, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia and Slovenia two notches. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Sunday, Spain held national elections. It was a rainy day in most of the country, almost everyone seemed to know in advance what the results were to be, which after almost eight years of the Socialists (PSOE) in power it was to be expected. Expected in our days of crisis and unemployment. Read the rest of this entry »

More than four decades of violence are hopefully going to end in Spain after the Basque separatist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatsuna or Basque Country and Freedom) announces the expected end to violence in the negotiations that are beginning today. Read the rest of this entry »

July 18, 1936 was a very hot Saturday… That is how many of those who were In Spain that year remember what in fact became the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, which would last until April 1, 1939. Read the rest of this entry »

The situation in Spain is getting tense with more and more protests in most of the large cities. What began on May 15 in Madrid as a movement of the “indignados”(those who feel indignation) against the country high unemployment and their loathing of the politicians, both the ones in power and those in the opposition, has been growing and not only in the capital but in many other cities. Read the rest of this entry »

While in the United States the high-speed rail does not appear to have a good future, as it has been one of the programs cut from the budget, Europe is going the opposite way. Read the rest of this entry »