ETA declares permanent ceasefire

[Combat Ingrid]

[Dr Strangelove]

Why did they cut the eye holes in a slanted fashion? Are they trying to pass as Chinese terrorists?

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Saras
I'd hit it (subject to t&c set forth in master agreement)

see this is why you quote, and preferably crop out the other bozo from the picture.

[Timexwatch]

It's like Hitler declaring a ceasefire in the bunker. ETA has been on the ropes for a long time and hasn't really recovered from the El Corte Ingles bombing in Barcelona.

Don't be surprised if the street violence continues and a "splinter" group continues to set off the occasional bomb.

[Zkribbler]

I always wondered whether President Bush was planning on invading northern Spain to attack ETA or the Republic of Ireland to attack the IRA. This is at least one less potential war.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Why did they cut the eye holes in a slanted fashion? Are they trying to pass as Chinese terrorists?

Chinese terrorists are everywhere

Uh, or maybe they are Japanese?

[DaShi]

They look more like greys.

[Vince278]

Originally posted by DaShi
They look more like greys.

The vast majority of Basques are known for having a very unusual blood-type.

[Agathon]

They must be the Basque Inquisition, judging by that get up.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid

ZOMFG LOLZ!!!!111!

[OliverFA]

The Times did a very good analysis of the situation in this editorial:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2098815_2,00.html

SPAIN AT PEACE, OR SPAIN IN PIECES
Foreign Editor's Briefing By Bronwen Maddox

OF COURSE, it depends what Eta means by “permanent”. The previous ceasefire in 1998 (its tenth) lasted only a year.
But there are good reasons to believe that it means it this time (although police say that, like the IRA, it may lose none of its taste for organised crime).

The huge popular revulsion against terrorism since the September 11 attacks — and even more so since the 2004 Madrid bombings, in which 191 died — is just one reason why the ballot box now looks likely to be better than bombs at winning more independence for the Basque region.

The political conundrum facing Spain is how much autonomy the Government should now give. It has already given far more than many European countries would contemplate — more, again, to Catalonia this week — putting at risk, some say, the integrity of the nation.

The reasons for Eta’s announcement are no mystery. Many factors have come together to put pressure on the group:

The biggest has been September 11, 2001, and the aftermath. Eta had gradually scaled down its attacks (there have been no fatal ones since May 2003). That showed that it recognised that the Madrid bombing had made terrorism unthinkable.

Better co-operation between French and Spanish police, and a series of spectacular arrests, had made great inroads into the group’s leadership.

The Basque region was suffering from the effects of terrorism. Mikel Buesa, an economics professor at Complutense University, in Madrid, this week put the cost of Eta terrorism to the Basque region at €9 billion a year between 1993 and 2002 as businesses refused to invest there.

The Government had offered Eta talks in May if it renounced violence.

The Basque separatist party Batasuna has also been looking for a way to take part legally in next year’s municipal elections. In March 2003, the Supreme Court finally approved the Government’s request to ban the party, even though it denied that it was Eta’s political wing.

If Eta does stick to its promise, what then? It is not about to become a band of angels. This week, it claimed responsibility for nine non-fatal attacks in February and March (such as motorway bombs).
It retains a core of support, judging by the big rallies triggered by the suicide of Igor Angulo, one of two Eta members to die recently in prison.

Police caution also that it may continue to operate its networks of extortion, much as the IRA has persisted with organised crime even as its paramilitary activities dwindled.

Many businesses in the Basque region have been plagued for years by its demands for cash, under threat of reprisals against families. An estimated 20 businesses have been firebombed in the past year for failing to pay Eta’s “revolutionary tax”.

The Popular Party, the conservative Opposition, accuses the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of being too soft on Eta by even countenancing talks. But the split goes far beyond the narrow question of that terrorist group.

This week, conservatives also clashed with Zapatero for backing a new and controversial statute for Catalonia which refers to it as a “nation”.

The Popular Party says that this violates the spirit of the 1978 Constitution, three years after the end of the Franco dictatorship, which gave that label only to Spain as a whole.

The new law, appproved on Tuesday by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Lower House of parliament, also gives Catalonia the right to keep more of its revenues, and not send them to poorer regions.

Conservatives say that this also offends the attempt by the Constitution to ensure the economic solidarity of the whole country.

Basque separatists will now be looking at securing their region even more autonomy.

To try to calm the separatist movement in the Basque region and Catalonia, Madrid, over the years, has devolved far more power than many governments would want. It needs to work out where it plans to stop.

It is good news that terrorists plan to give up bombs for the ballot box — but that does not mean that their supporters have given up their demands.

I fully endorse that text.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Brachy-Pride

The chick in spandex looks surprisingly hot given that her boyfriend (and likely her) is a geek.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Winston
Actual picture from the televised declaration..

Nice caps, chaps. But you really need to work on that self-confidence, I'm sure you're not that ugly looking.

Some kids from the swedish antifascists AFA wanted to release exactly this kind of video in the aftermath of the EU riots in Gothenburg in 2001. Thankfully they were stopped by some older and saner antifascists...

[DaShi]

Damn antifascists, ruining it for everyone!

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Oerdin

The chick in spandex looks surprisingly hot given that her boyfriend (and likely her) is a geek.

Um, that is the boyfriend. Thank your lucky stars the girl is under wraps.