July 6, 2004
THERE'S YOUR COLIN POWELL REPLACEMENT:
Aznar criticises EU Constitution (Honor Mahony, 06.07.2004, EU Observer)
José María Aznar, who stepped down in March, said on Monday (5 July) that the document agreed by EU leaders on 17-18 June was "deplorable" for Spain, according to AFP."Spaniards should think long and hard and then make the right decision", he warned.
He reserved special criticism for the new voting system, which he had fought hard against when he was in power.
He battled to keep the vote system under the Nice Treaty which gives Spain a disproportionate amount of power for its size meaning that, along with Poland, it could be counted as belonging to the big countries.
The new system, which reduced both Madrid's and Warsaw's power, was accepted by socialist José Luis Rodriguez Zapetero after he came to power in March.
"In this power game there were winners and losers ... unfortunately, Spain is one of the losers. Spain had a place among the big nations but it is now at a table with the small players", said the former prime minister.
Who better to help lead the War on Terror than a man who was one of the key players in our response to 9-11 and who has a score to settle with the terrorists for 3-11. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 6, 2004 11:02 AM
Didn't the U.S. resolve the issue of balancing
representation with a bi-cameral legislature
over 200 years ago?
There is no bigger indication that the EU is
just a sham govt. to reinforce the status
quo between states than an actual federation
of equal states.
Canada is making the same sort of noises about going to proportional representation as a cure for the regionalism of its politics. The real problem seems to be that federalism and a proportional parliament are incompatible. Having two strong houses where neither produces the executive/head-of-government does seem to have worked, but what's two centuries when your history goes back thousands of years?
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at July 6, 2004 12:15 PMCanada's problem is that it's population distribution does not make its geographical divisions work.
Once you factor out Quebec as only being concerned with itself, Ontario dominates all the other provinces. It's no wonder the western provinces (and the maritimes to a lesser extent) get so frustrated that they are never listened to.
In the US, the "empty quarter" does not feel as ignored because the rest of the US is so divided that no single geographic region dominates. California is big, but is counterbalanced by Texas. Besides the Northeast there is the Midwest and the South. No one can point to one specific region as being in control.
Ontario does not need to listen to Alberta or British Columbia, even if the bill being considered only really affects Alberta or British Columbia. When your own vote does not even affect the issue most important to you, it makes the entire point of "democracy" meaningless.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at July 6, 2004 1:17 PMMr. Judd:
Are you expressing a wish that the President let Mr. Powell go and then appoint a foreign national as his replacement? Even if the naturalization process were accelerated for Mr. Aznar (of whom I have been a great admirer for the past decade), would he take the job? He is a patriot second to no one in his native Spain.
By the way, he is as-if-not-more reviled by the Left in Spain as George Bush is in the United States.
Posted by: Joaquin Sust at July 6, 2004 3:09 PMWhy would he have to be naturalized?
Posted by: oj at July 6, 2004 3:21 PMOrrin, being an eeevil Republican, thinks we should outsource as much as possible.
Posted by: Timothy at July 6, 2004 4:10 PMOne doesn't need to be American to be SOS, was Kissenger?
Just can't be pres or VP.
Posted by: Sandy P at July 6, 2004 5:21 PMMight have a hard time getting a security clearance.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 7, 2004 12:46 AMCommunists never did.
Posted by: oj at July 7, 2004 1:04 AMTell that to Oppenheimer.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 7, 2004 3:23 AMCome now, Harry - he had it; he just couldn't keep it.
Posted by: jim hamlen at July 7, 2004 10:10 AMOppy's your example of taut security?
Posted by: oj at July 7, 2004 10:15 AMumm... I'm pretty sure Kissinger was a citizen.
He wasn't a spy. The Chevalier story proved that.
There were plenty of other spies who got through. Security clearances were run by the FBI, so were incompetent.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 7, 2004 10:52 PMHe didn't do the spying but knew most of the others were and approved of it because he believed a balance of terror preferrable to our monopoly. It's treason either way you slice it.
Posted by: oj at July 7, 2004 11:05 PM