OBL RUINED IT FOR EVERYONE:

Basque terrorists finally call it a day (Boston Herald, March 25, 2006)

Al-Qaeda’s vicious and murderous terrorism seems to have had the unexpected effect of discouraging long-standing terrorist movements in Europe.

The announcement by ETA, the Basque-language initials for “Homeland and Liberty,” that it is swearing off violence for good in its campaign for independence from Spain is the second prominent example, the first being the announcement last year of the Irish Republican Army that it was ending its war for the unification of Ireland and turning to politics exclusively. [...]

Secession is not dead in Europe (or even in North America, where the status of Quebec in Canada is still open though happily not the subject of a terror campaign). Bombs still go off in Corsica from time to time. The Balkans are full of national causes. Kosovo and Montenegro are still officially part of Yugoslavia, though perhaps not for long. The Northern League’s campaign for an independent “Padania” in Italy may be invisible for the moment, but the resentments that spawned it are still there. ETA’s decision, we hope, will help persuade hotheads in these places, and others, that violence is the wrong tactic.

Of course, the key factor is that Europeans are no longer capable or willing to fight such self-determination movements. Franco is long dead.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 25, 2006 7:53 AM