This is a weekly thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or IR history. I usually start off with coverage of some current events from a mix of countries I follow personally and countries I think the forum lives in or might be interested in. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
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Notes -
Spain
Last week I reported on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez finally securing another term through allying with the Catalan independence party Junts by offering amnesty for their illegal referendum. This is an unpopular move even among left wing voters and he may come to regret the alliance very soon. Puigemont, leader of Junts, has already threatened to withdraw his support and offer it to the conservatives if Sanchez does not take steps towards Catalan independence.
Is this a serious threat? The center right PP would only be able to hold a majority, even with Junts, if they worked with the far right Vox, a nationalist party literally created as a backlash to the Catalan independence referendum. Vox was so desparate to unseat the socialists that they promised to support a PP government even if they didn’t get any ministerial posts, but working together with their sworn enemy is surely a bridge too far (and presumably the same is true for Junts voters as well). So no, likely there is no actual coalition that could form a government, but things could be forced to another election, where the left wing parties would do worse, ironically partially because they’re kowtowing to Catalan demands at all. Sanchez’ rule is and will likely continue to be a very unstable one (and I do imagine he will probably hold onto power, only weakly so).
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