Giles Tremlett, The International Brigades

See, Giles Tremlett, The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War.

Long After Civil War, Spain Searches for Its Fallen

This is pretty fascinating.

Inside the Valley of the Fallen, a search for two brothers killed in the Spanish Civil War https://t.co/RqoYHOpX7E pic.twitter.com/0qQS9mFHpK

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 10, 2018

At LAT, "Inside the Valley of the Fallen, a search for two brothers killed in the Spanish Civil War":

In the decades since Francisco Franco's death, the Spanish dictator's colossal Valley of the Fallen mausoleum has stood untouched in the rolling countryside outside Madrid, guarded by a towering cross.

Run as an abbey by Benedictine monks on a site owned by the state, Franco's monument has survived Spain's transition to democracy, socialist governments and a host of experts pressing to remove the generalissimo's body and turn the mausoleum into a modern museum for a democratic era.

Above all, the site has remained beyond the reach of families hoping to retrieve the remains of relatives they never wanted buried there alongside the dictator and the bodies of more than 33,000 victims of the brutal civil war he started.

Until now.

Late last month, the first beams of light illuminated the vaults that hold the dead as a team of structural engineering experts entered an ossuary in search of the bodies of two men — Manuel Lapeña, a leftist union leader and father of four, and his brother Antonio. Both were executed by Franco's forces in Aragon during the first days of the civil war in the summer of 1936.

"It is a place beyond the bounds of democracy," said Eduardo Ranz, the lawyer who represents the Lapeña family and others attempting to claim the remains of eight other men buried in the crypt of the Valley of the Fallen's basilica.

"There is no other monument in the world like it, celebrating the victory of one group from the same nationality over another," Ranz said. "The victors stole the very identity of the defeated."

The mausoleum was built in part by political prisoners in the decades after the 1939 civil war victory of the general's Nationalist faction. Over the years, thousands of war dead — Nationalists and Republicans alike — were unearthed from graves across Spain and interred, often anonymously, in the basilica, an apparent attempt to bring the nation together.

Only a third of the 33,847 dead who rest with Franco in his mausoleum are named on their tombs. The rest are stacked in ossuaries inside vaults that have deteriorated over the decades. Identifying the remains is a daunting task, and the relatives' best hope now rests on a report being prepared by the state institution National Heritage after last month's exploration, in which the viability of identifying and safely removing remains will be assessed.

Whatever the answer, relatives such as Purificacion Lapeña, the granddaughter of the executed unionist, are determined to keep fighting, spurred on by a 2016 civil court ruling that ordered the Lapeña brothers to be exhumed.

Like others, Purificacion Lapeña is driven by the fear that time is running out for people such as her 94-year-old father, Manuel Lapeña, who wants to bury his father alongside his mother in Zaragoza, their hometown in Spain's northeast. As it stands, Manuel Lapeña said his father is "interred alongside his killer, Franco, the greatest criminal."

In 2011, a commission of experts recommended to Spain's parliament that Franco's remains be removed and the Valley of the Fallen be transformed into a depoliticized memorial site. But the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ignored the recommendations and derailed the previous, socialist administration's efforts to allow relatives to dig up more than 100,000 Republican victims of Spain's civil war-era repression from mass graves dotted around the country. The church too has shown resistance to freeing the dead. The Benedictine abbot in charge of the basilica opposed the court ruling ordering the search for the Lapeña brothers' remains...

More.

Conservative Amnesia

Center-right parties in Europe have forgotten how to be conservative, argues Jan-Werner Mueller, at Foreign Policy, "Europe Forgot What ‘Conservative’ Means":

Whether or not to adapt to right-wing populism constitutes the major strategic dilemma for Europe’s center-right today, writes Jan-Werner Mueller. https://t.co/2hYxTYgKKd

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) March 21, 2018

Conventional wisdom has it that Europe’s social democrats are in terminal decline. In recent elections in Italy, Germany, and France, once proud left-wing mass parties have been reduced to at best getting a fifth of the vote. The obvious flip side of the mainstream left’s decline seems to be that populists but also the center-right are faring well. In fact, this picture is highly misleading. Center-right parties — European Christian democrats above all — face a real crisis. It is increasingly unclear what they stand for, and, unlike social democrats, they are in real danger of being replaced by the populist right.

Social democrats have been struggling because the “Third Way” pursued by leaders such as Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder during the late 1990s left them with an enormous credibility problem. They had not just tolerated but actively furthered finance capitalism; deregulation and increasing inequality happened under the watch of nominally left-wing governments, which today are perceived as having betrayed socialist ideals. But, importantly, it is not really in doubt what these ideals are. As the surprise success of Jeremy Corbyn in last year’s British general elections demonstrated, the left can still do remarkably well, under two conditions: Social democrats have to restore their credibility and reorient public attention away from the one issue that is most likely to split its core constituency — immigration. Whether one likes Corbyn’s ideas or not, it is remarkable that a grassroots movement, Momentum, largely captured the Labour Party and effectively erased its toxic association with the widely discredited Blairism.

In somewhat similar fashion, Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has been trying to assert an agenda offering better protection for workers and more accessible health care. While this month’s decision to re-enter a grand coalition with the Christian Democrats has temporarily obscured this reorientation, the SPD will likely continue to sharpen its profile as a distinctively left-wing party in government.

If one asks, by contrast, what exactly Europe’s center-right stands for today, most citizens will be unable to articulate an answer. This has partly to do with historical amnesia — including forgetfulness on the part of center-right leaders themselves. After World War II, Christian democrats dominated politics in Germany, Italy, and, to a lesser extent, France. The circumstances were uniquely favorable for such moderate center-right parties, which claimed a religious, though nonsectarian, inspiration. Fascism had discredited the nationalist right; the horrors of the midcentury made many Europeans look for moral certainty in religion; and in the context of the Cold War, Christian democrats presented themselves as quintessentially anti-communist actors. Not least, they suggested that there was an affinity between the materialism of classical liberalism on the one hand and communism on the other — and that they were the only parties that clearly rejected both in favor of communitarian values. It is virtually forgotten today that Christian democratic parties had strong progressive elements — even if one occasionally gets a glimpse of that past: Matteo Renzi, who resigned as leader of Italy’s major left-wing party this month, had actually started his political life as a Christian Democrat.

Above all, Christian democrats were the original architects of European integration. They deeply distrusted the nation-state; the fact that, in the 19th century, both the newly unified Italy and the Germany united by Otto von Bismarck had waged prolonged culture wars against Catholics was seared in their collective memory. European integration also chimed with a distinct Christian democratic approach to politics in general: the imperative to mediate among distinct identities and interests. Ultimately, this quest for compromise among different groups (and, in Europe, states) went back to Pope Leo XIII’s idea — directed against rising socialist parties — that capital and labor could work together for the benefit of all in a harmonious society. Christian democracy had been a creation to avoid both culture war and class conflict.

Little is left of these legacies today. Christian democrats and other center-right parties continue to be pragmatists, but it is often unclear what, other than the imperative to preserve power, animates them in the first place. The European Union’s three main presidents — of the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council — are all Christian democrats. Yet none of them has advanced a bold vision for the union as a whole. All seem to take it for granted that citizens are wary of further integration. To be sure, this is the narrative right-wing populists push, but evidence from surveys is far more ambiguous.

Whether or not to adapt to right-wing populism constitutes the major strategic dilemma for Europe’s center-right today...

Actually, Christian Democrats today --- think Angela Merkel --- are basically leftists. Yeah, they better learn how to be conservative again, or be relegated to the dustbin of history. They need to conserve their own societies, for one thing. Sheesh.

But keep reading.

Raphael Minder, The Struggle for Catalonia

At Amazon, Raphael Minder, The Struggle for Catalonia: Rebel Politics in Spain.

British Foreign Office Warns More Terror Attacks Likely

Millions of Brits visit Spain for summer vacation, creating a target-rich environment for Islamic State jihadists.

At London's Daily Mail, "Europol chief warns British tourists they face highest threat in Europe for a generation - but there WON'T be refunds for holidaymakers who want to cancel or come home: Foreign Office warns over one million Britons to be vigilant while visiting Spain."

Further terror attacks in Spain very likely. Best keep those light off @LaTourEiffel. In defiance, absolument. https://t.co/HteJKHTRok

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) August 18, 2017

Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Barcelona Truck Jihad Attack (VIDEO)

At the Other McCain, "Neo-Nazi Alt-Right Trump Supporter Commits Racist Terrorism in … SPAIN?"

And Hot Air, "Second Attack: Spanish Police Kill Four Terror Suspects in Town 0f Cambrils."

More at Telegraph U.K., "Live - Barcelona and Cambrils: Terrorists planned bigger attacks, police reveal amid hunt for van driver - latest news."

President Trump Puts 'Shrinking Base' Before 'National Healing'

There's so much to question about this report at the Los Angeles Times. Is Trump's base really "shrinking"? It wasn't particularly big in the first place, at around 40 percent. And why are we having a "national healing" over Charlottesville? It's not that different from the police massacres in New York and Dallas, where BLM supporters hunted down to policeman for execution. It's the national double standard that we live with today, and it's what's dividing the country. That, and the Obama administration's 8-year campaign of race grievance-mongering.

At LAT, "Trump shuns healing gestures, redoubling support for Confederate memorials and slamming fellow Republicans":

President Trump, increasingly isolated, appears caught in a cycle of anger and provocation as he pushes wider the nation’s longstanding racial and cultural divide to solidify his dwindling base of populist political support.

The latest examples came Thursday: Trump further inflamed the incendiary debate over the nation’s Confederate memorials, saying American culture was “being ripped apart” by their removal; lashed out at some perceived Senate enemies; and repeated a religiously offensive myth about an American general using bullets bathed in pigs’ blood to kill Muslim terrorists.

His fusillade came throughout the day on Twitter even as critics, including in Trump’s party, implored him to instead try to unite the nation. As the restive president ostensibly vacationed at his golf club in New Jersey, his unnerved aides were left to deal with the fallout from his tweets and verbal blasts in the days since Saturday, when white separatists provoked deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va.

For Trump, the challenge of governing has grown ever more daunting since he took office in January without the usual bounce of popularity for a new president. As his support has declined, he has relied more on his most ardent supporters, who generally are white, older, nonurban and deeply conservative.

Yet by his efforts to please the hard-right activists, the president is pushing mainstream supporters further away. Polls show his job approval rating below 40%, sometimes dipping into the low 30s, and they suggest his core support — the people who say they will never abandon him — amounts to about 1 in 4 Americans.

That base, together with some more moderate voters who hoped Trump would use his impulsiveness and business instincts to shake up Washington, allowed him to eke out a narrow electoral college victory against an unpopular Hillary Clinton. But governing has been a struggle, diminishing Trump’s leverage over congressional Republicans the more they fear his unpopularity will imperil their majorities.

Trump struck back hard with his Twitter finger Thursday from early morning on, all but endorsing the Republican opponent of Jeff Flake, a GOP senator from Arizona who has criticized him, and assailing local efforts to remove monuments to Confederate heroes.

After news broke of a terrorist attack in Barcelona, Spain, the president repeated a dubious myth he previously invoked on the campaign trail, to much criticism, about a general who used bullets coated in pigs’ blood to execute insurgents in the Philippines in the early 20th century​; to followers of Islam, pigs are impure.

“Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught,” Trump tweeted. “There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!”

Trump’s quick condemnation of the Barcelona carnage as a terrorist attack, and his suggestion that Muslims were at fault, came before Spanish authorities had released conclusive information. As such, Trump’s rapid response contrasted with his slowness in calling out the white supremacists in Charlottesville — blame he rescinded on Tuesday, when he said “both sides” were culpable for violence there — and contradicted his claim in that instance that he only comments on such incidents after all the facts are known.

Trump still has not called the fatal attack in Charlottesville, in which a car driven by an alleged white supremacist plowed into a crowd, an act of terrorism...

Still more (FWIW).

#FakeNews CNN: There'll Be Questions About Whether Barcelona Attack Was 'Copycat' of #Charlottesville

This is so stupid.

Islamic State called for "truck attacks" and any attacks deploying civilian-use weapons of mass destruction. Wolf Blitzer knows this. He's just parroting left-wing talking points, which is sad, since I've respected the guy.

Watch, at Free Beacon, "CNN: There Will Be Questions About Whether Barcelona Attack Was ‘Copycat’ of Charlottesville."

#Antifa is the Resurgence of Anti-War Movement, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter

From Brandon Darby, at Breitbart.

That is it. That is exactly it.

Barcelona Truck Jihad Massacre: At Least 13 Slaughtered (VIDEO)

Wow!

Those white supremacists are spreading everywhere, and fast!

At Pamela, "Jihad Slaughter in Barcelona: AT LEAST 13 DEAD, dozens injured as van RAMS into crowd outside kosher restaurant."

Also, at Telegraph U.K., "Live: Barcelona terror attack: van crashes into crowd at La Rambla, killing 'at least 13'."

The suspect, who's in custody, posted (then Facebook removed) as "an anti-Semitic video alleging a global Jewish conspiracy." (Here and here.)

And at CNN, FWIW:

Rise of the Populists: A Problem for Merkel and Germany

At Der Spiegel, "The state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania gave the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany a significant boost. It is a challenge for Chancellor Merkel and the entire country":

The rise of the right-wing populist AfD party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is a problem for Merkel and Germany: https://t.co/JSae52FwfS

— SPIEGEL English (@SPIEGEL_English) September 5, 2016

From a national political perspective, the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with its sparse population of 1.6 million, is a lightweight and largely meaningless. Usually. But this time around, following state parliament elections held there on Sunday, the situation is different. This vote, after all, was essentially a referendum on Chancellor Angela Merkel and her policies, which makes it quite meaningful indeed.

The results of that referendum don't look good for Merkel. Her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) lost four percentage points relative to the last time the state's voters went to the polls in 2011 for a result of just 19 percent -- while the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) brought in fully 20.8 percent of the vote. The party didn't even exist five years ago.

To be sure, the CDU hasn't done particularly well in the state for 20 years, but it is home to the chancellor's own parliamentary constituency, which means that the AfD has essentially staged a revolution in Merkel's backyard. And it did so by turning the elections into a single-issue vote: Merkel's refugee policies.

The strategy was so successful that the CDU has been relegated to being just the third-strongest party in the state, behind the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the AfD. It marks the first time in Germany that the anti-Merkel party has come out ahead of Merkel's party -- and in some parts of the German leader's electoral district, AfD was the strongest party of all.

For the chancellor, it is a political debacle. Merkel must now come to terms with a challenge at least as monumental as the one which faced her predecessor Gerhard Schröder back in the mid-2000s. Back then, the SPD chancellor found himself trapped between, on the one hand, having to explain his cuts to social welfare benefits and, on the other, the rise of the Left Party, a political movement to the left of the SPD that was fueled by exactly those cuts. In the end, he failed on both counts.

The parallels to Merkel's situation -- a CDU that has been divided by her approach to the refugee crisis combined with the rise of a right-wing protest party -- are significant. But the end doesn't have to be the same. The Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania vote, after all, is only symbolically a debacle for Merkel. Her position as chancellor isn't (yet) at stake.

Emotions over Reason

But the returns on Sunday made clear that an increasing number of voters, at least in Germany's east, are turning their backs on the established, democratic party system. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to matter much if the economy is improving, cities are being renewed and the tourist sector is doing well, all of which are the case in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which has been structurally weak since German reunification in 1990. And it is possible for a party to campaign on fears of refugees even in a state that very few foreigners call home.

In short, emotions would seem to have triumphed over reason. Facts took a back seat.

It is precisely here that the challenge lies for Merkel, a politician who has always staked her political success on clear arguments based on facts and figures. She will have to do more explaining and more communicating -- and she will have to embed her policies within an approachable, meaningful framework in order to keep her party behind her. She may also have to take a few rhetorical steps toward the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), which has been sharply critical of her stance on the refugee issue. That could include admitting that she has made some missteps...

I expect her to double down, and she may well decide not to seek reelection, leaving office satisfied that her administration did the humanitarian thing. She'll leave to her successors to clean up the mess. Fortunately, Germany's wealthy and prosperous. It'll work out for them. Perhaps not so much for all the other European countries who were brought along for the refugee ride, largely against their interests.

More.

Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union Finishes Third in Regional Elections (VIDEO)

I've been waiting for this, and believe me, it's just the beginning.

German federal elections are scheduled for next year.

Meanwhile, from Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "UNEXPECTEDLY. German Electoral Shocker: Merkel’s Party Finishes 3rd in Regional Election."



Flashback: From August, "Angela Merkel's Popularity Plunges After Wave of Jihad Attacks in Germany — Unexpectedly!"

Angela Merkel's Popularity Plunges After Wave of Jihad Attacks in Germany — Unexpectedly!

Well, this is a total surprise.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Merkel’s Popularity Plunges After July Attacks":

Support for Angela Merkel drops 12 points, to 47%, after July attacks in Germany: https://t.co/FR7iBTaBuh

— WSJ Think Tank (@WSJThinkTank) August 5, 2016

BERLIN — Mounting concerns about terrorism, migration and relations with Turkey are eroding support among German voters for Europe’s long-dominant leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel, as she decides whether to run for a fourth term.

A poll released late Thursday showed Ms. Merkel’s approval rating plummeting 12 points in the space of a month and confidence in her handling of refugee policy at a new low.

It was conducted Monday and Tuesday, following a wave of violence in southern Germany in late July that included two terrorist acts by migrants, allegedly linked to Islamic State, that injured 20 people.

“Of course we can do it. The country won’t collapse,” said Karl-Georg Wellmann, a lawmaker with Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats, referring to the chancellor’s slogan regarding the recent wave of around a million migrants.

“But people don’t want to hear this anymore,” he said. “They want to hear that we have things under control.”


The poll conducted by Infratest Dimap found Ms. Merkel’s approval rating at 47%, down from 59% a month before. Nearly two thirds said they disapproved of her refugee policy, the highest level since the pollster started asking the question last fall. The poll had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

In addition to terrorism fears, recent polls register deep discomfort with Ms. Merkel’s bid to keep working closely with Turkey to stem the tide of migrants and refugees trekking to Europe, especially in the wake of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on domestic opponents after last month’s failed military coup.

Germans follow events in Turkey closely, in part because of worries that tensions there could spill over into Germany’s large Turkish community.

In the latest poll, 88% said the German government should be more assertive in confronting Turkey.

“The German people clearly believe that Germany should be tougher towards Mr. Erdogan,” said Oskar Niedermayer, professor of political science at Berlin’s Free University. “If Mr. Erdogan moves even more towards dictatorship than he is already doing,” and possibly calls the migration deal with the European Union into question, “this would of course be a very difficult situation for Ms. Merkel,” he said.

A top aide to Ms. Merkel said neither the attacks in Germany nor events in Turkey would affect the basics of the government’s migration policy...

I guess the German government's never heard of the first rule of holes.

More.

Spanish Bullfighter Victor Barrio Gored to Death in Teruel, Spain (VIDEO)

Oh man.

It was painful. You can see the agony of defeat in the man's face.

The bull just sinks his horn into Barrio's side, and kind of grinds it. The man is helpless, clutching his gut and screaming in pain.

Here's another video, "Le torero Victor Barrio, est mort aujourd’hui, encorné à la poitrine, dans la Plaza de Teruel."

And at the Mirror U.K., "Matador is mauled to death in horrifying footage showing first bullfighting fatality in Spain this century."

If they're going to ban bullfighting, maybe this is why: it's too fucking dangerous. Sheesh.

500 Migrants May Have Died After Boat Sinks in Mediterranean (VIDEO)

That's a horrific toll.

At Time, "500 Feared Dead After Migrant Boat Sinks in Mediterranean."

Germany Plans New Law to Require Migrants to Integrate and Learn German – Or Get Deported

At Blazing Cat Fur:

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere said he is intending to implement a new law that will require migrants to learn German and be part of society - or lose their permanent right of residency.

Many people in Germany have turned their backs to Chancellor Angela Merkel following her open-door refugee policy and turned towards the anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany.

The Alternative for Germany party (AFD) has developed an anti immigration stance over the past year, the party has made huge gains in popularity since the refugee crisis hit the EU and the group powered into three state legislatures...

Thousands of 'Refugees' Stranded in Greece (VIDEO)

At the New York Times, "European Union Plans Emergency Aid to Help Trapped Refugees."

They're bottle-necked, heh.

Also at NBC News, "Refugee Crisis: EU Leaders Meet on Migrants as Thousands Wait in Greece."

Plus, watch via Euronews:

Angry Mob Cheers as Huge Blaze Rips Through Migrant 'Refugee' Shelter in Saxony, Germany (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Angry Mob Threatens Migrant 'Refugees' in German Town of Clausnitz (VIDEO)."

There's more, at BNI, "GERMAN patriots cheer and try to stop firefighters as Muslim illegal alien invader center burns in Saxony."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Anti-migrant mobs cheer and try to stop firefighters getting to planned refugee shelter as it goes up in flames in Germany."

Angry Mob Threatens Migrant 'Refugees' in German Town of Clausnitz (VIDEO)

Here's the video, "Refugees cry as they were welcomed by neo-nazis in #‎Clausnitz near #‎Döbeln #‎Germany last night..."

Watch also at Euronews, "German police defend their handling of migrant bus unrest."

More, at the BBC, "German police justify handling of migrant bus incident."

Pure Evil: Iraqi Migrant Rapes 10-Year-Old Boy at Vienna Pool

When are these European "elites" going to wake up? European law enforcement officials can't keep up with security in the wake of Germany's New Year's Eve rape attacks.

There's going to be continent-wide violence pretty soon. It's going to be a civil war.

At Instapundit, "DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH: Iraqi migrant rapes a 10-year-old boy at a swimming pool in Vienna and tells police it was a ‘sexual emergency’ because he hadn’t had sex in months."