NATO no, bases out
One of the first times I was able to vote was in the NATO referendum in 1986. A brief synopsis for younger readers: Spain joined the Atlantic Alliance in 1981, driven by the dying government of Calvo-Sotelo. It was one of the many concessions paid to the military and the Spanish establishment after the partial failure of the 23-F coup attempt. Felipe González promised to put the issue to a referendum if he came to power. The Catalan and Spanish left had a certain anti-American and anti-militarist bias, a product of the country's recent history: for Western Europe, the Americans were the ones who had defeated Hitler, but in Spain, they were the ones who had protected Franco in exchange for the installation of military bases. The polls indicated that, if a vote were held, the rejection of NATO would prevail. In 1982, the PSOE won with an absolute majority, initiating a rapid shift towards Atlanticism because—as we were told—without NATO, there would be no entry into the European Union. When González finally, dragging his feet, called the referendum, the PSOE defended the affirmative vote. Remaining in NATO won by a narrow margin throughout Spain, although the no vote won in Catalonia, as well as in the Basque Country and Navarre.the same old mapI was twenty years old and I felt my blood boiling, as Serrat sang, and I thought that a great opportunity had been lost to screw over President Reagan, who was a thousand men, and to crack the blog politics.
March will mark the 40th anniversary of that episode. Russia remains a threat, but perhaps not the main one, nor certainly the most immediate; the shops are full of products Made in China (in the eighties they were Made in JapanIn the United States, a megalomaniacal and ridiculous figure governs, next to whom Reagan stood as a statesman. And the great economic and military powers—the US, Russia, and China—seem to agree on only one thing: Europe no longer matters, Europe is an obstacle, Europe is woke And well-meaning and decadent. We Europeans have contributed to this marginalization through the great sin of nationalism, which, contrary to what it may seem, is not something specific to Catalans, Flemish, or Scottish people, but rather to nation-states that refuse to act with one voice and establish a unified and democratic governance. Europe remains the custodian of values worthy of defense. But we Europeans have lived too comfortably, letting Washington dictate our defense and diplomacy.
The Trump administration has gone from despising Europe to breaking it off, de factoNATO is an alliance based first on geostrategic interests, and second on the values of democracy and the free market. The Greenland issue could spell the end for NATO, because Trump is convinced that no European power will fulfill its primary obligation: to protect the territory of member countries from any threat of invasion. Perhaps because they thought this threat would come from the east, not the west.
If in 1986 I was disgusted that my country was an ally of Reagan, I am even more repulsed that Europe is an amorphous appendage of Trumpism. Therefore, I would gladly bury NATO if Europe would finally realize that it must take a step forward toward political unity. But I fear I am as naive as I was in 1986. We are not in the era of Mitterrand or Merkel; there are no strong leaders, and those who are emerging are tainted by hatred and selfishness due to the influence of the far right. I hope that Trump's psychopathy helps to dismantle the arguments of those populist movements that, from within Europe, threaten to erode its political and moral foundations, because otherwise we will deserve nothing more than to be puppets within the new world order.
