Bad echoes from the past

摘要

Spare a thought for Spain's satirists. How can they match the decision by the defence minister, Jose Bono, to order eight days' house arrest for the head of the land forces, General Jose Mena Aguado? The general, who was due to retire in March, had publicly exhorted his fellow officers to defend Spain's unity against the prospect of a law giving more autonomy to Catalonia. He spoke of a "deep disquiet" over the planned statute, which acknowledges Catalonia as a nation, replaces Madrid's constitutional court with the regional high court as Catalonia's highest judicial authority, gives it broader tax-raising powers and obliges officials to speak Catalan. "The armed forces have as their mission to guarantee the sovereignty and independence of Spain," trumpeted the general.