The Iberian Dimension

Ah, Spain. A fascinating country all but lost to Europe through various means- Islamic conquest, religious fervour, warfare, poverty and dictatorship, not to mention the sheer isolation of being the other side of the high Pyrenees.

Until recently the dark underbelly of Europe and always within kissing distance of Africa, it's also a place whose importance to the war on terror and the future of Europe will increasingly be understood, indeed, is being increasingly understood.

Spain, or the kingdon of Andalus as Osama bin-Laden refers to it, is where the illusion of European isolationism disintegrates amidst the Islamic architecture, the darker asiatic hair and skin, and regular boat-loads of north-African migrants. At the same time the Islamic dream of a return to the Caliphate is materialised in the monuments of the Islamic past- such as the incredible beauty of the palace of Grenada.

The point then is that Europe, substantially because of Spain, cannot remove itself from what has been termed the 'developing world'. Equally, the Islamists who resent their placement within that sphere can't sever their attachment to the illusion presented by Andalusia that one last push will seem them able to (re-)occupy the culture pinnacle they covet.

Spain has swung from being one of the most aggressive supporters of the War on Terror to being amongst the most dovish. It seems fairly typical of Spain that there's no middle way. EU Referendum reports on how the peninsular's politicans swing.

Uncoincidentally the reaction of their young democracy to the terrorist messages of March and April has led to an increasingly nationalistic pursuit of old chesnuts like Gibraltar.
John Keegan in the Telegraph explains why this is not sensible, or reasonable- but you can't help drawing the conclusion that it's political in its entirety, and nothing to do with right or wrong or common sense. (Euref also shines a sidelight on this one. This ex-pat meanwhile, has some thoughts too. He points out that 'following Spanish logic, a reasonable claim could be made that the successor to the Caliphate should actually have control of Gibraltar and of course much of the rest of Andalusia.')

Finally, and most tellingly, this superb (and very long) account of the Islamic design on Andalusia from the New Yorker gets to grips with Spain's centrality and its inability to hide from the sharp end of the war on terror. The contrast with, say, the cold war, which barely touched Spain except obliquely, is quite striking. Coming in from the cold of inconsequentiality has left Spain exposed to a new fire.