The King of Spain has been very busy telling off Hugo Chavez - a polite "We're quite capable of recognising our own fascists, thank you" would have been more than sufficient. Fortunately they had already had the conference dinner, otherwise bits of bread would have been flying all over the place. Another report I have seen today suggests that the King is not as restrained or diplomatic as he is generally presented. He is said to have made a one fingered salute to some protestors in the Basque Country a few years ago - a gesture explained at the time as a misunderstood greeting.
Meanwhile, tomorrow sees the court case against the satirical magazine El Jueves. The magazine commmitted the unpardonable offence of printing a satirical cartoon lampooning the King's son, an offence which has provoked the Spanish legal system into an almost alarming burst of efficiency, and which therefore sees the case already in court. Unfortunately, the probability that the case will be in the hands of a judge who regards it as his patriotic duty to punish anyone criticising the Monarchy is higher than it ever should be. However, lets hope for the best and a sensible judgement that puts an end to judicial persecution of legitimate opinions. Click here for the version of one of the accused.
Meanwhile, tomorrow sees the court case against the satirical magazine El Jueves. The magazine commmitted the unpardonable offence of printing a satirical cartoon lampooning the King's son, an offence which has provoked the Spanish legal system into an almost alarming burst of efficiency, and which therefore sees the case already in court. Unfortunately, the probability that the case will be in the hands of a judge who regards it as his patriotic duty to punish anyone criticising the Monarchy is higher than it ever should be. However, lets hope for the best and a sensible judgement that puts an end to judicial persecution of legitimate opinions. Click here for the version of one of the accused.
2 comments:
Juan Carlos is often far from regal in his beahviour and betrays his jackboot past once too often caompared to your average monarch.
You can see his greeting to Basque protestors here (2nd video), I can't see the scope for misunderstanding myself:
http://harvardindy.wordpress.com/
It's an ancient royal greeting which more or less translates as "I'm a king and you're not".
A €3000 fine for printing a cartoon about a prince, I suppose we're invited to think that its progress because they haven't beheaded anyone for it.
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