Madrid is one thing - Brussels is quite another

Unclear on the nature of permanent ceasefire.... Unclear on the nature of terrorists

Poor, stupid, bloodthirsty ETA is at it again.

The armed Basque separatist group Eta, which is seeking independence from Spain, is to end its "permanent" ceasefire from tomorrow.

In a statement released in the Basque newspaper Berria, the rebels accuse the Spanish government of persecuting them rather than negotiating.

"The minimum conditions for continuing a process of negotiations do not exist," Eta said, adding that the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had responded to its ceasefire "with arrests, torture and persecution."

Eta said it "will defend Euskal Herria (the land of Basque speakers) with arms on all fronts."

The group declared a ceasefire in March 2006 and had insisted it still held, despite killing two men on December 30 by bombing an airport carpark in Madrid. The attack put an end to fledgling talks with Zapatero's government, and the exclusion of Eta's political wing Batasuna from local elections last month increased tensions further.

Independence from Spain? For what? To become yet another satrapy of the European Union? This is a reason to blow people up?

By the way, when did the notion of "ceasefire" become so plastic that ETA could blow up people in parking garages (or Hamas could launch barrages of Qassam rockets on civilian targets) and yet claim with a straight balaclava that it hadn't violated the ceasefire?

The only entity in Spain stupider than ETA is Prime Minister Zapatero:

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said his optimism had been misplaced when he predicted an improvement in the peace process only the day before the car bomb exploded at Madrid airport.

"All Spaniards heard me say on December 29 that I had the conviction that things were better for us than five years ago and that in a year's time things would be even better," Mr Zapatero told a special session of the Spanish parliament.

"Although it is not frequent among public leaders, I want to recognize the clear mistake I made before all Spanish citizens."