Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero arrived yesterday in New York to co-chair today’s Summit against Hunger, an iniciative organised by President Lula (Brazil), with the support of presidents Chirac (France), Lagos (Chile), Rodriguez Zapatero and UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
Today’s summit is called Innovative Sources of Finance to Alleviate Hunger and Poverty and is expected to attract over 50 world leaders. Afterwards Zapatero, Chirac and Lagos are expected to join President Lula in a press conference.
Tomorrow in the UN General Assembly, President Zapatero is going to address the Assembly for the first time since he became Spain’s leader. He is expected to explain the changes introduced by his government in the Spain’s foreign policy during his address, and will stress his support for «effective mulilateralism» and his respect for international law. He will talk about his ideas for an international order based on collective security and social justice.
The Spanish president will underline his commitment to fight international terrorism and may refer to his decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Irak. He will give a press conference tomorrow too.
Zapatero will not have an official meeting with President Bush during his visit to the US, although he will coincide with him in the lunch hosted by Kofi Annan after the UN Assembly.
He is accompanied during this trip by his wife (it is the first time she has accompanied him on an official trip abroad) and by the Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos.
Meanwhile, Cadena Ser has published the results of its latest opinion poll today. According to the results of the poll, nearly 65% Spaniards support Spain’s new alliance with France and Germany and more than 67% think that Aznar’s alliance with the US was negative for Spain compared to 20% who think that it was positive.
President Zapatero is so obviously an appeaser! He is weak and ineffectual. He has withdrawn his country’s troops from Iraq, and now proposes a ‘cultural alliance’ with Islam. For ‘cultural alliance’ read ‘appeasing the Muslim world’! Does Mr. Zapatero, a man whose country was once overrun by Muslims, not understand that the phenomenon we see today with Islamic terrorism is a manifestation of Islam on the move? The warning signs are on the wall. We shall ignore them at our peril! There is no compromise with the Islamic world to be: we either value our democracy and freedom in the West, and we ‘fight’ (whatever that will entail) for them; or we don’t. In the latter case, they win and we loose our freedoms. The Muslim world concedes nothing. It doesn’t give an inch. With Zapatero’s ‘cultural alliance’ all the West will do is give away and concede and appease. It is a recipe for disaster!
Zapatero may enjoy sticking it to the Bush Administration and being admitted to the antiAmerican club by his big brothers in France and Germany…but how does that help Spain?…the White House won’t take his calls altho Aznar met with the newly reelected American president this past week and the Bushes will entertain the Spanish royal couple at a forthcoming private White House dinner…But what of Spanish businesses and employees dependent upon exports to the large American market and the goodwill of American government officials who may exercise influence at the various global economic institutions?…What if Morocco were to seize another disputed island as they did two years ago? (and forced to withdraw by the Americans)…Zapatero’s impish behavior will be paid for dearly by ordinary Spaniards imo…The Aznar period will be looked back at as the Era of Spanish Prosperity and Global Influence.
He wants an Cvilizations Alliance with the Mouslims because he was rised to power by them.
Later investigations shows that some police members (PSOE associattes) provided the explosives and the cellular phones for the attack .
This is hard to believe but further investigations have obstructed by the actual Government.
This is the real face of the new Government in Spain which is not known abroad.
What a ridiculous statement! Unfortunately, popular party members and supporters are terrible losers and use hysterical accusations such as this last one to explain a defeat their party deserved. I agree – the real face of the Spanish government is not known abroad, especially in the US, but this is largely because of Aznar’s determination to poison the image of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his party abroad.