Nunca respondas al necio según su insensatez, para que no seas tú también como él.

Responde al necio según su insensatez, para que no se estime sabio en su propia opinión.

—— Proverbios 26:4-5

The language of hyperbole and cliché generally counts for too much in a lot of political analysis, but in the case of the Spanish state it would be fair to say that the recent election of a PSOE (Socialist Party) government has sent shock waves throughout the international political world. That the Socialists, led by their fresh young leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero—and that one can be fresh and young at the age of 43 must stand as something of an indictment of mainstream politics—won the election against all prediction was surprise enough. That the defeated incumbent, José María Aznar, leader of the neoliberal, neoclerical Partido Popular, had been a key international figure, along with Tony Blair, in the preparation and carrying out of Bush’s war in Iraq added to the novelty an international dimension. And that, within days of assuming office, Zapatero, completing the first fulfilment of his election promises, ordered the immediate withdrawal of the Spanish state contingent of the occupying forces in Iraq prompted many commentators to speak of a global realignment of the political stage.

More (pdf, 438 KB): Through the Smoke of Atocha: A Reflection on Spanish Politics