MetaFilter posts tagged with europe and spain

Spain - 2008 European football Champions.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:49:04 -0800

Felicidades España! Turkey tiptoed through the eye of the needle — twice even — but were no match for the German machine. And the Dutch may have been dazzling against World Champions Italy and runners-up France, but they stumbled hopelessly against a rugged Russia — who in turn fell to a superior Spanish side. In the end, it was Fernando Torres who shot Spain to its first title in 44 years - without top scorer David Villa, no less. It's been a blast. Congratulations, Spain, and see you all in four years.

Old Weird Europe

huskerdont — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:53:44 -0800

German newspaper Der Spiegel decided to take a look at Europe's oddest folk traditions and festivals. Perhaps you can have a metaphorical hard-on for the phallus festival of Tyrnavos, Greece. Maybe you're hungry for how a small Belgian town celebrates the practice of swallowing live fish. Or, alternately, you can look down on those bizarre practices... while chasing a giant wheel of cheese down a hill. Or maybe you'd just rather celebrate the annual fireworks war of Chios or jump over a baby while wearing a silly costume. Some of the festivals are recent inventions to boost tourism; others are relics of ancient paganism that survived Christianization. What are your favorites?

Cliff Richard and General Franco: the 1968 Eurovision mystery

nthdegx — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:34:58 -0800

It's the story that has Britain in uproar*: Cliff Richard and General Franco: the 1968 Eurovision mystery. Did General Franco scupper the judging? Exhibit A: Cliff's UK entry, Congratulations. Exhibit 2: Spain's winning entry by Massiel, La la la. For added measure, exhibit iv: here's Cliff's 1973 entry, which believe it or not also did not win, Power to all our Friends (though Cliff's spectacular moves should not sway your opinion on the controversy* in any way). [*not really].

Allí, ese 16 de marzo, Bush, Blair y Aznar decidieron sustituir al Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas y usurparon sus funciones para declarar por su cuenta y riesgo la guerra contra Irak.

amberglow — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:50:52 -0800

Bush and Aznar pre-Iraq Invasion-- Transcript of their private conversations in Crawford, Feb 22, 2003: "Quedan dos semanas. En dos semanas estaremos militarmente listos. Estaremos en Bagdad a finales de marzo", le dijo a Aznar. ("2 weeks. In 2 weeks we will be ready militarily. We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March", he told Aznar.) Consider this historical documentation. Full transcript here, and audio clips in first link. PB. Me parece muy bien. Chirac conoce perfectamente la realidad. Sus servicios de inteligencia se lo han explicado. Los árabes le están transmitiendo a Chirac un mensaje muy claro: Sadam Hussein debe irse. El problema es que Chirac se cree Mister Arab y en realidad les está haciendo la vida imposible. Pero yo no quiero tener ninguna rivalidad con Chirac. (Bush: Chirac knows the reality perfectly. Your intelligence services have told it. The Arabs are sending a very clear message to Chirac--Saddam must go. The problem is that Chirac thinks he's Mister Arab and the reality is that he's in a dream world(?). But i don't want to have any rivalry with Chirac. )

Documentary videos chroncling the Islamic influence on modern Europe

Burhanistan — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 14:54:00 -0800

An Islamic History of Europe: (90 minute BBC documentary on Google video.) Rageh Omaar uncovers the hidden story of Europe's Islamic past and looks back to a golden age when European civilisation was enriched by Islamic learning. When the Moors Ruled in Europe:(102 minute BBC documentary on Google video.) A look at the Islamic past of Spain and the influence it has on the present.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

sic — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:47:38 -0800

ETA declares permanent ceasefire. For more than 40 years the terrorist group ETA has been making life in Euskadi (Basque Country) and Spain a nightmare. After its political arm Batasuna dropped hints at wanting to resolve this conflict politically, rather than with bombs, ETA itself has finally come out and said the same. The majority of the Spanish population want to negotiate a peace, but not everybody. Can the terrorists be trusted?

Spain becoming Southern Sweden?

sic — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 18:17:50 -0800

Spain to legalize Same Sex Marriages. Fulfilling a campaign promise, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist government is on the verge of making Spain only the third country in Europe to legalize same sex marriages after the Netherlands and Belgium. This and other progressive legislation has led angry bishops of the Spanish Church and other religious groups to start a campaign against Zapatero's “social revolution” that is converting Spain into one of the most liberal countries in all of Europe. [more inside]

And you thought US environmental policies were bad.

croutonsupafreak — Wed, 24 Jan 2001 20:35:02 -0800

And you thought US environmental policies were bad. Europe is facing a major environmental crisis that it seems unwilling or unable to act on -- deforestation, flooding, desertification and more. From the article: "One fifth of the land in Spain is already so degraded that it is turning to desert" -- and it's as bad if not worse elsewhere on the continent & in Britain.