Relkations between Spain and USA

Bren1609

I just came back from Spain and I didnt know that relations between USA and Spain have been icy over the past couple of years apparantley because Spain's president irked the yanks a few times. Apparantley he:

1. Didnt stand during a military parade for the US army, albeit he was in opposition at the time.

2. Has been selling arms to Venezuala

3. Called Angela Merkel "useless"

Also, there was talk during the US presidential election that if McCain was president he wouldnt ehgage in talks with Spain. It was mentioned by Obama in the first debate and there is also a Q&A with a spanish reporter on youtube http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=WItI9It_Swc

Spain had also been left off the G20 summit until Sarkozy intervened, despite Spain being the 8 largest economy and the 5 largest in europe.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

CtrlSource

i reckon what you're referring to is the hangover from the change of Government in Spain in 2004. Up to then, Bush had a firm ally in the right wing PM Aznar but then in the wake of the Madrid bombings, the Spanish elected the socialist Zapatero, who is far less inclined towards Bush's foreign policy.

One would imagine that relations between Spain and the US will improve under the Obama Administration

Frankie Lee

The Socialist Party are in power in Spain and America don't deal with socialists.

From wikipedia however:


The relations between José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and George W. Bush have been difficult, mostly as a result of Zapatero's opposition to the war in Iraq.
On 12 October 2003, during the Hispanic Day military parade held in Madrid, then opposition leader and presidential candidate Zapatero remained seated when a U.S. Marine Corps honour guard carrying the American flag walked past Zapatero and other VIPs. Everybody else stood as with the rest of the foreign guest armies representations.[84] He declared afterwards that his action was a protest against the war and certainly not intended as an insult to the American people.
When Zapatero became elected, American troops were instructed by their government not take part during the traditional military parade on the Spanish national holiday in 2004 and in 2005, something which they used to, as both the Spanish and American armies, as NATO allies, are part of joint humanitarian missions in places like Afghanistan and elsewhere; American troops returned to the military parade in 2006; this time Zapatero, being the Spanish premier, stood.[85]
Zapatero publicly stated his support for John Kerry as a candidate running in the U.S. Presidential election in 2004.[86] After the election took place, winner George W. Bush did not return Zapatero's congratulation phone call, though the White House firmly denied that Bush's intention was to snub the Spanish prime minister.[87] Meanwhile Zapatero has repeatedly insisted that Spain's relations with the United States are good. In spite of that, Zapatero acknowledged years after that the phone conversation held with President George W. Bush was "unforgettable" and that when told that the Spanish troops were leaving Iraq, the American president had told him "I am very disappointed in you" and that the conversation ended in a "very cold" manner[88].
Later on, during an official visit to Tunisia shortly after Zapatero was elected, he asked all of the countries with troops in Iraq to withdraw their soldiers. This declaration moved Bush to send a letter expressing discontent to the Spanish premier.
Later on, Zapatero told a New York Times reporter off the record that he had a “certain consideration” for Bush, because “I recognize that my electoral success has been influenced by his governing style". i.e. that Bush was so unpopular in Spain that he helped Zapatero win in 2004 and 2008[89].
In May 2007, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice officially visited Spain and briefly held talks with Zapatero. Still, the flag incident seemed to linger on, at least in the Republican camp and so presidential nominee John McCain suggested that he would continue President Bush's policy of having cool relations with the Zapatero government, despite having made starkly contrasting statements to the Spanish press earlier this year when he said he looked forward to normalized relations with the NATO ally.[90

mike65

Comrade Obama will pour oil on troubled waters.

Mike