Summary

Over the last two years, various nations have pursued a different policy to that of the United States. However, they have behaved in a different manner to that of the Spanish Government. They have always maintained their sense of prudence and their good manners. The rhetorical excesses and gratuitous gestures of hostility on the part of the Zapatero Government have created an atmosphere in which it will be more difficult and arduous to repair relations. If this were only a personal problem concerning Mr. Zapatero, nobody would have any objection. However, unfortunately, this is now a national problem for the whole of Spain. The current Head of the Spanish Government stated last March that: “I think Kerry is going to win. In fact, I want Kerry to win” (The Guardian). Following his sense of intuition, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero warned us that: “I will not go to the White House before 2005”. Imprudence is an unfortunate quality in foreign affairs. It is obvious that Zapatero believed Bush would lose. And he also imagined that the Democratic Party’s candidate would be a different kettle of fish. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to Senator John Kerry’s declarations when he called for greater solidarity in Iraq and for Spain to reconsider the unilateral withdrawal of its troops from the country. He should have considered the possibility that his intuition might fail him and that Bush would be reelected. But he didn’t. Above all, he should have considered the fact that, as a politician, he is entirely free to put all his eggs in one basket, but that a nation such as Spain cannot afford to take this risk. This is precisely because Spain is already facing too many risks.