To Russia and back with love - 4,100,000 Solana google hits and growing!

Is Javier Solana going away? With 4,100,000 Google.com Hits and growing, it doesn’t look that way![1] Anyway, it looks like Russia is clearly on his side!



Recently a British journalistic observer noted that “Javier Solana had lost the spring in his step.” Because of the German and Dutch referendum defeats, combined with the withdrawal of England’s planned constitutional referendum, it looked, per that journalist at least, like Javier Solana would never realize his dream of becoming the EU Foreign Minister.

Maybe that journalist was right. Maybe not. Most likely he was not!

In many ways, particularly to American observers, Javier Solana looks like “the invisible man.” For all the powers he has amassed, there are no books about him. He seldom appears on the front pages of USA papers. For those tuned into internet news (or if low tech, watching BBC news) it should be a different story, provided they went on the web for academic rather than entertainment purposes.

When I started observing the ubiquitous Dr. Solana back on November 22, 1995, there was a paucity of information about him. He had just signed a Treaty of Association with Israel on behalf of the European Union. He was getting ready to chair the first Barcelona Conference which opened with an anti-clerical salvo on November 27, 1995. It ended on November 28th with Israeli and Palestinian Union leaders (Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat) proclaiming they had ‘beaten their swords into ploughshares.’ Two days after all of this, Javier Solana was named the new dark horse surprise head of NATO. The European presses proclaimed “Solana Squares NATO’s Circle.” The astonished Spanish press noted that had any Madrid resident predicted this five years earlier, he would have been promptly ‘locked up as a lunatic.” Javier Solana was the well known leader of public NATO resistance.

In 1995, Alta Vista rather than Google was the predominant internet search engine. Dial up connections rather than broadband were the norm for most systems. I found precious little information about him back in those days, but just about every day I found something.

Today the hits are more frequent. Solana’s more public phase appears to be in full swing. Today there were 4,100,000 google.com hits! Clearly, he does not appear to be going away!

I am writing this from my law office, taking a small evening break. As I compose, I just saw his face flash before me on the 6 p.m. Public Broadcast Systems rebroadcast of BBC news. He was in attendance at an EU-Russia summit. He did not look depressed. The spring was definitely back in his step!

Perhaps that is because of the position Russia has recently enunciated through its lead diplomats that they desire a “strong European Union” which should speak with “One Strong Voice.” [2]

And, just about simultaneous with that Russian diplomat’s remark, Javier Solana said that European and Russian relations ‘never grown faster’! Read about that here: [3]


I wonder just who the former Soviets had in mind as the “One Strong Voice”? Could it be a former Marxist who was on the USA’s subversive list for many years? At any rate, the smile is back on Javier Solana’s face and the spring appears once again in his step. Could it be? Just wondering! This weekend, California columnist Herb Peters and I are scheduled to speak on the same platform for the first time. Given the events of the week, this should be an interesting weekend to “stay tuned.” Click the link to his site for details if you are in or can get to the Detroit area. Things are getting very interesting!

As usual, I invite and welcome your comments. That’s the best part of this public blogging process!
[1] http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/exclusive/29.html?mode=9&title_style=exclus&others=2&id_issue=11390982

[2] http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/exclusive/29.html?mode=9&title_style=exclus&others=2&id_issue=11390982

[3] http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/exclusive/29.html?mode=9&others=2&title_style=exclus&id_issue=11391597