A Sycophantic Biography of Javier Solana

A SYCOPHANTIC BIOGRAPHY OF JAVIER SOLANA


Sometime as I recall it, in late 2003, maybe early 2004, I noticed there was a three line entry on Javier Solana in Wikipedia. I looked at its brevity and paucity of information with disbelief, telling my husband: “he deserves more ink than that.” I noticed the edit tab and composed four pages right off the top of my head. I was certain that (a) his groupies would probably notice it immediately and (b) it would be quickly removed. It stayed there for a very long time – until unfortunately attention was drawn to it by perhaps well-meaning Christians or were they “agents-provacateur”, who started making headline enhancements to the article. Then the Solana groupies did move in, mostly in the person of one calling himself “Squeakbox”. He viciously moved against my attempts to provide meaningful factual information on this person obviously running Europe. The article still contains much of my compiled research, but is written in a pandering, sycophantic style of one who obviously aims to please. This rewritten version did not survive on Wikipedia for obvious reasons – it obviously was not written in a neutral style, but obviously came from the word processor of one who adored Solana. I was lucky enough to find it this morning in a Google.com cache. Because of admissions it makes on the state of Solana’s marriage and its demonstration of the intensity of feeling by those who know and approve Solana’s obvious agenda, it is important and for that reason, I reprint it here. If you want to go look for yourself in the original, the cached link may be reached by clicking on the headline above, that is if it doesn’t disappear by then. Remember the New Age practice of “Now you see us, now you don’t” – and then make sure you timely archive. You may never see it again. The encyclopedia article as it was written, pre-Squeakbox butchery may be found by clicking links to the right for either "Jews for Morality" and/or the Greg Wolf website which has a copy of it." I am suspecting the author here may even have talked with Solana, however, on one notable occasion, he admitted he had invented copy -- a cardinal, but non-prosecuted Wikipedia sin. Interesting!

"Javier Solana
"Professor Francisco Javier Solana Madariaga, born July 14, 1942 in Madrid, Spain, is a great European statesman and the honourable High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). He is also the honourable Secretary-General of both the Council of the European Union (EU) and the Western European Union (WEU), essentially Europe's much needed foreign policy chief who can give Europe a real weight in world affairs, preventing the domination of the USA. He was a well respected and well known physicist who became a politician, before serving as NATO Secretary General 1995-99. He has been designated EU Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2006 in a move that will hopefully allow him to become the one voice in Europe to deal with what Henry Kissinger (himself a former European) had long dreamed of. He is widely considered the brightest political mind of his generation, and a brilliant diplomat and admimistrator. Family history Solana comes from a famous and highly distinguished Spanish family, being the grandson of famous, highly distinguished and great Spanish League of Nations disarmament chief, diplomat, writer, European integrationist and anti cleric Salvador de Madariaga. His older brother Luis was imprisoned for his heroic political activities opposing the US sponsored evil dictatorship of Franco. Student and Physicist He was an outstanding pupil at school, and even at an early age his natural leadership abilities shone. He was known as both the friendliest and the most intelligent pupil in the entire school. In 1963 as a 3rd year undeergraduate student he was unjustly sanctioned by the Franco puppet university authorities for organising an important and well attended opposition forum at the Complutense University called The Week of University Renovation. He bravely and clandestinely joined the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1964, which had been an illegal party under Franco's USA sponsored dictatorship since 1939, thus running the serious risk of imprisonment. In the same year he graduated top in chemistry. He spent a year furthering his studies in the prestigious Oxford University in the United Kingdom until in 1965 his brilliance led him to the United States of America where for six years he studied at various universities on a Fulbright Scholarship. He so impressed his teachers with his quick mind that he was given a job teaching physics at the University of Chicago. He joined in the protests against the horrific United States participation in the Vietnam War. He received his doctorate in physics in 1968 from the University of Virginia with some highly original and impressive work, where he again taught and did some furhter important researched until 1971. Returning to Spain he was immediately invited to become a top lecturer in solid-state physics at the Complutense University. He was quickly promoted to Professor thanks to his quick grasp of knotty physics problems and his natural teaching style. During these years he published more than 30 important and profound books, showing a highly original and very concise mind. Spanish politics On returning to Spain in 1971 Solana joined the Democratic Co-ordination of Madrid as the PSOE representative. In 1976 he was elected to the very important post of PSOE's Secretary (where he remained for five years) in its first national congress inside Spain since the civil war. This assembly marked a fantastic victory to those like Solana who had risked life and liberty in order to restore freedom, justice and equality to Spain. Solana's tireless personal efforts were considered an important part of the process of bringing democracy to Spain. Solana quickly became a leading PSOE member, and was a close personal friend and trusted advisor of their leader Felipe González, which he remained throughout the many long and difficult years of what was one of the most successful governments in modern history. He became a representative of a teacher's union in the Complutense University, and was so popular in this role that he won a parliamentary seat for PSOE on June 15 1977. Solana also attended the slightly left of centre, social democratic Socialist International conference in France in 1976 and 1977, paving the way for his great friend Felipe González to become Vice President of the organisation in 1978. On October 28 1982 PSOE won a historic victory with 202 seats, thanks in great part to the vigorous campaign that Solana conducted. On December 3, along with the other members of González' cabinet in a ceremony of great dignity, Solana was sworn in as Minister for Culture by His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain in the first left of centre government in Spain since Franco initiated a bloodbath with his illegal coup d'état against the legitimate Republican government of Manuel Azaña in 1936. He was seen as one of the new lights of the government, which was met with tremendous expectation by the people of Spain. On 5 July 1985 he was also made the Official Spokesman for the Government, a very important post, where he basically became the voice of the government in Spain, until 1988. On July 19 he left the Culture department to become Education Minister. He was given the vital role of Minister for Foreign Affairs on July 22 1992, the day before the opening of the II Ibero-American conference of heads of state in Madrid, replacing the terminally ill Francisco Fernández Ordóñez. On November 27-28 1995, with Spain heading the presidencies of both the EU and the WEU, Solana convened and chaired the Barcelona Conference. A treaty was achieved between the 27 nations in attendance with Solana gaining full credit for what he called a process to foster cultural and economic unity in the Mediterranean region, and what others called the first step on the path towards a United States of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin nation. Many consider that as the temporary EU foreign policy chief (it was Spain's turn in the rotating presidency) he was entirely responsible for the great success of this remarkable conference. It launched him as one of the most highly respected of modern international politicians. The conference was so successful that it developed into the Barcelona Process, a vital part of the longed for European and Mediterranean Basin integration. Optimists talk of all the Mediterranean countries, including Israel and Palestine, one day belonging to the EU, or, as some imagine, the United States of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. It was during these 13 years as a cabinet minister that Solana's reputation as a discreet and diplomatic politician grew and grew. He was the confidant of all. González administration was considered responsible for transforming Spain into a modern, industrial nation, and there is no question but that Solana played an enormous part in this process. By going to the foreign Ministry in the later years of González administration he showed his honest and impeccable nature by avoiding the political scandals of corruption, and the dirty war allegedly being fought against ETA, that characterised it's last years. NATO Four months before the end of the PSOE era, and amid rumours in the Spanish press that Solana would run for the premiership in those elections (which would have had a different result had he done so), he became new Secretary General of NATO on December 5, replacing Willy Claes who had been forced to resign. NATO needed someone trustworthy, and Solana was the natural candidate. He was the last Minister to leave González' original cabinet, and was sorely missed by the latter and all the members of his government. His appointment created controversy as he had been an opponent of NATO in his past. He had written a pamphlet called 50 Reasons to say no to NATO, and had been on a US subversives list, but as he himself said, the character of NATO and the world had changed in a post cold war world. In March 1986 Spain held a referendum on whether to join NATO, with the government and Solana successfully campaigning in favour. When criticised about his anti NATO past Solana argued that he was happy to be it's representative as it had become dissassociated from it's cold war origins. Solana immediately had the almost impossibly difficult job of taking command of the peacekeeping NATO mission called Operation Joint Endeavour that consisted of a multinational Implementation Force (IFOR) of 60,000 soldiers which took over from a United Nations mission on December 20. This came about through the Dayton agreement, after NATO had bombed selected targets in Bosnia and Herzegovina the previous August and September. In incredibly difficult circumstances, and with no-one believing he would do so, he made the operation a success. In December 1996 the Implementation Force was replaced by a 32,000 strong Stabilisation Force (SFOR) under first Joint Guard and then (in June 1998) under "Joint Forge". Under Solana's guidance and direction, and in response to a new post cold war era, Solana totally reorganised NATO political and military structure and changed it's basic strategies. He did it in such a way that european interests were always considered. Solana did such a good job that even his critics were amazed at how well organized and well thought out was everything he was involved with, and every move he made. Solana gained the reputation of being a very brainy, capable, successful Secretary General who was capable of negotiating between the differing needs both of the members of NATO and those with whom they were negotiating, itself an almost an almost unbelievably difficult task. Everyone respected Solana, and many were in awe. Even the suspicious Americans thawed under his warmth and charms, and gave concessions that they would very probably have done to a less able leader. In December 1995 France returned to the military structure of NATO, while in November 1996 Spain joined it thanks to the personal efforts of Solana. On May 29 1997, in Sintra in Portugal an amazing (and unimaginable only a few years before) agreement was reached with Russia, after long and complex negotiations conducted by Solana personally, that was considered a considerable and remarkable diplomatic achivement as it formally ended over 50 years of hostilities between Russia and the NATO axis. On the same day he set up the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council to improve relations between European NATO and non-NATO coutries. In July in Madrid, in a move that amazed the world and gladdened the hearts of all Europeans, the former Eastern bloc nations of Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland were invited to begin talks to enter NATO. Keeping the peace in the Balkans continued to be both difficult and controversia in spite of Solana's best efforts. IFOR had received a lot of criticism for their inability to capture the evil Serbian and Bosnian leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. Then on March 24, 1999 Solana, having repeatedly tried to negotiate with Serbia to stop it's repression of the Albanian poulation in Kosovo, and failing that then demanding that it do so, and having been given authorisation by NATO member states to do so, he launched air attacks on military and civilian targets in both Serbia and Kosovo province. These attacks were made without the authorisation of the UN Security Council because of the opposition of Russia, a traditional ally of Serbia. Solana rightly and brilliantly justified the attacks on humanitarian grounds, and on the responsibility and duty NATO has to to keep peace in the region. He said he wanted to avoid the horrific ethnic cleansing seen in Bosnia. Solana and NATO were criticised for the civilian casualties their bombings caused, but Solana's actions were justified in his ridding Europe of some very evil men who would undoubtedly have engaged in brutal ethnic cleansing had he not stopped them. Many Europeans are of the opinion that he avoided another European holocaust with his courageous and firm actions. On April 23 - 24 the North Atlantic Council met in Washington D.C., where the Heads of State of the member nations changed the basic defensive nature of the organisation to allow for humanitarian interference, as well as giving greater military control to NATO. There were also many other profound changes that he personally initiated. On June 10 Serbia withdrew from Kosovo, and Solana stopped the attacks, which ended the Kosovo War. He had achieved his humanitarian goals and stopped Europe from descending into another bloodbath such as occurred in the second world war, and received a huge amount of praise from all quarters for this tremendous achievement. The same day Security Council Resolution 1244 allowed a NATO Kosovo Force to launch Joint Guardian and occupy the province on June 12. He left NATO on 6 October two months earlier than scheduled, and was replaced by George Robertson. EU Foreign Affairs On June 3-4 1999 Solana was, to the joy of all, appointed foreign policy chief of the newly created CFSP, which had been established as the second of the three pillars of the EU in the Maastricht Treaty. He started on October 18, also becoming Secretary General of the Council of the EU, in which role he presides over the EU's Political and Security Committee (PSC). On November 25 he also became Secretary General of the WEU, a partially dormant European defence and security organization that is being integrated into the EU under his delicate but sure hand. Though much of the WEU has now been integrated into the the WEU has also seen an increased activity, particularly in the area of military planning, during his tenure there. These posts were extended on June 29, 2004 when he was also designated the EU's first Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2006 (if the new EU constitution is ratified). He has received praise for the extent of his new powers, but criticism that they are not enough in the face of US world dominance, based on it's being the only superpower, andothers dangers that threaten the security of the EU such as terrorism and the rise of a possible Chinese superpower. He has said that even under the new constitution the minister can only act when there is unanimity amongst member states. He has a €26 billion budget, though there are many criticisms that this is simply not enough for the enormous new responsibilities that the EU establishing itself as a superpower requires. In December 2003 Solana released the vital new European Security Strategy, a profound document concerning and ensuring the future safety of the 300 million European Union citizens, and the further 300 million people that constitute Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. In March 2004 in response to the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks he went on television saying that he thought ETA was responsible. He later said he felt he had a duty to believe what the government had told him as a patriotic Spaniard even though as an active member of PSOE he naturally wanted the militantly anti terrorist José Luis Zapatero to win, which happened. There are rumours that the ETA allegations came from the US government, and that they were deliberately playing on the fact that Solana's weight carries so much importance in Spain, hoping to deceive the Spanish people into voting for the José María Aznar, their ally in their illegal invasion of Iraq. The same Americans then had the cheek to call Spain a country that gives into terrorism, a claim that was met with hilarity throughout Europe as it was Spain, and the González government, who had been the most firm opponents of terrorism during the long years when Solana served as a cabinet minister. Fortunately Solana had emergency powers, as EU foreign policy chief, which he immediately and correctly enacted to the relief of all to ensure the safety of the European people. Thus the truth was discovered: it was not European ETA terrorists but Islamic fundamentalists (originally sponsored and encouraged by the USA government, and determined not to see the Mediterranean basin countries like Morocco eventually join the European Union and projected United States of the European Union and the Mediterranean Basin. Thus the Spanish were saved by Solana from the lies that could have resulted in 4 more years of misery and suffering under the PP's new charismatic leader Mariano Rajoy. On 21 January 2005 Solana excited many when he invited Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko to discuss future EU membership. He has negotiated numerous Treaties of Association between the European Union and various Middle Eastern and Latin American countries. He has played an important and heroic role working with his great colleague and personal friend Kofi Annan from the UN, and with Russia and the USA quartet in the Middle East. He continues to be a primary architect of "The Roadmap", playing a central and vital role working towards a peaceful end to the conflict in Palestine. He met Sharon on July 22 2004 in Jerusalem, where Sharon said he believed that only Solana could lead this troubled region to peace. Solana played a pivotal role in unifying the remainder of the former Yugoslavian federation. He cleverly proposed that Montenegro formed a union with Serbia instead of having full independence. Solana rightly stated this was done to avoid a domino effect from Kosovo and Vojvodina independence demands. His critics taunted him that this new union would only last 2 or 3 years, yet 3 years on it is a peaceful, stable and increasingly prosperous country, thanks almost entirely to Solana. In November 2004, he brought his great skills and experience to successfully assisting Britain, France, and Germany in negotiating a nuclear material enrichment freeze with Iran. The EU has stated it hopes to avoid another invasion like the Iraqi one through this and future negotiations, and Solana has said the most difficult moments of his frankly very difficult job were when the United Kingdom and France, the 2 permanent EU Security Council members, were in disagreement. It is only thanks to Solana's tireless efforts that these 2 fellow European countries are making up after the successful and malicious campaign by the USA (which Solana is aware of) to divide these 2 great and firm allies. Solana is a frequent speaker at the prestigious US based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Solana is likewise active with the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) as well as the New York City based East West Institute. Personal life Solana is still legally married to Concepción Giménez. They have two grown children, a girl, Vega and a boy, Diego. However, per the EuropeanVoice?, the couple separated in 1995. They still make occasional public appearances together; however, they live separately. Solana did not move his family to Brussels and he has a separate apartment in Madrid which he uses on his trips home. In terms of personal habits, Solana is said to eat little and sleep less, surviving on a diet of organic fish and fruit. Recently, however, it is noted that he has made media statements that he enjoys Peking Duck, so obviously he departs from the fish and fruit regimen at times. Solana is a gun collector, and enjoys studying military battles. General Wesley Clark, a man who greatly admired and respected Solana, once asked Solana the secret of his diplomatic success. Solana answered, "Make no enemies, and never ask a question to which you do not know or like the answer." He has been described as a "squarer of circles". Solana is a Knight of the Order of St Michael and St George, a member of the Spanish section of the Club of Rome, and has received the Grand Cross of Isabel the Catholicin Spain.
"Solana has also received the Manfred Wörner Medall of the Defense Minister in Germany. This is a modification of the article at wikipedia and is released under their GFU agreement."

JAVIER SOLANA - GROWING IN IMPORTANCE TOWARDS AFRICA ET AL

GROWING IN IMPORTANCE TOWARDS HIS SOUTH –JAVIER SOLANA WILL BE TRAVELING TO THE CONGO – GERMANY WOULD LIKE TO LEAD HIS MILITARY MISSION

Javier Solana reportedly would like Germany to do that even better than Germany itself! – What next?


Well, it looks as if Javier Solana has his hands full for awhile. He travels on Sunday to the Congo. He is seeking troop donations from EU countries. Germany, headed by a lady who holds the same academic degree as does Dr. Solana, Angela Merkel, who has a Ph.D. in physics, has announced it would like to lead the way. Elections are coming up in the Congo. Peacekeepers would probably appear helpful by now. Maybe there might be a greater spirit of reconciliation among the Congolese if they read the writings of those advising their would-be European protectors. If I were in their position, I would certain read Robert Cooper’s works, potentially as they reminisce fondly about colonialism and control. Then I would study the history of colonialism (including but not limited to Germany and even more importantly Belgium) and go hmmmm. Well, since all of the EU’s motives (or at least those of its leadership, including but not limited to Dr. Solana) could only be altruistic, not to worry. Or should they? Maybe this is inevitable?

One of Angela Merkel’s top deputies formerly served on Javier Solana’s Council of the European Union cabinet. Christoph Heusgen, by some accounts “plucked” from the cabinet of Javier Solana by Angela Merkel, appears more likely to this observer to have instead been planted in the cabinet of Angela Merkel by Javier Solana.

Heusgen (and probably his boss as well) appears to be working very hard to make Javier Solana’s really big dreams come true. He has advocated for the EU to have a permanent Security Council seat in place of Great Britain, France, and Germany as those three countries had previously hoped. He is making BIG PLANS for Germany’s turn at the presidency of the EU (provided the new constitution doesn’t go into place first). This will happen in 2007 – a year that Javier Solana has concomitant BIG PLANS for the Middle East. That is the year the Neighbourhood (Neighborhood to Americans) Action Plans or 7th Framework Programme is due to go into effect for the “Greater European Neighbourhood” which will under those 7 year programs include the countries with Treaties of Association with the European Union.

And that is not to mention the 2008 year the Europeans hope to tie together various creepily acronymed entities such as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), GEOSS (Global Environment and Observation System of Systems). But you can relax. Everybody will be perfectly safe. After all, their planned system will monitor every ship at sea. According to their generously free CD, it can even monitor people out on a walk! Sleep well. Our EU big brothers (and they brag that George Bush helped with the GEOSS project) will monitor our every move. And no doubt, they will come off looking like heroes with their fusion energy project called ITER. That rhymes with bitter. Google it for yourself. They claim they will harness the energy of the stars. Was this what George W. Bush was alluding to when he claimed an energy breakthrough was coming? I am more than a little nervous knowing that Tara Center’s Benjamin Crème (remember him – he heads the group that periodically runs those full page ads claiming “the Christ is now here.”) Per Crème, their “Christ,” (Maitreya to them) will be “the great world teacher. He will achieve a global redistribution of wealth by having countries take inventory of what they have so it can be passed around equally (no doubt more equally to the EU perhaps?). Most interesting, their "Maitreya" will solve world energy problems by a fusion energy process.

While thinking of that, I also reflect on other aspects. About that "global inventory and redistribution". And then I think about Javier Solana’s various “donor conferences” and go “hmmmmmm.” But then again, I am sure I am reading way too much into his very coincidentally named “Section 666” of the Europa Code creating his job and “Recommendation 666” of his ten nation Western Europe Assembly. And just because he has been given the keys to open and shut down Project Galileo at Torrejon – ah, I must really be delusional now. After all, most Americans do not even recognize this invisible man’s name. Couldn’t be anything to it – or could it?

Well, now that I read that our present USA administration is so firmly behind “the European Project” I know that earlier accounts I read that the EU planned to dislodge the USA as a competing superpower in the coming global struggle for control of resources in the 21st century could never be true. After all, both sides of the Atlantic are strictly about peacekeeping? Right? Right??????? Oil and other natural resources never crossed any player’s mind. It’s all about democracy as DNA?

And now Javier Solana seems to be very confidently relying on his very good German friends and a former key loyal employee to lead the charge to Africa. Altruistic? Or back to the goldmines, the rubber trees, the Nigerian oil, and the South African diamonds? Not to mention all that lovely Mideast oil, particularly after Israel is put in its perceived place should it interfere with EU hegemonic aspirations for the region.

And all of this is not to mention the mounting pressures to put UN controls (with strong EU support and maybe even USA backing) in place to curb "protect religion" by making illegal its criticism. Well, I guess that in the New World Order one is allowed to have a religion. One is not, however, allowed to believe it true -- nor tell others it is true. Too bad!

Well, it looks like Javier Solana is getting it smoothly together now. Too bad. I was ready to make my campaign contribution for my favorite cause: Javier Solana for Mayor of Madrid!

As good friend Herb Peters says: Stay tuned!

JAVIER SOLANA SAYS WORLD IS NOT STANDING STILL

JAVIER SOLANA SAYS THE WORLD IS NOT STANDING STILL – AND NEITHER IS JAVIER SOLANA – Another power play?

I’ve had another long day at the office and am still here past 11 p.m. I intended to leave a little earlier, but I took one last peek at Google.com news headlines before departing for home, my husband, cat and dog, and nice warm bed. The usual mayhem, murder, church burnings, etc. occupied the news. Then I decided to check recent news articles about Dr. Solana again using the Google.com search engine. Fatal mistake! I can see its going to be a night too short and morning too soon. I cannot leave here without blogging this one.

What was that headline? “Javier Solana says the world is not standing still.” What did he mean by that? Well, let’s read it real slow – together. Well, EurActiv was nice enough to summarize it: “With or without the Constitution the EU urgently needs to think about streamlining itself, says EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana . . .”

Hmm, does that mean reducing EU governmental positions? I read recently that Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero was thinking of asking Javier Solana to fill the Spanish Socialist Party vacancy for candidate as Mayor of Madrid. Fat chance! I’m more than certain that given the control and world wide frequent flyer privileges that Solana has enjoyed, including successive entertainments at the world’s palaces, he would not be content to be a mere participant at the Spanish equivalent of the United States’ National League of Cities or U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Even if most in the USA don’t currently recognize Dr. Solana’s name or title, those in high places clearly do. Javier Solana, being the political animal his spokeswoman Cristina Gallach says he is, would certainly not wish to step down from running all of Europe to running only Madrid. Well, what does he seek as a true Euro-patriot?

In his own unique phraseology, Solana says:

"I remain convinced that Europe badly needs the ideas contained in the Constitution for a more streamlined and effective EU. We need more consistency among political, economic and military instruments; a better link between the budget and the political decision-making and a more effective system of external representation. The world is not standing still and there is no time to lose. The Union has to respond quickly and gain legitimacy by action."
"No individual country today is capable to cope successfully with the challenges that confront us[...] Member states realise that their influence is greater when they are united and act together. There is no a zero-sum game, in reality we have a win-win situation for everyone."

Well, I am fairly certain, based on my Solana-watching since November 22, 1995 that it is a safe bet that he does not mean to step down and hand his current responsibilities to the Austrian lady who currently shows up as part of his long-dreaded ‘troika,’ Benita Ferrero-Waldner. It is interesting to note that in these configurations, at meetings of, say for example, “The Quartet” that Javier Solana is seated next to Condoleezza Rice, whereas Jack Straw and Benita Ferrero-Waldner sit "beneath the salt," at the end of the table and not as part of the true decision makers, unlike Dr. Solana, who clearly is "the insider." The EU Commissioner for External Affairs until the new EU constitution becomes ratified and Solana as Foreign Minister designate is properly installed as the “One Voice” for Europe.

“Foreign Minister” has one nuance to USA citizens who see the Secretary of State as operating under the thumb of the USA presidency. Under the proposed EU constitution or whatever structure Javier Solana helps them with midwifing, it means something entirely different. It relegates the EU presidency to essentially “a handshaker” and gives autocratic powers, both foreign policy and military to “the Foreign Minister,” i.e.., Javier Solana.

Solana may be urging the hastening of his ratification process now to forestall an increasingly shaky coalition. France’s Chirac has announced his renewed determination to increase Javier Solana’s powers. That was good news for Javier Solana. On the other hand, he was recently criticized by the Dutch foreign minister. And now, very recently, the Polish President Lech Kaczynski has come out in staunch opposition to the Jacques’ Chirac’s proposals and the underlying powerful Foreign Minister position itself. The same article (you may read it by clicking on the hyperlinks underlying the last sentence) noted that other opposition now appeared to be developing to Javier Solana. It will be interesting to see what pressures the USA puts on those countries to back him. My long memory of Javier Solana includes Canada of March 1995 vis a vis Canada of November 1995 when Canada joined the USA in unanimously electing Javier Solana as the new head of NATO. Only six short months earlier, in March, 1995, Javier Solana had sent Spanish war ships against Canada when they tried to protect their fishing stocks.

Well, at any rate, it appears that Javier Solana wants his enhanced power and he wants it now. It will be very interesting to watch the winners and losers in this game. I’m putting my money on Javier Solana, but then again, life – and politics – are full of surprises. As my friend Herb Peters says, “Stay tuned.” Will he be king? Will he be Mayor of Madrid? I’m betting on the former, but then again, I could happily be wrong.