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WASHINGTON – José María Aznar, the former Spanish prime minister who came to the US capital this week to push his Friends of Israel initiative, blasted the Obama administration for its Middle East policies in discussing the need for his new group.... “All of them were unconditional supporters of Israel. This administration, in my view, is a conditional supporter of Israel,” he said.

Police in Hamburg shut down the notorious al-Quds mosque, renamed the Taiba mosque in 2008, led by German-Syrian national and voluntary imam Mamoun Darkazanli. Darkazanli (a.k.a. Abu Ilyas al-Suri) has been a suspected al-Qaeda operative, primarily as a financier and logistician, in the European Union for close to two decades. Long active in al-Qaeda circles, Darkazanli first surfaced on the radar of Western intelligence agencies when he purportedly helped procure a cargo ship named “Jennifer” for Osama bin Laden as early as 1993 (Hamburger Abendblatt, October 16, 2004). Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (BKA- Federal Criminal Police Office) admitted that it had been...

We cannot forget that Israel is the West’s best ally in a turbulent region.For far too long now it has been unfashionable in Europe to speak up for Israel. In the wake of the recent incident on board a ship full of anti-Israeli activists in the Mediterranean, it is hard to think of a more unpopular cause to champion. In an ideal world, the assault by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara would not have ended up with nine dead and a score wounded. In an ideal world, the soldiers would have been peacefully welcomed on to the ship. In...

A group of respected former world leaders and academic figures came together in Paris earlier this month to establish the Friends of Israel initiative to combat what they called the "delegitimation of the State of Israel." The group was led by former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and included Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former First Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble, former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, Italian philosopher Marcelo Pear, British historian Andrew Roberts and former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton. In a press release prior to the Paris event, the group expressed its outrage over...

Aznar said that a “pyromaniac” like Zapatero can not be the fire chief! The former prime minister responds with a gesture insulting jeers from students at the University of Oviedo EL PAÍS - JAVIER CUARTAS / AGENCIAS - Oviedo – 18/02/2010 (English Translation) The former prime minister and president of the Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES) José María Aznar has questioned today during a “rough” conference on the crisis at the University of Oviedo, the ability of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to achieve consensus or face economic situation because, in his view, “the head of the arsonists can...

Prime Minister Aznar illustrated the fact that while “not all Muslims are Jihadists, all Jihadists are Muslims.” Prime Minister Aznar’s party lost the 2004 election, only 3 days after the tragic events of the Madrid train bombing. His successor has since withdrawn all Spanish troops from Iraq.

Pope Invites Tony Blair To Vatican Summit To Discuss Church's Fears That Politics Is Losing Its Religion By Nick Pisa November 2009 Catholic convert Tony Blair is among several world leaders being invited to attend a top level summit with Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the role of the Church in politics. The two-day summit will be held at the Vatican and will include other Catholic politicians from all over the world, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. vice president Joe Biden, former Spanish PM Jose Maria Aznar, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Church officials have been quietly working...

Barcepundit catches Joe Biden in Spain doing … well, what Joe Biden does best. Joe Biden remembered to thank Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero for all the help he gave us in Iraq, except that the only thing Zapatero gave us in Iraq was the finger:

Barcepundit catches Joe Biden in Spain doing … well, what Joe Biden does best. Joe Biden remembered to thank Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero for all the help he gave us in Iraq, except that the only thing Zapatero gave us in Iraq was the finger:

MADRID - Spain’s former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar drew criticism Wednesday by reportedly referring to what he called the "historic exoticism" of Barack Obama’s election as US president. Aznar was asked by a journalist from the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair magazine about the election in November of the first black president of the United States. "A historic exoticism and predictable economic disaster," replied the conservative former leader. "Obama is a person of black race who managed to become president of the United States, which is an extraordinary change for them", he said, without indicating whether he was referring...

HAVANA - Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro openly criticized Latin America's socialist-leaning presidents for the first time on Sunday. Castro also praised Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his other revolutionary regional allies in a commentary carried by official Cuban media on the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. Nearly all 19 leaders who attended the summit were leftists, but there was debate over the region's future and the closing speeches on Saturday were marked by sharp exchanges..."I listened with great sorrow to the speeches pronounced from traditional left positions at the Ibero-American summit," Castro wrote. He was apparently referring to the...

Madrid - Former Spanish chief of state José Maria Aznar spoke with the King of Spain and with current prime minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero this afternoon to thank them for the support they expressed for him in the Iberoamerican meeting yesterday in Santiago de Chile after Aznar was criticized by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The conversation with Zapatero was brief, just 10 minutes, and took place after Zapatero placed a floral offering at the memorial to victims of the military dictatorship in Argentina...government sources have confirmed Zapatero responded to Aznar, saying, "I acted according to my principles and for...

SANTIAGO, Chile - The king of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up" Saturday during a heated exchange at a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Chavez, who called President Bush the "devil" on the floor of the United Nations last year, triggered the exchange by repeatedly referring to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a "fascist." Aznar, a conservative who was an ally of Bush as prime minister, "is a fascist," Chavez said in a speech at the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. "Fascists are not human. A snake is more human."...

SADDAM Hussein was prepared to take $1 billion and go into exile before the Iraq war, George Bush, the United States president, is said to have told José WMaria Aznar, the then prime minister of Spain, a month before the 2003 invasion. During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on 22 February, Mr Bush told Mr Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to a transcript of their talks published yesterday in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. "The Egyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if...

The left is jumping over a report out of Spain that they say affirms their belief that Bush was going to go into Iraq no matter what happens: According to a new report published today by El Pais, Spain’s largest daily newspaper, Bush told then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the time that he was going to invade Iraq no matter what happened. Spanish speakers can read the transcript of their discussion — I’m a little rusty — but E&P has a report on the revelations. El Pais, the highest-circulation daily in Spain, today published what it said was...

Bush thought Saddam was prepared to flee: report By Jason Webb 29 minutes ago Saddam Hussein was prepared to take $1 billion and go into exile before the Iraq war, according to a transcript of talks between U.S. President George W. Bush and an ally, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Wednesday. During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003, Bush told former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to the transcript published in El Pais in Spanish. In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe...

THE US and its allies, including Australia, need to stay the course in Iraq because to withdraw would allow terrorism to flourish in all parts of the world, according to former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar. Speaking in Sydney last night, Mr Aznar, who led Spain from 1996 to 2004, said that the Western world was at the crossroads, and that to concede defeat in Iraq would have "very serious consequences" for global democracy. "It's a very bad idea. You shouldn't run out of Iraq," Mr Aznar said. "Exiting Iraq without achieving stability will leave Iraq at the mercy...

WASHINGTON, Oct 26, 2006 (AFP) - Multicultural policies in Europe have largely failed, former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar said Thursday on the one-year anniversary of riots by ethnic minorities in France. "I believe that multiculturalism is a big failure," Aznar said, speaking at Georgetown University. "I'm against the idea of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism divides our societies, debilitates our societies, multiculturalism does not produce tolerance, nor integration." "And this is one of the reasons of the great failures in several European societies at this moment." Aznar, a pro-US conservative who led Spain from 1996 to 2004, emphasized that laws must...

Published: 09/25/2006 12:00 AM (UAE) ASGHAR KHAN/Gulf News Jose Maria Aznar, former Spanish Prime Minister, says the West is constantly under attack from Muslims. Jose Maria Aznar, former Spanish prime minister, defended Pope Benedict XVI’s comments about Islam, saying on Friday the pontiff had no need to apologise and asking why Muslims never did. the Spanish media said yesterday. “Why do we always have to say sorry and they never do?” Aznar told a conference in Washington on “global threats” on Friday. On Saturday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quoted as saying that more European leaders should have...

Aznar defends Pope's remarks. Agencies Madrid: Jose Maria Aznar, former Spanish prime minister, defended Pope Benedict XVI’s comments about Islam, saying on Friday the pontiff had no need to apologise and asking why Muslims never did. the Spanish media said yesterday. “Why do we always have to say sorry and they never do?” Aznar told a conference in Washington on “global threats” on Friday.