WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN CATALONIA?
I'll admit, when people started sending me stories about what is going on in Catalonia, and more particularly, the beautiful city of Barcelona, I felt that intuition that "something's not right here." I have something of a soft spot for the city because it is, of course, the home to the architecture of Antoni Gaudi, and his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia basilica, a strange mix of the Gothic, nature, and the surreal. If you've never seen his strange architectural visions, then have a look at that one, his strangest and yet perhaps, most enthralling.
In any case, what accounted for my intuition - at least in part - was this article indicating that Madrid's response to the referendum for Catalonian secession was rather heavy-handed(thanks to all who shared this article):
Now, whether or not cruise ships can safely house sixteen thousand riot police or not (and I wouldn't know, since I don't go on cruises, though the figure seems a little steep). Fortunately we needn't fear about the cruise ship, for the article clarifies that Madrid has hired ships - plural - and not just one heavily-over-subscribed cruise ship.
Then came more articles about the arrest of Catalonian finance minister Jove:
‘State of siege’: Catalan officials, incl. junior economy minister, arrested over referendum docs
Whatever the reasons for so many in Catalonia wanting secession from the rest of Spain, and whatever the reasons for Madrid's apparently heavy-handed response, I cannot help but note the hypocrisy of certain segments of the west. Self-determination for all peoples has been a mantra since President Wilson enunciated it on his flower-strewn march to Versailles, which promptly negated the principle when some Austrians expressed a desire to unite with Germany. Woops. Better tone down the freedom and democracy rhetoric, Woodrow, lest it blow up in everyone's faces. The Versailles "freedom and self-determination for (officially approved) peoples" didn't stop with the post-World War One Austrians. We've seen it again in the Crimea.
But I digress. In trying to understand what's going on between Catalonia and Madrid, I've heard everything: the region has always been "independent minded" and "has its own culture and language which have come back after the death of Franco &c &c &c," to much more interesting explanations indicative that Spain, at least, is facing similar problems as elsewhere: people are upset that the influx of "refugees" is turning Spain into "Spanistan," and to put the icing on this cake, Catalonia continues to be the strongest part of the Spanish.... er... Spanistanese... economy, sending more money to Madrid than it gets back from it, leading to the cries of secession that we've seen elsewhere, and for similar reasons (refugees, cynical central governments, financial imbalance between central governments and provinces). One need only think of Italy, and calls for secession of Venice in recent years.
But then someone in Spain - we'll call her "Senora Cervantes" - kindly provided this perspective from El Pais, which indicates that Madrid is not acting in the heavy-handed manner described by other media outlets:
The lies of the Catalan regional premier
Well, ok... but still, why all the ruckus? We're left where we were before, with all of the above conventional explanations.
But then Senora Cervantes mentioned something that really raised my suspicion meter into the red zone; indeed, as I sit here typing this blog, my mind is still reeling. Normally, as regular readers here know, I am loathe to mention information gleaned from anonymous sources, but this one was so huge that it really caught my attention, and has my mind reeling with high octane speculative possibilities, and I simply have to pass it along with that caveat. What Senora Cervantes told me is that this whole thing has nothing to do with these conventional explanations. Rather, she said, this is all about drug trafficking into Spain via Barcelona and Catalonia, and that the regional Catalonian government is actively seeking, so to speak, to get its "cut of the action", and that it seeks also to transform it into a node or nexus of money laundering for the whole operation. And even more specifically, she mentioned that the narco-money being sought was from China and the Middle East... And please note, such a scenario implies a fundamental restructuring of the centers of such laundering, implying that the usual ones are no longer functioning as efficiently as they once did for this purpose, for whatever reason; perhaps they have become the focus of too much scrutiny to do so (Vatican bank, anyone?).
Now, as one can imagine, this sent my mind reeling, and entertaining all sorts of high octane speculations. If so - I mused - then it puts a very different light on the One Belt One Road project that we've all seen China pushing in recent years (pun indended), for as is obvious, the linkage of Europe to the Far East via a vast infrastructure of roads and rails - just as the 19th century British geopolitician Sir Halford MacKinder foresaw - would completely reinvent the geopolitical paradigm that had prevailed since the Renaissance, where sea power was the ultimate arbiter and determiner of economic and geopolitical hegemony. The history of the western imperial powers' interference in China in the nineteenth century is well-known, as is the importation of opium into that country by British, American, and other interests, in a cynical effort to keep the Chinese government weak, and the Chinese themselves cowed, while lining their own pockets with the proceeds. But goods of all sorts can move over the one belt one road, including drugs. So what Senora Cervantes was suggesting was, to put it country simple, that the international drug trade itself was being massively restructured, and that the Catalonian secession movement was part of this process! And it even raises the prospect that China is perhaps trying to play a "revenge" game with the west for addicting millions of Chinese to opium in the 19th and early 20th centuries, not to mention the destablizations that followed it: the Boxer Rebellion, Sun-yat Sen, the Khoumintang, the Communist takeover and all its instabilities from Mao, the Red Gaurds, and so on. If that is the Chinese game, or even just a (covert) part of it, then really and in the final analysis, who can blame them?
(See? I told you... the mind reels!)
Now this puts the whole thing into yet a wider perspective, for I and other researchers and writers who've been watching all this mess unfold since 9/11, have also suggested that the whole move into Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11, was as much about the drug trade as it was about oil. Indeed, I have suspected similar things with the flip-flops of Sultan Erdogan in his Ottomania, as I have suspected it about Syria. Indeed, it even hints that the European refugee crisis (thank you, Frau Merkel, and Darth Soros) could also be tied into a narco-culture-war and narco-trafficking agenda.
And of course, too, there is the disturbing but little known fact that Catalonia was host to that "terrorists' summit" in the late 1960s, hosted by former Nazi SS commando Otto Skorzeny, a "summit" which included the participation of Yasser Arafat and others of similar ilk. Where was it held? In Barcelona. Additionally, all of Senora Cervantes' speculations and insights here make me suspect that there is a relationship to the history of drug trade "restructuring" outlined by researcher Henrik Kruger in his book The Great Heroin Coup.
In any case, what emerges from this, if true (and I have no reason to doubt Senora Cervantes here) is that the tug of war between Barcelona and Madrid isn't about the usual legal niceties concerning secession. It's about control of narco-trafficking (and, while we're at it, other types of covert smuggling and the laundering of money therefrom, as well).
The bottom line: it would appear that neither Madrid or Barcelona are merely tilting at windmills...
See you on the flip side...
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While certainly not of Spanish heritage or background what BlueWren wrote struck me becauseof what I have been studying, reading about and listening to in Galician culture and music. What started with hearing about Franco, who sent some Galician speakers to jail, became an understanding that there is a lot of strong separatist sentiment in many parts of Spain which the Government, no matter who is in charge, seems to feel it has to face with a heavy hand rather than dialogue.
None of the comments linking Catalonia with the ETA were a surprise to me, and this article on Galician nationalism is worth thinking about in context (though admittedly more as an example of what is thought than as, necessarily a guide):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_nationalism
After the Financial Crisis no, this is not a surprise in any way. Even the timing. I think you are pretty far out on a limb this time, and should at least leave room for multiple causations (In other words, I am NOT saying you are wrong. ).
By my estimation, whoever was behind last month’s terror attack in Barcelona is likely also in control of, or closely involved with, the drug traffic. It seems pertinent to note in this regard that the imam who was supposedly at the center of that terror plot, Abdelbaki Es Satty, had been convicted and imprisoned in Spain in 2010 for drug trafficking. And while in prison he associated closely with Rachid Aglif, who had been convicted of involvement in the highly sophisticated 2004 Madrid train bombings. Aglif was apparently known as “El Conejo” (the Rabbit) (does that sound more like a terrorist or a drug trafficker?)… Of course Es Satty was conveniently eliminated by an explosion at a bomb-making safe house south of Barcelona the day before the attacks.
From an August 23 NYT article:
“Mr. Essati had been known to the Spanish judicial and counterterrorism authorities for at least 10 years, according to Fernando Reinares, the director of the Program on Global Terrorism at the Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid”
And the connections to the Madrid 3/11 cell apparently pre-date meeting the Rabbit in prison:
“Abdelbaki Essati had some kind of contacts, dating back a decade ago, with facilitators of the Madrid train bombing network based in Catalonia…” quoting Reinares.
Also from that article:
“Catalan law enforcement authorities have long complained that they are not allowed to work on their own with foreign intelligence organizations such as the C.I.A.”
“In 2006 (Es Satty’s) name surfaced in a case against a group of men accused of recruiting mujahedeen to fight in Iraq. At least one of those men had also helped conspirators involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings to escape.”
“Mr. Essati’s documents or copies of them were found at the home of one of the accused recruiters, Mohamed Mrabet Fahsi…”
Drug trafficker…mujahedeen…CIA…
This is all keeping in mind Daniel Hopsicker’s reporting on Mohammed Atta and company in Florida and their apparent involvement in trafficking large quantities of cocaine (with a Bush in the governor’s office). In the highly recommended film “Who Killed John O’Neill”, links are detailed between the history of the drug traffic and 9/11, and it’s hypothesized that the central hub that was Mena, Arkansas was decentralized when it risked exposure and moved to where? Flight school! Schools at which alleged terrorist hijackers supposedly trained, while behaving more like drug traffickers.
Would those behind the Barcelona attack have been backers of Catalonian independence or not? Given that terror threats tend to be used to reinforce the power of those in charge nationally, and given that the Spanish, and not the Catalan authorities, have a direct relationship with the CIA and other intel services, it appears that those behind the drug traffic, and likely behind the attack, are opposing Catalonian independence. The idea that the Catalonian secession movement is part of a supposed restructuring of the drug trade might make sense if those running the drug trade were on board with it, but they appear not to be.
P.S. Certain articles on Es Satty show two different pictures of him, and to me, they don’t look like the same person… If not, this would indicate the use of an intel double, as was apparent with Atta and co.
Wow.. lottsa info there..
Gaudi – genius that got run over by a tram because he never bothered to look when crossing a street, then because he was so shoddy looking (the man was a messy dresser) he was sent to the poor man hospital and by the time his friends found him it was too late to save him. His concepts for calculating load bearing weights and using fibonacci series calculations in the windows to increase the amount of photons coming through.. (he was inspired by flowers unfolding apparently..if you check the cladding round the windows, they were all do that way on purpose to increase the light load in the building..http://www.happytravellingfeet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/DSC00238.jpg just go google sagrada windows..) And the Sagrada.. just wow…. that’s what humans can actually accomplish in today’s age. And its a beauty…. lifetip to fellow GDS’ers : if you ever have the oppurtunity to visit the Sagrada (and by that I mean you’re in Europe) Book the Entrance Tickets on Internet BEFORE going… you will literally save yourself 10 hours of queue. Just walk past them all..
Opium wars with the Chinese?? Why that doesnt sound like the Astor family, the Russel family (Skull and Bones.. no really, William Huntington Russell), the Delanos.. (Franklin D Roosevelt’s grandpappy) and a whole bunch of unsavory ex-slave traders and I’m sure the India Trading Company would have had something to do with that as well. Seeing as they had Afganistan under wraps..
Ahh.. wasnt it so much easier to pillage and plunder the land and people when the Empire was still up and running.. An entire ‘tea’ drinking (probably code for ‘gold’ at that epoque… boston ‘tea’ party.. whooooo!) empire brought to it’s knees by a man in a nappy.. and the end of WW1 as well. .ok. (but the man in the nappy had a lot to do with it as well)
One thing for sure.. here in France, the news have been talking about the rate of overdosing and the better quality heroin in the streets.. on the raise ever since Afganistan was once again liberated by Nato..I mean.. I’m not insinuating that the drug trade has been primarily instigated, maintained and supplied by “some sovereign” army, that probably had to invade another country first in order to seize assets or/and install a market and demand, since at least 1816..I mean, c’mon we’re 200 years later.. now they don’t bother with invading, just assassination, blackmail and planting assets and training execution and torture squads and abducting people.. “That’s how you make a free market today boy!” Over the bones and skulls (:)x of the former owners of the land I’m striding across..
So would the Chinese want revenge..?? Wouldn’t you?
It’s nice to see the Catalonian gov. looking out for it’s citizens, protecting them from any potential terrorists.. probably with everyone under military curfew, not allowed anywhere near anything looking like a dock.
I hope they get a good cut.. there are trillions of $$$ in the drug trade.. Spain could do with a boost.. after losing all the gold they stole from the Aztecs..
Maybe they should have tried to decipher the codecs before burning them..so much lost..
Sorry Im rambling.. Dr F, would it be possible that all the recent arrests made around the world for other types of ‘smuggling’, have compromised enough of the infrastructure, that new _vays und means_ have to be explored?
Catalonia and Spain do have a long history of not being very nice to each other.. (like the protestants and catholics in england..) I’ve seen on some boards, that Catalonia is supposed to have the highest concentration of people with Rhesus Negative blood.. Lets not forget the Cathars.. a 2nd Pope at one point running around with his mitre in his hands.. probably means nothing. 🙂
How is it that portugal is getting away with opting out of drugwars. Aren’t there thugs coming from all sides saying things like “hey beautiful country u have here. It’d be a real shame if something bad were to happen…”
Spot on Doctor Farrell! The Spanish Mediterranean Coast has always been a highly active point of entry for all sorts of stuff way beyond the official “dope” from North Africa.
The Nazi International connection to the Spanish Mediterranean is well documented. The 60’s and 70’s growth in Tourism was funded by the Nazi Crowd well into the 80’s when Bank Lending rates were in the high teens. Afterwards the ECB took over the role… probably one and the same..
The “pied-noir” hit-men from Algeria who carried the first hits against Franco general’s under the ETA hoods and other acronims during the 70’s and early 80’s, were all on stand-by and hiding in small towns along the Mediterranean Coast. The claws of the Nazi International/Gladio extended beyond Catalunya into Valencia and Alicante. The only way for Franco to get his hands on this crowd would have been “outright militarization” which might have been the Nazi’s objective to further vilify Franco. But Franco was smarter than that … There were some raids and large arsenals were found… but it came down to nothing… This hit-men moved around with impunity and the official line was that they were “Anti-terrorist Commandos”, when it fact… they were the ones with the training to get close to a General, plant bombs in the hoods of their cars (the Algerian Method) and pull the trigger if necessary. In the 60’s and 70’s, Franco had already lost control over the Police…
My grand-father was a Valencian-based Propaganda spinmaster/Catalonian Countries Independence Simpathizer; with close personal links to the Count of Godo, who once offered him the top job at his newspaper La Vanguardia.
My grand-father once confessed to me that he played a part in the inception of Basque ETA and the Catalonian counterparts in those days. There were many groups in the beginning; later, all activities got consolidated under ETA. My grandfather apologetic argument was: “I would have never suspected then that what we were doing would have escalated later on into attacks against Civilians”; like the devastating Hipercor Supermarket Bomb blast in Barcelona that killed 21 civilians and left many others wounded for life. His job was endoctrinating the unemployed youths who were recruited and trained as terrorists and later were framed to take the blame for a lot of the “hits” coomitetd by the pro’s.
Very interesting thanks Miguel
Please note, Dr. Farrell, that El País has a long history of being anti-Catalunya, anti-Catalan, and anti-Catalá language.
Ever since I can remember, my father, a Gallego (from Galicia), has always said that the Catalanes have always wanted to be independent. He was always quite annoyed about it all as he thought they were misguided to think they would be better off seceding from the rest of Spain. He also always said that if Cataluña succeeded to secede, then it might cause Austurias to attempt the same thing.
I think there might be some truth to what is stated in the blog, but for me, the news that Cataluña is rebellious is nothing really new. What I think is important however is the timing of it all, and how perhaps there might be some extra influence exerted on the region to drive another wedge into Spain and break it up not only psychologically with the muslim influx, but with the idea that each little region can be successfully autonomous. If anything, it is all quite the reverse of what the Catholic Kings once did – unite Spain to defeat the arabs. Now it might be that the arabs themselves are working in the background to take back what they consider to be theirs – Spain, and especially Cordoba.
Good point.
The recent movie, The Prophet, shows how the Muslims took over a sizable portion of the drug markets in Europe and surrounding areas.
The music theme song, that plays throughout as a backdrop: Mack The Knife.
Could be Arab money involved in Spain bluewren – but who has the political finesse to carry out some type of secessionist project? The Gulf monarchies? Their “consultants” or allies perhaps? If Libya had not been destroyed it would have made the perfect candidate for this type of operation….
Supreme irony in your post.
First we have Prez Benedick Wilson, speaking of independence, while taking signing away the U.S. sovereignty in 1913 to the international banking cartel[more infamous than drug dealers or launderers? Doesn’t matter, they’re in bed together anyway].
Then ole Benedict Arnold put us into war profiteering to end all doubt about whose in charge. Not only was WW1 about oil; it was about how capitalism was to roll – industrial capitalism or financial capitalism[the wrong system won that round]. I can’t let it pass that the inoculations for Spanish Flu[had nothing to do w/Spain] where the very cause of it[isn’t that ironic].
Love the culture of Spain. Can’t help but remember a Spanish movie that had a character reading about the Ant & the Grasshopper to his son. He got the book from school. When he came to the part where the grasshopper’s left to starve he throws the book against the wall. What kind of school teaches not sharing?
Must of been Benedict with a k.
Very sensitive bot.
I guess the story of Richard & Jane wouldn’t fly?
[Hint: guy’s nickname].
Anyway, I anticipated that.
Now back to my rant.
The irony continues as the drugs were central to the Viet Nam war in the Golden triangle. Developing G.I. Customers and/or pushers. They were exporting death in more ways than one[dead G.I. bodies were used to smuggle drugs].
Then they moved onto Afghanistan. Wherever the drugs go; so does the heavy artillery of war. Nothing better than covering all the War Profiteering angles. No self-respecting hustler would make that faux pas.
So now its payback time. One attracting aspect of the Silk Road policy is the currency. There’s a real gold ties-in there via black gold[oil]. Also, some secrecy?[that’s a set-up waiting to happen(more payback down the silk road)].
Those Triad connections are solid in the far east. Those Russians crims[Afghanistan] have fingers in that pie.
So Barcelona is a hub for East meets West; and the table where the plutocrims’s drug deals are being cut, is too small?
It’s more like all those chairs at the table, in this high-stakes game, are being whisked-out; one-by-one, against an oriental musical backdrop[musical chairs, Chinese-style.
…were the very cause of it.
I would look back into the distant past for an explanation of the turmoil around Catalonia and the city of Barcelona:
If I go by the research of Ralph Ellis, the wife of JC likely settled just over the border in southern France. A whole community grew-up centered around her and the refugees from the Jewish Rebellion after 70 AD.
Then, a thousand years later, the current Pope authorized the Albigensian Crusade against ‘fellow Christians’ in that area who would not bow-down to the Pope – “a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc in the south of France” (Wiki). This genocide liquidated the Cathars, and likely pushed the survivors ‘across the border’ into the Catalonia region of Spain.
What is also interesting is that the Knights Templar ‘stood down’ around the Albigensian Crusade. They did not defy the Pope openly, but simply did not go out Cathar-hunting. They may have been sympathetic with the Cathars, and indeed some degree of intermarriage is documented.
That region of southern France was a Knights Templar stronghold. It would be likely that the area just across the border in the Catalonia region was also Templar-influenced, if not dominated. (As was Portugal.) After their outlawing in France, some Knights Templar may have also became ‘refugees’ in the Catalonia region. (And in Portugal.)
So, Catalonia would ultimately end-up as a ‘refuge’ for Marian Jews (Nazarenes, according to Ralph Ellis), Cathars, and Knights Templars. Wow, what a mixture! I could easily see them as fiercely independent, secretive, having a chip on their shoulders for King and Papacy, and being masters of trade & making money.
So, this is the background of that region. Would they be open to becoming a drug-transfer nexus?
This explanation is totally consistent with Catalonia’s desire for a fairer division of revenue based on their contribution. As JPF has pointed out numerous times, there is a hidden (and very large) parallel system of global finance. There are many advantages to keeping this system hidden besides higher profit margins. One that is often overlooked is the ability to use public (.gov) money to provide infrastructure, security, delivery, technology, etc. for these underground industries. Currently, the See Eye Ayyyy uses the USSA military to secure their poppy fields in Afghanistan. They also removed the mining over burden on the majority of Afghanistan’s Eastern mountains (where there is an estimated $7 Trillion in minerals) using bunker busting bombs. This was accomplished by feeding the sheeple a narrative that a “terrorist” named Osama was hiding out in a cave there and therefore billions should be spent leveling Afghany mountains. As all of these hidden economic schemes get more light shined on them, it will be harder for them to use public resources and / or keep the profits to themselves. One last thing, Clif High points out that as the $ dies it gets harder to pay all of the hush money needed to keep these operations secret. This helps explain why we are seeing so many leaks.
When something is just WRONG geopolitically, if it is not an exotic weapon, it is just plain old MONEY. And in Europe, guess who is the top economic player? Customs just CAN’T check the huge number of containers, whether they travel by rail or sea, and Lord knows what is really in them. So they focus their duty-collecting zeal on plain folks who order some gadget from Hong Kong by ebay….
This blog, especially the closing sentence, had a quixotic tone–which affords me this glorious opportunity to segue from quixotic, to chaotic. Take it away, T-bone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMzV2VNN2sg
wow. apparenlty bill hicks knew t-bone. thank you.
Neighbouring Portugal decriminalize drugs in 2001. According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph the Duke of Cambridge has entered into the debate on drug legalization and there are movements toward drug legalization in other commonwealth countries. The end of drug prohibition will be the end of narco-trafficking.
I would bet our current ‘opioid epidemic’ is somehow related to the changing of the old guard. The oligarchs continue to play their game of chess move after move playing with our lives and control of earth’s resources. Power and greed is all they accumulate, peace and harmony is not in their genetic makeup. If you dig deeper I doubt if their DNA is human. Take a look at the Vatican audience hall where it’s shaped like a reptilian snake head. Right behind where the pope sits there’s a statue of Jesus rising up that looks like a demonic entity. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yzurtPFe9jE
Sandygirl, I didn’t see your post earlier. Bet you got modded for “enti ty”…
wow. i’m more surprised i didn’t know bout that than that it was done. wonder what the purpose of coming out of the demon closet is. they gonna start doing more than leaks about pederasty and cannibalism soon?
Starting from nowhere, there has been ‘opioid epidemic’ blather almost every day on both local and national news for weeks. So, someone high-up in the PTB pyramid has initiated the MSM drumbeat. I do wonder what the deeper plan & intent IS with this. We know d@mn well it isn’t the public welfare…
What a disgrace! I shall never attend a catholic mass again. I’ve been tempted, believe me, because there are no churches in my area, but after seeing this, ESPECIALLY after seeing this, I know I’ve made the right decision to not do so!
Nothing surprises me anymore, and this is as good a reason as any to leverage separatist sentiments.
I assume the Clinton and Bush clans (cue the theme to “the Godfather”) are taking crash courses in Catalan.
And where there’s big-league drugs there’s the three-letter boys, money laundering and human trafficking. Gee, what a future to aspire to!
Finally. This explanation makes a lot of sense. All the others are hyperbole looking for a good argument to justify their acceptance.
Hard to explain the explosion of opium production in Afghanistan without US “intervention”; with a large percentage of the poppy fields centered around US bases there, so we can guard them. We also have the concurrent explosion of both legal opium based “prescriptions” as well as illegal drug use in the US/West with the CIA/military being one of the biggest shippers of drugs world wide (have to fund those covert ops and wars somehow, since we are way past bankrupt morally and financially).
N. Korea is also a big producer of opium, just one of the more profitable “natural” resources the West may have it eyes on there, with the elimination of the uncontrolled competition it represents as one of the driving factors in the current “geopolitical” ruckus.
Who can blame the Chinese for desiring a little “payback” as they strive to become the next economic super state. This just adds another dimension to that “one road to rule them all”. It has often been pointed out here that the term “gold” has more than one meaning.