Military In Spain - Last week, the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government approved its budget for 2023. Hailed by the bourgeois press for "historic" social spending, the budget actually includes the largest increase in Spain's military spending in history. The budget is another devastating revelation of the imperialist militarism of the pseudo-left party Podemos.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks with Spanish troops during his visit to the Adazi military base in Kadaga, Latvia, on Tuesday, March. 8 of 2022. (AP Photo/Roman Koksarov)
Military In Spain
US President Joe Biden has acknowledged in talks with private donors that NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine threatens to trigger a nuclear apocalypse, but Podemos is using the war to implement long-standing plans to rearm the Spanish military.
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The Podemos budget offers workers small increases in social spending for items such as unemployment benefits, childcare benefits, train travel or health care, for example, with €266.7 billion earmarked for "social" issues. However, these increases are largely offset by the increase in inflation of over 10 percent in Spain and throughout Europe. By far the most important measure in the 2023 budget is the increase in military spending, at a staggering 25.8 percent.
Military spending will reach more than 12.8 billion euros next year, up from 10 billion euros in 2022. This plan is in line with Madrid's commitment to NATO to increase its defense budget to 2 percent of GDP by 2029. Military spending will reach 1.2 percent of GDP next year with this budget. The rest of the increase comes from 4,900 million euros of investment in "special modernization programs", most of which are intended for Spanish arms companies. This represents a 72 percent increase compared to the approximately €2.9 billion allocated to these plans in 2022.
In an attempt to make these reactionary and dangerous measures palatable to the Spanish working class, which maintains deep-rooted anti-war sentiments, the PSOE-Podemos government has championed "special modernization programs" as a positive development to create jobs. According to a Ministry of Defense statement, these regimes will "directly or indirectly contribute to the creation of 22,667 new jobs".
According to data from the Delàs Center for Peace Studies, a pacifist institute, Madrid's real military spending - which, in addition to the Defense Ministry's budget, includes the rest of military items distributed in other portfolios - will be 27,000 million euros, equivalent to . of 75.7 million euros daily. In his report published on Tuesday, he stated that "if these budgets are approved, Spain will already exceed NATO's 2023 spending targets, devoting 2.17% of its GDP to military spending." According to this calculation, "for every ten euros that the state invests in 2023, three will be in arms".
Spain Military Forces Seen During A Parade To Celebrate The Patron Of The Unit Stock Photo
The massive increase in military spending comes amid NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine, to which the Spanish government has already allocated millions of euros in arms, ammunition and training for Ukrainian troops. With this new budget, the PSOE-Podemos coalition government is doubling down on its commitment to NATO belligerence in Ukraine, even as this conflict threatens to turn into a nuclear confrontation.
In addition to increases in military spending, the budget also includes increases in social spending, which will be eaten up by inflation. Annual inflation reached 10.5 percent in August, falling only slightly to 9 percent in September. The budget includes:
That this year's budget contains "record" measures for social spending is not due to a genuine commitment by the PSOE-Podemos government to guarantee decent living conditions for the Spanish working class. Instead, the budget effectively cuts the real, inflation-adjusted value of Social Security benefits while funneling enormous resources to the military.
Podemos, the junior partner of PSOE in the government, responded to the budget by celebrating the social spending, and all this while falsely trying to appear as an opponent of the increase in military spending. In a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, Podemos spokesman Pablo Echenique claimed that his party was somehow tricked into approving the budget, without knowing that defense spending had increased.
Spanish Army, 1910
Echenique said: "We will not break the government because of PSOE's disloyalty, because that would be very irresponsible when we have [PP right-wing leader Alberto Núñez] Feijóo and [far-right Vox Santiago leader] Abascal sharpening. the knives But I want to say clearly that [PSOE] hid this unilateral increase in defense spending from us and that is a shame."
Similarly, the leader of the Podemos party and Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, stated that her party "was frontal in this negotiation against any increase in military spending." But since Podemos does not constitute the "majority in the government", he argued, it is difficult to turn this "stubbornness" into a "reality".
But the narrative that increases in military spending were sneaking into the budget behind unsuspecting Podemos ministers quickly imploded. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Yolanda Díaz, Podemos' labor minister and second vice-president of Spain's government, agreed with PSOE president Pedro Sánchez that Podemos would not oppose the increase in military spending. Podemos sources involved in the negotiations with PSOE also told El Diario that they had informed the party leadership of the increases in spending to defend the budget.
In reality, Podemos' protests are nothing more than empty words, trying to hide the party's true role as a member of an imperialist government engaged in war politics abroad and austerity and repression at home. Terrified by the growing social resistance, Podemos is forced to perform political stunts, while softening its commitments to Spanish imperialism.
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It is the living example of the installation of pseudo-left parties in power, including the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in the United States. The "left" of the Labor Party in Great Britain, formerly led by Jeremy Corbyn, will not end the imperialist war and the threat of nuclear Armageddon. All these pseudo-left formations represent a privileged layer of the upper middle class with a vested interest in defending capitalism. There is a lot to worry about right now, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to radically change everyday life around the world. While we're all stuck in social distancing at home, it's important to find distraction and relief whenever possible. This could come in the form of scented candles, a really good book or… pictures of some incredibly muscular Spanish soldiers.
The Spanish army has been deployed to help deal with the coronavirus outbreak and in light of the news, several Twitter users have become obsessed with images of one particular regiment and its distinctive low-cut uniforms.
"Spain is deploying its military to help deal with its coronavirus outbreak and not to be insensitive at an anxiety-inducing time, but hey... I think I speak for all New Yorkers when I say: Spain, hello , can you implement any of that? in our direction? We'll do your bidding," user Jill Filipovic wrote in a tweet that quickly went viral. "Just saying there's a lot of bachelors in this town that need to be put under house arrest and these are the only men to do it," she wrote in an even funnier follow-up.
This content was imported from Twitter. You can find the same content in a different format, or you can find more information on their website.
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As a woman with eyes, I appreciate that your shirts practice social distancing — Amanda Smith (@AmandaSmithSays) March 23, 2020
The cover of an erotic novel, but a real picture of Spanish legionnaires, also known as highly trained foot soldiers who are casually nicknamed "the grooms of death".
"As a woman with eyes, I appreciate that the punches on your shirts practice social distancing," user Amanda Smith wrote in response, pointing out how tight the soldiers' uniforms are. Several users also pointed out that the soldiers' shirts were only half-buttoned, by design. "It seems important to note that the buttons only START halfway. This is BY DESIGN (maybe, but I'll let the viewer decide)," user. Tressie McMillan Cotton wrote.
Wait, wait... is that his army, or the cast of Magic Mike??? pic.twitter.com/hveVp5azmf — Kristin Karnitz (@KristinKarnitz) March 23, 2020
Spanish Legion Soldiers Unit Of The Spanish Army And Spain`s Rapid Reaction Force Editorial Photo
But this story is a bit more complicated than it seems. First, these amazing photos were not taken during the covid-19 outbreak, or even recently. As some light reddit research shows, they were posted online about a year ago.
And not all Twitter users were so quick to jump on the HQ bandwagon, with many pointing to La Legion's complex and troubling history. Per
, the regiment was historically closely related to the Spanish general and dictator Francisco Franco. "The only reputation they had was for murdering civilians under Franco," noted user Dermot Cosgrove, while several people pointed out that the regiment has close ties to fascism.
This is a sexist society. Trust me, you don't want anything to do with these types of Spaniards. They are romantic, yes; but you will not be treated well. Not by modern standards.— 🥑Eggs with chorizo🥑🌶 🇺🇸 🥩🏋️ (@SamTorres5) March 22, 2020
Soldiers Marching In Spanish National Day Army Parade
In conclusion, because the phrase “of abundance
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