No Kidding! Really?

The US and the European Union governments know they are playing with fire when it comes to the Kosovo independence push. Using the blue helmets as a shield the meddling powers allowed the Kosovar Liberation Army to conduct an ethnic cleansing campaign that included not only genocidal attacks against the Serbian population but the destruction of both Serbian and humankind's cultural heritage. Then came a referendum that showed that surprise surprise, 90% of Kosovo's population, what the main stream media likes to call "ethnic Albanians", wanted nothing to do with Serbia.

Well, as it happens, it could have consequences in Europe's maps of the near future, check out this note:

Kosovo independence seen fueling nationalist movements in EU

11 December 2007, 10:19 CET

(MADRID) - If Kosovo declares independence from Serbia after Monday's UN-set deadline for reaching a settlement has passed, a powerful precedent will be set for separatist movements across Europe, from Spain to Scotland, observers say.

"There is a real risk that the quasi-dogma of the intangibility of borders which has existed since the end of the Second World War will fall," French political scientist Jean-Yves Camus of the Paris-based IRIS institute told AFP.

"This would benefit movements which seek to rewrite the map of Europe based on ethnic, linguistic or cultural criteria," added Camus, a specialist on separatist movements in Europe.

Kosovo's ethnic majority leaders are widely expected to unilaterally declare independence from Serbia in early 2008 but have vowed not to do so without US and European Union approval.

Although the province formally remains part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Serbia, backed by its ally Russia, opposes Kosovo's plan and at least four EU nations -- Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Spain -- are reluctant to recognise a unilateral declaration of independence, in part because of the precedent it might set for separatists nearer to home.

"In the West, this solution will set off separatists in Europe. Look at Scotland, Catalonia, the Basque Country," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published in French newspaper Le Figaro earlier this year.

Kosovo's expected declaration of independence comes at a time when Spain's northern Basque Country and its wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia have stepped up their demands for more autonomy.

Last year Catalan voters overwhelmingly backed a new charter which recognized the region as a "nation" within Spain and grants it enhanced powers in taxation and judicial matters.

As in other separatist regions of Europe like Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, and northern Italy, supporters said Catalonia deserved extra powers because it makes a bigger contribution to the economy.

The armed Basque separatist group ETA ended a 15-month ceasefire in June while the Scottish National Party, which came to power in May, plans to hold a referendum on independence in 2010.

Belgium meanwhile has been without a government for six months after a general election on June 10 highlighted deep divisions between the nation's majority Dutch-speakers and Francophones.

For many nationalists, membership in the 27-nation European Union has only served to make separation seem more viable.

"Europe can regulate our functionings and transfer payments. Why must we maintain this intermediate roof we call Belgium," the leader of the Flemish nationalist party, Bart De Wever, told French daily Le Monde last month.

The emergence of similar lifestyles and English as a common language in Europe, combined with the disappearance of borders and the lack of democratic legitimacy of EU bodies, had fueled "the development of microdistinctive identities," said Camus.

Noticed how the author of the article does not call the Basques or the Catalonians by the term "ethnic"?

How about how the author goes out of the way to mention that Catalonia is wealthy but refrains to do so when it comes to the Basque Country when both the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre are situated in the top 10 list of the wealthier regions of Europe.

Seems to me like the Catch 22 trap is about to turn tables on the European colonialist powers.

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The Arzaks

Reuters published a nice article about Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena, here you have it:

World Chefs: Arzaks humble about haute cuisine
Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:54am GMT

By Claire Sibonney

TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Spanish chefs Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena are local celebrities at their 110-year-old restaurant in San Sebastian, but neither craves the spotlight.

Dubbed the father of modern Basque cuisine, Juan Mari, 65, and Elena, 38, are renowned for their investigative cooking, which they concoct with a team of chefs, chemists and physicists in the restaurant's kitchen and laboratory.

Foodies flock to their Arzak restaurant, ranked among the best in the world, for foods such as oysters wrapped in cellophane, fiber-optic potatoes, champagne ravioli and bubbling pineapple.

The pair spoke to Reuters in a telephone interview about fame, inspiration and their distinctive style of cooking.

Q: You once prepared a meal for Queen Elizabeth. Who do you most like to cook for?

JM: "In this community, there is no class distinction. This is a restaurant of three Michelin stars but it is a restaurant where all types of people come. Those of upper class could come once a month, and those of middle or lower class will still come, but maybe only once a year."

Q: Can you describe what investigative cuisine means?

JM: "The cuisine is of Basque roots, not of traditional Basque roots. We distinguish between traditional Basque cuisine and cuisine with Basque roots. Roots is the way of being of a people, a genetic heritage, a cultural heritage, a heritage of taste that we carry in our blood ... The cuisine of Basque roots is cuisine of investigation, it's a cuisine of evolution, ours in Arzak, it's a cuisine in the vanguard."

Q: Can you describe a typical dish from the restaurant that exemplifies that philosophy?

E: "Hake with white clay: It's a favorite local fish and we serve it with a white clay, that you can eat, that is with no sand."

JM: "The idea came to us because we were working with the land to make a sauce from the earth. After we started to do a type of compost of different types of earth, we collected the earth from parts where there is no deteriorating substances like that of the forest, and then we cooked this and what we ended up with was an extract that tastes of minerals and of truffles, and depending on what forest we take the earth from, the leaves that have fallen to the ground could be of cherries, could be of apples, and it gives the flavor a special touch."

Q: How do you stay inspired?

JM: "You always have to have the capacity to be surprised. And ideally, to have the capacity to be surprised, you need to think like a child. If you think like a child your imagination will never run out."

E: "Inspiration comes from many different ways, from what you see every day. Perhaps if I go to the street, I go to an ice cream shop and I see granita of horchata (a beverage made from tigernuts, water and sugar), so I can come to the restaurant and say I'm going to make a dessert with horchata."

Q: What is your favorite thing to eat?

JM: "I like caviar, I like foie gras, I like white truffles, but for me, what I like best to eat, for my taste, is a couple of fried eggs with a few piquillo peppers on the side."

E: "I like truffles a lot, I like cheese, but especially a local cheese called idiazabal."

Atlantic bonito in a bonfire of scales (serves 4)

For the bonito skin puree:

30 grams bread
1 tomato
2 green onions
60 grams bonito skin, scales intact (black)
200 grams extra virgin olive oil
70 grams almonds, slightly fried in olive oil until golden
20 grams balsamic vinegar
Salt and sugar

For the bonito filets:

600 grams Atlantic bonito (4x150 gram fillets)
Salt, powdered ginger

For the red peppercorn oil:

10 grams red peppercorns
60 grams extra virgin olive oil

1. For the bonito skin puree, chop the tomato and lightly saute in olive oil. In a separate saute pan, heat half the olive oil and fry the bonito skins until crispy. Drain well.

2. Combine the tomato and fried bonito skins with the rest of the ingredients. Mash together and pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Season to taste with salt and sugar.

3. For the bonito filets, slice each piece into two rectangles. One should be slightly bigger than the other.

4. In a smoker, lightly smoke the bonito rectangles for four minutes. Then sprinkle the bonito with powdered ginger and spread each fillet with the finished puree of bonito skin. Sear the bonito on all sides, leaving the center rare.

5. For the red peppercorn oil, rub the red peppercorns together and pick out the skins. Combine the skins with the olive oil. Reserve.

6. Place the two bonito rectangles standing up vertically in the center of the dish. Using a piping bag, draw circles of the bonito skin puree alongside the bonito filets and dress the bonito with a liberal drizzle of the red peppercorn oil.

(Reporting by Claire Sibonney; Editing by Patricia Reaney)

My only peeve being, who decided to call them Spanish, the author Sibonney or the editor Reaney?

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A Story With a Heart II

Remember the story I posted a few days ago? About Mary DiMaggio, a lady from the US who got a long awaited heart transplant after a young Basque man was killed by one of those irresponsible SUV drivers?

Well, here you have an update by EITb:

Life

"My heart told me to return"

American woman with Basque heart visits the Basque Country

12/11/2007

Mary DiMaggio, an American woman who had a heart transplant, visited the Basque Country, his donor's homeland, to meet his family.

Mary says that since she had a heart transplant she felt she had to visit the Basque Country. She has Gaizka’s heart, a young Basque boy who died in Reno, and since the first moment she felt she had to visit his homeland. Last weekend her wishes came true and she met Gaizka’s parents in the Basque Country.

Information by Basque newspaper Deia: “Since the beginning I felt I had to visit his homeland. My heart asked to return”. Mary DiMaggio’s wishes came true and probably Gaizka’s last wish also came true, as she traveled from California to the Basque town of Eskoriatza to hug the young donor’s family. “I asked Mary if she felt something special and her answer was: Your son’s heart beats stronger here”, says José Mari Larrañaga, Gaizka’s father.

Following the dictates of her heart, after her doctor gave his approval and after she packed her bag with medicines, Mary arrived last Sunday in the Basque city of Gasteiz. There she met Gaizka’s family for the first time. “She does not speak Spanish and we do not speak English. However, we understand each other perfectly. We hugged each other, my wife hugged her and we started crying. When we arrived at the hotel in Eskoriatza, emotion started again. We hugged each other much”, says José Mari. Mary seemed a member of their family instead an American woman who had just met them a few hours ago.

Arantza, Gaizka’s mother, is very moved but her eyes express many feelings. “When I touch her heart I feel something I can not describe. It is a strong feeling”, says her mother. “I am really moved, I am not the same as before now. It seems to me a science fiction matter. We know many people live after having transplants, but when that happens to you is something incredible”.

Mary, who has been thinking on the reunion for six months, is also very moved these days. “I wanted to meet the family who had helped me to achieve this miracle, but I also wanted them to realise that part of their son was what brought me to life again and thank them for that”, explains Mary as she smiles.

Hopefully Mary DiMaggio will help debunk the wrong idea that the US media outlets give about the Basque people.

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Map of Vasconia

Our friends from SUBO provided this map that encompasses all of the historical Basque territories:

This is a heads up to all the media corporations that insist on claiming that the Basque Country pursues the annexation of Navarre and the three Basque provinces in France.

Also, it is a call to all Basque nationalists to rethink their absolute devotion to the Zazpiak Bat mantra.

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About the Conspiracy Theory

The Daily Star (Lebanon) has published an article of opinion by James Badcock that takes aim at the favorite conspiracy theory by Basque-phobes Jose Miguel Guardia and Joe Gandelman.

Here you have it:

In Spain, missing the terrorism forest for the trees
By James Badcock
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Last October 31, a Spanish court passed verdict on 29 suspected terrorists and their associates accused of the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, in which 191 people were killed and over 1,800 injured.

Two men of Moroccan descent, Jamal Zougam and Othman al-Gnaoui, were found guilty of 191 counts of murder, while a former miner from Asturias, Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras, was sentenced as an accomplice for supplying the explosives he helped to steal from his old workplace. In all, 21 people, mainly of North African origin, were convicted, while eight, mostly Spanish citizens accused of involvement in the explosives trail, were acquitted of all charges.

With the remaining bombing suspects all considered to have died in suicide bombings - seven of them in a flat in the Madrid suburb of Leganes, and at least two more in Iraq - the sentence seemed sufficiently conclusive to bring to a close the most acrimonious period in Spanish politics since the death of General Francisco Franco.

However, the initial reaction of the Popular Party (PP), whose period of government came to an end three days after the 2004 bombings, was one of defiance. While Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero declared that the Spanish justice system, in holding a macro-trial in the wake of a major jihadist attack, had succeeded where the judiciaries of the United States and the United Kingdom had failed, PP leader Mariano Rajoy insisted he would support "any further investigation into the case."

The pro-PP El Mundo newspaper also vowed to continue its bid to bring to light the true story of who had been behind Madrid's "death trains." The paper has spent three years dredging up flimsy evidence to link the jihadist cell with the Basque terrorist group ETA, to fuel a conspiracy theory that March 11 was nothing less than a coup d'etat perpetrated against the PP administration by an affiliation of Basque separatists, Socialists, and possibly the Moroccan secret services.

Within minutes of the horrific March 11 bombings, members of the then-PP government suggested that ETA had been behind the operation. Three days later Spain was to hold a general election and Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar feared a popular backlash against his government's unpopular support for the war in Iraq. The streets filled up with protesters angry with what they saw as a concerted government effort to cover up the truth about the bombings. On March 14, voters ousted the PP in favor of the Socialists. After the polls, Aznar famously declared in the parliamentary commission set up to investigate the March 11 attacks that the masterminds were not to be found in "distant deserts or remote mountains." He has repeated the claim since last October's verdict.

Indeed, Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez's judgment left an opening for perverse interpretation. Rabei Osman (known as "the Egyptian") was acquitted and another alleged mastermind, Hassan al-Haski, brought in from Belgium as a jihadist big-hitter, was only found guilty of belonging to an armed organization. This was latched onto by conspiracy theorists as evidence that the real plotters had yet to be brought to justice.

Today, however, the PP has finally signaled it is time to look forward to next March's election rematch. Amid all the hype of a plot, the real message of the March 11 bombing aftermath may have been missed. What the sentence demonstrated was the ease with which jihadists can operate within a modern European society, where funding through work or small-time crime is easy to come by and communication via the internet is both reliable and discreet. Recent police investigations have underlined how extensive the loose network of Al-Qaeda-inspired militants is in Spain - a country singled out by Al-Qaeda leaders, most notably Ayman al-Zawahri, for reconquest under its former Islamic name of "Al-Andalus."

In 2004 an Algerian was extradited from Switzerland to Spain over a plot to attack with a truck-bomb the High Court where leaders of the original Spanish Al-Qaeda branch, led by a Syrian known as Abu Dahdah, had been taken for trial. Plots to blow up buildings in Barcelona have also been exposed, as has a suspected plan to attack a NATO naval base in Rota, Andalusia. Around 140 Islamist militants are currently in Spanish prisons from a total of 375 arrests of terrorist suspects since 2001.

Spanish politicians would do well to unite in order to face down the very real threat of Al-Qaeda rather than squabble over unproven conspiracies.

James Badcock is freelance writer based in Spain who specializes in North African and Middle Eastern affairs. He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

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Science Park

Check out this note that appeared at EITb:

Sci/Tech

Presentation of the project

Basque Public University to build science park in 2008

12/10/2007

The new project includes 14 buildings in the Leioa campus and will be "strategic" to achieve the targets of competitiveness and innovation in the Basque Country.

The construction of a science park in the Leioa campus of the Basque Public University will start in 2008, UPV rector Juan Ignacio Pérez confirmed last week during the presentation of the project.

The new park, which will include 14 buildings for technological firms, will have a budget of €123 million and will be finished by 2018.

The target is to "bring firms and technological activities" as well as "offer a transfer of communication" between the firms and the Basque Public University.

The park will promote the settlement of technological firms in the Basque Country, will employ about 2,500 people and will be "strategic" to achieve the targets of competitiveness and innovation in the Basque Country.

The science park will have a surface of 188,000 square meters and will also include a residence to house 280 students and scientists.

Hmmm, not too bad for a people with a language best suited to herd sheep and cows.

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Positive Precedent

According to B92 News, this is what Joseba Azkarraga thinks about the imminent independence of Kosovo from Serbia:

Basque minister – Kosovo positive precedent

10 December 2007 | 11:33 | Source: Tanjug

BRUSSELS -- Kosovo's independence is positive for the Basque region, Basque Justice Minister Juseba Azkarraga Rodero says.

The same goes for all other regions that strive for self-determination of peoples, Rodero said in an interview for the Brussels weekly New Europe.

"This is positive! It’s basically positive for all the people. Fighting for self-determination is the right of the people. We support the rights of self-determination of Scottish and Kosovo people through peaceful and democratic means to reach such ends," he said, responding to the question on possible secession of the southern province.

"We can see cases of Kosovo and Scotland – similar cases where people are fighting for self-determination," he said and added that peoples who fought for self-determination in Europe "cooperate among themselves", primarily at the level of political parties.

Rodero said that he hoped that a referendum which will be held in the Basque region next year would show what the will of the people in this region of Spain was.

"We do not understand why there is opposition from Spanish government for this referendum. Are they afraid of what the result may be? What people want should be given as a right to determination," the Basque minister said.

Well Mr. Azkarraga, now all you need to do is to have the PNV to declare independence from Spain.

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Eusko Flickr : Talo Egileak

Talo egileak - Hacedores de Talos (VIII)
Originally uploaded by caravinagre

March in Support of 18/98 Victims

With its own pro-Madrid style, The Herald Tribune published an article about the demonstration to support the victims of Baltasar Garzon's judicial travesty known as the Macro-process 18/98.

Here you have the note:

Thousands march in Spain's Basque region to protest arrests
The Associated Press
Published: December 2, 2007

MADRID, Spain: Thousands of protesters held a rally in the northern Basque city of Bilbao Sunday to protest the arrest of people for lending support to the Basque separatist group ETA.

Several thousand protesters marched carrying placards reading "In favor of the Basque Country's democratic rights."

Spanish police on Friday began detaining 56 Basques who went on trial in November 2005, were convicted of indirectly aiding ETA, and then released on bail pending sentencing.

Those convicted were judged to have aided the armed Basque separatist group ETA through a network of outwardly legitimate social and political organizations.

Police began the roundup to avoid the possibility of those convicted fleeing Spain before they were sentenced, officials said. Up to 37 people have been arrested, lawyer Jone Goirizelaia told reporters.

The case ended in March. Judges are expected to begin meting out sentences later this month.

The trial stemmed from an eight-year inquiry by Baltasar Garzon, Spain's leading anti-terror investigator.

Garzon argued that ETA was not made up solely of armed commandos but was supported through political, financial and media organizations.

The defendants were accused of belonging to these groups, some of which had been outlawed previously.

The organizations, such as the banned youth groups Ekin and KAS, engaged in activities ranging from fundraising and helping ETA plan attacks to organizing street violence by separatist supporters, Garzon charged.

The rally went ahead despite the death Saturday of Raul Centeno, a 24-year-old member of the Civil Guard and the serious injury of his colleague, Fernando Trapero, 23, in a shooting in France blamed on ETA.

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Dining With Arzak

This article about Arzak's restaurant appeared at The New Zealand Herald:

Spain: Basque in the glory
5:00AM Monday December 03, 2007
By Geoff Cumming

How I came to be seated at one of the world's 10 best restaurants is not important. What's surprising is that I didn't feel out of place.

Juan Mari Arzak is the godfather of Basque nouvelle cuisine and his eponymous roadside restaurant, a 3 Michelin star joint on the outskirts of San Sebastian, is booked out for months in advance.

Arzak has resisted the temptation to move to the heart of this popular resort town and foodie mecca on the northern Spanish coast, preferring instead to serve guests in the two-storey villa he grew up in. Despite its formidable reputation, the restaurant retains a homely atmosphere: the main dining room, carpeted with low ceilings and warmly lit, feels more like a snug than a shrine to cutting edge cuisine.

Friendly wait-staff reinforce the relaxed atmosphere.

Then they bring out food from another planet.

How quickly one adapts to food that explodes pleasurably in the mouth, and to inspired combinations that raise staples such as egg, fish and potato to new heights.

Arzak trained in top cooking schools in France and around the world but the most important ingredient was given to him by his mother - passion.

His grandparents opened the restaurant 110 years ago; grandmother cooking and grandfather front of house. Juan Mari's parents took it over and he credits his mum, Francisca, with "revealing the secrets of gastronomy to me".

These days, his daughter Elena is the one pushing the boundaries, in the kitchen and on the plate, although the pair insist they work in unison, taking traditional Basque dishes and deconstructing them to produce sublime new flavour and texture combinations.

The restaurant is a perennial favourite among top judges - demonstrated again this year by its top-10 placing in Restaurant magazine's annual survey.

Our tour guide, Gabriella Ranelli de Aguirre, is a personal friend, so they manage to fit us in before lunch to sample the tasting menu. Each course is food as sculpture, but never at the expense of taste.

We start with an appetiser of peach in a mango sauce embellished with pop rock candy, which tingles delightfully on the tongue.

There is a chilled white bean soup; wild mushroom mousse with saffron; fish on a crisp, blue-potato wafer; lobster with powdered olive oil; poached egg with truffle oil; baby peas, bacon and mushrooms with a freeze-dried egg yolk sliver; sole in citrus sauce; pigeon with blue cheese mash and potato wafer.

Arzak's ways with egg reflects its traditional importance in Basque peasant cuisine, when times were tough, there was always an egg, and most restaurants pride themselves on at least one egg dish.

But I will remember Arzak most for curing me of a lifelong abstinence from desserts. Creme caramel, baked cheesecake, French flans - they're okay but, well, sweet ...

Arzak's take on dessert included: taro with chocolate; pineapple with coconut milk in a cloud of dry ice; strawberry soup with chocolate; tomato and strawberry icecream; roasted pineapple icecream and a passionfruit mousse. But the most elevating experience was an unlikely combination of poached egg, idiazalo cheese and mango sauce, for which the orgasm-in-a-mouth cliche is not only bad taste but inadequate.

Over coffee, with treats including mango crystal, cocoa with lemon, white chocolate, dark chocolate, we meet the father-daughter team and find them charmingly unaffected by their creative genius.

Elena recalls her father's forbearance as she tested culinary limits in her youth. He heaps praise on her ability to take traditional ingredients and create something entirely new. "Without Elena, the dishes we are doing today would be impossible."

The pair spend hours developing new recipes in their upstairs "laboratory" which contains a flavour bank of more than 1000 ingredients. It's difficult to reconcile this unpretentious pairing with their creations - but then, they have nothing to prove. The food speaks for them.

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