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A scrap of considerable dimensions appears to have broken out between the Catalan Socialists and the party in Madrid. The starting point appeared to be a speech by Jose Montilla, the new President of Catalunia, in which he stated, in the presence of his new partners in government – Josep Lluis Carod Rovira and Joan Saura –that he was prepared to govern Catalunia ‘without any lessons from the party or any external interference’. On top of that, it would also appear that the Madrid Socialists are not at all happy with the pact made in Catalunia, whilst the Catalan Socialists were said to be ‘very upset indeed’ at the actions of ‘several persons in Madrid’ who actively sought to torpedo the agreement, as it was revealed that the Prime Minister has so little trust in Mr. Montilla that he asked his ‘Rasputin’, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba to do his best to prevent the agreement being signed for Catalunia. This has ended with comments such as ‘we’re not ever going to forget this’ coming from the Catalan Socialists
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Josep Pique, the head of the Catalan branch of the Partido Popular has warned the Ciutatans de Catalunia Party, who recently gained three seats in the Catalan Parliament ‘not to stage any provocation inside the legislature’ these comments cane after Ciutatans announced that their representatives were intent on speaking Castilian Spanish inside the debating chamber and not Catalan as is the norm. Mr. Pique added that not speaking Catalan in the parliament is a ‘irritation that should be avoided’.
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Batasuna Spokesman Arnaldo Otegi yesterday added his voice to the pressure that is being mounted over the peace discussions with the terror organization Eta. Mr. Otegi revealed that the twelve year jail term imposed on Eta terrorist Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos after he was convicted of 25 killings ‘does nothing to help the peace process’. He added that in his view, the Socialist Government has ‘lost interest’ in what is happening in the Basque Country.
The Democrats finally succeeded in taking over the Senate last night after Republican George Allen from Virginia finally conceded defeat to his Democrat contender Jim Webb. President George W. Bush vowed to ‘work with all sides’ in the newly elected houses, and added that he was ‘open to suggestions’ over the political road to follow over Iraq, but many observers have stated that his last two years in power will probably be marred and marked withy political squabbling. Meanwhile, it was also revealed that New York Congresswoman Hilary Clinton is nowcranking up her promotion machine in order to become the Democrats main candidate for the Presidency in two years time.
iMARKUS WOLF
The death has been revealed or the former East German spymaster Markus Wolf, who was head of the East German Foreign Intelligence Service for 32 years, and who made a specialty of sending ‘Romeo’ spies into the West in order to seduce female government employees. The son of a Jewish-Communist playwright, Mr. Wolf and his family were obliged to flee to Austria after Hitler came to power, later being offered asylum in the Soviet Union, and as a result he received his education in Moscow, spending the remainder of World War II as an announcer on the German service of Radio Moscow, and was sent back to what was now East Germany after the war ended. He later was charged with gathering intelligence from the West, with his most successful case being that of Gunther Guillaume, part of a husband and wife team that were sent to Frankfurt in the mid 50s. Patience was continually the name of the game for Mr. Wolf and in the case of Guillaume, it paid off as he later became a very close adviser to German Chancellor Willy Brandt, and as a result, supplied Mr Wolf – and subsequently Moscow- with the full details of the rifts within NATO as US President Richard Nixon sought to gain greater control over the organization. Eventually, Guillaume was exposed, which in turn caused the downfall of Mr. Brandt. This was seen by some as Mr. Wolf’s greatest triumph, but paradoxically, it was his greatest defeat as it coincided with the end of Détente. Mr. Wolf was seen by many as the model used by author John Le Carré in his books as Karla, the arch enemy of George Smiley, but Mr. Le Carré later denied this. Markus Wolf, who died of Leukaemia was 83.
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