Never expected to read the name "Villarejo" on HackerNews
It really surprised me too. But here we are.
Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
21–30 of 95 posts
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#22This is Spain, corruption at all levels. A failed state.
That's such a ridiculous claim that I have to assume you are spaniard. Spain is actually a pretty average EU country by most metrics.
(Not to say that it doesn't have structural problems, but that's hardly exclusive to Spain)
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#23Villarejo is nowadays nothing more than a bluffer. Chances are he paid for this piece.
This is not how the BBC works.
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#24This is Spain, corruption at all levels. A failed state.
I bet you are spanish.
Hearing a man speak, it is easy to know
Where he saw the sun be born
If he praises England, he must be English
If he rebuffs Prussia, he is French
And if he speaks ill of Spain... he is Spanish
- Joaquín Bartrina, circa 1870
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I bet you are spanish.
Hearing a man speak, it is easy to know Where he saw the sun be born If he praises England, he must be English If he rebuffs Prussia, he is French And if he speaks ill of Spain... he is Spanish - Joaquín Bartrina, circa 1870
So true. As a spaniard I do it all the time. Love/hate my country.
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#26This is Spain, corruption at all levels. A failed state.
That's such a ridiculous claim that I have to assume you are spaniard. Spain is actually a pretty average EU country by most metrics. (Not to say that it doesn't have structural problems, but that's hardly exclusive to Spain)
Yeah real failed states don't get millions of tourists.
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#27Never expected to read the name "Villarejo" on HackerNews
In part thanks to BBC talking about it, I suppose. Dude could've been taken straight out of a movie. Sometimes reality does surpass fiction.
He trademarked his image so they don't use it without permission: (in Spanish) https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2021-01-08/villarejo-r...
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#28This is Spain, corruption at all levels. A failed state.
Any sources to support that "failed state" claim? Every country has corruption yet on the internet I only see spanish people saying their country is awful.
There's a point where the onus is perhaps on the reader of the comment to check about the claim?
It seems to me that many people questioning this in this thread have not read anything about Spain, at all.
I'll bite and give you a few examples of why one could consider Spain a failed state:
- Consistently has one of the highest unemployment rates of the OECD. 10% was normal pre-2008, 15-25% has been the new normal ever since. Rates for young people in the 20-30 age group are typically between 40-50%, leading many to speak of a "lost generation".
- About half of the Catalans want to secede. Basques are right now at an uneasy peace thanks to favorable tax treatments, but before the defeat of terrorist group ETA about a decade ago, more than a thousand people were murdered in the name of Basque secession. Though violence is unlikely to return right now (hopefully), the Basque situation could become similar to Cataluña in a moment's notice. There is also a clear rise of nationalism in other regions where this was barely a problem (eg, Comunitat Valenciana or Baleares)
- The two main national parties have been part of massive corruption scandals, going from the national down to the local level (the article alludes to this). We're talking embezzlement in the billions, Roman-decadence levels of squandering (every town wanted its own airport), and intrigues that could be pulled off out of a cheap LeCarré knock-off.
- Education is quite poor, if not abysmal. Massive dropout rates in secondary education, really bad comparative performance in PISA reports, and barely any university makes it into top-200 institutions worldwide. Politicians keep changing the agenda every four years instead of trying to agree to a national pact to get us out of this hole.
These are just things off the top of my mind, but I could go on for a while.
Maybe the fact that you only see Spanish people talk poorly about the country is a reflection of us being the primary subjects of its blatant problems, and of the fact that few outsiders care?
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#29Interesting to imagine an ex-king in disgrace qnd exile from a European country. Having been born under Elizabeth II and having her hang on so long, I can't imagine a similar circumstance for the Commonwealth.
Did you forget about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII ? That’s not that long ago (he was an uncle of Elizabeth II, wasn’t he?)
It was convenient that he could be forced to abdicate over the fact that Wallis Simpson was a divorcee, which prevented the need to ask far more awkward questions about how both of them were Fascist sympathisers. (It was a common view among the English upper class until it became unacceptable once the war started)
Re: Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Spain is a country with huge problems Any sources or further reading?
Sadly anywhere you look. But if you want something interesting I will name 3 interesting cases that have shown up in the last few years. ERE case andalucia, essentially EREs are just the spanish name for furlough but it also includes things like early retirement. Well in Andalucia since 2001 until 2009 a case of local politicians managed to corruptly send up to 680 million to themselves and family members. This is th…
You can also add al the Pujol family scandals too.
Unfortunately, there are corruption cases all over the political spectrum in Spain.