American liberty vs. european liberty

[Is Don on the phone?]

When Sinn Fein sat down at the negotiating table, I respected them. Prior to that, in my opinion, they were the same terrorists as the IRA. When the "political wing" of ETA begins to honestly work towards a peaceful settlement of the Basque question, I will give them the same props. And I don't think the Spanish government can afford to ban all separitist groups - the Basque parties who have renounced violence are untouchable on this front. Granted, if Batasuna is banned, it will only be replaced by another "by any means neccesary" band of thugs. So maybe we should just turn a blind eye to the extortion of Basque run businesses to support both Batasuna and the ETA.

And I do not condone ANY government restricting the free expression of ideas- I may think white supremists are wrong, but I would not stop them from being mistaken. But when they start throwing bombs, they force the hand of the government. It would be irresponsible to not take a stand against an armed terrorist group, even if they have a political wing.