Recent actions of the Spanish government degrade the notion that Madrid remains a close ally of the United States. In response, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should recall the U.S. ambassador to Spain, Duke Buchan, and deputy chief of mission, Benjamin Ziff, for consultations in Washington.
While these diplomatic recalls from an erstwhile ally would be a big deal, three concerns stand out here.
First up, there’s this week’s report by Martin Arostegui for the Washington Times. Arostegui explains how Spain is actively facilitating arms sales to prop up Nicolas Maduro’s illegitimate government in Venezuela. Documenting the Spanish socialist government’s glee at selling tanks, warships, and military spare parts to Maduro’s child-starvation kingdom, Arostegui notes that a Spanish government “review board that clears foreign arms deals, known by the acronym JIMDDU, recently vetoed the export of artillery pieces to Israel because they could be used to shell Lebanon and blocked a sale of parachutes to Iran. But JIMDDU gave its approval for the Venezuelan tank upgrade a year ago.” This support for Maduro stands in stark contrast with growing international efforts to isolate the Venezuelan presidential pretender and empower his legitimate domestic opponents.
But that’s just the start of Spain’s bad-ally rap-sheet. Spain also continues to foster an ever-closer relationship with Russia. Supplying Russian naval flotillas in the Mediterranean Sea, Spain’s socialist government enables Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continuing support for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. This would be bad enough were Spain just an American ally. But Spain has also been a member of NATO for the last 36 years. Spain’s support for the Russian military is thus utterly at odds with NATO interests.
It gets worse. Absurdly, while Spain plays nice with Putin, it is also threatening America’s closest ally, Britain. The Spanish Navy is escalating its intrusion into British territorial waters surrounding Gibraltar. This confrontational behavior represents an absurd nationalism that sees authoritarian adversaries as allies, and democratic allies as foes.
Pompeo has a responsibility to repudiate this activity. Recalling the two top U.S. diplomats from Madrid might help alter Spain’s behavior. If not, it would at least inform the Trump administration’s course toward altering a defective alliance.
