One of Ours

A week after his triumphant inauguration, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is finding that making Spain a satellite state of the Franco-German axis is not bringing the rewards he hoped for...

...Zappo might have hoped that his decision to abandon his former allies in Iraq would have been welcomed by the "international community" too. Sadly for him, outside Spain the unseemly haste in which he ordered the withdrawal has been met with cynicism and anger.

Germany, Vinocur claims, did not approve - and did not comment on Spain's withdrawal. The president of the Vatican's peace council, a severe critic of the US-led war, complained that Zapatero's hurry to pull out of Iraq was rushing the United Nations and made it clear that he did not agree with the Spanish premier's strategy.

Displeasure at Spain's decision to rush the withdrawal was echoed in the UN, where diplomats whispered that Zapatero ordered the instant retreat because it was becoming clear that the United Nations would be able to agree on a transfer of power - thus keeping Spain's troops in Iraq on the very terms that Zappo himself had set.

Zapatero hurriedly ordered the pullout before the UN gave the Spanish troops the "legitimacy" he craved.

One would expect Washington to react with anger - and, by all accounts, it did - but Zapatero hoped that presidential candidate John Kerry, a man he has publicly pledged to support - might weigh in on his side. No such luck. Kerry made his disapproval clear.

Zapatero's foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos fared even worse when he went to Washington to explain Spain's hurried retreat.

The chastened Moratinos returned to Madrid with a cock-and-bull story about how the Americans had asked him to mediate between the Israelis and the Palestinians. He later confessed that he had merely been asked to contribute to the process.

If the Iraq withdrawal has become a farce and the EU has been less than forthcoming with the Socialist PM's much-needed cash, what does Zapatero stand to gain internationally?

The upcoming constitutional negotiations offer Spain little. Signing up to the treaty might confirm the nation as a tame member of the EU's inner circle. However, Zapatero has already said that he will not fight Spain's corner for voting powers: Spain is likely to have to accept diminished influence...