Hey, wanna make a few bucks quick and easy? Apart from the risky business of holding up a bank, you can always kidnap a few Spanish sailors. Somali pirates did just that and now the sailors have been freed because of an agreement between the owners of the ship and the pirates. Now I wonder what that could possibly mean?

To be honest, I’m not wondering at all even though the Spanish government refuses to admit that a ransom was paid. You know the sort of thing that governments say. “I reserve the right blah blah” and everyone knows it means “Yes, we caved in.”

No risk attached when you deal with Spanish authorities. They pay up. It’s their foreign policy to give in to threats and kidnappings. Remember the Madrid bombings? Well, that got results for the terrorists, didn’t it? Spain pulled its troops out of Iraq immediately.

What a sorry lot they are to give in like that! What sort of deterrent to pirates can it be to hand over wads of cash to criminals every time they kidnap someone?

When the spineless Spaniards gave in to Muslim terrorists following Madrid bombings, they set the stage for further extortions, not only for their own citizens but for other people. And now they’ve done it again.

What really amazes me is how the image of the proud Spaniard, the conquistador, the toreador, El Cid and all that, contrasts with the current reality of a bunch of chickens who can’t wait to capitulate. I can only shake my head in despair.