It is really pathetic that the U.S. media is hardly covering what is happening in Spain. The only

[still_one]

news services in the States where I have seen it given the time it deserves is Bloomberg, which I don't consider to be part of the MSM.

The issue of Catalonian independence is not as clear cut as the political leaders of Barcelona and Madrid would like people to believe, but the lack of coverage by the U.S. media is really disgusting.

In fact the lack of coverage of the in roads that have been made from elements of the extreme right in Europe have largely been ignored here

[Lucky Luciano]

1. BBG covers it because macro traders care. nt

[still_one]

3. Doesn't matter, they cover it, and they cover more than just the financial aspects of it. In fact

there coverage of news in general is far better than the standard fare the MSM does

[Lucky Luciano]

5. I think BBG is the best new source myself.

Partly because traders consider it the best. No trader will trade based on news from the usual MSM or Breitbart. They want intelligent "just the facts" timely coverage and BBG is great for that.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. I've followed it on

La Repubblica -

https://finanza.repubblica.it/Bloomberg/2017/10/17/catalan_crisis_risks_spains_role_as_golden_child_of_eu_recovery-OXYEP8SYF01T01_BLF/

The English language version has some good info on it.

[still_one]

4. BBC, France 24, and international sources there is full coverage of it

[aeromanKC]

10. You just made the OP's point

I'd also throw in al Jazeera. But again, not American media. Perhaps Rachel will pick it up?

[still_one]

16. I know. I also happen to be the OP

[RobinA]

34. Right Now

there is just an insane amount of energy being spent on who did or did not call who and what was or was not said. Before that it was all about football players and their body positions during various pre-game rituals. No time for real happenings in the world.

[Glorfindel]

6. I would really like to learn more about the subject. Can you suggest a website

that explains what's going on, what's at stake, and so forth? I'm about as mystified by this independence movement as I was about the Scottish separation vote a few years back.

Are the Catalans being oppressed and/or exploited by their fellow Spaniards? And as your third paragraph suggests, is Catalan independence part of the inroads being made by elements of the extreme right in Europe?

You're quite right, though. We should hear more about these important matters.

[still_one]

7. Other than Spainish outlets, I think BBC is not bad to give a perspective of the situation

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41719081

BBC also supplies further links at the bottom for more background such as this:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41671032

[Glorfindel]

9. Thanks a lot!

n/t

[SunSeeker]

8. Putin supports Catalonia's independence from Spain.

He supports all separatist movements since they create instability and weaken NATO countries, like Spain.

Catalan nationalism has historically had a left-of-center flavor, unlike other Russian-favored secessionist movements in Europe. But the Russian interest seems, as usual, less about ideology and more about creating chaos, not only for Spain, but within the European Union. Carving up an economy of more than a trillion euros (and apportioning a public debt very nearly equally as large) will generate endless problems for Catalans and whatever remains of Spain.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/trump-spain-catalonia-referendum-independence/541572/

Note Putin did not favor Kosovo independence from Yugoslavia, but Yugoslavia was not a NATO country--it was allied with Russia.

[Glorfindel]

11. Keep it up long enough, and Europe will look like this again

[SunSeeker]

15. Music to Putin's ears. nt

[DFW]

13. For the record

Tito's Yugoslavia was almost a de facto member of NATO. He feared the Soviet Union more than anything else, as Stalin never forgave him for leaving the umbrella of the Warsaw Pact. A wily politician who learned early on how to play the big boys off against each other, he was a Croat who was smart enough to nevertheless keep the Yugoslav capital in Serbian Beograd.

It was leftover Yugoslavia, really Serbia with a few annexed areas, that snuggled up to Russia, since the West embraced the independence of Slovenia and Croatia. Miloševic went bananas when the west supported Kosovo's self-determination, and so turned Serbia to Russia as his only logical big brother. Crna Gora ("Montenegro&quot wanted no part of that, but in the end got taken over anyway by Russian oligarchs buying up all their best coastal resort land. The Russians did with money what they didn't need to do with guns. After all, coastal resorts are worthless if they have been bombed to rubble.

[SunSeeker]

23. Yes, I am well aware of the history.

When Tito died, Yugoslavia's future died with him. Only a Croat could keep Croatia unified with Serbia. After Croatia seceded, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia was doomed. Milosevic was a stupid, corrupt autocrat who only made matters worse. His Russian support did nothing for Yugoslavia either.

I guess that history offers a potential solution to Spain: make a Catalonian Spain's next President.

[DFW]

25. Actually, there was nothing stopping that until about six months ago

Now, much of the rest of Spain is fed up with the whole thing. With Catalunya's relative prosperity, they resent what they see as the elitism of the independence movement as wanting to take their money and play by themselves in their rich enclave. This is definitely NOT what the majority of the Catalans want, but try to convince the rest of Spain of that now.

I was just back in Croatia in May, after a 40 year hiatus. What a difference! Museums and monuments all over marking the Serbian artillery attacks on Dubrovnik, and no more signs in Cyrillic to help out visitors from "the other part of the country," i.e. Serbia. The first time I was in Yugoslavia was in 1973. I met some friends in Crna Gora and then went up to Zagreb, as I had heard from friends in college that it was a cool pace to visit (it was). I ran into a group of English-speaking university students who invited me to hang out with them. One said he was an "outsider." I asked what he meant. He said he was a Serb. They joked about it like we used to joke about fellow students who were from New Jersey (I went to college in Pennsylvania). If you had told me they'd be cutting each other's throats less than 20 years later, I would have said you had been taking too many hallucinogens.

[still_one]

20. no surprise. I just got back from Spain, and spent some time in Barcelona. As an outsider who

intermingled with the locals, the impression I got was that many of them wanted things to be back the way they were when they had limited independence. Unfortunately, I think it is too late for that unless both sides can bend a little.

From what I gathered, Barcelona is specifically displeased because they are being taken advantage of by Madrid based on what they produce

[DFW]

27. It is basically the same argument you'll hear in the USA

There are "giver states" and there are "taker states." Catalunya is more prosperous than the rest of Spain, and they resent subsidizing the rest of the country. Taxpayers in New York and California resent subsidizing Kansas and Alabama, too, but you don't hear them calling for independence from the rest of the USA. Ironically, the ones who want a division are the so-called "conservative" states, who want tax cuts that will mean even less revenue flowing to them from Washington than they get now.

[still_one]

28. excellent analysis

[SunSeeker]

12. I agree, foreign coverage is inadequate, but then so is domestic coverage.

However, the Atlantic ran a really good, in-depth article about Catalonia:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/trump-spain-catalonia-referendum-independence/541572/

[Adrahil]

14. We have to be careful to avoid Balkanization.

Putin's Russia loves the idea of the West's great nations falling to ripping themselves apart.

[MineralMan]

17. It has been in every newspaper I've read in the past week or so.

St. Paul Pioneer Press. L.A. Times. Ventura County Star. All have had articles on the issue, with good explanations of what is going on.

Perhaps you need to find new news sources.

[FSogol]

18. Same here. Something on it every day in the Washington Post. n/t

[MineralMan]

19. Apparently, any story that does not lead the news or appear

on the front page is not being covered at all. A search for Catalonia on Google News turns up hundreds and hundreds of links to all sorts of major media.

We see this sort of thing all the time here on DU. Someone's particular story isn't getting the top of the news coverage that person thinks it should. So, it's not being covered at all by the media. That's the claim. Simply searching news outlets invariably demonstrates that it is not true.

Spain and Catalonia are not prominent in most people's minds, frankly. So, the stories appear inside the paper or are covered only sometimes on TV news. But, the story is being covered, and the people who are interested in it can get the information easily with a simple Google search.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Catalonia&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS730US730&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKu7rC9obXAhXFzIMKHVhQDEYQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=949

[FSogol]

24. +1 exactly. I'm guessing some people's definition of "all media" equals Morning Joe.

Last edited Mon Oct 23, 2017, 11:00 AM - Edit history (1)

IMO, Morning Joe isn't journalism, it's a poorly scripted soap opera for people who think they like politics.

[still_one]

33. No, that isn't what I was referring to, but I will tell you this, Weinstein, O'Reilly have gotten a

hell of a lot more CNN, MSNBC, etc. coverage than Spain, or the worrisome movement of Europe toward a pre-WWII time

Unfortunately, it also seems our country seems to be taking a dangerous approach in that direction also

incidentally, I have never watched morning joe

[still_one]

26. Yes, newspapers are covering it, but not so the broadcast media, which is what I was referring to

I would venture that a good number of the populace do not rely on the newspapers for their news.

As for your quip that "I need to find new news sources", I have plenty of news sources
that are accurate and reliable thank you, and I DO READ NEWSPAPERS

[MineralMan]

30. Not so. It has been covered on all major networks.

CNN did an in-depth story on it, and CBS and ABC have covered it, as well. It is not top of the news. It is not on every news broadcast. It is a European issue and an issue in Spain. Broadcast news is based on viewer interest. Stories like this one get covered, but are not as interesting to American viewers as are other stories, so it is not covered constantly.

If you watch one network news program a day, you might have missed it, actually. If you want network news on a daily basis, you would have seen some coverage of it, but not as the top story. It is not a top of the news story in this country, regardless of the fact that you consider it to be very important, apparently. For you, and others, ample news and analysis is as close as a Google search.

I read an extensive analysis of the current situation yesterday in the Sunday L.A. Times while waiting for a flight from LAX. It was also a story in the front section of the Ventura County Star on Saturday, which I read while at my parent's house in California. It was also a major story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, my local newspaper.

I don't watch a lot of broadcast news, but CBS has covered it on their Morning and Evening broadcasts. I saw the coverage.

Still, it is not a story with a huge amount of interest in the United States. If it were, there would be more coverage. It was covered. Just not enough to suit you. Your original statement appeared to indicate that it had not really been covered. It was covered, and in all major media.

You watch some news broadcasts. So do I. I do not expect such a story to lead the news on any of them. It is not a major story for US news readers and watchers. It is an interesting and important story about an issue in Spain. European media, naturally, covered it more thoroughly.

My point is that there is a huge amount of coverage available to anyone who is interested in this issue, and some coverage in all major media outlets. There may not be enough to suit you, but the media here informs people according to interest here.

[still_one]

31. whatever you say mm. Most of the broadcast national news is either filled with Weinstein, O'Reilly

or whoever trump is pissing off now

Of course if it is Comey releasing a letter to the republicans in Congress, and the media reporting that the "email investigation was reopened", which incidentally was a lie, they will be right on topo of that, and even the NY Times misrepresented that one

[tammywammy]

21. I've heard quite a bit about it on NPR and the BBC.

Also I've read some in Washington Post. There was a lot of discussion prior to the vote, including from people that were boycotting it. Then last week when the government started sent in troops.

[DFW]

22. Here in Europe

Catalunya is in the news every day and every night. The separatists and Rajoy are getting most of the headlines, as they are making the most noise, but a significant majority of Catalans do not want separation, and resent Rajoy's heavy-handed methods that do nothing more than play into the separatists' hands.

No one outside of Spain itself seems to notice that Puigdemont is playing up the four northenmost Catalan provinces, the officially designated "Catalunya," and ignoring the rest of the Catalan-speaking areas of Spain, which stretch as far south as Valencia and over to all of the Balearic Islands. Curiously enough, Barcelona Catalan (which is the version I speak) spoken with a slight American accent (which I still have), sounds to a native of Barcelona like Mallorquí, the local version of Catalan spoken on Mallorca. I have been told more than a few times in Barcelona that though I have "almost lost my accent," they could still tell I was originally from Mallorca (not bad for a Yank, I suppose).

[Orrex]

29. If it makes you feel any better, the US media's not really covering the US, either

[still_one]

32. actually that is a valid point