ETA's terror attacks

With the ruthless logic of a criminal band, the Basque separatist organization known as ETA continues to haunt Spain with a series of assassinations, despite the group's increasing isolation and calls by Spaniards to end the violence.

Presumably ETA has been weakened, and its power is eroding, but these recent acts show the group is still capable of continuing with a systemic plan of terrorist attacks. (And) neither the Spanish government nor the autonomous Basque government has been able to find a way to stem the violence.

By stepping up its violent attacks, the ETA seems to want to revive the ghosts of Spain's Civil War, with hopes of provoking a harsh state crackdown which they hope would engender widespread anti-government sentiment.

There is no room for negotiations after the ETA broke off a cease-fire agreement last year. Since then, the group has turned increasingly violent, responsible for 21 assassinations whose victims have included politicians, judges, journalists, police officers and members of the military. But even after their latest attacks, Spaniards are proving through their mass street demonstrations that the country is able to resist this sort of provocation.

-- Clarin, Buenos Aires, Argentina