On the surface, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's plan to make common cause with the Islamic world looks mostly naive and maybe a little odd. Spain's history is a fierce crucible in the clash of Islam and the West, after all. And then there's the little matter of al Qaeda, which on March 11 this year blew up four trains in Madrid, killing 200.

To make common cause with these barbarians seems downright un—Spanish, not to mention, gullible. And besides, if Spain wants to be buddy—buddy with moderate states such as its neighbors Tunisia or Morocco, it's hardly news — the countries are already friends. The Prime Minister of Spain is clearly signaling something more ominous.

But Zapatero is a socialist and a pacifist, so a certain willing detachment from reality is to be expected.
 
Look who's stepped up to the plate to make common cause with him on this Islamic alliance. None other than dictator Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.  His entry into this "alliance of cultures" introduces a hugely different dimension to Zapatero's flowery Europeace plan. Suddenly, the picture looks much worse.
 
Unlike Zapatero, Chavez shows signs of being an Axis—Of—Evil wannabe. He consorts with dictators like Castro, Mugabe and Ghaddafi — because those particular leaders are his peers. Chavez was the last world leader to visit Saddam Hussein — as an old friend. More to the point, he's advised Zapatero he intends to use his special longstanding OPEC ties with Islamofascist regimes to bring those kinds of regimes into the Zapatero alliance.

Chavez told Zapatero:

"The Spanish Government can count on our modest cooperation, especially because we already have had experience and a deepening of honest, sincere relations with a group of Islamic countries, from the Persian and Arab world: Iran, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Indonesia ... countries all with a deep Islamic base...."

In other words, what is shaping up is a possible future Grand Alliance of America's enemies, binding old Europe with Islamofascist states. Could Axis of Evil veterans Iran and North Korea ever be invited in? Associating with Robert Mugabe as a peer does not offer much support for an outright dismissal of the possibility. If Mugabe qualifies for entry into your club, who on earth could possibly not meet the standards?

Chavez is proud to act as catalyst for this unsavory anti—American coagulation. And Zapatero, it would seem, going along with this new crew joining in, is just being a politician paying back his constituents.

Remember who put him in office: it was the train—bombing terrorists who shifted Spanish public opinion right before the election.