this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2026
594 points (99.5% liked)

Europe

10512 readers
2095 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Earlier White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Spain has agreed to cooperate with the U.S. military after President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid over its stance against the US-Israeli strikes on Iran

Which then quickly prompted the Spanish government to categorically deny any such agreement of cooperation with the US military.


Article translated w/ DeepL

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has “categorically” denied that Spain will “cooperate militarily” with the US, as previously stated by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. At a press conference, the US official said that “Spain has agreed to cooperate militarily in the last few hours.” In an appearance this morning, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez summed up Spain's position on the conflict “in four words: No to war.” For its part, the European Commission has warned that it is prepared to act and safeguard the interests of the Union in response to US President Donald Trump's threat of a trade embargo against Spain. On the ground, Turkey has reported that NATO systems installed on its soil have shot down a missile over its territory, which fell without causing damage after flying over Iraq and Syria. NATO has condemned the launch by Iran. In addition, Israel continues, together with the US, its bombing of Iran, where it has attacked targets in Tehran and other cities. The death toll from the offensive by both countries has exceeded 1,000, while the Ayatollah regime has continued to launch missiles against US targets in countries surrounding the Persian Gulf, such as Kuwait, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

top 45 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Melchior@feddit.org 8 points 7 hours ago

Great so the White House pretends Spain agreed and does not punish them and Spain still bans the US from using their bases.

[–] EverXIII@lemmy.world 10 points 9 hours ago

Who still believes in the WH declarations these days? Go Spain!

To the ALL involved: how about disclosing all the files?

[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 11 points 10 hours ago

Operation Epstein Fury

[–] GameOverFlow@lemmy.zip 2 points 7 hours ago

USA does not understand, EU is one marked, you can not stop trade with one country. Can the EU stop trade only with Florida!? Think Trump, think!

[–] dominic.borcea@piefed.social 204 points 21 hours ago (10 children)

Straight up lying about what other governments agree to.
Like, I don't even know what the purpose was here... what did they think, the spanish won't be hearing about it because its in english?

[–] TommySoda@lemmy.world 67 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

The purpose of this is that right wing news media will only report what Trump said while never mentioning the rebuttal. Now they'll do whatever they want and when they get push back they'll say "yeah but you said we could" and all of his fans will back him up. And since Trump purged most of the senior military that opposed him the military will most likely back him up too. So now if there's an international incident involving the illegal use of US military bases in Spain they can say it was Spain that broke the agreement.

Facts don't matter for these people. They only care about what their dear leader says while everything else is noise or ignored entirely. Essentially, this message isn't for us or Spain, it was for MAGA.

[–] ugjka@lemmy.ugjka.net 59 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Ah the Spanish, they still only have sticks and stones no way they can receive broadcasts

[–] dominic.borcea@piefed.social 51 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

They're too busy with their siestas, drinking wine and talking very loudly to read international media.

[–] Foni@piefed.zip 9 points 17 hours ago

as a Spaniard, I confirm

[–] kamenlady@lemmy.world 9 points 19 hours ago

Right after the conference José Manuel Albares declared "it's siesta time"

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

And expecting their very own Inquisition.

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

And I always though nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 3 points 8 hours ago

That's why you always have to be on alert.

[–] FlowerFan@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 17 hours ago

bro thinks he's playing Civ

[–] Zink@programming.dev 7 points 15 hours ago

Honestly I think it's a tried and true shameless asshole business strategy of his or something. You tell everybody you made a deal and brow beat the other party into just going along with it instead of trying to correct history.

It might not work for many people and businesses, but it probably works for a narcissistic trust fund scumbag that was handed a real estate empire and taught strategy by the very man who raised Donald Trump to have the personality he does.

[–] dazzlingclitgame@lemmy.world 27 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

They know that their supporters won't question it further.

[–] Hegar@fedia.io 9 points 19 hours ago

Exactly. These comments are not directed at the sane, it's so their supporters don't have to admit that trump loses most of the time.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 8 points 17 hours ago

Well they also tried to do the same with the Venezuela's VP, and that also blew up in their face. My guess is it will just be a thing they do now.

[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 8 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

i mean...it works with Netanyahu's speeches in hebrew, for dove-zionists back in the States that only speak english

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 7 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Trump is dumb enough to believe that Spaniards don't understand English just because he doesn't understand Spanish

[–] formergijoe@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago

They said they're going to cut all trade with Spain over Spain not letting them use bases for these Iran strikes. My guess is someone in the Trump cabinet imports Spanish wine or some shit, and so they need trade with Spain.

Trump says Spain let them do the thing, so trade is back on! Art of the deal, baby!

[–] DigitalAudio@sopuli.xyz 2 points 16 hours ago

The only other option is that they did reach an agreement and said agreement allowed Spain to deny its existence. Trump did this with Iran before bombing actually, where he proposed the Iranian government could save face with public statements while complying with his demands. When they refused, he bombed them.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 46 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

And they fucking have to stand alone, abandoned by all EU "allies". EU is falling apart and it's not because immigrants or Russian meddling. It's because spineless leaders like Merz and von der Leyen, always looking to do the absolute minimum and never anger anyone. So fucking disappointing.

[–] NeveHanter@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Alliances are thankfully not only about joining aggressor's wars or joining because your ally joined the aggressor's war. If that would be the case we would have a total war or another world war. Its also great that NATO is a defensive alliance and its articles don't apply for such wars.

As a European I'm happy that we're not joining Trump's and Netanyahu's stupid war (especially after both of them spitting on the international or their own countries' laws).

[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 20 points 16 hours ago

As a German I am ashamed at the pieces of shit we elect. Or appoint.

[–] ivanvector@piefed.ca 73 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

"in four words: No to war."

Before anyone jumps on the translation error, there are four words in the original. "en cuatro palabras: No a la guerra."

[–] grue@lemmy.world 36 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Could just translate it "no to the war" instead of writing an explanation.

[–] kossa@feddit.org 16 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I can only draw from my French, but I guess "no to war" is the correct translation, as "no to the war" in English would be either wonky or would mean "no to this specific war". But the Spanish wording is more read as "no to war in general", so the translation is more correct.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

I can only draw from my French

Est-ce que Duolingo me menti?? Il accepte les deux... (/s)

Anyway, I figured "no to this specific war" was close enough, especially since he was in fact talking in the context of a specific war.

[–] Qwel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Soit Duolinguo "te ment" (au présent), soit il "t'as menti" (au passé). Mais "me(présent) menti(passé)" c'est pas possible

Noter que l'équivalent première personne pour "t'as" est "m'a", in order to seed confusion among enemy troops

Based on french, I would also support the "no to war in general" hypothesis. I don't have a grammatical reason for this, it's just that this phrasing is most often used for general concepts than specific instances. If they were talking about this war specifically, it would look like "no a esta guerra" or something.

Who knows maybe someone who actually has a clue how spanish works will one day read this thread x)

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

That looks wonky in English. Nobbling your translations for the sake of people incapable of understanding that words work differently in other languages is like putting “REMOVE FROM BOX BEFORE EATING” on pizza cartons.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I was under the impression that "la" could act as an article as well as helping signify gender. My mistake.

But in that case, if you don't want to "nobble" your translation, why not go for "in [three] words: no to war" instead? Translating the math definitely seems less "wonky" to me than annotating it with a long, awkward explanation.

[–] Qwel@sopuli.xyz 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

It is an article

[–] Akasazh@lemmy.world 26 points 20 hours ago

Spain continuing to be incredibly based

[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 8 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

...we need a megathread for all news that start with "White House says", "Trump threatens" constant attention whoring. I just want out of this ride.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 16 points 19 hours ago

Oh look, it’s the Trump special!

Just like a few days ago how Iran wanted to “make a deal”

[–] krasny@lemmy.ml 9 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

For once, I am proud of the actions of my government. For sure they are not going to stop the war, but it is the only prime minister of Europe that faces eeuu during the recent conflitcs.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 5 points 17 hours ago

For once? What about Israel sanctions?

[–] frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io 6 points 20 hours ago

Just let them lie, takes the threat of trade embargo away without having to actually do anything about it.

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 5 points 19 hours ago

Ladies and gentlemen, the art of the deal.

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

Fuck you tRump, europe likes you about as much as that russian midget. Go fuck yourself.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I don't speak Spanish well. The caption on the photo is something like "a child (walks?) past an unexploded Iranian missile in Syria," correct?

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 3 points 17 hours ago

Yes, correct.

[–] e8CArkcAuLE@piefed.social 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

they probably leaked their agreements with the right wing (PP) and extreme right wing (VOX) parties once they have been couped into power…