Separated at birth?

Mariano Rajoy Brey is president of the Spanish conservative party, Partido Popular; or is he?

He bears an uncanny resemblance to another political leader and problem-solver who bobs up all over the world like a serial pest:

 

We mean, of course, the gentleman in the picture rather than the lady.

We have to say sorry to at least one of the men, because there is nothing particularly similar about their politics.  We just don't know which is owed the apology. 

We will give it to the former Australian Senator, Gareth Evans, because the Noticias on tve (Spanish news on SBSTV, in Australia) is so biased on favour of the Partido Popular.

tve seems to have it in for the administration of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Rajoy certainly does: Zapatero was preceded as Prime Minister by Jose Maria Alfredo Aznar Lopez; when Aznar decided to announce succession plans in 2003, he nominated Rajoy to succeed him.

Many readers will recall that on 11 March 2004 - three days before the general election - 191 people were killed when terrorists exploded 10 bombs at Atocha, Madrid's principal railway station and one of the busiest in Europe.  

Aznar blamed Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, the political movement for freedom and homeland for the Basque people who live in Spain and France but are despised by the governments of both. Neither France nor Spain - not even the armies of Julius Caesar - has managed to change Basque culture by one single whisker.

Aznar stuck to his position even when evidence began to point to similarities with other terrorist bombings perpetrated by Islamic radicals. 

Whether this was part of the Islamic "war" against western occupation of Islamic lands is not clear; but southern Spain - nearest European neighbour of north Africa - was raised to prosperity centuries ago by Muslims, who called the area they occupied el Andalus.  Some still do.

Across Spain, demonstrations demanded more information before the vote.  Unsatisfied, they rejected Aznar's explanations and his party. Rajoy, who looked a lay-down misere until the bombing, remains leader of the opposition.

The wrath of the conservative establishment - and, chinga! is there conservatism more conservative than the Spanish variety? - seems still to bear down on Zapatero's government and those perennial, if unvanquished, targets ETA.

At least, that's how it looks on tve.

Then again, the socialists got done like a dinner in the recent European elections, so support for the Partido Popular is in line with current public opinion across the continent, not just the opinions of tve.