Right-wing votes to ensure the survival of the far left's foreign policy agenda in Spain?

For some time now, there have been attempts to create a curious and strange electoral wedge within the Spanish right.

The anti-Western propaganda that is poisoning a segment of the right-wing
The curious concept of patriotism promoted by anti-Semites and anti-Americans

If the polls are correct, Spain could have a large center-right majority in the next legislature. This assertion requires considerable nuance, given the peculiar political positions of the People's Party (PP), which has largely adopted progressive ideological positions on various issues. Regarding foreign policy, neither the PP nor Vox questions Spain's membership in NATO, a defensive alliance that provides us with a considerable military shield. Furthermore, the hostile policy toward Israel pursued by Pedro Sánchez and his communist allies could come to an end with the defeat of the left in the upcoming elections.

This political shift could cause Russia and certain Islamist regimes to lose considerable influence in Spain. It's worth noting that, despite its public support for Ukraine, Pedro Sánchez's government has done considerable favors for Putin's Russia (such as the massive purchase of Russian gas and the purchase of Russian oil through Morocco, circumventing European sanctions). Unlike his harsh attacks on Israel, Sánchez has never accused Russia of "genocide" or even "terrorism", a low profile that contrasts sharply with the harsh accusations leveled against Moscow by the governments of other allied countries. This foreign policy, out of alignment with the rest of the West, is even clearer on the far left, with constant attempts to boycott all Spanish aid to Ukraine and a barrage of slander against Israel and also against the United States.

The loss of influence of the Spanish far left after the upcoming elections could be fatal for Moscow and Tehran, which have consistently benefited from the rhetoric of Spanish communists from various organizations. Moscow and Tehran have long made it clear that if they lose this fifth column in Spain, they can find another. In fact, both dictatorships have spent years forging ties with far-right Spanish organizations that have no parliamentary representation. The objectives would remain the same: to destabilize and weaken an allied country, reduce support for NATO, and advance the interests of these dictatorships, using minority political options to spread their message and disinformation in the West.

I have been warning for some time about the anti-Western propaganda that is poisoning a segment of the Spanish right wing, propaganda that uses certain prejudices shared with the far left—such as antisemitism and hatred of the United States—to capture right-wing votes and thereby further the agendas of powers hostile to the West, such as Russia, Iran, or communist China. This would allow the far left's foreign policy to remain intact even if it suffers an electoral collapse.

It's not hard to identify how these new electoral slogans will be disguised because we've seen it before. In its beginnings in 2014, the far-left party Podemos initially defined itself as "transversal," supposedly aspiring to overcome the traditional ideological divide between left and right. In reality, it was a classic far-left party that was simply hiding its true agenda from its voters. Once in power (Pedro Sánchez signed a coalition agreement with Podemos in January 2020, bringing in several ministers from that party), that agenda came to light, and it was the same old far-left.

The new pro-Russian and antisemitic electoral wedges will use exactly the same trick, in order to capture votes from the uninformed who would be scared off if these options openly stated their intentions. The question now is: how is it possible that there are people willing to vote for options they barely know, without even bothering to find out more about them? How many more times will tricks like those used by Podemos continue to work, simply because many voters don't take seriously the need to be informed about who they support?

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Image: Sivani Bandaru.