In news that we'd like to see a lot more of, Basque seperatist, or terrorist, depending on which side of the dispute you come down, group Eta (which I had always thought was ETA, like an acronym for something in the indecipherable Basque language) has announced a permanent ceasefire in it's campaign to "liberate' the Basque homeland from France and Spain.
Eta has been blowing Spanish and French stuff (and people) up for 40+ years, so this is a MAJOR event. After the boyos from PIRA, the Eta goons have been the most long-lived, prolific, and visible terrorists in Europe. For them to just pack it in like this indicates a significant shift in the culture of international troublemakers.
According to BBC, the long and short of it is AQ have made bombings, long the preferred method of making a point for these types, more unsavory and less effective than ever. Since the Madrid train bombings in early 2004, Spaniards especially have reviled groups who would stoop to such measures. With their tactic-of-choice rendered counter-productive, about all Eta had left in terms of options was to go legit and try to win via elections.
Is this an unintended, positive consequence of the rise of Islamist terrorism? Have the tactics of AQ, JI, Hamas, and the others put a bullet in the viability of terrorist groups of yore like PIRA, Baader-Meinhof, and the Red Brigades? Sure looks that way to me.
UPDATE: In the US, it is "ETA", not "Eta". I thought so. Silly Brits.
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