The Spanish Notebook

“If you think about it, Spain and Russia have surprisingly much in common. Both are the edges of Europe: one is the western, the other the eastern. For both peoples, for many centuries, oppression by foreign conquerors defined their fate: Spaniards by the Moors, Russians by the Mongols. In the history of each of them, two tyrants played a formative role (almost at the same time) and whose activities stalled for a long time the movement toward the Renaissance and democracy: in Spain—Philip II, in Russia—Ivan IV. Both countries were torn apart by civil wars that brought executioners and torturers to power: in Spain—Francisco Franco, in Russia—Joseph Stalin. And even to this day, people in both countries continue to divide each other into the conventional ‘Reds’ and ‘Whites.’

Vladimir Pozner