Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland and Portugal all have very ugly, recent histories of fascism and right-wing dictatorships. Their democratic experiences are short and fragile.

Are we all ready for what comes next? Should Americans just sit back and watch it happen? We could easily help Spain and all the others because the dollar is the reserve currency of the world and we could loan unlimited amounts of money just as we had to do during WWII.

Get those coal miners building solar panels! I cannot believe the progressives are defending coal mining now. Unbelievable. I guess its NIMBY...Spain can dig all the coal it wants, especially subsidized...but not West Virginia, and certainly no midwest pipelines.

I'm interested in learning more about Irish fascism.

i imagine a dictator could get the greeks to pay their taxes and the spanish to work

The majority of the Irish Republican Army did not accept the abolition in January 1922 of the Irish Republic. In April 1922, they formed their own "Army Executive" and renounced the authority of the Dáil to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Political leaders such as Éamon de Valera and Cathal Brugha, also unhappy with the Treaty, supported their actions. These tensions ultimately plunged the new Irish state into civil war (1922–1923). Ultimately, the Irish Free State put down the Anti-treaty IRA and ended the war by May 1923, though not before the deaths of many of those who had fought together in the War of Independence, 1919-1921.

Physical force republicanism continued on after 1923. As a result of the Treaty and the Civil War, Republicans saw both states in Ireland as being British imposed "imperialist" proxies.

I do share the concern, Paul, since we see nationalism so on the rise here, not just in Europe. Lots of xenophobia, blame the immigrant and so forth. See the anti-hispanic post by Dean on meat packers. Send em back home so white meat packers can make a living. This leaves a great opening for dictators. However, equating the impact of colonialism or despotic colonialism with internally generated dictators such as in Italy and Spain, or Argentina, Cuba, or now Venezuela, or Iran, for that matter, seems a stretch and I think confounds the argument.

What is interesting is the link between dictatorship and economic development, which itself is unclear. Chile had a right wing dictatorship and is doing great. Argentina had a left wing dictatorship and is a train wreck. China has a dictatorship which I guess is socialist in name but not really, but seems to be zooming. Cuba and Venezuela have had dictatorships which, like Ireland at the hands of the British, have impoverished their folks. Perhaps Cuba could be seen like Ireland, a puppet of the USSR back then, which would explain the persistent poverty. But other colonies, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, even India (finally), seem to have benefited from the UK association, rule of law, private property, and so forth. These countries seem to be ahead of former French/Belgian colonies which rely have recurring regimes of torture and genocide.