OF BASQUES AND BILBAO

A year ago the Basques seemed “more optimistic than ever before about peace and prosperity in their little nub of Spain. Not only did the glorious Guggenheim Museum of Frank Gehry now hover over a once-nondescript city. But a truce declared by ETA, the murderous Basque separatist movement, was holding. Since then, ETA has assassinated a general, a politician, and a policeman, and the atmosphere is once again heavy with recrimination and uncertainty.” But perhaps the modernity of Gehry and of architect Norman Foster encourages Basques to look forward, not back” and towards some sort of resolution. The Idler