A round-up of this week’s news stories, including an old argument revived by Portugal and Spain, and a diplomatic spat over a missing flag between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We learned this week that Europe had retreated from the brink of war on a couple of fronts.
I can't wait to try this.
Tell me more.
See where this goes.
We learned first of all that it was all threatening to kick off between Spain and Portugal.
We learned that for reasons unclear as of this broadcast, possibly he had just returned from an especially satisfactory lunch.
Portugal's Defence Minister, Nuno Melo, had decided to reassert Portugal's historic claim to the Spanish town of Olivenza in words that will now be declaimed with appropriate wounded pride by Monaco's abstruse Portuguese grievances desk chief Carlota Rebello.
Oliveense is Portuguese.
Naturally, by treaty, Oliveense should be handed over to the Portuguese state.
It is not a question of yesterday, but today.
We learned when we looked into it that there is a whole thing about the 1297 Treaty of Alkanesis and another whole thing about the 1801 War of the Oranges, which we're pretty sure wasn't actually fought with Oranges.
There again, Spain does have that festival where they throw tomatoes at each other, so who knows?
And then there's something else to do with the Treaty of badioz, also of 1801, and some other bloody thing involving the 1815 Treaty of Vienna.
We, for one whimsical news monologue, and, for what it may be worth, characterise our own attitude as somewhere between bemusement and indifference, which we learned was also pretty much the view from Madrid, which, as of this broadcast, has not deigned to respond to Mr.
Melo's demand, almost as if they think it's a pile of rubbish.
We have learned from Spain, however, of a potentially exciting new means of resolving conflict between nations, that of deciding that one simply cannot be bothered with whatever the other mob think they're on about and going about one's day.
We also learned that this line does, in fairness, seem to be the one taken by Portugal's Prime Minister.
And we learned this from a clarification issued by Melo shortly after what we suspect to have been a very brief, quite loud and altogether one way phone call from the boss.
These remarks do not reflect the official stance of Portugal's government led by Luis.
Montenegro, which translates approximately as, I enjoy.