Foreign Digest: France, Spain and Morocco

           The French Socialist government has proposed income tax cuts for individuals and corporations.  France's repeal of its own tax increase was a subject of my post, in January of this year: Foreign Updates: Cuba, Ukraine, Tunisia and France http://williamcinfici.blogspot.com/2015/01/foreign-updates-cuba-ukraine-tunisia.html.

Meanwhile, the French have launched air strikes on the “Islamic State” in Syria, while commencing an investigation of crimes against humanity by the Syrian dictatorial regime of Bashar Assad.  I have posted over the years about French counterterrorism and peacekeeping efforts, especially in its former colonies in Africa.

            With the cooperation of French law enforcement, the two leaders of the leftist Basque terrorist organization were captured across the border from Spain.  I had posted how the separatist terrorists had ceased fire, as they have gradually been defeated by the Spanish, but the capture of their leadership could be the mortal blow to the organization and a significant victory against terrorism. 

           Spain and Morocco, despite their differences over the sovereignty of Spanish enclaves in North Africa, continue to cooperate against Islamist terrorism.  Their joint efforts yielded another series of arrests of militants who intended to engage in violent jihad (Islamic holy war).  The Spanish-Moroccan cooperation is a good example of the increase in intelligence sharing and law enforcement cooperation since the September 11 Attacks and the start of the global War on Terrorism.