Foreign Lands Roundup

Still not perfect, but I'm getting better - only a day late this time! Hooray!

Seriously, guys, WTF is up with these costumes?

• The Basque separatist group, ETA, announced over the weekend that they will no longer carry out armed actions against the Spanish government. Which is funny, because the Spanish government hadn't thought about ETA since like 2003 when they made a snap decision to initially blame them for a terrorist attack. The problem is, ETA does not now and has not for the last several decades, had the capacity to carry attacks of any magnitude. Which is good for the people of Spain who either do not want Basque independence or do not care, but sort of problematic if you are Basque and chafe under the harsh rule of Madrid, who are doing such horrible things as "improving the Spanish economy" and "expanding minority rights". Poor ETA. So announcing this fake-cessez-le-feu (as the French would say) really is a way for them to pretend that they have any cache with the Spanish government. Madrid isn't buying it. Oh and what's up with those CREEPY masks? C'mon ETA, no one's going to take you seriously looking like a cheesy sci-fi B-movie villain. [BBC News, because they scooped this, even though I read about it on France24]

We can't eat, so we'll burn tires. TAKE THAT!

•  Just when you thought the economic news couldn't get any better, it does! Turns out that whole "inflation" thing people are confused about (specifically, why aren't we having inflation right now???) is actually happening! It's just that it's happening in third world countries like Mozambique, which has been experiencing exiting riots over the last week because the people cannot afford to eat any longer! Honestly, Inflation, if you want us to take you seriously, you're gonna have to start affecting real countries, like America, or...well, America is the only real country out there, so come on, guy, get with the progrum. Apparently this is the worst violence in Mozambique since 2008. So...I guess 2009 was mostly nice? Good for you, Mozambique! You managed to have a nice year. I think we can just take that win and start thinking about the future.[Reuters]

• I'm feeling lazy, so here's a brief rundown of other things this week: Moldova can't get enough people to vote, so the referendum on whether or not Presidents will be directly elected failed. I was unaware that there were people in Moldova. [BBCNews] There was a pretty massive earthquake in New Zealand, with ton(ne)s of damage around Christchurch, but apparently only two people and only a handful of sheep were seriously injured. Good for them. They beat Haiti and Chile! Also they talk really funny there. I mean even for Commonwealth people. [NZHerald]

And that's your roundup of Foreign Lands in This Week or whatever. Some other things happened, probably, but I mean whatever. It's not like they happened in America, AMIRITE?