THE PAIN IN SPAIN – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  We are still absorbing the news that Greece, a NATO member, has just elected a radical leftist government, whose instincts are opposed to much of what the West presumably stands for.  We're now seeing the rapid rise of a radical leftist movement in Spain.  From AP:

MADRID (AP) -- Tens of thousands of people marched through Madrid on Saturday in a show of strength by a fledgling radical leftist party, which hopes to emulate the success of Greece's Syriza party in the Spanish general election later this year.

Podemos supporters from across Spain converged onto Cibeles fountain Saturday before packing the avenue leading to Puerta del Sol square.

State broadcaster TVE said that hundreds of thousands were at the march, but no official attendance figures were provided.

Podemos ("We Can") aims to shatter the country's predominantly two-party system and the "March for Change" gathered crowds in the same place where sit-in protests against political and financial corruption laid the party's foundations in 2011.

The party's rise is also greatly due to the charisma of its pony-tailed leader, Pablo Iglesias, a 36-year-old political science professor.

And...

Opinion polls show the party could possibly take the No.1 spot in upcoming elections and thus trigger one of the biggest political shake-ups in Spain since democracy was restored in 1978 after decades of dictatorship.

COMMENT:  Spain is also a NATO member.   This is serious stuff.  Europe is plagued with problems.  It allowed crazed immigration levels from hostile societies.  Its human reproduction rate will mean, essentially, the near-elimination of some countries, like the Netherlands, within 40 years.  Its defense budgets have been cut to the bone to make way for the welfare state.  And now we have the rise of the far left. 

Will Western Europe even be important in 40 years?  I'm not so sure.  It may be just a museum piece.

The far left is not friendly to the United States.  But I suspect that, in his heart of hearts, the current occupant of the White House is cheering them on.

January 31,  2015