CATALONIA
" As if Europe weren’t struggling with enough problems, from Brexit to
rising nationalism to a seemingly endless flow of migrants fleeing
tumult and war in the Middle East and Africa, Spain now finds itself
mired in its worst political crisis since the death of dictator Gen.
Francisco Franco and the creation of a democratic Spanish state in 1978.
The crisis stems from a growing desire in Catalonia — the
semiautonomous northeastern region anchored by Barcelona — to secede and form an independent nation. "
