I’m sure you’ve all heard that the Basque terrorist group ETA declared a permanent ceasefire with Spain a couple of days ago. They’ve waged a decades long campaign, killed hundreds of people, and have not furthered their interests one bit. Now it appears as if the train of thought in the ETA leadership has finally changed. Here is what they have been saying:

MADRID, March 23 ???????? The governing party in the Basque region of northern Spain said today that the permanent cease-fire announced by the militant Basque separatist group ETA opened the way for the region to loosen ties with the central government in Madrid.

In comments to the region’s public television, I????igo Urkullu, a member of the Basque Nationalist Party, said that ETA’s violence had cast a shadow over the legitimate demands of the region’s peaceful movements for greater autonomy and independence, and that it was time for the central government to begin addressing their demands.

“There is a political problem that predates the atmosphere of violence that has caused so much pain in Basque society over the past 30 years,” Mr. Urkullu reminded the government.

ETA, which has killed more than 800 people and terrorized Spanish society for nearly 40 years, announced the permanent cease-fire on Wednesday, saying it would turn its attention to achieving independence for the Basque region of Spain through politics.

Today, it issued a second, longer statement saying again that the cease-fire would take effect on Friday, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.

“The object of this decision is to drive a democratic process in the Basque country, so that, via dialogue, negotiation and agreement, the Basque people might carry out the political change they need,” the ETA statement said.

This comes on the heels of the IRA in Ireland declaring a ceasefire just last year. The ETA leadership no doubt has seen the benefits and progress that comes with stopping terrorist campaigns and resorting to democratic political processes instead. I don’t take it as much as a coincidence that this announcement comes shortly after.

The policies of most Western governments — and particularly the United States — is not to negotiate with terrorist groups., but nationalist terrorist groups like ETA are far different than religious groups like Al Qaeda. Their grievances are usually political. In this case, it is for greater autonomy for the Basque region. And, in general, they tend to resort to terrorism as a means to pronounce this cause since it is usually marginalized from mainstream Spanish politics.

Negotiations through the democratic process then are exactly what needs to happen. The separatists have been so engaged in terrorism for the past several decades — when they probably could have called a ceasefire long ago — that the Basque region itself can hardly be considered democratic. Successful negotiations will eventually give the Basques what they want, which is greater autonomy from the Spanish national government, and it will give the Spanish what they want, which is an end to the violence and keeping the Basque region a de facto part of Spain.

The likelihood of a so-called Balkanization of Spain is slim to none, but the existence of distinct nations within countries that they don’t identify with is a problem for many governments, and likely will be moreso in the future. The re-emergence of such nations, and the effects of gobalization, are what is causing this. Greater autonomy for such nations, with the provision that they remain basic citizens of a country is probably going to be a big trend in the future, with very strong central governments a thing of the past.