Will There Be a Civil War in Russia?

Back in 1981, I happened to be in Spain when a group of disgruntled Army officers stormed into the Parliament chamber in Madrid, fired some warning shots into the ceiling, and announced they were taking over the government which had become too liberal following the death of Francisco Franco and the resumption of parliamentary democracy in 1975.

The only problem was that not only did an expected rebellion by more military units not occur, but then the King, Juan Carlos, went on national television and demanded that the occupation of the Parliament come to an end, which it very quickly did.

So now, there were a dozen armed military holding the Spanish parliamentarians hostage inside the chamber and negotiations began to end the revolt. The government offered immunity to the dissident military group with the exception of the leader, who was given the opportunity to go out to Barajas Airport, get on a plane and fly to Portugal which had agreed to give him asylum for a promise that he would not return to Spain.

The negotiations broke down when the leader of the coup refused to accept the government’s offer because — ready? — he was afraid to fly. This slapstick comedy went on for a couple of days until the media lost interest in the whole thing and I don’t recall exactly how this poor schmuck eventually got away.