His aspirations foundered on the rocks of British and French colonial ambition, notably the twin reefs of the notorious Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 and the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
ECONOMIST: Lawrence of Arabia
2.
So the mysterious Mr Rajoy must seek to avert twin tail-risks: the break-up of the euro zone on the rocks of Spain, and the break-up of Spain itself.