A footnote I might try to sneak into the book

The Atocha attacks of 2004 left no doubt that Spain had entered a new historical era, one in which the image of an isolated peninsula, without any bearing on world affairs, simply no longer applied. ³

³A brief fake news article appearing in the satirical newspaper The Onion in 199? anecdotally reflects this attitude in the United States, declaring in its headline “Spain Not Important” and continuing with a simulated interview with King Juan Carlos II, who admits that “his nation is of no importance. … ‘In terms of recent culture, politics, industry or any other real measure, we truly are a people of little significance,’ the King said. ‘We played a part in neither WWI nor WWII, we have never produced an automobile, and we have almost no famous citizens to speak of. We truly do not deserve to be on a successful, modernized continent like Europe.’”