Quebec's idea of separation is; Quebec is independent but still gets billions in handouts from the rest of Canada. Quebecers still use Canadian passports, they still use the Canadian dollar and the Bank of Canada sets monetary policy based on what is good for Quebec.
“Macau belonged to Spain” Wrong. Macau belonged to Portugal.
“Catalonia was once a kingdom in Europe” Wrong. Catalonia has never been a kingdom, the closer it got was when Barcelona was a county inside the Kingdom of Aragon.
“…but eventually fell under the rule of Spain in 1714” Wrong. The war of 1714 was the War of Spanish Succession, what was at stake was who’d be the king of Spain. Nobody was considering independence then.
“brutal treatment under the Franco regime” Wrong. So brutal that most of the public industrial investment went there and when Franco died everybody in Catalonia knew and daily used the Catalan language. (I was born 9 month later, we've never spoken Spanish at home.)
“a recent report suggested that the European Union would be very flexible in allowing newly sovereign states like Catalonia to retain EU membership” Wrong. EU membership requires unanimous agreement of all member States. Plenty of member states do not want to encourage secessionist movements so they can be expected to vote against. But since entry must be agreed unanimously, one member state voting against would be enough to effectively veto it.
“Spain believes Andorra should be reunited with Spain” Wrong. That sentence simply makes no sense. Andorra became a separate entity before the year 1000 AD, at a time when Spain was not a united entity. Spain has never claimed Andorra. Nobody in Spain thinks it should be “reunited”.
“The Spanish government would also love to see Gibraltar back in its clutches” Wow, he managed to get one thing right.
Nomad Capitalist is a great site. I enjoy Simon Black as well, but I find him to be a bit like the "G Manifesto" of the Expatriatosphere (better get the domain on that).
Doug Casey's the granddaddy of them all, but his attempts to sell worthless real estate in Argentina is getting a bit old.
I'm for the right to secession as well, however, if Luxembourg,managed to not partition itself off, then I have to disagree with nomads assertion. Most of the secession movements that I have been paying attention will fail.
Scotland will not vote to secede from U.K. On the Wiki-page for opinion polling only one of the fifty two polls from the last two years show Scotland independence as the favored choice, by a one percent margin no less. Honestly, the English probably want independence more than the Scottish due since the Scottish already have home rule.
Catalonia is the best of the group he picked, though I would not expect peaceful Catalonia secession without tremendous pressure from outside powers.
Quebec spends more tax payer money than any other province in Canada.
If they would pay off their share of Canadian debt, and truly separate from Canada, we would probably be better off economically. It wouldn't be like losing Alberta, which would be a major loss to the country.
Quebec's idea of separation is; Quebec is independent but still gets billions in handouts from the rest of Canada. Quebecers still use Canadian passports, they still use the Canadian dollar and the Bank of Canada sets monetary policy based on what is good for Quebec.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete“Macau belonged to Spain” Wrong. Macau belonged to Portugal.
ReplyDelete“Catalonia was once a kingdom in Europe” Wrong. Catalonia has never been a kingdom, the closer it got was when Barcelona was a county inside the Kingdom of Aragon.
“…but eventually fell under the rule of Spain in 1714” Wrong. The war of 1714 was the War of Spanish Succession, what was at stake was who’d be the king of Spain. Nobody was considering independence then.
“brutal treatment under the Franco regime” Wrong. So brutal that most of the public industrial investment went there and when Franco died everybody in Catalonia knew and daily used the Catalan language. (I was born 9 month later, we've never spoken Spanish at home.)
“a recent report suggested that the European Union would be very flexible in allowing newly sovereign states like Catalonia to retain EU membership” Wrong. EU membership requires unanimous agreement of all member States. Plenty of member states do not want to encourage secessionist movements so they can be expected to vote against. But since entry must be agreed unanimously, one member state voting against would be enough to effectively veto it.
“Spain believes Andorra should be reunited with Spain” Wrong. That sentence simply makes no sense. Andorra became a separate entity before the year 1000 AD, at a time when Spain was not a united entity. Spain has never claimed Andorra. Nobody in Spain thinks it should be “reunited”.
“The Spanish government would also love to see Gibraltar back in its clutches” Wow, he managed to get one thing right.
Etc…
Nomad Capitalist is a great site. I enjoy Simon Black as well, but I find him to be a bit like the "G Manifesto" of the Expatriatosphere (better get the domain on that).
ReplyDeleteDoug Casey's the granddaddy of them all, but his attempts to sell worthless real estate in Argentina is getting a bit old.
Antonio beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteThe article also fails to mention the few micronations that are trying to make new countries 'from scratch'
I'm for the right to secession as well, however, if Luxembourg,managed to not partition itself off, then I have to disagree with nomads assertion. Most of the secession movements that I have been paying attention will fail.
ReplyDeleteScotland will not vote to secede from U.K. On the Wiki-page for opinion polling only one of the fifty two polls from the last two years show Scotland independence as the favored choice, by a one percent margin no less. Honestly, the English probably want independence more than the Scottish due since the Scottish already have home rule.
Catalonia is the best of the group he picked, though I would not expect peaceful Catalonia secession without tremendous pressure from outside powers.
Quebec spends more tax payer money than any other province in Canada.
ReplyDeleteIf they would pay off their share of Canadian debt, and truly separate from Canada, we would probably be better off economically. It wouldn't be like losing Alberta, which would be a major loss to the country.