I said exactly that. I did not say that I think Spain will take Gibraltar over. Do you not understand the difference?[quote=“renke, post:60, topic:80054”]
Did you mean this one?
[/quote]
No, it was a story on the World Service (radio) just today.
do they publish transcripts? this would interest me, as I never heard before that the Invasion Angst is more than an exorbitant political exaggeration
all your examples are fire-and-forget broadcasts?
I was in the bathtub.
OK, a few hits at google news:
“[But] I think the majority of my fellow Gibraltarians will vote to remain within the EU, purely because the EU defends us, stopping Spain from overwhelming us.”
In the event of a British exit from the EU, or “Brexit,” Spain has vowed to press its claim to the tiny British overseas territory…That leaves the territory’s 33,100 inhabitants, who are set to vote overwhelmingly in favor of staying in the bloc, worried that Spain would assert its power by tightening passport checks—a border-snarling tactic it has used in previous disputes.
Residents fear that a Brexit could leave them economically crippled - and possibly even blockaded by Spain.
“Sr Margallo has done us all the favour of being explicit in explaining why the choice that people make on the 23rd of June is not just about being in or out of the European Union, it’s about putting Gibraltar at the mercy of Spain,” Mr Picardo will say tonight.
As I understand it the fear is that Spain will cut them off physically and economically unless they cede sovereignty to Spain. That isn’t an armed invasion, but it is a classically aggressive way to take over a country.
Thanks!
Or a typical border between two countries not connected by treaties : )
Not so typical if the bigger country considers the other their territory, and threatens to cut it off from the world unless they hoist their flag.
The state I live in used to be an independent nation. It was annexed by the US through similar means.
I just read the articles you linked and it seems no one suspects an outright invasion. What they do fear is losing access to the EU market and a rewarmed discussion about sovereignty, supported by closed borders and economical pressure.
Well, “invasion” was obviously a lazy choice of word on my part, but a blockade with an insistence of handing over sovereignty is tantamount to the same thing. You can have invasions that aren’t armed. The point in my original post was that Gibraltars are voting in in large numbers out of fear of a belligerent Spain, not just because they see benefit in being part of the EU.
Their chief weapon is surprise…surprise and fear…fear and surprise…Their two weapons are fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency…
NI has not exited the Euro (championships)!
This is a big deal on my feed.
NI will really have to institute border controls with England if they leave the EU. It’s the only practical solution, and frankly it will probably be economically better for them. As has been pointed out recently, if there was a peace dividend from the peace process, it went south. It didn’t happen North.
I guess, but have less knowledge, that it would give Scotland more impetus to devolve more and more power.
Wales? Who knows. I always feel that Wales is very, very divided.
NI will really have to institute border controls with England if they leave the EU. It’s the only practical solution, and frankly it will probably be economically better for them. As has been pointed out recently, if there was a peace dividend from the peace process, it went south. It didn’t happen North.
I can’t quite parse this. How does implementing full border controls with England benefit NI? Are you proposing NI becomes part of Ireland because Brexit means NI will be in a shitty position wrt its neighbor (OK, more shitty) due to the border situation? More broadly, how could a Brexit benefit N. Ireland economically? I suspect that politically, it’d be pretty darn crappy regardless.
we’re still talking about Spain?
Northern Ireland’s normal trade and commerce would suffer less with the continued lack of border controls between Ireland and itself. In order for this to happen, as the Tories say, they would need to instigate border controls (on people mostly) coming from the rest of the UK, and from NI to the rest of the UK.
Politically there is absolutely no possibility whatsoever of NI becoming part of the rest of Ireland and I am not advocating it. I doubt anyone is bar Sinn Féin and then only out of muscle memory.
The alternative to an open border with the rest of Ireland and border controls with the rest of the UK is to put the border apparatus back up. This would be politically very difficult and wouldn’t really work so well either.
It could, if exploited properly, be a great niche for NI to get into: a part of the UK and contiguous with the EU. A separate free trade zone negotiated and FDI moving to NI to take advantage of the, frankly bizarre, situation. It would deepen devolved power to NI but, to be honest and I think unionists, loyalists, and tories should be, Westminster hasn’t actually worked out that well for NI.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
