I can't believe what's happening in Barcelona. Guardia Civil, national paramilitary police, attacking people with batons and boots, including firemen standing in front of crowds trying to protect them. Hundreds injured. I lived in Spain for a spell in the 1960s and this was standard fare from Franco; you daren't look at a GC and make eye contact or it would invite attention, usually a document search but sometimes violence. I hoped those days had gone when people were in real terror of their own police. Franco used them like storm-troopers to stifle dissent. Looks like they are back.
I think I read that prior to all this the opinion polls were slightly against independence. I would imagine the violence of yesterday will have tipped that scale in the opposite direction. Sad to see Spain after so long under the shadow of Franco sliding into this sort of chaos.
Leopards don't change their spots, the Guardia Civil tried to overthrow democracy back in the late 70s. Sadly this can only make the separatists take up arms again.
Some of the scenes are shocking, saw a woman hauled out of a building by her hair...return of ETA a strong possibility
The sooner folk realize that those in charge will never surrender their power no matter how much they plead we live a free democratic society the sooner we might be able to come together and do something about it...The New world order want one world government ..the break up of Spain is a no no in their eyes just like the Brit exit ...its a paper exercise in our case they are doing their best to wriggle out of it ...its all about the few controlling the masses ...giving us what we want in a controlled environment ......Whilst leading us down the path to ruin....False flag attacks then come up with a solution that erodes more of our freedom ..and like sheep we follow ...
As a species, we are evolving towards increasing larger groups of people. From family groups, through tribes, to Feudal lords, kingdoms and nation states and the next stops are continental, then planetary. In years to come, Brexit will be seen as an evolutionary dead end in societal terms. The future is co-ordination and co-operation, not repeating the mistakes of the past. IMHO the situation in Catalonia (and Scotland/NI) are different to those of Brexit. As a country we are turning our backs on our future in the larger grouping, while the Catalans (and Scots/Irish) want to disentangle themselves from the "mid-level of management" (country) while still keeping the status quo at the highest level (continent).
Quite an assumptive view though ...I would think there could be a large number of Scots and Catalans who only want self determination without necessarily thinking they just want to dump the middle management to be ruled by a larger body...whatever the ads and disadvantages.
If we didnt have good Armed Forces plus the H Bomb, the EU would probably be sending forces into the UK. If I was Hungarian, Polish or Czech, I would be somewhat concerned. The EU will probably drive some of the Eastern European states to prefer joining the Russian sphere of influence.
The EU doesn't have any forces. EU members are in NATO. Former Soviet countries like the ones you mentioned have joined the EU and NATO in order to escape Russian influence. You couldn't be more wrong.
This is an example of why there should be a cut off point for people bring allowed to vote. Completely and utterly bonkers post.
If we didn't have Trident virtually on my doorstep I'd be much happier. It's done a lot of good to prevent our recent terrorist incidents here in the UK.
Just by way of correction, the Catalan separatists have never used violence like the Basques but who knows after this they might.
It's also directly influenced north Korea to develop nuclear weapons in order to try to level the playing field. Anybody who thinks that we have ANY justification for possessing one of the world's biggest arsenal's of weapons of mass destruction is utterly bonkers.