Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
2October 4, 2017 by JImbo
Will we see a new Civil War in Spain?
Maybe….
Catalonia Moves to Declare Independence from Spain
Over 90% vote for Independence
It’s not unrealistic that Catalonia things they can be an independent country. Spain shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal. Despite less land and a bit less population, Catalonia would have a bigger economy and excellent seaports.
This will be an interesting case given the British “brexit” vote to leave the European Union. Will the Catalonians stay in the European Union or not if they DO get their independence? Britain has always been traditionally apart from the rest of Europe (as an island on the periphery) but the Iberian peninsula? That could be problematic.
Minus the seaports, the situation is also similar to that of the Kurds in Iraq (who also held an independence referendum) The Catalonians voted around 90% for independence.The Kurds voted 92% for independence.
Yet the United States is calling the Kurdish vote “illegitimate.” Does that also mean we have to oppose the Catalonian vote too?
Spain’s two-fold problem is similar to that of Iraq. They have breakaway ethnic/cultural groups in their country that actually COULD make it on their own. Second, those groups go BEYOND what their current political boundaries are. What if they are heartened by success and demand MORE territory?
I’m interested to see where this goes. At a time when we are being told it is popular to respect everyone’s heritage, ethnicity and culture… can we then also claim to be AGAINST their expression of it? Is it in our national interest to support or oppose local sovereignty?
And at the same time, just a few months ago Puerto Ricans voted to move towards JOINING the United States. Around 97% of those voters wanted to start the process of statehood. I can only wonder if the flood of support to Puerto Rico following the latest hurricane disasters will seal the deal.
It’s an interesting time to be alive.
The Readneck Review Blog 
Puerto Rico would have a hard time in Congress to become a state. Tip toward Democrats. The other two, Kurdistan would need to go through other hostile countries to get supplies or trade. Catalonia, Spain doesn’t want to lose that prosperous portion of the country.
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Yes, Kurdistan has both the issues of being landlocked, as well as their minority status with historical claims on many areas of current countries (enclaves of Kurds are in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Armenia and Azerbaijan.) Potentially, that could create issues with them economically and militarily. However, so far they have managed a sort of economic/cultural renaissance with neighbors in Turkey and Iraq. Tourism and trade are up substantially for example. If they remain at least nominally part of an Iraqi confederation, then that is at least one outlet to external trade. Regions of Turkey and Syria overlap with the Kurdish ones in Iraq, so trade has continued despite Turkey ALSO actively bombing the Kurds too.
Catalonia really is in the best position as they have a thriving economy and easy external access through ports. Yes, it would mean the Spanish economy losing 20% of its output in a sense. However, just like with the British and the EU, that trade wouldn’t STOP necessarily. If it was good for both parties before, it will continue to be good for them. The only problem might be trade restrictions if Catalonia doesn’t stay in the EU alongside Spain.
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