Saturday 22 March 2014

Good Referendums And Bad Referendums

A country holding onto a piece of land at the southern tip of another country and using the justification of a referendum of the citizens who want to be with them instead of the country they happen to be in.
If i was Spain i'd be asking about now if i could have Gibralter back because while the UK are spitting feathers at the Crimeans voting to become part of Russia, the UK are more than happy to go with the 2002 referendum in Gibralter that voted 98% to stay as part of the UK rather then share sovereignty with Spain.  
Same with the Falklands, where the islands are full of Brits voted to be British rather than Argentinian.
Either a referendum is legal or not, we can't pick and choose which ones we can abide with and which are 'an affront to democracy' as our Foriegn Minister put it.
Spain should be pushing the UN for clarification of whether the Gibralter referendum was an affront and can they have their big rock back please or referendums are legally binding in which case why are they sanctioning Russia for abiding by the result of 95% of Crimeans who want to become part of Russia?
Might make for some very awkward squirming by the diplomat sat in the UK seat.
As they are there, it might also be a good time for Palestinains to raise the question of why Russia are being accussed of an illegal land grab and being heavilly vilified for it but Israel can freely knock down their houses and build on their land and nobody so much as bleats.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

As you know, it's useless trying to find a rationality in their statements and behaviour but the interests of the corporations that each governemnt represent. Only those naive enough to think that our rulers represent us may be confused by these issues.

About that referendum in Gibraltar, I, as Spanish, may say that is a matter definitely out of interest for the majority of Spanish people. It's irrelevant if Gibraltar continues being English or join to Andorra or wherever. However, Spanish government will continue, from time to time, shouting on the matter in UN or wherever, trying to make people look away from real troubles and to get a bunch of votes from extreme right-wing people.

Unknown said...

He, I've made the mistake that we always make here, to say 'English' instead of 'British'. Sorry:-)

Lucy said...

I would enjoy how much of an uncomfortable position the British Government would be in. Far too much hypocrisy going on.
The Scots, Irish and Welsh get really annoyed when they get called 'English' instead of 'British' but they get called worse by us English.

Nog said...

I'd be nice for someone to come up with a semi-workable "bright line" rule on when you're allowed to declare independence.

All other things being equal if a good majority (say 60%+) want to be independent in a large independently viable region, they should get what they want. But all other things are never equal.


-Nog