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Think about the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta, Melilla, and Canary Islands: - Gibraltar is a potential choke point for the mediterranean if something happens in t
by eb0la 7y ago
Think about the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta, Melilla, and Canary Islands:
- Gibraltar is a potential choke point for the mediterranean if something happens in the Suez Canal.
- 3 nations (UK, Morocco, and Spain) have territorial waters on the strait. All three are NATO members, but the UK left the EU last month and cannot be considered as an ally for it gibraltar politics anymore...
- Marocco is claiming more territry waters both in the ocean side near canary islands, and in small islands Ceuta and Melilla. See Perejil Island incident (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perejil_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perejil_Island).
Also, Spain sells a lot of weapons. Submarines are a good addition to the catalog.
- realityking 7y agoMorocco is not a member of NATO.
- iso947 7y agoSpain is so hypocritical with Gibraltar and it’s attitudes to Ceuta, Melilla and it’s other African colonies, as well as the canaries.
- bastille 7y agoI don't think this comparison is fair: - The nation of Morocco did not exist when Ceuta and Melilla became Portuguese and Spanish respectively, so I assume the only claim Morocco could have would be based on territorial integrity. They were also never part of the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, and are not recognised by the United Nations as colonies. - On the other hand, Gibraltar has been classified by the United Nations as a Non-Self-Governing Territory subject to decolonisation. Furthermore, it considers Gibraltarians mere "settlers" and as such does not recognise their right to self-determination, and urges the governments of Spain and the UK to negotiate the decolonisation process between themselves. Whether the UN's position is correct or not is whole different matter, my point is that given the UN's point of view, Spain's position on Gibraltar and Ceuta/Melilla is not contradictory. Regarding the Canary Islands and "other African colonies", I'm not sure what you are referring to as the only inhabited territories Spain has in Africa are Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands, and as far as I know nobody is claiming the Canary Islands.
- detritus 7y ago> the UK left the EU last month and cannot be considered as an ally for it gibraltar politics anymore... I'm sorry, but this is fairly laughable - if you had any idea of the relationship between Spain and the UK over the last n decades, you'd know that Spain is the belligerant 'partner' in this relationship and has, for all but about 5 years around the turn of the millennium been apt to abuse the Gibraltar question as a temporary salve for whatever domestic political problem it is distracting its populace from. It would be simpler to say that Spain is historically a naval power and has a lot of coastline, and leave it at that... .