Hello all.
Have you heard the news about Gibraltar.
Isn't it hilarious?
No.
No it is not.
Last June, the British people voted to leave the European Union.
This is known as Brexit.
In the months since then, people have been asking: "Where is the Brexit Crisis?
I thought this was supposed to be a disaster"
Over the past ten months, nothing too serious has happened.
The reason nothing has happened, is because Brexit hadn't happened yet.
Well on Wednesday, March 29th, the Brexit process officially started.
Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, sent a letter to the EU, and on Friday the EU issued
its first, preliminary framework for the Brexit negotiations.
And this triggered the first of what will be many Brexit related crises.
In the paperwork, the EU mentioned Gibraltar, a chunk of land at the entrance to the Mediterranean
that has a weird status.
It is directly to the South of Spain, but the British have owned this chunk of land
for over 300 years.
It's tremendously strategic and it's been sort of a low level bone of contention between
Britain and Spain for... well... almost three centuries.
The status of this chunk of land is extremely unlikely to change, but the fact that the
EU threw that in there is an indication of just how bruising these negotiations are going
to be for Great Britain.
On Sunday, Michael Howard, a pretty undistinguished former leader of the UK's Conservative Party
decided to weigh in on this conversation, and he started a bit of a firestorm.
35 years ago this week, Andrew, another woman Prime Minister, sent a task force halfway
across the world to protect another small group of British people, against another Spanish
speaking country.
And I'm absolutely clear that our current woman Prime Minister will show the same resolve
in relation to Gibraltar as her predecessor did.
This statement is ridiculous and inflammatory, and it's also worth remembering that it comes
from somebody who has essentially no power.
But it shows that even in Great Britain, supposedly one of the most modern and forward thinking
of European countries, crazy nationalist ideas still exist.
On Monday, we more or less got the official response of Theresa May, the UK Prime Minister,
to this statement.
She essentially laughed it off.
Now, Michael Howard is ridiculous, and the idea of a war between Great Britain and Spain
at this point is deeply, deeply silly.
But I don't think this is funny.
The Brexit process is going to last two years.
And Gibraltar is tremendously unlikely to be a serious factor in those negotiations.
But, the British Empire has other legacies that will be tremendously important.
The question of Northern Ireland in particular is likely to be very complex and quite possibly
even dangerous.
Scotland is likely to make another attempt at independence.
With the beginning of these Brexit negotiations we are now finally getting the Brexit crises
that we were promised.
This one, in particular, is not very serious.
But we're going to get more serious issues.
If, as I think is likely, Brexit ends up leading to the exit of other European countries, then
we're going to get serious, serious problems.
Britain has dumb nationalists like Michael Howard.
But in other countries like Hungary and Poland, the dumb nationalists are in power.
The question of Gibraltar is one that we're conditioned to not take seriously.
In the world of the European Union, where European countries are working together, and
unifying economically and resolving political issues in very established frameworks, the
question of Gibraltar simply isn't an issue.
The world of the EU may be ending.
And these petty nationalist issues, that we're conditioned to look at as silly 19th century
relics...
Aren't relics anymore.
There's a serious chance that issues like Gibraltar may be more and more of what we
hear coming out of Europe.
So no, I don't think the Gibraltar issue is funny.
It's an indication of things to come, and those things are frankly, quite frightening.
Thanks for watching.
Please Subscribe, and you might also want to sign up for my e-mail newsletter.
I've got a bunch of non-YouTube stuff coming up pretty soon, and the e-mail list is the
best way to hear about them.
Thanks.
For more infomation >> Oh, Jeez South Park after the Election 2017 - S20E07 - Donald Trump also wins in South Park - Duration: 2:30. 


For more infomation >> Ford Focus C-MAX 1.8-16V FUTURA AUTO IS EERSTE EIGENAAR. - Duration: 1:02. 

Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét