Do you sometimes get the sense that many different parts of the world are under stress at the same time?
Fabian Picardo's office is surrounded by guns. In the courtyard sits a huge black cannon, while the entrance is protected by two more gold plated monsters, glinting in the sun. But the newly-elected Chief Minister of Gibraltar hopes that he will find a peaceful way of protecting the Rock despite an escalation in the war of words with Madrid.
"We are always hopeful that Spain will follow us into the 21st Century and drop its claim on our land," said Mr Picardo, in his first interview with a British newspaper since winning the December election. "The Spanish government are playing to their constituency of support and concentrating more on the theory of their claim, rather than the realities on the ground. And that is a tragedy for people of both sides of the frontier."
If Mr Picardo, 39, was expecting a gentle introduction to the 300-year-old tussle over the sovereignty of Gibraltar, then he has had a brusque awakening. Just as the newly re-elected Cristina Kirchner in Argentina has made a diplomatic push against British "colonisation" of the Falkland Islands a key policy of her government, Spain's ruling Partido Popular (PP) itself freshly in power, following the November general elections has been pushing sovereignty over Gibraltar up the agenda.
Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, has abandoned the tripartite talks over areas of co-operation between Spain, Britain and Gibraltar. Instead, on Wednesday, Madrid formally asked Britain for bilateral talks over the sovereignty of Gibraltar much to the fury of the excluded overseas territory's residents.
"They want to turn me into a Spaniard, but not one part of me is Spanish," said Martin Pickford, a small businessman, as he drove through the winding streets in the shadow of the Rock. "My ancestors were from Malta. Many more are descended from Genoese merchants or Italian sailors. No one here wants to be suddenly told they are Spanish."
The publication of former Europe minister Peter Hain's memoirs last month, in which he told how Tony Blair came close to agreeing joint Spanish-British sovereignty, has further raised hackles in Gibraltar. The territory was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and has been resolutely British ever since.
Spain's foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, last month sparked alarm in Gibraltar when he greeted a British MEP friend with the age-old rallying cry: "Gibraltar: Spanish!" and he has further pressed the issue by writing to William Hague to demand clarification on Britain's stance.
Mr Rajoy is set to meet David Cameron in London at the end of this month, but the authorities in Gibraltar are trusting that the British prime minister will defend their interests.
Yet Mr Picardo knows that he must remain on his guard. And inside his office just off Gibraltar's Main Street, the Oxford-educated lawyer told The Sunday Telegraph that he is determined his government will not be intimidated by sabre-rattling from Madrid.
"We are seeing what appears to be a more proactive desire by Spain to raise the sovereignty issue," he said, criticising Madrid's decision to cease tripatrite talks.
"The Spanish government does not best serve the interests of its people, especially those in the local area, by snubbing an international agreement to which it has subscribed in principle. And with five million or so people unemployed, it seems to me the Spanish have other more important priorities than historic claims over my people."
Certainly the dire economic situation across the border, with the highest unemployment in the eurozone one in two young people have no job has renewed focus on Spain's booming British neighbor. New luxury developments are still springing up alongside the sparkling marinas, and the Lord Nelson pub and Marks and Spencers are doing a roaring trade.
Growth this year is expected to be comfortably over four per cent, and the colony's 30,000 inhabitants enjoy almost full employment. Gibraltar makes its money through offshore finance, tourism, its port and online gaming and an enticingly low corporate tax rate of 10 per cent has brought businesses flocking to their shores.
Shades of Hong Kong...
"We believe we can attract the sort of investors that the rest of Europe would be welcoming with open arms," said Mr Picardo. "You have to remember the scale of the economy here. Gibraltar has a GDP of just over £1 billion. A £100m investment here goes a long way, whereas a £100m investment in Greece, Spain or the UK for instance is a drop in a drop in an ocean. So the highs and lows of the Spanish economy might not affect the bottom line as it could do, given our physical proximity."
Across the border, in the windswept Spanish town of La Linea, residents gaze wistfully at their thriving neighbor.
"Just look at it. It is obviously part of Spain, and it's crazy that it isn't accepted as such," said Pepe, 60, a retired hotelier, who did not want to give his surname. "I think it's absolutely right that Mariano Rajoy speaks to Britain about the issue."
His friend Paco, 65, added: "What hurts me most is that they are laughing at us from across there. During the World Cup they even supported Germany instead of Spain! It's not right."
Ah, jealously.
In the pretty Andalusian plaza in the centre of town, others complain that Gibraltarians use the low-tax business regime to secure deals on mainland Spain. Smuggling of cheap Gibraltarian tobacco into Spain is also a problem.
"I am Spanish and I defend Spain, but they insult it," said Inmaculada Floria, 36, warming her hands on a coffee beneath a sculpture of flamenco dancers. Like 7,000 other Spaniards, until recently she crossed the border daily to work in Gibraltar.
"The people there are really scared of the PP they associate the party with Franco, who blockaded Gibraltar for 13 years. They should be talking about ways of improving co-operation, not just saying 'No, no, no'."
Her husband Tomas Rodriguez, 39, a civil servant, said: "It's true that a lot of Spaniards aren't interested in Gibraltar. But here it affects us directly. For instance, a coffee in La Linea costs the same as in Madrid, and we are pushed out of the property market. It needs to be sorted out."
But those within Gibraltar's ancient fortress walls argue that the territory actually does a huge amount to help the local area. A study by the Chamber of Commerce found that almost 20 per cent of all jobs in the Campo de Gibraltar area from Tarifa in the west almost up to Estepona in the east were provided by Gibraltar. Furthermore, Spanish workers in Gibraltar earned £43m in 2007 the most recent data available which would be repatriated to Spain, while Gibraltar businesses imported £174m worth of goods from Spain.
"Gibraltar and Spain have a symbiotic relationship and we can do a lot more to work together," said Edward Macquisten, chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce.
"But if Madrid continues to clamp down, then it won't help anybody."
Beneath Mr Macquisten's office, Roy's Cod Plaice is doing a brisk trade. "Last year was the best I've had in 24 years here," said Roy Walker, 62, the owner. "Life is good here; the economy is good, weather is lovely, and there is very little crime. "But there is constant hostility from the Spanish authorities, from the head of the government all the way down. Not from the people, but from their government.
"I live in Spain and come here every day, as do all my workers. The border queues are sometime two hours why can't it just be open like with Portugal or France? But I'm pleased David Cameron is standing up for us and saying sovereignty is our decision. And we want to stay as we are."
It is a view shared by 98 per cent of Gibraltarians, who in a 2002 referendum voted resoundingly to maintain the status quo. And it is something that Mr Picardo is determined to defend.
Is the cannon outside his office pointing in the direction of Spain, I ask?
"It's pointing in the direction of the governor's residence opposite at the representative of the British Foreign Office!" he laughed. "But that is totally unintentional as in any event it is decorative. We are confident in our position here.
"Gibraltar's arsenal is intellectual."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
So, I'm assuming Spain is in the process of returningCeuta to the Moroccans?
#4
Britain had Gibralter to protect its shipping fleet, both civilian and military. For practical purposes it no longer has a fleet, so doesn't need Gibralter. It costs money and provides nothing but a little nationalistic pride - which is no longer 'acceptable'. Pragmatically, they should sell it to China or Russia. Most likely they'll give it to Spain.
#5
Gibraltar is the Cayman Isles of Europe. A lot of cash flows through it and probably enough makes its way back to the UK to make hanging on to it worthwhile.
BTW, a surprisingly small place. Apart from the Rock, its not much bigger than Central Park.
#6
Sounds like the residents of La Linea ought to be agitating to be annexed by Gibraltar and not vice-versa. Everything about the territory they're jealous of will go away as soon as the morons in Madrid get their sweaty palms on the Rock.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/07/2012 9:07 Comments ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Norway gunman who killed 77 people in twin attacks in July asked an Oslo court Monday to immediately free him and demanded the country's highest military award, sparking derision from survivors.
Showing no sign of remorse, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik said the massacre was "a preventive attack against state traitors" who were guilty "ethnic cleansing" due to their support for a multi-cultural society.
"I do not accept imprisonment. I demand to be immediately released," the rightwing thug told the court before it ordered that he be held in detention until his trial opens on April 16.
He also asked to be decorated with a bravery medal, saying: "I want the Norwegian army to recommend me for a War Cross with three swords."
Hollow laughter erupted in the rows where several dozen survivors and families of the victims were seated, when Behring Breivik twice demanded his immediate release.
Wearing a dark suit and pale blue tie, Behring Breivik entered the courtroom and touched his heart with his handcuffed fists, then lifted them straight out toward those seated in the courtroom, in what his lawyer Geir Lippestad described as a "right-wing thug salute."
"He wanted to show the far right that he is one of them," Lippestad said.
With his blond hair parted on the side and a thin strip of beard along the jawline, Behring Breivik refused to plead guilty but admitted to committing the acts he said were necessary to "defend the ethnic Norwegian population."
"We, the Norwegian resistance movement, will not just stand by and watch while we are made a minority in our own country," he said, adding that he had acted "to defend his people, his culture, his religion."
He also asked to be decorated with a bravery medal, saying: "I want the Norwegian army to recommend me for a War Cross with three swords."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
What if you used a rail gun-like mechanism to propel the cross through his chin and out the back of his head?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/07/2012 0:11 Comments ||
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#2
The leftist Norwegian government is obviously terrified of him and his ideas. With good reason. He, likely with the help of unknown others, planned and executed a military quality operation, which has likely changed the future course of Norway.
Norway has only 2.7 million people, and has long been a target of leftist internationalism. A primary goal of this is to encourage so much immigration, on the condition that the immigrants politically support the far left, so that the Norwegian people become a minority in their own country. This is a common motif in western Europe, but to which Norway is particularly sensitive.
And, more to the point, the purpose of doing this is so that the far left will have, in effect, a single party socialist state in perpetuity.
The origins of this scheme are old, as the Workers' Youth League (Norway) was founded in 1927 as a socialist-communist response to the creation of the Hitler Jugend in 1922, the purpose of both organizations to create an ideologically pure generation of fanatics to replace the party founders.
The difference being that the WYL had loyalty only to the party and the internationale, not to their nation.
The utter ruthlessness involved in this is striking, but not seen in the WYL, because they are also profound believers in "gradualism". Were Hitler to not have engaged in aggressive war, and only authorized the extermination of a few thousand Jews every year, in a quiet and methodical manner, he could have had his Holocaust and still projected an image of peaceful democracy.
And while the public sees Breivik's victims, they do not see the hundreds of Norwegian innocents who have been raped and killed by immigrants.
But Breivik has thrown a monkey wrench into this scheme. He wiped out the next generation of socialist-communist party leaders in Norway, who have spent years learning precise, ideologically pure ideas. They are irreplaceable.
As such, it almost guarantees that Norway will remain Norwegian, that the socialist-communist left in the medium term will both be handicapped and in political variance from the goals of the internationale, that is, not ideologically pure, and more willing to let reason and common sense, instead of rigid doctrine, control their actions.
And if instead of being declared insane, and put into a drug induced stupor for the rest of his life, Breivik is instead sent to prison, his victory will be complete. Even if he is murdered in prison he will be a martyr for the extreme right, and if not, he will likely still be able to get his ideas out to those of his kind.
And more importantly, to the Norwegian on the street who is only partially aware of increasing numbers of oppressive and criminal foreigners.
#4
Can't see what the problem releasing him is. Surely he has as much rights as the misunderstanders of religion of peace have, who are apologetically released on a regular basis along with a large damages payments to compensate them for the insult to their "ooman rites" they've had to endure. Doesn't Norway realize they live in a multicultural society where even the natives have as much rights as the exotic imports. They don't want to be seen as judgmental, do they? Surely all cultures are equal, as they are constantly preaching.
Why should he be held to a higher standard than the jihadi are?
[Iran Press TV] Romania's Prime Minster Emil Boc has resigned following weeks of public protest against IMF-backed austerity measures amid the debt crisis sweeping the European Union. ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Announcing his resignation on Television on Monday, Boc said that he wanted to "defuse political and social tension" and to protect the stability of the country.
"We made this decision in order to alleviate the social and political situation in the country, but to not lose what Romanians have won with so much suffering, the country's economic stability," Boc said.
The resignation comes after three weeks of public demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Traian Basescu and the Boc government for imposing harsh austerity measures including a 25 percent cut in public sector wages, 24 percent increase in sales tax and a freeze on pensions.
Romania needed to implement the measures to qualify for the next installment of a 20bn euro bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Boc's resignation makes Romania the sixth European country to see a prime minister fall to the debt crisis.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Norway gunman who killed 77 people in twin attacks in July asked an Oslo court Monday to immediately free him and demanded the country's highest military award, sparking derision from survivors.
Romania's Prime Minster Emil Boc has resigned following weeks of public protest against IMF-backed austerity measures amid the debt crisis sweeping the 
