DISPUTE: Inhabitants are concerned the Spanish authorities
want to control the British outpost of Gibraltar
Posted on 05/23/2009 7:29:31 AM PDT by yankeedame
Royal Navy warships have forced heavily armed Spanish ships to retreat from British waters around Gibraltar. Relations between the 30,000 residents of the British outpost and mainland Spain have become strained following what the Foreign Office described as 'a violation of British sovereignty'.
The warships were dispatched after Spanish ships sent boarding parties to inspect fishing boats in British waters, despite having no authority to do so.
DISPUTE: Inhabitants are concerned the Spanish authorities
want to control the British outpost of Gibraltar
The Rock's inhabitants fear Spain could damage their economy by making moves to seize control of its sea and air traffic.
The incident on May 8 is the latest in a long series since Britain was handed Gibraltar in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
The Spanish Government has refused to recognise that territorial waters were a part of that agreement and made repeated attempts to reclaim them....
The latest incident followed a day after Gibraltar's government vowed to block EU moves to give responsibility for the environment around the Rock to Spain. A spokesman for Gibraltar's opposition GSLP/Liberal party said: 'The latest incident is far more serious than anything that has happened before. It represents a frontal challenge to British sovereignty, jurisdiction and control over Gibraltar's territorial sea. 'As such the UK must not only respond to Spain, but must also extract guarantees from Madrid that it will never happen again.'...
STAND-OFF: The Royal Navy sent warships to see off Spanish vessels
which had entered Gibraltar's waters
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Been awhile but there is a whole lot of history there.
Now if we can just get France and maybe Portugal involved we’ll really have something.
Me too. "Who's poaching on my territory?"
The Brits under their clueless socialist leaders (our socialist leader is a genius) couldn’t wipe out the New York State National Guard, let alone intimidate neo-socialist Spain.
Britain had little to risk. The moslem terrorists recently proved the Spaniards will run with their tail between their legs if they are challenged.
Once the Surprise is provisioned we'll show those Spaniards a thing or two.
I nominate this as the post "most likely to prove prescient" in Obama's case.
With a son in the military, I view this likelihood with the utmost seriousness.
I’d suggest the Spainish Government consider how a similar move by Argentina worked out.
You forgot one little minor detail, back then Maggie was in charge.
The Spanish Navy today is quite an impressively-armed and modern force, far superior to Argentina in 1982.
Roger that!
Maggie was the last Brit Prime Minister with the necessary balls.
Generations of excluding fudge pounders from military service has resulted in killing off the men and expanding the fudge pounder population to majority status....
The reality of what happened to the Brits should be the strongest argument for forming 100% pervert Battalions and placing them "into the breach"....
Well in the figurative sense. ;)
New Andalusia rises again for the new leftist/islamic alliance of Spain. OK...so thats a little melodramatic I admit but not so far-fetched.
I still maintain that the two World Wars killed off the best of the British manhood, and they will never completely recover from it. In fact, the same could be said about most of Europe.
Calling Elizabeth I. Paging Elizabeth.
Call for Sir Francis Drake. Urgent.
Yes, probably, and no, AFAIK.
Royal Navy warships have forced heavily armed Spanish ships to retreat from British waters around Gibraltar...
The Argentine's capital ships were pretty badly out of date, but their aircraft, were fairly modern, and had been kept up to date and they had more than the Brits were able to bring to bear in theater. Their pilots were well trained also. Their disadvantage was operating at the extreme of their range, like the Luftwaffe over Britain in WW-II. The Argentine army, OTOH, was a bunch of ill trained conscripts, little more than an armed mob, with officers that didn't deserve the title.
Why not give Spain Porto Rico? France can have Haiti.
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