Common Sense
Catalan Independence
Catalonia: A Flawed Strategy
Things quieted down in Catalonia after the non-referendum held on 09 November, as expected. The images of citizens lining up to peacefully cast their non-ballots were trumpeted around the world by the pro-referendum parties, who almost immediately fell to squabbling about next steps, independence credentials and the Govern’s budget. The most fervently pro-independence Oriol Junqueras […]
The Machiavelli Gambit: Is Mariano Rajoy Fomenting Catalan Secession?
Gambit (noun) \ˈgam-bət\ – 1. : a chess opening in which a player risks one or more pawns or a minor piece to gain an advantage in position; 2. something done or said in order to gain an advantage or to produce a desired result[1]. “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you […]
Update Catalonia: 24 April
Update Catalonia: 24 April 2014 Three minor, but potentially interesting developments in the evolving situation in Catalonia were in the news this week. In his first address to the Spanish Parliament on Catalonia since the referendum debate on April 9th, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called on Catalans to accept the decision of the national […]
Catalonia and Spain: End Game Scenarios
I have written a number of times[1] on the increasingly tense situation in Catalonia, Spain’s prickliest province that also wants to become Europe’s newest independent state. On April 8th another act in the unfolding drama was completed: three representatives of the pro-separatist elements in the Catalan Parlament visited Madrid to officially request the authority to […]
Spain: Horns of a Dilemma
Three representatives of the Catalan regional government traveled to Madrid today to formally request that the central government grant the Generalitat the necessary authority to hold a referendum on independence. This was a key issue in the 2012 regional election when voters returned a 65% majority of pro-referendum parties to the Parlament. The Spanish Constitution […]
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