Britain, Spain settle a dispute over Gibraltar

[TechBear_Seattle]

Source: Reuters via Yahoo News

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and Spain have settled a long-running dispute over Gibraltar that blocked the European Union from ratifying some international conventions, including treaties on aviation and on children, Britain said on Tuesday.

Britain said the agreement would open the way for the EU to ratify the 1996 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, which is important to the aviation industry.

"I am delighted that, with the agreement of the government of Gibraltar and in the spirit of ongoing cooperation, we have now concluded a set of arrangements with Spain which will allow the EU to move ahead and ratify all such instruments," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement to parliament.

EU ratification of a number of conventions had been held up for years by a disagreement between London and Madrid rooted in their dispute over the sovereignty of Gibraltar, a British colony at the foot of Spain.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080108/wl_nm/britain_gibraltar_dc

[Benhurst]

1. Yeah, just a cursory glance at a map shows that Gibralter is obviously

a part of Great Britain. :rofl:

[Diclotican]

2. Benhurst

Benhurst

UK was a superpower, when US was a colony... Rembember that when you lafe about Gibraltar;!

Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

[Javaman]

3. I think his point was that from a quick observation on a map

that it's very clear that Gibraltar is part of Spain. It's just a bit of sarcastic ironic humor.

Peace.

[Benhurst]

5. Thanks, Javaman.

:hi:

[Javaman]

11. :) nt

[Diclotican]

15. Javaman

Javaman

Off course. But a map is just a map, not every time the political situation are the same, as the map... And for many hundreds of year, the Gibraltar have been a british place, even that spain have fight ed hard to "get it back".. Even today it is a sour point between Spain and UK that Gibraltar is part of UK and not Spain...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

[Javaman]

18. Oh, no doubt. I completely agree with you...

I've never ever been a fan of colonization of anything, but again that is easy for me to say since I'm an American. We colonize resources under the guise of giving people "freedom".
:(

[Diclotican]

19. Javaman

Javaman

US have always been clever in cover their colonize programs, in the guise of giving people freedom and liberty.. Even then the other side don't se it as such and fight back... The old Colony power was not as good at telling the story of "freedom and liberty" to their colonies... But that have US been, for as long as their have been grabbing land from other than the indians... The Philippines, the Indo-China after that the old colony power of France was to go out.. Hawaiian from the late 1830s, and so on.. Even Cuba, who was little more than a playground for the Rich and powerfully before 1959, and so on.. US are not new to colony power they have just been that much clever to tell their own, that they are not a colony power, because of their own history as a colony off course:P

And many others, just go along and believe US are not a colonypower...:sarcasm:


Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

[Javaman]

20. Nail on the head.

Peace. :)

[Sweet Pea]

21. And Alaska...

is quite obviously part of Canada.

[Benhurst]

4. Don't apologize for your English. It's a hell of lot better than my

Norwegian. :rofl:

I'm not a big fan of superpowers, and look forward to this country abandoning its militarism and taking its rightful place as a republic with the other nations of the world.

Gibraltar should be restored to Spain, especially now that Franco is dead and Spain is a republic.

:hi:

[dbackjon]

8. Right after Spain gives Ceuta and Melilla back to Morocco

What's fair is fair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceuta

[Diclotican]

17. dbackjon

dbackjon

And that wil not come to true for a long time...


Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

[Diclotican]

16. Benhurst

Benhurst

;) Well it a warning to all, that my English are not that good. But I bet my English is some better than your Norwegian for sure;)..

Well, Spain is not a republic jet, but have a King and Queen as their head of state. But it is a very democratic state, where the royal doesn't have to much power. It is the Parliament who have the power in Spain, as in many other nations in Europe..

I am not sure if UK really want Spain to have control over Gibraltar, it is a very important geopolitical space, where the country who have the power to stop the most of traffic coming into or out of the sea. It was one of the points where UK always have managed to "kill" enemies.. Germany was doing a lot of hard work, to try to root out UK from the Gibraltar, their even tried to bribe Franco to go on the offensive against UK... But Franco was not stupid, and was given demand to the german when it come to military thing, that the german just say no.. And Gibraltar was not attached by spain, and was never lost for the UK.

And even a deal who manage to get some deals true, yet it is to come when Gibraltar is "getting back" to Spain.. It exist many enough who Will fight every ince to let Gibraltar be a part of UK and not a part of Spain.. Both in Gibraltar, and in UK... So I guess Gibraltar Will be a part of UK for long time yet...

And UK is still a democratic country, one of the oldest democratic country in the world in fact.. Even that the Parliament maybe have not been the best of places every time, it have bee the receipt for democraty in UK for a Long time.. And still are

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

[happyslug]

13. And had Britain given Gibraltar back to Spain, we be part of Canada.

Or more likely some sort of British Commonwealth mix of Canada and today's US. People forget that France only entered into war with Britain during the American Revolution on the promise of Spanish Support. Spain offered Britain its refusal to declare war (Thus keeping Spain AND France out of the war) if Britain turn Gibraltar back over to Spain (It had been Spanish till 1707, so by 1779 it had been British only 70years).

After Britain refused the Spanish offer, it had to ship two conveys of supplies to Gibraltar during 1779 and 1781, which lead to supplies shortages for the British Army in America. In fact had Cornwallis been given the supplies sent to Gibraltar, he would NOT have had to Surrender in the fall of 1781 at Yorktown.

Just think about it Britain decided keeping Gibraltar was more important then keeping America (Actually more precisely, Britain tried to keep both when it only could keep one, and when Britain did NOT decide which to give up, the fortune of war did).

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. Does Alaska or Hawaii look like they are parts of the US?

:shrug:

[Benhurst]

7. No, and our takeover of Hawaii was a sorry episode in our history.

Alaska was purchased from Russia; but of course its native inhabitants had no part of the process.

[Minstrel Boy]

10. I'm confused

Presumably you believe Alaskans should have had a part in the process, and also that "Gibraltar should be restored to Spain." But five years ago 98.9% of the population of Gibraltar rejected a proposed power-sharing arrangement between Britain and Spain. Should that count for anything?

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E6DC1731F93BA35752C1A9649C8B63

[Benhurst]

12. Probably. But 18th and 19th colonization has created many such muddles.

What of the European settlers in Africa? Of course in those cases, the settlers remained in the minority, so that made it easier to decide; but whatever decision is made, innocent individuals get hurt. There really is no totally satisfactory solution. Perhaps now in the day of the European Union, places such as Gibraltar should be let in as individual entities such as Malta.

[harmonicon]

9. well, it is

You're talking about a political map there. Is it obvious from a map why countries are put together the way they are?

[Hardrada]

14. And Pomerania and Prussia

should be restored to Germany.