MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Madrid trying to block sale of rocks to Gibraltar, according to Spanish media
Spain’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs is urging Morocco and Portugal to block the sale of rocks to Gibraltar, according to the online publication El Confidencial. The website reported at the weekend that the ministry headed by Jose Manuel García-Margallo had initiated contacts with “friendly countries” in a bid to stop Gibraltar’s “expansionist” plans. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesHow on earth can Gibraltar expand? The Treaty of Utrecht does not allow it! ¡Españoles idiotas!
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 05:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0Does that mean Spain is trying to rock-block Gibraltar?
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 06:49 am - Link - Report abuse 0They try to block rocks being sold to the Rock of Gibraltar. Such a scarce commodity will be very difficult to source without the permission of Spain. After all, where are they going to find rock on the Rock of Gibraltar if the dastardly Spanish manage to persuade every nation on earth (including the UK) not to sell them any.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 09:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0It's a real conundrum.
Let's see: so Margallo is trying to prop up his fixation with one “territorial dispute” (Gibraltar) by asking for help from two countries who have “territorial disputes” with Spain.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 10:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0Oh, the irony.
Hello Everyone,
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 10:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0Having married a Spaniard with whom I have four now grownup children and three grandchildren, I’m certainly not anti the ORDINARY Spanish people, nor for that matter, anti-anyone.
However I must confess to having noted a curiously self-contradictory trait common to almost all the politicians of ALL Hispanic countries. That’s to say, IN PUBLIC, they are all the best of friends, as we read here in this quote from “El Confidencial”
“Jose Manuel García-Margallo had initiated contacts with “friendly countries” in a bid to stop Gibraltar’s “expansionist” plans.”
However in private, those of Greater Hispania’s the upper political echelons all hate their rival nations leaders’ guts. They’re even worse than leaders in the Arab world, from where, most of Spanish culture originates.
Another common, self-defeating Hispanic trait is that everyone wants to be Chief but nobody wants to a be a friggin’ Indian...
Of course, neither are we Britons exactly bereft of social shortcomings so I’d better not cast any more scornful stones...
Cheers!
Jim, in Madrid.
More rocks for THE Rock!
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 10:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0I was recently in Palencia, Castilla y León and visited the city's Cathedral of Saint Antolin. After the Cathedral of Sevilla it is the largest cathedral in Spain and is magnificent - well worth a visit.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 10:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0Entrance is charged and the funds are used in the maintenance of the building. This is collected by a lady who asked me what nationality I was, I replied that I am British and she immediately embarked on a tirade of insults demanding that Gibraltar be immediately returned to Spain and the Falkland Islands(Malvinas, of course) should be “returned” to Argentina.
When I reminded her that Gibraltar(El Peñon) was ceded to Britain in perpetuity by way of the Treaty of Utrecht she accused the Spanish monarch at the time, Felipe V of Bourbon, who inherited the throne from the last member of the Habsburg dynasty Carlos II (el ”Helchizado¨), of being totally inept (he wasn't but el Hechizado was!) and thus the treaty was void.
May be we should get all the signatories of the Treaty of Utrecht to reconvene and renegotiate its terms. Some of the signatory nations no longer exist and the Balieric Islands would return to British rule!
@7 This kind of brainwashing is so sad. During a long debate with an Argentine where I dispatched with actual facts all their claims to The Falklands, they finally came back with, “Then you must have tricked us!”.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 11:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0*7 And did she tell you all this in English or in Spanish? and...did she bring up this arguement with all the thousands of British Tourists trying to get into the cathedral????PULL THE OTHER ONE!!!!!
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 11:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0@ 9 Oh! Such disbelief!
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 12:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 01) She told me all this in Spanish 2) There weren't any other tourists at the time, British or otherwise 3) and the study of Spanish history is a hobby of mine!
(By there way, is “argument” spelt “arguement” in Oz? I am aware you all have difficulty speaking the Queen's English but spelling too???)
One word to Spain,
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 12:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0HYPERCRITS..
@ aussiesunshinee, you talk like a fool
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 12:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0argisunshine the troll is back
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 12:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0*10 If you knew anything of Spanish Culture you would know that a Spaniard would NEVER get into that sort of argument with a total foreign stranger. On the contrary they will make you feel at home and not make you feel awkward in their country....so again I say; PULL THE OTHER ONE.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 12:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Spain, should bow to the will of the Gibraltarian people,
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0they voted democratically and freely within the law, and their voice should be respected,
thus Spain should just accept the status quo and leave them alone.
be grown up and friendly towards them.
They need to remember another time they tried to stop things coming into Gibraltar...Water. The Gibraltarians came up with there own idea (water catchment on the same east side). If they could stop that then what on earth are they thinking?
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#14: Don't be ridiculous.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I've had it myself from Spaniards. From taxi drivers to people who run bars to my stepson's aunt. All come up with the same drivel: “the Treaty is invalid and Gibraltar is Spanish because....”
Then take one from the following:
1/ The king at the time was incompetent
2/ It was a civil war between two Spanish factions
3/ It doesn't count because it was forced on Spain after Spain lost a war
So stop deluding yourself with this nonsense that “a Spaniard would NEVER get into that sort of argument with a total foreign stranger”. It's happened to me at least five times.
For: 11 Briton.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Re: “One word to Spain, HYPERCRITS.”
You’re so totally British-savvy Mate, it ain’t true.
It ought to be:
HYPOCRITES.
You great, steaming Neanderthal ignoramus!
Jim, in Madrid.
I've been short changed several times in bars, train stations etc over the years in Spain. Can't decide if it resentment and envy of zee inglish or just a way of life over there: who says travel broadens the mind. Yeah right lol.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0*17 Most Spaniards would not know where Gibraltar is!! and would not care to know!! That is what I have observed when I have visited Spain. and for those that do know..they would never discuss it with a stranger........
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@14 aussiesunshine
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For your information 1)I lived in Spain for many years and am totally bilingual 2) Spaniards can be just as obdurate and argumentative as any nationality when they have “a bee in their bonnet”3)I have never felt awkward in Spain NOT even on the occasion to which I have referred above.
Do you wish to continue with your “arguEment”?
*21 let´s give this one a rest as we would be here until christmas 2099.........and it is getting a little boring........with your argument........ummmm
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0¡Que idiota!
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 01:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I sense a certain detachment from reality, aussiesunshine...
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 02:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, most Spaniards don't give a damn about Gibraltar. But some do, and they are 'happy ' to let you know their views on it, stranger or not.
As to “most don't know where it is” - well, around where I live, they do. Mainly because they can see it, or work there because their own country can't provide them with a job.
They should insist all visitors crossing the border pay one stone in tax. Doesn't need to be big one - just one that fits snuggly in a pocket. With thousands of stones a day they'd soon have enough.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 02:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Comment removed by the editor.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 02:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Aussiesunshine is no Aussie. Usual Argentine poor attempt at division.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 02:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I'm going to change my name to Venezuelansunshine and pretent to post as a Venezuelan.....
Venezuelansunshine says: we Venezuelans all hate Argentines, why you ask?! Argentines eat babies, this is true %100 I saw with my own Venezuelan eyes while traveling in Buenos Aires. Guaranteed fact! True story!
It is completely up to the government of Gibraltar if they want to import rocks from Morocco or Portugal. Garcia-Margallo is just trying to grab a few headlines to distract the Spanish electorate away from 'other' news. Pretty sad.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 02:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0*23 Wow!! you speak Spanish!! Are these the only words you know!!?? ummm
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 03:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ 18 JimHandley
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 05:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you looked at MP more often, you would know that “our” Briton has a bit of a problem with dyslexia occasionally, but anybody with half-a-brain which demonstrably includes you can always work it out. You DID work it out, didn’t you?
Despite that Briton always comes up with good points and jokes that fit the moment.
I will resist the chance to make an idiot of an old man who has won medals for peace-keeping for the UN, but please try to cut GENUINE people a little slack in future.
Do the inhabitants of Ceuta and Mellila want to be Spanish or Morrocan? Why not ask them in a referendum.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 05:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do the Gibraltarians want to be part of Spain? Evidently not.
So what matters most?
Old treaties or what the residents of those particular bits of real estate think?
26 A_Voice
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 05:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thank you..
,,,,
30 ChrisR
Thank you…
,,,
18 JimHandley
To be fair, if Eye wanted to say HYPOCRITE
I would have written hypocrite
But I like my version of hypercrit..
Does it really matter.
But we could try==
Ipocrite—hypocrita
But referring to the spannish leader, the results are the same,, are they not,
HYPOCRITE…..
hyp•o•crite
Show Spelled [hip-uh-krit] Show IPA
noun
1.
a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2.
a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.
________________________________________
Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English ipocrite < Old French < Late Latin hypocrita < Greek hypokritḗs a stage actor, hence one who pretends to be what he is not, equivalent to hypokrī́ ( nesthai ) (see hypocrisy) + -tēs agent suffix
Have a nice day,
.
@29 ¡P------o b----o! Son palabras que se podrían utlizar en referencia a Usted.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 06:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Comment removed by the editor.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 06:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you people only want to discuss semantics or linguistic ability rather than the topic of the article, I'm out
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 06:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Madrid trying to block sale of rocks to Gibraltar
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 06:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0back on topic,
Gibraltar has a right to buy rocks if it wishes,
what has this got to do with Spain,
they should mind their own business and leave Gibraltar alone..
I have a cunning plan.....
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 06:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Excavate underneath Gibraltar...build a whole new city below to house all the workers and then they will have plenty of excavated rock....
just to add my two pence worth here.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 06:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As part of the EU, free trade between nations is a key point of the union.
If Spain are stopping free trade they are in breach of the union and therefore should leave the EU or pay a huge fine.
Meanwhile the Rock should expand its landmass, afterall territorial waters stretch 12 miles from the shoreline, so expand out a mile or so east or west to really annoy them
I have a cunning plan.....
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 06:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Excavate underneath Gibraltar
It would create thousands of jobs, [ Spanish perhaps ??
//////////////////
If Spain are stopping free trade they are in breach of the union and therefore should leave the EU or pay a huge fine.
Is it not so, that the EU seems to turn a blind eye to Spain’s antics,
Anti British perhaps,
If the boot was on the other foot,
And Britain or Gibraltar was doing all the incursions , and blockading the border, as in delaying the people for hours on end,
And demanding other countries stop selling rocks to Spain,
What would the un-mighty EU do?
1, turn a blind eye,
Or
2, demand Britain obeys the rules, and gives us a very big fine, just to prove the point. ??
Just a rocky kind of thought…
.
For: 32 Briton & For: 30 ChrisR.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 07:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For: 32 Briton.
Re: “One word to Spain, HYPERCRITS.” –MORE.
I’ve just checked all my dictionaries and I see that both grownup and grown-up are correct, in both British and US English. Nevertheless, if one’s considers the TENSE in which the adjective is used, I personally feel that there IS a subtle difference in meaning. However that’s a highly debatable point so we’d better forget it, otherwise we really shall be here until Christmas 2099!
Anyway, I didn’t comment on your use of English grammar but on your ‘orible friggin’ orthographies. If you really MUST break British Law by gratuitously insulting a whole racial group, at least try to get your effing spelling right!!!
Example sentences for grownup
Once a grownup, vocabulary does shape the way you think about the world.
The pupil feels resentment arising from the fact that the grownup who teaches him appears to know it all.
Never in a million years thinking it was something a grownup could grow up and do.
He was grownup enough to know that it would have insulted her to say that he had noticed nothing.
He was a grownup, but there was a readiness for play in him that lasted all his life.
For: 30 ChrisR.
No I didn’t realize that this bigmouthed buffoon also suffers from a cognitive disorder. Furthermore; one of my now GROWNUP daughters is a dyslexic too. So are Jaime Oliver and many others But as far as I’m aware, they don’t go around habitually stirring up interethnic hatred. So save your crocodile tears for those who genuinely deserve them.
Jim, in Madrid.
hohoho.....Jim lad...Should've gone to Specsavers....
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 07:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0...“For: 32 Briton & For: 30 ChrisR.”
Were you supposed to be addressing me..?
I made the grown-up comment...;-))
You are getting too old for this lark....
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/grown-up
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/grown-up
look at that one...;-)
“[before noun] She has two grown-up children who work in the family business.”
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/grown-up
Shall I go on...?
Why not do the grown-up thing and admit you made a mistake...;-))
BTW...I thought you were an old school Brit....“realize”....“realise”..what are you really...?
...tell me...I can keep a secret.
@ 40 JimHandley
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 08:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I think the “Should’ve gone to Specsavers” just about sums it up.
Using hindsight, I really do not need to make you look an idiot, you have proven to be far better at it than anything I could do.
A rational person would quit while they are behind.
For: 41 A_Voice.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 09:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thanks for your reply.
You’re right about Specsavers –my eyesight is atrociously bad. But after all, I AM 82 so I suppose I ought not to tempt the deities by complaining too much.
Don’t put too much faith in the still much vaunted but lamentably no longer scrupusly rigorous OED. It’s now long since that it joined the so many other academic entities that began dropping their knickers and opening its thighs for the filthy lucre.
To give you an idea of what I mean, have a look a message I sent to colleague elsewhere on the matter of Military Communications.
COPY OF MESSAGE.
Mark,
Re:
OED....
“Adjective. Not suitable or proper in the circumstances.”
Maybe the rather overrated OED needs to employ some less linguistically lazy editors. For in my long lost, misspent, WWII schooldays, I’d surely have been beaten for uttering such a draft statement and firmly told that the concept ought to be PROPERLY expressed thus:
“Adjective. Not suitable NOR proper in the circumstances.” Or, “Neither suitable NOR proper in the circumstances.”
Those capable of quirky intellectual abstraction may wish to check my allegation of OED inaccuracy against the exacting tests of Boolean Logic (NOT suitable or proper COULD PERFECTLY WELL MEAN THIS:
To be BOTH unsuitable AND downright improper IS admissible.
Or has my longevity finally led to my reaching the dreaded brink of raving, age related lunacy?
Furthermore, in my day, a RULER was “A man or woman who RULED over others.” And one common definition of a RULE was “A measuring rod or stick used by scholars, et cetera.” Now the silly sods at OED reckon that both RULE and RULER are one and the same animal. Which even this daft ol’ fart can easily discern they patently friggin’ ain’t! And I won’t bore you by citing all the common “Anglophone atrocities” perpetrated by lots of leading members of our English Establishment –many of whose well-heeled progenitors seem to have got a bad deal by entrusting their offspring
“Madrid trying to block sale of rocks to Gibraltar....”
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 10:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0A headline worthy of the old Private Eye (the original hilarious Private Eye before the libel laws got at them too much) - I had to double-check the article date in case it was an April Fool, or does Spain do that late too (mañana?).
43
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 11:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Jim lad....
A very long time since I heard that one, takes me back to my school days...
“Could I have a ruler miss”, “That is not a ruler, it is a rule.”
Firmly rapped across the knuckles with the wooden rule used on it's side to remind me...
The other one was beginning a sentence with a conjunction.
This was considered poor form, yet technically allowable to draw attention to a point.
The rule being, is it necessary, would it work without it....and should the sentence be connected to the previous one....
FANBOYS....For, And,Nor, But, Or, Yet, So......
I still shudder when I see the capitalised And.....
I see your English teacher wasn't as inflexible as mine.....;-)
A childish embargo on probably the most abundant ok it will add a few percent more transport costs but Gibraltar is booming.
Apr 23rd, 2014 - 11:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0imagine this .... Spain welcomes Gibraltar, they work together break down all the barriers then in a generation or 2 the gibraltarians may vote differently. If only Spain would grow up
For: 41 A_Voice. Part 2.
Apr 24th, 2014 - 01:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0You’re right about Specsaver, et cetera...
And I won’t bore you by citing all the common “Anglophone atrocities” perpetrated by lots of leading members of our English Establishment –many of whose well-heeled progenitors seem to have got a bad deal by entrusting their offspring’s expensive education to the modern mediocre manifestations of so-called elitist Public School privilege. You all know the type of jokers I mean –those ‘posers’ who affect an aristocratic accent and then use it in order to mouth illiterate, ugly phrases such as “Different TO”, “Compared WITH”, “Outside OF”, “All OF”, ad naffin’ nauseam.
This may seem to be simply a silly spat of semantics’ nitpicking but in truth, it ain’t. I imagine that anyone who’s ever found himself dumped behind enemy lines with orders to inform on the adversary’s assets and their disposition, will surely agree that precise reports are of paramount importance. And those astute readers who’ve seen the film “A Bridge Too Far” will have noticed that a TINY OBJECT made inevitably bloody sure of the ultimate failure of that typically British, brilliant military balls-up, Arnhem. I refer of course to the WIRELESS SET CRYSTALS (RESONATORS) that some unpardonable prick issued to our airborne troops. Being of the incorrect frequency, those little crystals made it impossible for our forces on the ground to talk by radio to their RAF supply aircraft –‘planes that consequently, unwittingly dropped most of their loads of desperately needed ordinance and whatnot, straight into grateful German hands.
One of the most important factors for military success is fluid, secure communication.
So Mark, Sire, having made my point magisterially if not perhaps terribly succinctly, may I now know what this message of yours means exactly and to whom it is directed?”
Anyhow we “Anglophools” have no “Academy” to regulate our use of English. So I suppose our dictionaries simply serve to record changing linguistic fashions.
Probably get all the rock they need from morocco
Apr 24th, 2014 - 09:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0@47 JimHandley,
Apr 24th, 2014 - 10:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0Yes Jim, we made a bit of a muck up at Arnhem.
We British are very good at screwing things up.
But to my mind there was just so many failures in WWII that l begin to suspect it runs deeper than that.
l have not the faintest shred of evidence, just an intuition(which has NEVER let me down)that there was either a traitor or a very good spy, somewhere high up in the British establishment, who passed on certain details to the Germans.
Look at that fiasco with British agents being dropped into Holland being picked up almost as soon as they landed.
Even silly little things, like the Dutch Govt in lndonesia trying to ban RAF/RAAF ground crew from being armed with personal weapons “because they are not infantry & its a waste of time because they wouldn't know how to use them”-yeah, right! Anything to make the Japanese advance, easier.
Anyway those are my(unproven thoughts).
l suppose that l'd better get back on track.
Tunisia sells building stone to Europe, they must have plenty of it. Might be worth a look. Anyway there are plenty of nearby countries that have quarries.
Spain can't block all of them.
@31 redpoll,
l did say l would get back to you.
l can't remember the book about the Battle of the Falkland in 1914, so l looked up wikipeadia.
ln the footnotes l found,
Geoffrey Reagan, who wrote:- Military Anecdotes 1992
ISBN 0-85112-519-0 page 14
An Officer from the Gneisenau claimed to be 1st cousin of Stoddard, the British Commander.
Sad, isn't it?
Hope this helps.
l
Why would they want to buy rocks when Gibraltar is full of rocks!!!
Apr 24th, 2014 - 12:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have no intention of arguing with a pensioner who suffers from Alzheimer's
Apr 24th, 2014 - 12:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0poor sods suffer enough without thinking there arguing on an imaginary blog.
As for those who insult a whole racial group,
mind your language .
For Everyone and for 51 Briton. Apr 24th, 2014 - 12:03 pm.
Apr 24th, 2014 - 01:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For 51 Briton. Apr 24th, 2014 - 12:03 pm.
Re:
“I have no intention of arguing with a pensioner who suffers from Alzheimer's
poor sods suffer enough without thinking there arguing on an imaginary blog.”
Are those the words of a fine, cultured, British gentleman who from his God-given, elevated position of indubitable moral superiority, graciously condescends to chastise the uncivilized comportment of all those uncouth bloody Johnny Foreigners?
You are a friggin’ clown, Sire!
For Everyone:
For some of real news from Spain, do please have shufti here:
http://londonprogressivejournal.com/article/view/1788]
and here:
http://londonprogressivejournal.com/article/view/1788]
and you’ll see that –contrary to what Aussiesunshine and his cohorts’ little propaganda machine would have everyone believe– things ain’t exactly booming here in Pepelandia either and that the spat over Gibraltar is way down at the bottom of the list of most Spaniards’ priorities.
Cheers!
Jim, in Madrid.
*51 The place is known as _THE ROCK_ is it not? They are sitting on rock..so why buy it when the can mine it??
Apr 24th, 2014 - 02:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Comment removed by the editor.
Apr 24th, 2014 - 05:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@49 Thanks Isolde
Apr 24th, 2014 - 06:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I will research that. There weren't many survivors from the Gneisnau so wonder who he was
..... And in later news Spain tries to block the sale of sand to Sudan, coal to Newcastle and stupidity to Spain.
Apr 24th, 2014 - 06:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0and that the spat over Gibraltar is way down at the bottom of the list of most Spaniards’ priorities.
Apr 24th, 2014 - 06:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But not your Spanish government we see,
the way they treat the Gibraltarian's is a disgrace,
anything to divert Spanish peoples attention away from trouble at home.
This is another example of the Spanish nationalist government continuing it's campaign of bullying against Gibraltar. This behaviour will continue as long as the British government only meets Spanish aggression with platitudes of support for Gibraltar. I get the feeling the FCO is ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away.
Apr 25th, 2014 - 02:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0There needs to be consequences for Spain for unfriendly behaviour. There needs to be linkage between the activities that Spain takes against Gibraltar with retaliatory action by the rest of the UK against Spain. So in this case where Spain starts threatening economic development of Gibraltar we directly counter that by taking a nice slice out our large Foreign aid budget and use it to directly fund some sort of development on the Rock. The Spanish need to realise that there are consequences to hostile actions by Spain against Gibraltar. Friendly relations with the UK should be dependent on good Spanish behaviour towards Gibraltar.
58 Cognito
Apr 25th, 2014 - 03:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0Good post!
“……..the ministry headed by Jose Manuel García-Margallo had initiated contacts with “friendly countries” in a bid to stop Gibraltar’s “expansionist” plans……….”
This is typical of the attitude and behaviour of both Spain and Argentina when it comes to their expansionist ambitions. The Argentine government refer to the Falklands as “an issue” or ‘the question” or “the problem”, yet it is their failure to accept reality and their narrow minded short sighted policies that have created the problem to start with. The same criticism applies to Spain.
So in desperation they indulge in stupid actions like trying to embargo the sale of rocks to the Rock and Argentina’s far more serious, criminal trade and communications embargo that they try to impose on the Falklands. These behaviours just entrench the fear and dislike that the communities of Gib and the Falklands have for their respective tormentors and display to the world the child like arrogance of Spain and Argentina.
The 'problem' is a creation of their minds that is why they are powerless to fix the problem to their satisfaction, so they turn to so called “friendly” countries and the UN to deliver up what they can’t do for themselves.
What a pathetic bunch of losers!
Out of interest,
Apr 25th, 2014 - 09:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0Should not the EU and NATO take a more robust view and action against Spanish aggression?
After all, surely they are breaking all the rules of harmony, friendship, allies,
Etc.
.
Sad to say, but #58 is absolutely right: the UK response has been non-existent and this pathetic FCO-ness only encourages the coward / bully that is Spain to continue. But my response would not be military - no need to sink to Margallo's level. Let's start with this:
Apr 25th, 2014 - 10:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 01/ Spain wants a seat on the UN Security Council and has spent millions bribing other nations for it. The UK holds a veto. The UK should immediately summon Trillo and tell him that it cannot support the candidacy or a nation that does not respect international law
2/ EU: The UK immediately charges Spain with failing to follow rules and inform the EU that its 'ZEC' overlapped UK Territorial waters. A dead cert.
3/ The UK asks the ICJ for an “opinion” over the 'territorial disputes' on the waters around Gibraltar, and on the isthmus. Only one outcome there.
4/ The UK refuses to allow the EU to distribute any further UK-contributed funds to Spain
5/ The UK decides it “has to inspect” all Spanish fishing vessels who enter UK waters. Thoroughly. We know these inspections can take, well, days
6/ The UK blocks the current EU fishing deal with Morocco et al. UK has a small fishing fleet: Spain.... well.. they are the ones who got banned. They want the deal because they can only get back there under the pretence that it is an EU deal, so..
7/ The UK asks the EU to block any further donations to Spain until it has accounted for existing donations. This is permissible. Bearing in mind that Spain has just started an inquiry as to where `€1,5bn of EU money has vanished...
8/ The UK gets really hardball and blocks all Spanish appointments at the EU.
9/
Britain and Spain trade messy diplomatic blows over waters incident
Apr 26th, 2014 - 06:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=33746
And again they are at it, 3 days in a row.
61 sceptic64
I agree with you, sadly its not the British people that got the yellow streak,
its not the military that waves the white flag,
And its not the peoples wish, to be a nobody,
its our gutless government that is destroying our pride and out ability to defend what is ours, all in favour of their EU overlords.
I have just realised that if they had Gollum 2’s head off (plenty of volunteers for the job in Spain) they could use the rocks that are clearly in it to build another Gib sized expansion.
Apr 26th, 2014 - 07:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@61 sceptic64 &
Apr 26th, 2014 - 09:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@62 Briton,
As l said on another thread, time to sink a couple of them.
Video & post it.
l can guarantee it would stop immediately.
Being wishy-washy only encourages them.
The FCO fooled around with Argentina up to the 70s which as we know only encouraged the idiots to invade in 1982.
Oh Britannia, have you lost your iron & fire?
Sad
@63 Chrissy-
Apr 27th, 2014 - 12:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0Not you again old bloke?
Yet another intelligent post. Can you explain it to the rest of us as it comes across as though you are a complete twat and that can't be the case can it?
21 Gordo1 “I have never felt awkward in Spain NOT even on the occasion to which I have referred above”
Apr 27th, 2014 - 05:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0Not even helping your drunk Englishmen at the Málaga bank?
Mentiroso.
@ 65 Mendocinovino
Apr 27th, 2014 - 12:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Not surprised you cannot understand my post @63: IT'S A JOKE YOU IDIOTA!
If they want rocks in Gib. then I am sure Scotland could supply all they need. We could even supply quality granite instead of crappy Spanish stone. I have a pile of boulders in my back garden which they can come and collect any time as I have no use for them.
Apr 27th, 2014 - 12:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I remember in 1962 when Scotland supplied a tanker of drinking water to Gib, when they were running low.
@67
Apr 27th, 2014 - 02:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Oh I see. That's sooooooooooo funny and clever. Do you do stand up?
What was the punchline?
@ 9 Mendocinovino
Apr 27th, 2014 - 04:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“What was the punchline?”
“But if there’s not enough rocks in Gollum 2’s head I know where else we can get at least THREE times as many, but they are only little ones to match the size of his dick: he is known as Mendocinovino”
Ha, ha, ha.
64 lsolde
Apr 27th, 2014 - 05:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0thank you for that,
it seems inevitable that this is, or what will happen sooner or later,
but probably a lot sooner, and the government will have more than egg on its face.
For: 26 ChrisR and cohorts.
Apr 28th, 2014 - 10:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0Re: “.PISS OFF, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!”
Thanks for your few kinds word, which as usual, are too long on loudmouthed rhetoric and too short on logic.
However, I’m afraid you’re out of luck, Sir, for as I’ve already said, I don’t readily succumb to those who presume to dictate what others ought to think –even if the dictator is a member of that typically LITTLE ENGLANDER institution: “The impenetrable to outsiders, miniscule, cosy, gossipy self-appointed, governing clique who love huddling together in an pseudo-cabalistic coterie, rather like a small troop of contentedly chattering primates, that squatting in pairs, eat the parasites they patiently pick from each other’s backs”.
So why on earth should I leave when I’m having so much fun in winding you jokers up so tight that the springs of your manifestly inadequate mental mechanisms are quite obviously strained to breaking point? I haven’t laughed so much in many a long year! The only thing that I find perplexing is your (ChrisR) unconditional devotion and defence of the appropriately banally named BRITON, who –to judge from his habitually abusive utterances, always made INCOGNITO, of course– doesn’t seem to be an especially amicable nor upstanding fellow whom one would choose as military comrade to (figuratively) cover one’s arse; should the need arise.
Perchance you two are secret lovers who prefer to perform such acts literally?
Anyhow, I may a be pensioner but unlike you Chris, I’m aware of how our politicians lie and how Big Business rules the whole world, for I lived in Gibraltar during Franco’s siege and I remember the days before the discovery of Falklands’ offshore oil –a time when successive British governments treated the Kelpers as second-class citizens with no guaranteed right of abode in The UK –as is still the case with the inhabitants of colonies in the Caribbean– I’d better not mention money laundering and tax fiddling , here!
Those who advocate drastic military
@72 Jim, Lad,
Apr 28th, 2014 - 11:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0Time to forget all that & close ranks.
The malvinistas lap it up when we squabble amongst ourselves.
l partly sympathise with your thoughts, l have no time for politicians myself.
Peace
For: 26 ChrisR and cohorts.
Apr 28th, 2014 - 12:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For: 73 lsolde Apr 28th, 2014 - 11:08 am
Re: “.PISS OFF, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!” PART 2.
Those who advocate drastic military action against Argentine / Spain must remember that long-term underfunding by successive British governments has reduced the UK to a third-rate military power. Our leaders have wasted too much cash helping dodgy Bankers, most of whom ultimately serve “multinational” rather than truly British interests. Our adversaries sense our military and economic weakness and are less fearful of ‘chanceing their arm’. This reaction is a case of common, human nature will not be modified by a few deluded individuals’ sticking out their tongues and shouting insults.
73 lsolde Apr 28th, 2014 - 11:08 am
Thanks for your reply, but I must say that I’m not trying to squabble (as you adroitly put it) with anyone whomsoever, however odious he may seem to me. Nevertheless, the only way to try to SOLVE a problem is to begin by recognizing the pertinent FACTS.
Cheers!
Jim in Madrid.
@70
Apr 28th, 2014 - 02:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0nah still don't get it! Never did get the personal insults for jokes thing. Used by people with poor intellect.
Comment removed by the editor.
Apr 28th, 2014 - 05:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For: 76 ChrisR Apr 28th, 2014 - 05:28 pm
Apr 28th, 2014 - 06:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For: 75 Mendocinovino Apr 28th, 2014 - 02:02 pm
Re: “AND I BET YOUR GIRLFRIEND DOESN’T EITHER WITH A DICK THAT SMALL. YOU LIKE THAT BETTER? & THAT’S WHAT MY PROBLEM MUST BE, DESPITE BEING IN THE TOP TWO PERCENTILE OF PEOPLE ON THE PLANET AS FAR AS IQ IS CONCERNED.”
Oh Chris. darling!, you’re such big hairy manly monster who’s so MODEST, that I simply can’t wait to meet you FACE-TO-FACE.
And tell you what you REALLY are!
And you Mendocinovino are a very naughty boy. For Gawd’s sake, do lay-off your local Californian wine for a wee while and stop winding up these wishful thinking w*nkers!
Cheers!
Jim in Madrid.
@ 77 JimHandley
Apr 28th, 2014 - 07:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Oh dear, I have really got under you wrinkled old skin haven’t I?
By the way, why didn’t YOU answer the question about intelligence and character as you are clearly superior to any of us on here?
And to think I cut you some slack over Briton in my first post to you instead of just reminding you about the first time you came on here defending Spaniards and disrespecting Britain and calling me a liar over the robbing that is taking place of Britons wanting to buy property to retire in?
Does your feeble old mind remember that? It was only 35,000 people who had bought property using lawyers acting in concert with bent mayors and the like and were left holding worthless deeds. Some had even had their property demolished but you claimed no knowledge of that. So you were a liar then as you are detestable now.
I pity two Spanish people and that’s for sure: one is your wife and the other is your mature daughter who suffers from dyslexia but who you were prepared to drag her into your little rants.
Are you ill? You certainly act as if you have cognitive reasoning problems, you may well be in the first stage of dementia. I seriously advise you to seek medical advice.
@ Jim
Apr 28th, 2014 - 10:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I can't help it. I can't stand intellectually challenged bullys. Verbal or otherwise. You throw a stone at me I'll pick up 2 and send them back. Shame i'll never get to see him in person. Poor little chrissy can't take what he dishes out.
btw. Don't need cali wine when I have 1000's of Litres of my own.
@ chrissy
I was going to reply to your very odd reply point by point but clearly you are far to intelligent with such character that I could not compete i'm afraid.
”So, clever dick (did you see what I did there?) ”
I dear.....your too funny....please keep your jokes coming. They are funny but not the way you think.
I couldn't be arsed to google anything you say......
*73 God almighty!! The Commonwealth is falling apart!!
Apr 29th, 2014 - 01:05 am - Link - Report abuse 0please editor unblock chrissy's comment.....pleeeease........
Apr 29th, 2014 - 01:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0The free people of Gibraltar have a democratic right to exist and decide who governs them,
Apr 29th, 2014 - 02:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They have a right to vote, and free speech, they have legally and freely voted to remain British,
now it does not matter what Spain has to say, Gibraltar has a right to choose and have exercised this right, and like the Falklands they also have a right not to be abused threatened, intimidated or harassed, and considering Spain is part of the EU and NATO, it is then, a democratic disgrace that both ignore the abuse Spain dishes out, and affront to freedom , Spain should be brought to heel on this abuse, or asked to leave the EU ,.. Some may well agree or disagree, but this is the choice of the Gibraltarian people, so basically you either support freedom and democracy, or you don't, their is no middle ground.
@ 81 Mendocinovino
Apr 29th, 2014 - 06:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“please editor unblock chrissy's comment.....pleeeease........”
All of the English language users who post on here know straight away who the Espanol ‘disabled’ people are!
“Spanish / Espanol: why use eight English words to describe an idea perfectly when 50 Espanol ones won't! © ChrisR 2014”
Sums it up perfectly AND my Uruguayo friends who can speak very good English laugh with me about this saying, because they know it’s TRUE.
None of you ever capitalise the beginning of a sentence or even a person’s name. Do you not realise how rude and unintelligent you look to other people? Or, don’t you care?
You see in my experience Spanish language users are very quick to disrespect a genuine mistake in their language by me but have to use Google translate (like you seem to do) to have to put together a few unintelligible sentences.
So the answer is blindingly obvious, “if you don’t like the heat, stay out of the kitchen”, just a little English witticism which appears to fit your “character” or lack of it, perfectly.
BTW, the answer was Martin Luther King Jnr. And it is as correct now as it was when he said it.
oh look the self appointed intellectual full of gushing character is back.
Apr 29th, 2014 - 07:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0LOL....WTF are you on?????????hahaha
keep going chrissy.
For: 82 Briton Apr 29th, 2014 - 02:16 pm.
Apr 29th, 2014 - 08:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Re:
“The free people of Gibraltar have a democratic right to exist and decide who governs them.
&
They have a right to vote, and free speech, they have legally and freely voted to remain British (I WAS LIVING IN GIBRALTAR. WHEN THE ORIGINAL PLEBISCITE TOOK PLACE, DURING FRANCO’S SIEGE!)
&
Etcetera”.
Ostensibly and as a general moral principle, your BALD statement is perfectly valid. And one could of course, make the same SIMPLE claim for those living in our Tax Haven colonies in the Caribbean, where the huge sums of money are ‘LEGALLY TRAFFICKED’ to further enrich already fabulously wealthy Multinational movers and shakers but to SCANT benefit of local poor.
In my day, an awful lot of smuggling DID occur from Gibraltar to Spain and not only certain Gibraltarians were implicated –as far as I could ascertain, even the boss of the local Spanish Customs’ Force was taking substantial bribes. Of course, smuggling happens at any place in the world where it’s a profitable activity. And there must be lots of contraband crossing Spain’s frontiers with France, Portugal and particularly, across the border with another renowned fiscal haven and emporium of tax-free tobacco and luxury goods, Andorra. However one HEARS ONLY of GIBRALTAR. Therefore one must conclude that the present fuss over the Rock is being deliberately hyped-up by the democratically elected yet desperate Madrid Government, as a politically diversionary tactic –this country is in a truly terrible economic mess!
It’s also true that the Spanish government abuses not only its position in the EU but the ‘ordinary’ Gibraltarian citizens’ basic rights too. But there’s little Britain can do by way of reprisal. The UK is too poor and militarily weak to react effectively. Like Mr Putin, Spain’s openly Thatcher-admiring, right-wing rulers ain’t stupid and they SIMPLY take advantage of geopolitical FACT.
So it seems that as long as London’s cowardly leaders persist in giving t
Do you never learn Jim...
Apr 29th, 2014 - 10:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do you see that character count below the box in which you type...?
It tells you how many characters are left....
At the moment it's telling me I have 1759 left...
Learn and use it....now carry on with your post....
#85
Apr 29th, 2014 - 10:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Of course there is.
Stop ALL Spanish fishing boats in UK ( Scottish waters ) and check their catches and net sizes. That should mess them up for at least a couple of days. All Spanish lorries arriving in the UK should be subject to stringent safety checks and cargoes unloaded for a check on “illegal immigrants ”. All this is perfectly admissible under EU law
For: 82 Briton Apr 29th, 2014 - 02:16 pm.
Apr 30th, 2014 - 11:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0Part 2 of 2.
So it seems that as long as London’s cowardly leaders persist in giving the impression that they’re not terribly interested in the Rock’s future and are neither willing to make the monetary sacrifice needed to properly man and equip our armed forces, the more the Spaniards will keep snapping at the British Bulldog’s heels. After all, that’s exactly what happened in the Falklands’ dispute. And had it not been for the favourable outcome of a hydrocarbons’ survey undertaken just prior to the Argentinean invasion and that Thatcher –at the time unpopular even with her own party– was desperately seeking a diversion from the UK’s dismal economic woes of her own making and the fact that her husband was a high-flying Oil Company Executive, WHO KNOWS if Britain would have gone to war to defend the rights of a few, obscure, far-off Falklands’ sheep farmers and ‘second-class UK subjects’ of who’s very existence the immense majority of Britons were completely unaware???
For: 87 Clyde15 Apr 29th, 2014 - 10:33 pm.
Re: “All Spanish lorries arriving in the UK should be subject to stringent safety checks” et cetera.
Unfortunately the measures you propose would cost too much money to implement. And right-wing supporting big business would immediately complain that it was being saddled with yet more unnecessary operation costs. Additionally, the large supermarket chain would allege –quite convincingly– that the consequent delay in the importation of fresh produce would wastefully reduce the “sell by” date and increase retail prices.
Jim, in Madrid.
@ 84 Mendocinovino
Apr 30th, 2014 - 12:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Is that pathetic reply the fruits of your character and intelligence?
So I was correct about you then!
Russian warships refuel in Ceuta as EU condemns Moscow over Ukraine
Apr 30th, 2014 - 12:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Russian ship is one of three navy vessels due to call at the Spanish enclave this week for fuel and supplies
http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=33765
,,,
Smuggling,
This is illegal and should be stopped,
I agree that France Spain and Gibraltar have a duty to stop this trade,
As for Britain doing little,
Well I do condemn our Mr Cameron on his pathetic action with Spain over Gibraltar,
But one suspects that politics’ have a lot more to play here then we are told,
As we always seem to enforce what most others just ignore,
Britain has deals with Spain over planes and other military hardware,
And perhaps our government does not wish to jeopardize this, but either way Spain should be brought to heal before it gets out of hand,
If we ever leave the EU then this will get even worse if it is not solved,
But as some have said, we could stop and search all Spanish fishing boats in our waters,
But either way, doing nothing but calling in each others diplomats for a complain just looks more and more like a joke, and a bad one at that..
Just my opinion.
.
*90 so the Russsians are refueling in Ceuta..so what?????
Apr 30th, 2014 - 01:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What the Russian navy personnel are leaving in Ceuta is lots of money
for the local businesses......
http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=33765
Apr 30th, 2014 - 01:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0reported it, and you read it.....
if you have a so what, tell them..
Far more effective would be to put travel restrictions from the UK to Spain. “Security concerns over recent Spanish incursions” seems plausible.
Apr 30th, 2014 - 01:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Watch the death throws of the Spanish tourist industry from afar......
Something will give, sooner or later..
Apr 30th, 2014 - 01:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@94
Apr 30th, 2014 - 02:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0not sure it will. I think Jim is right. They won't do much about it. seems to be the pattern.
@89
You can't argue with an idiot. The idiot thinks he is always right. That's you for sure. YOUR mentality. Being the comic relief on the site is your domain. You just don't quite get it right do you? Do you understand that people laugh AT you not with you? If you want to keep getting beaten up just carry on. After all with your 2nd percentile intelligence,buckets of money and character I'm sure you can carry on a conversation without using any insults. Oh..no you can't. just saw more of your posts....your vocabulary is .....basic to say the least. Still, here you can pretend to be more than you are. Pretend all you like. I'm sure your Uruguayan friends find your copy written saying extremely funny.....LOL....
95
Apr 30th, 2014 - 07:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Did you mean 98th percentile or 2nd percentile...?
Just checking out the level of wit being bandied about here....
Two percentile? Is that a centipede with two wooden legs?
Apr 30th, 2014 - 09:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ 97 redp0ll
Apr 30th, 2014 - 09:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Two percentile? Is that a centipede with two wooden legs?”
That'll be me then! :o)
you got it!
Apr 30th, 2014 - 10:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I think this thread has run it's course.
Apr 30th, 2014 - 11:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0ChrisR. Shut up! It's like watching you cut yourself over and over. It's painfull to read. Get over it!
Mendocinovino. You got him ok. Now leave it please.
I won't let bully boy tactics go unchallenged. This place is for all. Name calling by the ignorant posters to keep their “closed shop” will not stop me.
May 01st, 2014 - 02:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You will be here all day doing that on this site!
May 01st, 2014 - 03:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0seems that they eventually revert to name calling when they have very little substance to their argument. But throw it back and they get out of their pram!
May 01st, 2014 - 07:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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