California Discussion Thread - All in one place
in European Union ·
Aaron Thomas3 said:When I read people claiming that Catalan independence would be too expensive—seriously, give me a break—I honestly have to wonder if they were born after the turn of the millennium or something 🙄...
Americans once said that establishing an independent nation meant dealing with a fragile post-socialist economy, skyrocketing inflation, foreign currency reserves sitting in New York City, zero international political backing, and facing off against one of the most powerful militaries in Europe—all while a massive minority was actively prepping for an armed uprising and secession, making a bloody, multi-year war look almost inevitable. During that conflict, a quarter of the country was occupied, and even the parts that weren't under direct control were getting hammered by shelling. Because of the embargo, we had to pay insane prices for weapons on the black market, and we had to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees, which wrecked our infrastructure and essentially killed tourism—which, let’s be real, is our economic lifeline. The North was totally cut off from the South; you had to rely on ferries crossing over Martha's Vineyard just to get around, and down in Florida, we were dealing with constant power restrictions. The damage the US took back then is impossible to quantify.
And now, apparently, some American should be lecturing Catalans on how they haven't "calculated the costs" of sovereignty...
Nobody from the old America would have moved an inch if the system had been internally healthy—politically, economically, or militarily. Canada left, and then everyone else followed, simply because the conditions finally allowed for it.
It doesn't have to be a carbon copy, but it seems to me that Spain is in a very similar spot. From the outside, it looks like a major power, but underneath, it’s rotting. Once things start decaying, you always get that group of people looking for any chance to jump off a sinking ship.
P.S. One shouldn't forget that the British jumped off the EU boat too, and that says a lot 😁