Spanish war ships enter UK territorial waters:UK summons Spanish ambassador in protest

[Papay]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20341739

The Spanish ambassador to London has been summoned to the UK Foreign Office after Britain lodged a protest about recent Spanish incursions into territorial waters off Gibraltar.
Britain's Europe minister said there were two "serious" incidents on Monday.
David Lidington said a Spanish naval vessel had patrolled Giibraltan waters and Spanish customs had also attempted to seize a civilian boat.
He warned Spain to halt "provocative incursions" into Gibraltarian waters.
Spain has long contested the sovereignty of Gibraltar, a British overseas territory at the southern end of the Iberian peninsula.
On Monday, Mr Lidington said a Spanish naval ship conducted a patrol lasting several hours through British Gibraltar waters.
He said, later on the same day, a Spanish customs vessel tried to apprehend a Gibraltarian civilian boat in territorial waters. The Royal Gibraltar Police had to intervene "to safeguard the welfare of the four occupants", he said.
The incidents come after ministers last month made formal complaints to Madrid about "unacceptable" actions by the Spanish authorities at the border with Gibraltar, which led to delays of up to six hours.
'Confident of sovereignty'
Foreign Office permanent under-secretary Simon Fraser has summoned Spanish ambassador Federico Trillo over the latest incidents.
Mr Lidington said: "I condemn these provocative incursions and urge the Spanish government to ensure that they are not repeated.
"The UK has repeatedly made diplomatic protests to Spain over attempts by Spanish state authorities to exercise jurisdiction in British Gibraltar territorial waters.
"Yet on 13 November there were two further serious incursions."
He warned that such incidents risked damaging "the prospects of developing a harmonious and collaborative relationship between Gibraltar and Spain.
"It is also in all parties' interests to avoid incidents which could put at risk the safety of those operating in British Gibraltar territorial waters," he added.
"We remain confident of UK sovereignty over British Gibraltar territorial waters and fully committed to protecting the interests of the people of Gibraltar and their wish to remain under British sovereignty."

Is it inevitable at some point Gibraltar to become territory of Spain again?

[Stavroforos]

Why should we care about this minor provocation over some small rock between two nations who have historically contested said rock?

[Gatsby]

Not really newsworthy, unless Spain goes any further now that a formal complaint has been lodged.

Self-determination and all that.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

Self-determination and all that.

Yeah it took a while for England to get to that way of thinking.Invading country's everywhere in the world.
The land is Spanish the British squatters are not welcome unless they are on a 18-30 package holiday.

[Gatsby]

Yeah it took a while for England to get to that way of thinking.Invading country's everywhere in the world.
The land is Spanish the British squatters are not welcome unless they are on a 18-30 package holiday.

So we should go around rectifying things that happened more than 200 years ago? (Edit: Gibraltar was ceded 300 years ago)

Should Germany get back Prussia? Should Poland get back it's Eastern territories? Should China get back Primorye? Should Patagonia be decolonised? Should Karelia be ceded back to Finland?

In the modern day a choice has to be made between vain, childish idealism based on past realities, and the basic human right of real people - who live as we speak - to have a say in who governs them.

I would expect better of you than to let your infantile anglophobia create such a blatant disregard for human life.

Edit - If you want some historical context: Gibraltar was taken from Spain at a time when Spain controlled one of the world's largest Empires, and Spain was denying foreign people self-determination until 1975 - even by your utterly retarded standards, Spain still doesn't deserve Gibraltar due its vast number of past wrongs.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

So we should go around rectifying things that happened more than 200 years ago?

Should Germany get back Prussia? Should Poland get back it's Eastern territories? Should China get back Primorye? Should Patagonia be decolonised? Should Karelia be ceded back to Finland?

In the modern day a choice has to be made between vain, childish idealism based on past realities, and the basic human right of real people - who live as we speak - to have a say in who governs them.

I would expect better of you than to let your infantile anglophobia create such a blatant disregard for human life.

I do not value human life I blame COD.
Jews were given the holy land based on a holy book why cant Spain get their land back.If the shoe was on the other foot what would you say.

[Lord Baratheon]

Yeah it took a while for England to get to that way of thinking.Invading country's everywhere in the world.
The land is Spanish the British squatters are not welcome unless they are on a 18-30 package holiday.

Like Cueta and Melilla then
I assume Spain is ready to hand back this rightful Morrocan territory.In fact, Spain should hand back all of Al-Andalus to the Morrocans from the Spanish squatters there.You see the point im trying to make.

And Gibraltar was legally handed to Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht.

[Holger Danske]

Why should we care about this minor provocation over some small rock between two nations who have historically contested said rock?

I'll remember to qoute this whenever you Greeks bring up some irrelevant about some small rock in the Aegean... But I firmly agree with you nevertheless..

[Stavroforos]

I'll remember to qoute this whenever you Greeks bring up some irrelevant about some small rock in the Aegean... But I firmly agree with you nevertheless..

That was quite the point, but I wouldn't expect you Hollanders to understand that.

[alhoon]

Why should we care about this minor provocation over some small rock between two nations who have historically contested said rock?

[HissingNewt]

[URL]Is it inevitable at some point Gibraltar to become territory of Spain again?

I believe they voted to remain British, so it seems very unlikely.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

Anything overseas should not be British.
Who says the custom boat was not after Moroccan hash smugglers.

[Col. Tartleton]

Anything overseas should not be British.
Who says the custom boat was not after Moroccan hash smugglers.

All of Britain is overseas... It's a collection of islands...


Half the people in Spain don't want to be Spanish. Why should Gibraltar be any different? Gibraltar is too small to operate as a sovereign country and would prefer to remain under British auspices.

[Enzo]

All of Britain is overseas... It's a collection of islands...

An island with a collection of very small islands.

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

It's time for the Gibraltar monkeys to take back Spain

[s.rwitt]

Spain can eat all the dicks on this one.

[justicar5]

Spain can eat all the dicks on this one.

well said sir.

Guess that explains all the hubbub in Britain about the Falklands a while back.

You mean when the Argentines threatened to take the islands by force again?

[The Despondent Mind]

Why should anyone care about this . It's not like Spain is gonna invade Gibraltar .

[Comrade_Rory]

Why should anyone care about this . It's not like Spain could invade Gibraltar .

Fixed

[Simon Cashmere]

Why should anyone care about this . It's not like Spain is gonna invade Gibraltar .

They couldn't afford to at the moment. Although nationalist type causes have always been a traditional way of making the miserable population focus on some external factors instead of the cause of their own misery - the government,