Spain Will Remove Catalonia Leader, Escalating Secession Crisis

submitted by magnora7 from nytimes.com

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[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I am surprised Spain has shot themselves in the foot so badly, trying to double-down on controlling Catalonia. At the same time I am not surprised though, because this is what empires do.

This seems to have only upset the Catalonians even more, which might increase the speed of a total break-off due to backlash, and make it the entire episode more hostile than it would otherwise need to be. But it seems Spain is hellbent on "preserving the union", so to speak.

[–]Node 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

This is what countries do. If a country can't defend its own integrity, what validity does it have?

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Massive organizations being massive just to be massive doesn't actually provide value in and of itself. There's no reason a country should be big instead of small. Seems like people power-grabbing to me, using the state as an apparatus to do so.

[–]Node 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's true, but in the case of countries, it seems like their most basic duty is to maintain themselves as an organization. The actual size is less important than maintaining credibility as a going concern, as they say. You start looking unstable, and it becomes more difficult to make favorable deals, and your costs go up.

Aside from the moral and philosophical arguments against self-dismemberment, which I believe are stronger, the more compelling and practical argument against it is its historic success in destroying ones own country/territory through civil war.