In my question about an Argentine invasion of the Falklands, someone wrote something about Gibraltar. And that got my interest.
Certainly Gibraltar is an important strategic place, But will Spain take it by force if international pressure of some event will make them whant to take Gibraltar. Militarily what would happend? beacuse certainly Spain have the capability?
I know this isn't a very possible scenario but i am curious. Maybe someone here knows about some political pressure over the issue.
I made the comment about Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is an extremely vital base of operations not only for Britain but NATO as its basically the gateway to the Mediterranean, the British base on Cyprus and the Suez canal. OK Spain is part of NATO, but I don't think Britain will concede Gibraltar to Spain as its too important an asset, because of Cyprus, and that the Suez canal is an important trade route.
Spain did close its border with Gibraltar a few years ago, but has since been re-opened. Like the people of the Falklands, the people of Gibraltar want to remain part of Britain. If some kind of conflict did break out between Britain and Spain, I think it would be an extremely hard fought battle by both sides, which both Britain and Spain would want to avoid.
In 2002 an agreement in principle on joint sovereignty over Gibraltar between the governments of United Kingdom and Spain was reached. There was a robust campaign against these proposals by both the Government and people of Gibraltar, culminating in a decisive
referendum. Gibraltarians have further argued that one cannot claim to be acting in the "interests" of a population, while at the same time ignoring its wishes and democratic rights.
With the election of a moderate left-wing government in Spain (2004), Spanish officials noted that, even if Spain does not give up its claim to assume the sovereignty of Gibraltar, no advance could be achieved without taking into account the wishes of the Gibraltarians. The result of this new approach was the creation of a tri-partite forum with equal participation by the Gibraltar government. Such movement was qualified by Spanish right-wing parties as a surrender. Gibraltarians remain suspicious of Spain, despite improved relations, and note Spanish intransigence demonstrated with issues like the opposition to
Gibraltar's membership of
UEFA