A student is answering a question about the possible consequences of the independence of Catalonia:
“Another negative consequence is that Spain’s population will become smaller. And it is always good to have more people around in case you need to go to war.”
Clarissa's Blog 
Oh no… s/he is right.
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That’s one way of looking at it, I suppose, except we hear that armies in the future will need ever fewer soldiers because of powerful modern weapons and strategies of attack (in space).
So that knocks that one on the head. 🙂
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My students overwhelmingly support Romney, so it’s all “horses and bayonets ” for them. 😦
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But of course… As tensions in the European Union rise, Spain may need to invade Germany… 🙂
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My students are obsessed with war. We speak of Catalan and Basque nationalism, and their first question is, “Will there be a war?”
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Do we know if the hypothetical Republic of Catalonia would be receptive to joining NATO? I genuinely don’t know.
I do know that the Scottish National Party used to talk about pulling an independent Scotland out of NATO, but they have actually moved away from that position as the referendum gets closer.
Would an independent Quebec withdraw from NATO?
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