typicallyspanish.com

Just shows you how ignorant people are and how they need to get a job. How many nuclear accidents have US vessels had? ZERO! This is not about the environment as much as it is about anti-capitalism and anti-Americanism. GET A LIFE!

Gibraltar belongs to the Brits not the Spanish. You lost it in a war hundreds of years ago. The Spanish will never change, they insist on interfering in matters that do not concern them.

If Spanish environmental groups are so concerned about US nuclear vessels what don't they pay closer attention to the EXACT ships that call at the US Naval Base in Rota - Spain.

The lack of attention at Rotta just shows how this isn't environmentalism but Gibraltar bashing.

All this is just a relic of the era of Spain's fascist dictator General Franco. Realising that Spain was not simply technologically out of the nuclear era but also financially out he programmed the population against ALL nuclear technology. (Even medical equipment!)

General Franco also transformed a peaceful understanding that Gibraltar was NOT a part of Spain into a national rallying cry for its 'return' - keep in mind the Moors from north africa have a greater clam than the Spanish.

All this just reminds us how recent General Franco was, and how young Spains democratic credentials are in the case of Gibraltar and still immature.

Oh finally, Spanish environmentalists in the North of Spain, why don't you complain about those French nuclear power plants - they are MUCH nearer to you than Gibraltar.

How curious and so typically Spanish. There have been nuclear power stations in Spain for the past 37 years, day and night. Currently there are eight operational and two on permanent shutdown (but not in perpetuity) and these gentlemen ecologists in action (might they be Fascists?) are concerned about a nuclear submarine berthing in Gibraltar over a couple of days. It could be that these andalucian gentlemen ecologists (and perhaps Fascists, though I wouldn't like to say) do not like these nuclear units to be repaired. If this is the case, one has to wonder what state of repair their nuclear power staions might be in as, in Spain, they do not repair nuclear reactors, obviously, or we would have heard these gentlemen complain.

However, so far we have not seen tourists glow in the dark in Caceres, Tarragona, Valencia, Guadalajara or Burgos but we have seen triple headed dogs in Hamburg! Only kidding about the triple headed dog, it only had two heads and it was only heard to bark and not seen. Reportedly it was the result of a radioactive cloud released by the Acerinox plant in the Campo de Algeciras in May 1998.

What a joke! What is perfectly clear is that Spain suffers from an irrational national Pavlovian response to the sound of Gibraltar. Whisper the name Gibraltar into a Spaniards ear and watch him spiral out of control into an alternative reality. My advice, get some therapy!

The problem is not the submarine. It`s very difficult to have any accident in modern ships from modern countries. The real problem is Gibraltar (which is spanish).
What would you think if a strange country (stronger and more populated) had a piece of G. Britain and would not return it?

First of all, ecological nuts are leftists. Anyone calling them Facists are politically inept.
Secondly, Gibralter belongs to the United Kingdom and probably always remain so, so get over it.
Thirdly, this is about anti-Americanism. It reminds me of the school child that runs with the popular crowd to get acceptance. Frankly, I think that the base in Rota should be closed and Spain be treated as a hostile nation. The US needs Spain like a boar needs teets.

Gibraltar belongs to the U.K. because Spain is not strong enought at this moment. I would feel remorse having something that doesn`t belong to me.

U.S.A. is a country that me and many other spaniards admire. So any commenter presupposed something that is not real. Please let`s be objectives. Would you like to have a piece of your country taken by strangers?
I think Spain has been, is, and always will be part of civilized countries because it is its Nature.

I totally agree with A Ortiz, Spain's problem is not with the nuclear submarines it is with Gibraltar. What irks is the incessant beating about the bush and blaming Gibraltar for everything when in reality all that Spain is complaining about is Gibraltar and nothing else.

My complaint is that Spain complains when she percieves that something is being done to her, regardless of the reality but at the same time justifies the injustice she perpetrates on others on the grounds that it is very different! Ceuta, Melilla, the recently colonised Perejil, Peñon de Velez de la Gomera, Peñon de Alhucemas, Las Chafarinas, Las Canarias, Olivenza, Llivia. It is OK for Spain to have a colony in the middle of France, to disregard the treaty of Badajoz and deny Portugal Olivenza and to keep her colonies along the Moroccan coast because these are part of the legitimate legacy of history yet when it comes to Gibraltar, ah, no, Gibraltar es español - how typically Spanish.

I disagree with Bob that all ecological nuts are lefties. Ecological nuts of any nationality or political persuasion are just that, ecological nuts. I would also add that in Spain, lefties and fascists are not mutually exclusive tendencies. After 39 to 40 years of Franco, God bless him, it is difficult to distinguish these other than by their affiliation to political parties with aspirational names. Spain must be credited with great strides towards democracy and one has to admit that it is a democracy in development but given the way she disregards the democratically expressed wishes of Gibraltarians, on two occassions, not to be part of Spain and the misinformation the Spanish propaganda machine puts out against Gibraltar it is difficult to say that Spain is anywhere near attaining its aspirational goal to be a democracy though it might call herself that.

My last point for tonight would be to disagree with A Ortiz in suggesting that Gibraltar was taken by strangers. Gibraltar was given in gratitude by Spain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. From the time of its capture in 1704 to that point Gibraltar was kept in trust for the claimant to the Spanish throne. Well, if you can make it all up why sholdn't I! I suppose that the treasure found in sunken Spanish ships was not stolen from the Americas, no, of course not!