BREAKING: Catalonia Declares Independence

[The Free North]

CUP seems to be angry at Puigdemont and are already calling him a "traitor". Early elections in Catalonia?

Honestly I think everyone and their mother knows that Madrid is not giving an inch here so 'hey lets talk with them' is not really a good thing for any Catalonian leader to be advocating for. Given the unrest in recent weeks, you either go full on and declare independence, or you dont. The half in, half out path we saw today does absolutely nothing.

[The Free North]

I understand the historical differences between the two and obviously there are some small economic grievances, but doesnt anyone else feel that Catalonia lacks a decent 'casus belli' if you will here?

For example, consider the Kurds push for sovereignty. They remain the worlds largest 'nation without a nation' and the language, culture, and people have been severely marginalized to the point of near genocide (Saddam) and have been ruthless suppressed in Turkey as well. Consider the situation in Tibet as well and all the Tibetan people have gone through over the past 100 years While their struggles dont necessarily prevent Catalonia from having a just reason to be independent, I just feel their cause is a little weaker than its perceived to be. Yes Franco sucked, yes there was a time when the Spanish government wanted everything Catalan gone, but in context that was no different than what happened to Breton or Occitan in France or other minority languages in the British Isles. Perhaps the Catalan example was a bit more extreme, but the government today has already made huge autonomy concessions to Catalonia and the days of the Catalan language being actively stomped out are gone.

Just my thoughts from 10,000 feet.