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silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]
IainB:
I had a real LOL moment today - a real guffaw - and would like to share it in the silly humour thread, but I should first give a background to the joke, otherwise a lot of people could miss the joke itself.
Students of the history of Great Britain would be aware of the importance of the battle of the Spanish Armada:
The Spanish Armada
The spectacular but unsuccessful attempt by King Philip II of Spain to invade Elizabethan England in 1588. The Armada is for the English the classic foreign threat to their country and a powerful icon of national identity.
...
Source: http://www.britishbattles.com/the-spanish-war/the-spanish-armada/
--- End quote ---
...and of the importance of the British Overseas Territory of Gibralter: (my emphasis)
...An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne. The territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain "in perpetuity" under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. During World War II it was an important base for the Royal Navy as it controlled the entrance and exit to the Mediterranean Sea, which is only eight miles (13 km) wide at this naval "choke point" and remains strategically important to this day with half the world's seaborne trade passing through the strait.[10][11][12] Today Gibraltar's economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, and cargo ship refuelling services.[13][14]
The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory.[14] Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and again in 2002. Under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the British government.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar
--- End quote ---
Students of the troubled history of Spain would be aware that the unlucky Spanish people are only relative newcomers to democracy - a hard-won prize that the Western world sometimes seems to take for granted - following an extended period under the totalitarian regime of a military dictator (Francisco Franco) who was supported by the Nazis and the Italian facista, and who wasn't averse to bombing his own civilians to oblivion if they objected to his rule:
...The bombing of Guernica (26 April 1937) was an aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out at the behest of Francisco Franco's nationalist government by its allies, the Nazi German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name Operation Rügen.
...
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Guernica
--- End quote ---
This could no doubt have been in the back of the minds of the Gibraltarians when they rejected Spanish sovereignty in two referendums, electing to remain as an independent self-governing constitutional democracy and a British protectorate (rather like the Falklands).
Now the joke, from Guido Fawkes
Gibraltar Flag Flies as King of Spain Visits
tags: Guido Fawkes, Gibraltar, WAR!
WikiGuido
The Gibraltar flag flies proudly on Parliament Square this morning, ahead of the King of Spain’s visit later today. He’ll be driven right under it…
--- End quote ---
¡Oh Dios mío!
(The joke is in the likely major motivation for this visit by the King of Spain - they apparently want to "forget" the Treaty of Utrecht, or maybe belatedly obtain some kind of financial restitution. He's also probably well-aware of what happened to Argentina over the Falklands crisis...)
IainB:
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