I wasn't aware of this ...
I thought it good that the Flemish join their Lower-Franconian-speaking brethren to the north, and perhaps ... Brussels could become an EU city-state much like Rome is the Vatican city-state? :D
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Flemish don't want it today, but society surely takes interesting turns. I remember Flemish proles feeling antipathy toward Dutch 15-20 years ago, nowadays people see the Dutch more in a positive light safe a few exceptions.
One can hardly blame people, as a negative perception of the Dutch kind of aids the Belgian state. An imaginary 'enemy' comes in handy for a failed state.
Also the fact people have their opinion of the Dutch is also because of the shared culture/language. Often times state borders create artificial rivalry which is often blown out of proportion to such an extent the masses believe it's justified and real. It often denotes similarity or at least compatibility, or at least a shared spirit (=/= mentality per se).
I support a split up in case the German community in Belgium is added to Germany back again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-...ity_of_Belgium
But as far as I know they've got some autonomy and are able to preserve their German culture. Because of this it's not some kind of urgency.
Belgium should be split from ear to ear....
with a jack hammer, espesialy wear Dralos lives...
A part of me likes the idea but another doesn't. Cutting off an infected limb to save the body is what is being proposed here and it's kind of sad to see Brussels taken from Flanders.
On another thread regarding English devolution I suggested London being a separate "capital territory" for the UK, not administered as part of England. It'd be kind of like ACT (Canberra) or Brussels I suppose.
Whilst it would be good for England (the country wouldn't be run from and for London) it would also be a great loss. London is after all England's capital and much of the south and London are intertwined. However it is quite apart from the rest of England and full of immigrants and their offspring. So that makes me more for it.
But if we allow capital cities to leave their countries then how long before the world breaks up into city states? There's a lot to consider here.
I've seen Londoners half-jokingly proposing a city state within or outside of the UK. They are a bit up their own arse really.
I think that if the Scots remain a part of the UK then devolution should be revised into a federation whereby each constituent country has equal powers. That Scotland can function as a nearly sovereign nation whilst Wales functions as a province and England as remnant UK is ridiculous - why such a variation in powers?
There's no need to divide England into little regions though. It could be run from it's old capital in Winchester or from some other location more geographically central.
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2012/devolutionv.png
The only problem I can see with it is that the UK would be dominated by the interests of England and London and they'd either ally against the interests of the other countries or compete.
I'd very like to see once again Gallia Belgica.
An only country from Strasbourg to Amsterdam, from Paris and Le Havre to Koln, same phenotypes and timber houses, same climate and landscape, and plants too, it would be cool.
http://ancientrome.ru/map/prov/gallia03.jpg
It's a bit far south though, kind of like England and the UK being run from London. If I lived in Gelderland and found my country run from Brussels I'd be pissed.
Amsterdam is much more central and a nice city. The two capitals thing just doesn't make sense though, it's not like the government couldn't administer the country from Amsterdam instead of the Hague (how did that come about anyway?).
In England I'd like to see us run from a more central location but sadly a lot of our cities are either too small or too crap to be designated as capitals. I mean who'd want to be run from Birmingham? :rolleyes2:
Winchester is one of our old capitals and has nice architecture and a good feel to it but sadly it's quite far south. Chester is another potential capital but it's too close to Wales and the sea.
A long long story but let's put it this way: Amsterdam was always the New York City of the Netherlands and The Hague it's Washington D.C after Brussels remained in the Southern-controlled part. Amsterdam has always been jealous of that so they did secure the official position of capital in 1815 and constitutionally in 1983. I don't think they should have it and that the capital should be The Hague and in the case of a reunification it should be Brussels. (particularly when the Walloons would join us in the formation of a Whole Netherlands and they should be more than welcome to join our ranks whether some Flemish nationalists like it or not).
I think that when a reunification takes place the Netherlands should rebuild the Koudenberg Palace in the direct vicinity of where it once stood (it's not possible to build it at it's old location since the place is now the location of the Royal Palace and several other buildings) and designate it as Parliament House and turn Brussels into our version of Berne.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Koudenberg.jpg
There is a reason why Amsterdam should not be the capital as it would focus all political and economic power in the Randstad Conurbation and I really believe that power should be spread as equally as possible.