Re: Hibernia Forever

On Sun, 7 Sep 1997, Ludo Toen wrote:

> Brian Burger wrote:
> 
> > > I wonder if Luxembourg will have a fleet by then?  Or the Swiss?
> 
> 8<
> 
> > And Luxembourg (and Belgium) would probably be FSE member states,
> > albiet
> > minor ones, well dominated by France.
> 
> Being from Belgium, I have my doubts that this country still exists by
> then. Even after turning Belgium into a federal state from a strong
> centralist one, the Dutch and French speaking parts still argue over a
> lot of points. Mostly because of the socialist stranglehold on French
> politics, even after being bloodied in a never ending stream of
> corruption schandals and infighting that has (most probably) led to
the
> murder of one of its top party members.
> 
> Not to mention the fact that they led the country to the brink of
civil
> war! shortly after the end of WWII when a referendum about the return
of
> king Leopold III from exile was passed because of mainly Dutchspeaking
> support. (The king, after leading the armed forces in may '40, stayed
> with his troops instead of fleeing like the government did. During the
> war he met Hitler in order to get fuel for our fishing fleet and
things
> like that, and a lot of people thought that was just not done).
> 
> My guess is that by the time of  the EU collapse, Belgium will only
> exist mainly in name and after it both parts go their own way, the
south
> (together with Luxembourg) joining the French and the FSE, while
> Flanders (Dutchspeaking) joins in a confederation with the Dutch.
> 
> In that case, Jon, you should rename the Ypres (Ieper in Dutch) class
as
> I don't believe the FSE will name a class of ships after a town in
> another state ;)
> 
> 
> Ludo
> 
The destruction of Belgium between the FSE and the Dutch state sounds
likely -- could be a cause of conflict between the Dutch and the FSE.

The language barrier/difference is noticable even to a visitor (me) who
speaks little french and no dutch and who was there only three days
total
-- EVERYTHING changes when you cross the French/dutch line -- its like
its
already two countries, or parts of different countries.

In which case the Iper FSE ship will indeed have to have a different
class
- or become the first model in the Dutch line from GZG...

Brian (burger00@camosun.bc.ca)