“We’re seeing a huge uptick in provinces and territories seeking independence from their parent countries all over the globe.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/secession-is-sweeping-the-world-and-we-should-let-it/
“Tim Draper filed his proposed 2018 ballot initiative on Friday asking voters to split California into three new states: Northern California, California and Southern California. ‘The citizens of the whole state would be better served by three smaller state governments while preserving the historical boundaries of the various counties, cities, and towns,’ Draper wrote in the initiative’s statement of findings.”
“In a stunning setback to federal prosecutors planning to try the Bundy family patriarch and two adult sons later this year, the jury acquitted Ricky Lovelien and Steven Stewart of all 10 charges, and delivered not-guilty findings on most charges against Scott Drexler and Eric Parker. More than 30 defendants’ supporters in the courtroom broke into applause after Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro ordered Lovelien and Stewart freed immediately and set Wednesday morning hearings to decide if Parker and Drexler should remain jailed pending a government decision whether to seek a third trial.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/22/jury-refuses-to-convict-4-in-nevada-ranch-standoff-retrial.html
“The YPG is not your typical ethnic or sectarian faction. Its fighters are loyal to an imprisoned guerrilla leader who was once a communist but now espouses the same kind of secular, feminist, anarcho-libertarianism as Noam Chomsky or the activists of Occupy Wall Street. The Kurds are implementing these ideals in Rojava, and that has attracted a ragtag legion of leftist internationals, like Belden, who have come from nearly every continent to help the YPG beat ISIS and establish an anarchist collective amid the rubble of the war – a ‘stateless democracy’ equally opposed to Islamic fundamentalism and capitalist modernity. They call it the Rojava Revolution, and they want you.”
“The majority of Dutch people want a referendum on whether or not the Netherlands should stay part of the European Union, like the Brits are doing later this week. In a poll by EenVandaag among 27 thousand people, 54 percent voted for a so-called Nexit referendum. Should there be a referendum, the EU-opponents will only barely not have a majority – 48 percent think currently think that the Netherlands should leave the EU. 45 percent are for EU membership. PVV voters are the biggest EU-opponents, with 94 percent being for a Nexit. 50Plus voters come in second place with 63 percent for and SP in third with 58 percent.”
http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/06/21/majority-dutch-also-want-referendum-eu-membership/
“Scotland’s first minister has said a second independence referendum is “highly likely” after the UK voted to leave the EU. Nicola Sturgeon said it was ‘democratically unacceptable’ that Scotland faced the prospect of being taken out of the EU against its will. She said the Scottish government would begin preparing legislation to enable another independence vote. Scotland voted in favour of the UK staying in the EU by 62% to 38%. The UK as a whole has voted to leave, by a margin of 52% to 48%, prompting UK Prime Minister David Cameron to announce he would stand down by October.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36621030
“The upper house of the Swiss parliament on Wednesday voted to invalidate its 1992 application to join the European Union, backing an earlier decision by the lower house. In the aftermath of the vote, Switzerland will give formal notice to the EU to consider its application withdrawn, the country’s foreign minister, Didier Burkhalter, was quoted as saying. Switzerland’s longstanding application to join the EU has not had a significant impact on the country’s politics for more than 20 years, as its accession negotiations have been suspended since 1992 in the wake of a referendum to join the European Economic Area, when the Swiss voted down the idea of closer ties with the EU.”
https://www.rt.com/news/346884-switzerland-eu-membership-application-rejected/
“Prime Minister David Cameron is to step down by October after the UK voted to leave the European Union. The PM had urged the country to vote Remain but was defeated by 52% to 48% despite London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backing staying in. UKIP leader Nigel Farage hailed it as the UK’s ‘independence day’, while Boris Johnson said the result would not mean ‘pulling up the drawbridge’. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was ‘absolutely determined’ to keep Scotland in the EU so a second Scottish independence referendum was now ‘highly likely’. The referendum turnout was 71.8% – with more than 30 million people voting – the highest turnout at a UK-wide vote since 1992.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36615028
“With the northernmost euro member now set to become the bloc’s weakest economy, the question of currency regime continues to resurface as Finland looks for explanations for its lost competitiveness. The comments come as a former foreign minister gathers signatures in an effort to force the government to hold a referendum on euro membership. While polls still show most Finns don’t want to go through the process of exiting the currency bloc, there are signs that a plurality of voters think they would be better off outside the euro. Finland will be the weakest EU economy by 2017, when it will grow at less than half the pace of Greece, according to the European Commission.”
“The prime minister will go public this week with a long-awaited list of measures aimed at redefining the terms of Britain’s EU membership before an in-or-out referendum he’s pledged to hold by the end of 2017. With the referendum campaign under way, investors are being warned to wake up to the threat of the U.K. leaving the 28-nation bloc in a vote that might come as early as next year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are among the leaders to have said they want to help Britain stay in the EU, and that will require acceding to as many of Cameron’s demands as they can stomach.”