Decentralization pushes forward in Spain

Hodgepodge nations like Spain and Iraq have always annoyed me with the obviously coercive nature of their existence. Iraq, unfortunately, is being kept together by outside influence, but Spain seems to be waking up to the absurdity of its existence.

The only reason such things even matter is that countries like to impose trade barriers. It's been suggested that a lot of the reason that the United States has been so succesful is that it constitutes one of the world's largest free-trade zones. I'm sure, however, that if Catalonia and the Basque areas completely seceded from Spain, they would impose tariffs on each other, ruining any progress that had been made.