Ok seriously, very interesting stuff here Migeru.
I'd dismiss that lieutenant-general on the spot, with a demotion going along with his retirement.
As for Catalonia, frankly, in the 21st century, no civilized country is going to even consider stopping a region from proclaimining independence (which this isn't even about). It's just not even possible - the backlash from the media, from the world, would be so immense. Besides no soldier would want to shoot. So considering that this would be the case for independence, militarily stopping a region from being more autonomous just doesn't cut it at all.
Regarding Catalonia's autonomy statute, this is not something that the Catalan parliament can do on their own. They submitted a draft to the national Parliament and it is not being debated and amended. If it is passed, it will have the rank of Ley Orgánica, second only to the Constitution itself. As such, it cannot contradict the constitution. It would then be possible to file an unconstitutionality appeal before the Constitutional Court, whose ruling would stand. So Lt. Gen. Mena is out of line in any case.
It may be of interest in this case that Mena was due to retire in march, so he may have felt that he did not have anything to lose, or he might really not have realised the impact that his words would have. tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
Putting it this way, then it's clear that this guy is totally out of line. As you say it may be because he wanted to leave with a bang.
Regarding Bono, I was just making another one of my trademark lousy jokes (referring to the U2 singer).
submitted a draft to the national Parliament and it is not being debated and amended
