"...As for the other minority groups, well, this is the way the world works...it's history and it's not going to change...despite hyper globalists telling us that we're moving to bigger bodies and the nation state is dead..."
Tribalism will trump globalism -- fortunately. All the areas named plus Scotland, Wales, Quebec and literally dozens of other places argue for a future of more, not less fragmentation. Which is fine with me.

I won't deny this, but I'm all for Catalonia getting independence from Spain...peacefully though.
Peacefully is always better but history shows that it is not always probable. Like it or not, minor warfare is the story of the world and of mankind. The Cold War, a very artificial period in history, has led many today to think the lack of small wars due to great power constraints was and is the norm. Be nice if it was; it is not.