Isn't all this based on information gleaned from a Somali-born German (or whatever) who was arrested in the summer.

So, the US "intelligence" could be being fed all kinds of information from this chap, who just wants to be helpful.

I'd word it as that, but yes.

You lot know WAAAAY too much about this nonsense.

It's bollocks. You can go about your business. Move along. Move along.

I spotted the "German" meme earlier. Apparently the US forces killed some people in Pakistan, among whom were allegedly four or five German nationals.

Hmm.

An aside, but I'm beginning to heartily loath the way of describing people as (say) 'A Pakistani-born German'. No. If you're born in Pakistan you are Pakistani. If you are born in Germany you are German. If you're born in Pakistan but happened to live in Germany for a while, you're still Pakistani. If you're born in Germany but live in Pakistan for a while, you're still German.

I suppose in theory the fact that citizenship in some places is such a moveable feast can be seen to blur the line a little but to me that just seems to be more reason to keep to some sort of standard. Your nationality is where you were born. Your residency is where you live. The two are not the same. Personally, I blame the yanks. All that 'Italian-American' bullplop is infecting the world.

Jon

Um, if you're born in Pakistan to German parents then you are both...

I would disagree. Your nationality is defined by your country of birth. Not your mother or father's country of birth. Not the country you might have spent a portion of your life in. Not the country you live in now. Not even the country (or countries) for which you hold passports. It is simply the country you were born in. For everyone that's known and it's one particular country, unless you're really unlucky and were born on a ship in international waters or something. The whole idea that you can 'inherit' nationality is wrong. You can inherit culture, race, all sorts of things but your nationality is a definable, unchangeable fact.

If someone was born in Hong Kong during the right period are they English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish? Of course they are none of those things. Yet they hold a British passport. They were born in a place where British law held sway at the time. They may even have had parents who were born in one of the 'home countries'. But their nationality, specifically, is not British. Their nationality is 'Hong Kong'. They are a British citizen and they hold a British passport, but their nationality is not the same as those things.

You can't be right and left handed (you are one or the other or you're neither). You can't be both tall and short. It's the same thing.
The fact the media have managed to conglomerate nationality, citizenship, residency and some sort of vague national loyalty into the same thing can't change the basic nature of things.

Not in the end that it matters - I don't really care what any given person's nationality actually is, beyond idle curiosity. However the fact that people use the word 'nationality' when they mean one of a variety of other things irks me immensely.

That would put you at odds with pretty much every government on the planet as far as nationality is concerned.

Yep, but I'm at odds with governments over a lot of things, so I'm happy with that.

German. French or Pakisatani. They did not warn us about the food!!!

Its a good job they are warning the Romany people about travelling in europe, France doesnt seem to be very welcoming to them.

America is saying UK, Germany, France and Spain, AFAIK.

Afghan/German.