But small, desperate countries can have surprisingly radical politics, as Scotland has already shown.
And while the United Kingdom would be busy reorganizing its entire defense posture and capacity to reflect its new circumstances, its capacity to project any kind of military or diplomatic power internationally to resist any of these developments would be virtually nonexistent.
The Kremlin will fund and signal-boost anyone who would undermine the strength of the Western alliance, from Scotland to Catalonia to any and every nationalist political force in Europe that is opposed to Washington and the European Union.
China will be coming in with the money, capable of outbidding everyone else on that front and with an already established and refined method for checkbook diplomacy designed to ensnare its “trade partners” and bend them to Beijing’s geopolitical designs. If China were to fund and build a major port in Scotland as it did in Sri Lanka and Djibouti, that would already be a critical hole in the United States’ North Atlantic defense umbrella.
Culturally, Scotland leans much more toward the European social democratic model than the Anglo-Saxon political and economic model, so there would be inherent resistance to real and perceived expectations of the United States from a close economic relationship.
Moreover, it seems extremely unlikely that the United States would, or indeed could, from a political point of view offer direct monetary benefits in the way China would.
So basically Scottish independence is gonna be good for everyone.
Can't wait to see the Liaoning doing freedom of navigation patrols around the Florida Keys
the U.K. heartland on the island of Great Britain would become contestable territory should Scotland find alliances with powers that are hostile to the U.K. and the United States
someone was paid money to write this
In their head, the Black Watch marching arm-in-arm with the PLA to take Newcastle is a real thing that could happen.
Even from a horrid neolib POV, it's bad. The idea that Scotland would have a relationship with England that's anything different from say the relationship between England and Norway, is a complete flight of fancy. It's on par with thinking Maduro could lead an invasion of Florida or something.
The rest of the article is like "where will Scotland get their money from" and then answers its own question by saying China, and not the obvious answer of "the EU, where they got it from before"
un-fucking-believable. I should have had the good sense and be born into a well connected family and earn a 6 figure salary for vomiting on my keyboard.
In their head, the Black Watch marching arm-in-arm with the PLA to take Newcastle is a real thing that could happen.
Not gonna lie, that sounds cool as fuck.
The SNP already has uncomfortably close ties to the Kremlin
We really doing this?
From Joseph "I'm Irish" Biden?
I dunno...kinda unlikely, Azeem.The funniest outcome of the Biden presidency is him accidentally saying he supports Irish reunification.
