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Saturday 15 July 2023

Zeihan On Scottish Independence


Scottish independence from an American geopolitical analyst's perspective. The SNP wouldn't agree of course.


4 comments:

DiscoveredJoys said...

"...as you move north from London the people you see become whiter poorer older fatter and unhealthier in fact if Scotland were to secede and become its own thing it would be the demographically the oldest country in Europe would have the worst finances because of Health Care and pension costs and it would be the least healthy and that alone means that the European will let me say this very clearly never let Scotland in ever."

I've supported the Union for a long time but said that if the Scottish people wanted independence then they could have it - as long as the costs of independence were made clear first. But I suspect the Independence grifters value the personal benefits of the grift too much to permit such plain speaking.

But sometimes I wonder if we should just let the Scots get on with it. It's the debate about tolerance and respect, on both sides.

Anonymous said...

If there is ever another Scottish independence referendum, can the English vote as well, please?
Penseivat

Doonhamer said...

As a Scot I think that Independence would be interesting - in the Chinese curse meaning of interesting. Peter only addresses some of the problems.
The Scottish Nationalist Party would be surplus to requirements. So what new political parties would fill the void?
Our industry, education, health service, and infrastructure are goosed.
The bits more than 50 miles from the Central Belt will want to split off, and these are the bits that still produce saleable goods. Will Govan have a tourist industry or be used as a set for Highlander? Who will buy the surplus electricity when the wind turbines are whizzing round in a breeze. Who will sell us it cheaply when the wind is too strong or not present.
Scotland would be classified as an underdeveloped region. So we might get foreign aid with all the concomitant small print conditions.
Rich foreigners will buy all the pretty bits. If they haven't already.
It is hard to be optimistic.

A K Haart said...

DJ - it's hard to understand the SNP except as grifters. Yet the problems Zeihan describes are so obvious that it's hard to understand SNP success too. A huge pity.

Penseivat - I don't think either side would like to see the result of of that. At the moment the SNP looks more like a grifter's party than a genuine independence party.

Doonhamer - yes, even from this side of the border it seems likely that independence would split Scotland politically. The damage done by the SNP comes across as far more difficult to repair than it was to create, but damage usually is.