Why does Westminster care?

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Sunday, September 7. 2014

Why does Westminster care?

Why does anybody care what Scotland does?

And isn't independence generally a good thing? A commenter at the above:

Scotland can have a legal referendum for independence with no violence or problems, but Eastern Ukraine gets bombed for voting to become independent and part of a new Russian bloc which may trigger WWIII. Makes sense to me!

Posted by The News Junkie at 12:09 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

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Brussels should care (as well as Westminister). Without the liberal-leftist Scottish Parlaiment, the remaining Great Britain Parliament would likely vote to withdraw from the EU. -- There's more info in this link than in the post's horse-race link.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/scotland-voting-independence-whats-stake/

#1 Bruce Kesler on 2014-09-07 12:55 (Reply)

small difference there. The "voters" in "eastern Ukraine" were not Ukrainian citizens but Soviet soldiers "volunteering their vacation" to "help their oppressed neighbours".
Same as on the Crimean peninsula.

It's the same as what Argentina tried to pull off in the Falklands in '82. Send in troops, then hold a "referendum" in which all those troops get to vote, and they all vote for Anschluss with the Motherland.

#2 J.T. Wenting on 2014-09-07 16:43 (Reply)

#3--Actually what happened with Hawaii as well, but that's ancient history now.

#3 Jim on 2014-09-07 16:53 (Reply)

I suspect that extensive emigration over several centuries drained Scotland of its enterprising sorts. What remains: drunken whingers on the dole.

#4 Gringo on 2014-09-07 22:26 (Reply)

Gringo,

Being 1/2 Scott myself, I sort of wondered what the hell had happened over there. I knew they'd gone over the edge when they voted to have individual government appointed nannies for each child.

I suspect your theory of Brain Drain and capital flight is probably as good as I'm going to get for an explanation.

It makes me sad.

#5 Not Rick (Link) on 2014-09-08 02:21 (Reply)

I also have a considerable Scottish- and Scots Irish- ancestry. This book helps explain things: How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It.

From one of the Amazon reviews:

QUOTE:

While its title intentionally embraces the Scottish tradition of boasting and exaggerating, "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" makes a strong case that the Scots, more than any other people, are responsible for the world after the Enlightenment.
What followed unification was not merely a Scottish renaissance, but a revolution in thought that changed the world. Adam Smith, David Hume, Robert Louis Stevenson, James Boswell, Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Graham Bell, Sir Walter Scott, and George Buchanan are among the Scots Herman discusses. Perfecting the steam engine, introducing inoculation to fight smallpox, inventing street lamps, devising the system of time zones, and discovering the simple method to prevent scurvy were all products of the Scottish imagination. "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" tells an untold story with wit and eloquence. This provocative book will gain the interest of Scots and non-Scots alike who are left to wonder how a small group living in the shadow of their southern neighbors had such a positive impact upon the world in which we live.

How far Scotland has fallen.

#5.1 Gringo on 2014-09-08 11:19 (Reply)

Scotland's independence is just the beginning, and devolution can and will go further. After all, why should a MacDonald have to live in a country that allows Campbell's to walk the streets?

#6 Clan MacDonald on 2014-09-08 07:35 (Reply)

Oh, and as to why Westminster should care, Scotland is critical to running the North Sea oil industry, it supplies important troop resources to what remains of the British army and, as was pointed out recently, is the sole location for Britain's remaining submarine forces. Independence will exacerbate brain-drain, as ambitious Scots will see less opportunity in a collapsing Scotland, except for jobs in newly crested government bureaucracies, and speed up the ongoing impoverishment of Scotland, which will soon be the Greece of the British Isles.

#7 MTF on 2014-09-08 07:43 (Reply)

I have to believe that the rest of the UK is ecstatic to see a bastion of leftist voting welfare sponges vote for independence.

Just as most Canadians would be glad to see the Quebeckers fail on their own, and Americans would be happy if New York and California seceded.

#8 NJSoldier on 2014-09-08 08:05 (Reply)

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Sunday, September 7. 2014

Why does Westminster care?