We’ll take Scottish regiments to form our new defence force, Salmond says
Some of Britain’s most famous regiments could be transferred to a Scottish Defence Force if the country becomes independent.
by Simon Johnson, Daily Telegraph, 20 January 2012
It was learned yesterday that Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, is demanding that several historic units with centuries of service in the British Army should become part of a new defence force in Scotland if he wins a referendum on breaking up Britain.
These include the Scots Guards, the Royal Regiment of Scotland – whose five regular battalions include the Black Watch, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the Royal Highland Fusiliers – and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
The First Minister disclosed his defence plans in advance of a separation referendum proposed for autumn 2014. Angus Robertson, the SNP’s leader at Westminster and the party’s defence spokesman, said yesterday the nationalists would demand the units be transferred because of the amount Scotland had contributed to UK tax revenue.
However, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, rejected the claim, saying: “The idea you can sort of break off a little bit, like a square on a chocolate bar, and that would be the bit that went north of the border, is frankly laughable.”
Mr Salmond said that 2010’s defence review had produced a template of how armed forces would look in an independent Scotland. He said one naval base, one air base and one mobile armed brigade was “exactly the configuration” required for a Scottish Defence Force. Mr Salmond has previously fought to retain all three Scottish air bases.
Mr Robertson said: “Normal countries decide whether they send their men and women to war or not, normal countries decide whether they are going to maintain the military in a format they feel appropriate.”
Mr Hammond also warned the SNP that Scotland would have to share the huge cost of removing the UK’s Trident nuclear-armed submarines from their current base at Faslane on the Clyde.
As much of Europe focuses on whether Scottish voters will choose to leave the U.K., a key aspect of the debate is the extent to which energy wealth would — or would not — sustain an independent country.
Scotland will vote in a country-wide referendum Thursday either to stay part of the U.K. or reclaim its independence after 307 years.
Most of the North Sea’s oil and gas reserves lie north and east of Scotland, and those resources have continued to fuel the Scottish people’s hopes of independence since their discovery in the 1960s.
Those oil fields have produced 42 billion barrels of oil since 1964, and that amounts to £1.1 trillion (approximately $1.8 trillion) of production up to now.
“Ninety-six percent of the oil income of U.K. comes from Scotland,” said energy lawyer Hugh Fraser. “£1.1 trillion has been produced up to now. The U.K. treasury has received £330 billion from the taxation on the oil companies.”
Recent figures show that 16.5 billion barrels are available for extraction and, with today’s exchange rate, another £1 trillion of revenues to come, according to Fraser, who is a partner in the Dubai-based law firm Andrew Kurth.
Figures show that the reserves are high and if used wisely, these resources could help in political affairs, said Fraser.
“If you compare Scotland with Norway, with similar energy sources and population, they have £500 billion of sovereign fund whereas the U.K. has nothing, apart from £1.4 trillion of national debt,” he said.
In 2013, of the 43 million tons of oil produced by the U.K., 40 million tons were contributed by Scotland. And half of the 32 million tons of natural gas production belonged to Scotland, according to the Scottish National Accounts Program, a multi-year project that deals with Scottish statistics.
http://www.blacklistednews.com/‘Scotland_has_£1_trillion_of_energy_ on_tap’/37975/0/38/38/Y/M.html _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Posts: 2568 Location: One breath from Glory
Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 7:34 pm Post subject:
item8 wrote:
When you say Scotland do you really mean Shetland? Should they not become independent from Scotland and keep it all for themselves?
Now that would be a good idea. _________________ JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12
ONE in four Scots believes M15 is working with the UK Government to prevent independence, a new poll reveals.
The study, which many will see as a measure of public distrust in Westminster, found nearly as many thought next week's vote will be rigged.
The findings - from the same pollster, YouGov, that reported the lead for Yes at the weekend - were commissioned by news site Buzzfeed as it explored hostility to the British state north of the border.
It found substantial minorities suspected skulduggery by the UK Government. A total of 26 per cent said it was "probably true" that "MI5 is working with the UK Government to try and stop independence" with 55 per cent thinking this proposition was "probably false".
Another 19 per cent agreed that it was "likely the referendum will be rigged". Those polled were split evenly when it was put to them that the UK was covering up an oil find in the North Sea.
Buzzfeed's UK political editor Jim Waterson suggested the questions after hearing Jim Murphy, the Labour MP, heckled about Clair Ridge, the field west of Shetland widely tipped in the mainstream media to yield substantial resources but the subject of feverish internet rumours of a cover-up.
Mr Waterson said: "I wondered whether people believed the things I had heard on the streets. I expected 15-20 per cent to cite the Clair Ridge 'secret', not 42 per cent.
"As with the idea of the active involvement of MI5, it all seems symptomatic of a total lack of trust in anything Westminster is doing rather than an actual assessment."
Jim Sillars, the former SNP deputy leader, has long believed that UK security services have taken a watching brief over the SNP, although he too sees the poll results as indicating a lack of trust in UK institutions.
Mr Sillars said: "I have been very surprised at the number of people who have said to me 'They will fiddle the ballot', I don't believe that.
"We have always had well-conducted elections in Scotland. What people have really said is, 'We don't trust the British state'.
"Of course MI5 is involved. Their job is to preserve and protect the British State and we are saying we want to change that state.
"MI5 will have penetrated Yes Scotland, they will have penetrated the SNP and they will have penetrated the Radical Independence Campaign. That is how they operate. They did the same with the Communist Party."
A spokesman for Better Together said: "People in Scotland know that this decision is much bigger than ridiculous conspiracy theories that circulate on social media."
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