One curiousity which roundly fails to get mentioned when debating nuclear weapons in Scotland is the 1958 UK/USA Mutual Defence Agreement.
According to Wiki it is renewed every ten years. Coincidentally, it’s next date for renewal is December 2014.
The SNP’s public stance on Nuclear weapons will be seen as a serious threat to the continuity of this defence pact which is almost wholly based on nuclear cooperation and the sharing of military and commercial intelligence.
As alluded to in a Scotsman article by professor Malcolm Chalmers in April this year, without a friendly US attitude toward the concept of an independent Scotland, the chances of it happening are incredibly slim. Snowballs and hell come to mind.
GIven that the UK/USA Agreement has been renewed every ten years since 1958, despite increasing international ire over its legality, I would argue that the SNP volte face on Nato policy must go ahead if independence is to have a fighting chance.
Assuming it does, I would then imagine there would have to be some hardball, behind the scenes, negotiation with the US Industrial Military Complex effectively surrendering the notion that Scotland will ever be nuclear free.
If not, the potential forces working against the independence camp will carry much more potency and threat than a few well intentioned Better Together benches cobbled together in Scottish high streets.
Realpolitik in this instance is horrible and can leave you feeling impotent and small, but it seems to me a far more realistic assessment than anything that has so far been publicly debated.
Regards
