FORCES OF DARKNESS
My column for Scottish Sun on Sunday 14th April 2014
FORCES OF DARKNESS & INDEPENDENCE
Baron George Robertson of Port Ellen, once the UK’s Defence Secretary and NATO’s Secretary General, now better known as Lord Robertson has warned that if the people of Scotland vote for Independence it could mean the end of Western civilisation as we know it.
For him a Yes vote would be a ‘Cataclysmic’ event destabilising the world and undermining the UK’s global status.
In his words ‘What could justify giving the dictators, the persecutors, the oppressors and adventurers across the planet the biggest pre-Christmas present of their lives by tearing the UK apart?
The Grim Reaper claimed that Independence would unleash the ‘FORCES OF DARKNESS’, lead to the ‘Balkanisation’ of Europe, reignite terrorism and restart the Irish troubles.
On one view we should be flattered, I had got so used to the No Camp, patronising and telling us “that without the broad shoulders of the UK, Scotland will have little say in the world” (Cameron’s words), yet it now turns out that Scotland is the glue holding together Western Civilisation!
FORCES OF DARKNESS-WHO ARE THEY?
George accused ‘Yes’ voters of giving succour to Al- Qaeda. A man who has never distinguished himself has finally risen to the occasion by predicting ‘rivers of blood’ if we vote Yes on September 18th.
It all makes sense now why the Unionists don’t want us to leave- Al-Qaeda would triumph, Putin will invade, England won’t have anywhere from which to launch to Trident and darkness will fall across our land.
Bizarrely though on the very same day as his speech, the Queen was busy dining with the President of Ireland whose people fought until recently with us for some nine centuries for freedom, yet the words spoken at the State Banquet were of ‘friendship’, ‘close cooperation’ and ‘mutual understanding’.
Why one of the guests in his tails and dickie-bow just happened to be Martin McGuinness, former commander of the IRA which years earlier had blown up the Queen’s favourite uncle Mountbatten.
Yet for some reason George has chosen to describe a possible Yes vote in Scotland’s peaceful democratic referendum as capitulation to the ‘Forces of Darkness’.
Even more demeaning was his begging the USA to intervene our affairs by urging us not to vote for independence, only a few months earlier Cameron had tried asking his then pal Putin to do the same.
I appreciate that George may like to think he’s Nostradamus, but he strikes me more of an Elmer Fudd from Bugs Bunny.
This after all is the same man who as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland in 1995 predicted that ‘Devolution would kill Nationalism stone dead’.
But therein lies the problem, the No Campaign is so full of hate for the SNP that they assume that everyone voting for Independence are Nationalists. But a significant number of Labour voters are starting to believe that Independence could rejuvenate their party if it cut its ties with Westminster’s yuppies.
FORCES OF DARKNESS-IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?
Meanwhile Alex Salmond on the same day was also delivering a speech to an American audience, but one which Scots could be proud of-
“For most countries, greatness can only come from influence, not force; from soft, not hard power; It will come from their people, their values, their reputation and their ideas…We seek a Scotland where sustainable prosperity goes hand in hand with solidarity and fairness….We seek a Scotland whose importance is judged on its usefulness to the rest of humanity, not on fading imperial grandeur…”
When it comes to choosing between Elmer Fudd’s predictions of the ‘Forces of Darkness’ or Alex Salmond’s vision for Scotland, I know what I will be voting for come September 18th #Yes.