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Status:
"“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”"
(set 2 days ago)
Location: Great Britain
27,175 posts, read 13,461,836 times
Reputation: 19472
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Troyfan
NATO might have seen its day pass. Marie Le Penn says France should leave the united command. Greece has mad noise about leaving. What role would England have if Scotland becomes independent and takes its naval and air bases with it? What do Italy and Spain care or could do even if they did care?
Maybe a new organization of countries bordering Russia and other in Central Europe will feel the need for a common defense while the more westerly NATO countries won't. If so, how can American interest be maintained?
Scotland couldn't afford to go independent, as for airbases it has one, one nuclear submarine base (which is the largest employer in Scotland) which it could not afford to operate by itself and one large army garrison is to be based at Leuchars.
Scottish Ship builders have recently helped build two large aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy and are currently finishing new Offshore Patrol Vaessels before stating work on the Type 26 Frigates top be followed by the Type 31 Frigates.
Scotland couldn't afford to go independent, as for airbases it has one, one nuclear submarine base (which is the largest employer in Scotland) which it could not afford to operate by itself and one large army garrison is to be based at Leuchars.
Scottish Ship builders have recently helped build two large aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy and are currently finishing new Offshore Patrol Vaessels before stating work on the Type 26 Frigates top be followed by the Type 31 Frigates.
Status:
"“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”"
(set 2 days ago)
Location: Great Britain
27,175 posts, read 13,461,836 times
Reputation: 19472
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxus
Anytime there is talk of independence the West does not support, they always broadcast doom and gloom if such independence takes place.
When the West supports an independence movement, they broadcast all flowers and sunshine about how great it will be.
The Scots currently have 59 Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Scottish constituencies at Westminster in London out of 650 MP's, in terms of the EU the Scots have 6 MEP's out of 751 MEP's. So have very little say, and it's unlikely that they will be allowed to join the EU and even if they were all new members must adopt the Euro. Even the UK which is often ignored by Europe has 73 MEP's to Scotland 6 including 2 SNP MEP's even the Greens currently have 3 Seats and UKIP currently has 24. So Scotland would give up it's voice in Westminister in exchange for no voice in Europe.
England & Wales will no doubt retain the pound, whilst new hard border controls would have to be put in place as the two countries would be different economic areas. Scotland would also have to negotiate a trading agreement with England or may have to trade using WTO Rules.
Good Luck with that Sturgeon and the anology of' Turkeys voting for Christmas' is a very apt one.
Scotland exports around £70 Billion of which over £50 Billion is to the rest of the UK (mainly England) and exports over £20 Billion (around half or £10 Billion relates to EU exports) to the rest of the world including EU countries. This is a lot more than money generated by oil and gas.
The economy of Scotland is very highly integrated with the economy of the rest of the UK and this includes companies based in Scotland that supply goods and services to the rest of the UK. The Scottish Economy is more intergrated with the UK than it is with the entirety of the EU. Having two seperate currencies could deeply effect Scotlands biggest market and the economy it is most intergrated with.
Scotland couldn't afford to go independent, as for airbases it has one, one nuclear submarine base (which is the largest employer in Scotland) which it could not afford to operate by itself and one large army garrison is to be based at Leuchars.
I would say the North Sea oil fields might say otherwise.
Status:
"“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”"
(set 2 days ago)
Location: Great Britain
27,175 posts, read 13,461,836 times
Reputation: 19472
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaldoKitty
I would say the North Sea oil fields might say otherwise.
That's not a single employer it's lots of companies in terms of HM Naval Base Clyde 6,800 people work there. This is forecast to rise to 8,200 by 2022, in support of its development as the home of the UK Submarine Service and the number of jobs dependent on the base is as high as 20,000.
It's bad for Germany to have the largest army in Europe. Even if they don't use it, in the eyes of other Europeans it can't be but a threat and source of instability.
I don't see how NATO can function without America being by far the loudest voice and largest partner.
Germany, go for it. Have fun. The US can still ally with Europe without maintaining such a huge presence on the continent.
I'm sure most Germans would be more than happy to have the American troops leave for good, 72 years after the end of WW2.
Having military bases in Germany and other European countries gives the US military a huge strategic advantage. it's not a selfless act to defend Europe (even if many Americans seem to think so). Definitely not nowadays and also not during the cold war. The US military has rarely acted selflessly on European soil - not that I expect it to do so, that is not what the military is there for.
Who cares how large the German military is. They could get rid of their military for all I care.
Bottom line is that we need to leave Europe yesterday. No American should ever die again for the defense of Europe.
That the Germans are gonna ramp up their military isn't good news to us. They aren't gonna deploy those troops regardless. Not to fight anyway. They tend to mind their own business unlike this other country I know.
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Definitely not nowadays and also not during the cold war. The US military has rarely acted selflessly on European soil - not that I expect it to do so, that is not what the military is there for.
