It was said, back in 2014, that supporters of Scottish Independence were acting as Putin's useful idiots. That his aim was to do anything he could to destabilise the two most significant opponents he faced in Europe - The EU and NATO. Breaking up the UK would be a step along the road to damaging both. And the subsequent move of Alex Salmond to appear on the Russian propaganda TV channel suggests there may well have been links - although also having the arch unionist Galloway on there suggests Putin will take advantage of any disruptive influences he can find.
In 2014 Putin's aims, if such they were, failed. But in 2016 he struck gold. His main weapon of choice in undermining western democracy is the political far right (so Indy may be seen as an aberration). The full extent of Russian interference may never be known, but Putin must have been delighted to see a fellow anti-democratic narcissist enter the White House, and for one of the larger states of Europe to try and destabilise the EU with a messy divorce.
Fortunately his success in the US was short lived - can you imagine having a Putin admirer running the US right now? Biden is far from being the perfect president, but he is so, so much better an option than Trump. But the UK has compounded it's gift to Putin by electing a hard right government of incompetents, who have become a laughing stock internationally. Yes, we have a Foreign Secretary who gets confused between the Black Sea and the Baltic (can you imagine the feeding frenzy of the UK's right wing media had Dianne Abbott or Nicola Sturgeon said something similarly stupid?), and a PM knee deep in Russian corruption and money laundering.
Putin will continue to use whatever means to further his destabilisation aims. He has made little headway in Europe's big hitter, Germany, but the French presidential election was a big test of resistance. Quite how a country that suffered so much under fascist occupation can now opt to vote in such large numbers for one of Hitler's successors is beyond me, but Le Pen was far too close to taking control of one of Europe's big hitters. Macron, as in the US, is far from perfect but he's still better than the fascist option.
There are stories emerging that Putin may have overplayed his hand domestically in invading his democratic neighbour, and it might yet end badly for him. Should he go the subsequent power vacuum will be messy, but maybe a friendlier Russia will come out the other side. Until he is gone there will be Russian agencies trying to influence Western politics to their own ends. In 2014 that may have included breaking up the UK. In 2022 that would be pointless. Putin has had his success and the UK has neutered itself, becoming something of a joke state. The far right might not have come directly to power, but their continuing influence on tory policy, and the vile attitudes of many of their MPs, ensures the UK is globally irrelevant.
All of which leave Scottish Independence as a more attractive, and necessary, option than ever. Putin's useful idiots are the fanatical brexshiteers, howling at the EU moon. If they don't care about the possibility of reigniting war in Ireland they're not going to care much about some Eastern Europeans, are they? The break up of the UK could now be seen as a positive anti-Putin action, helping the further decline of a state where the government has embroiled itself in Russian money. Bring it on.
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