Do Scots really want to dance to Keir Starmer's military tune?

The National

9 hours ago

True then, it remains so today, as misery and austerity are imposed on many in Scotland and yet armaments, munitions and war are the priority for the UK.
Devolution neither exempts us from participation in a genocide and the lurch to a war footing, nor, it should be said, would fiscal autonomy. It's why independence is more necessary than ever. The world's a far less safe place than a decade ago and the push for independence is has to be immediate not in the never-never.
It's all fine and well to oppose a plebiscite election strategy but what's the alternative being proposed? Putting your faith in opinion polls but doing nothing to push for the cause just doesn't cut it. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has shown himself to be no more inclined to blink than his Conservative predecessors, nor is his policy platform any more benign.
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As the situation at home and abroad worsens, putting independence at the centre of next May's Scottish Parliament election is essential. We're at a juncture for the social and economic future of our nation. Is it to be one where we prioritise childcare, a welfare state and an industrial economy built on existing and new industries, all possible with our renewables energy bounty?
Or are we again to be the foot soldiers and junior partners in the expansion of an empire, albeit now an American, not British, one? And all as our industrial base is decimated and our spectacular natural environment trashed as our renewable energy is taken for a song.
Research for Yes in the run-up to 2014 had shown the NHS and related aspects to be a touchstone and driver for independence support. 'NHSYes' was the main focus. but the phrase had a wider meaning of the society you wanted and the values which would underpin it. Hence the catchy 'Bairns not Bombs'.
Meanwhile, the No side, with its negative campaign, foretold doom and the need for the broad shoulders of the Union to save Scotland from God knows what horrors.
To be fair, many Unionists never anticipated things becoming this bad, although the rightward trajectory of the UK and growth of US expansionism were already clear.
It would also be fair to say the worsening global situation would have challenged an independent Scottish government. There would, though, always have been the option, as with Spain, simply to say no to Nato's demand to spend 5% GDP on defence, were we a member.
Other, smaller nations will be taking steps to increase their military spending but all no doubt as befits their security needs and economic situation. Even neutral Ireland, albeit from a very low base, is increasing its.
But an independent Scotland scaling up its maritime defences and looking at other aspects of its security, whether cyber or terrorism, is vastly different from what is occurring in the UK.
Starmer's grand plan is to buy US fighter jets and load them with US nuclear missiles, but this means seeing both the economic benefit and military control of their use rest with America. The idea of boosting the UK economy through rearmament was always nonsensical, and warships on the Clyde or tanks elsewhere will be small beer compared to the champagne popping in US defence corporate HQs.
This is about the very soul of what we want our country to be. Are we to be an ageing appendix to a UK increasingly subservient to the US and whose economy is increasingly deindustrialised? Or do we want to be a vibrant nation investing in our industrial base, new and old, and speaking out for what's right and just in the world?
Constraints apply to the influence of smaller nations but they are still able to support the drive for peace and call out what is self-evidently wrong, just as Ireland is doing, to its great credit.
At the end of last week, my Alba Party colleague Neale Hanvey and I visited Ardersier. A generation ago, the gates of the McDermott oil fabrication works there clanged shut and it has lain empty ever since.
Now it is being turned into a port for offshore turbine fabrication, both floating and fixed, rivalling Europe's best. Rather than blighting our country with more onshore wind farms, it's offshore where we should look, where the power produced is exponentially greater and environmental damage significantly less.
That requires a strategy to ensure that turbines for Scottish offshore wind farms are purchased in Scotland, something shamefully lacking in onshore sites and even missed out in the ScotWind auction.
But it also will require investment. Putting your cash into the defence sector means there's a likelihood that contracts for much of the offshore wind sector will be lost to foreign businesses, just as happened with onshore turbines.
Not just Ardersier but also other Scottish firths and estuaries should likewise be a hub of activity. That is why independence is essential and a plebsicite election there must be.
It's not swords into ploughshares but F-35s and bombs into offshore wind and a future for Scots bairns.