Scotland Launches Independence Bid

Supporters of Scottish Independence will launch what they say is the biggest grassroots campaign in Scottish history on Friday in an effort break Scotland’s 305-year-old union with England.

Seeking to tap into a cocktail of historical rivalry, opposing political tastes, and a perception that the British parliament in London does not represent or support Scotland's interests, the "Yes Scotland" campaign says it wants to win a referendum on independence in 2014, and plan for full independence to be achieved within two years after that.

History runs deep in Scotland and, symbolically, the independence referendum will be held on the 700th anniversary of the 1314 Battle of Bannockburn in which an army commanded by England's King Edward II was roundly defeated at the hands of a smaller force led by Robert the Bruce, a source of enduring pride for Scottish patriots and the subject of the pro-Scottish film “Braveheart.”

"For the first time the issue is real because people are going to have a vote," said a spokesman for the campaign, speaking on the condition of anonymity with Reuters News Service. "People are more open to this than they have ever been before. It is fundamentally better for our future if decisions about Scotland are taken by the people who care about it the most."

The Scottish National Party, under party leader Alex Salmond, has recently made significant gains in Scotland. The SNP won a majority of seats in last year’s elections for the Scotish Parliament, and has control over Scotland’s health, education and penal system. Current opinion polls show that around 40 percent of Scots favor independence, 50% oppose, and 10% remain undecided. In addition to SNP supporters, former Scottish Labour Party Member of Parliament Dennis Canavan will be among the keynote speakers at the launch of the Yes campaign. Canavan served as an MP for 26 years.

If successful, Scottish independence could create serious problems for Britain. Britain's Trident nuclear submarine fleet is based in Scotland, revenues from Scottish North Sea oil remain important to its coffers, and analysts say Britain would find it harder to maintain its voice at international bodies such as the U.N. Security Council as well as in European Union decision-making.

"The biggest issue for the UK is defense," Professor John Curtice of the University of Strathclyde said in a phone interview. "The question would be whether an independent Scotland would allow the UK to maintain its nuclear facilities there." Salmond wants Scotland to have its own armed forces and foreign policy and rejects a nuclear submarine facility based close to Glasgow.
In addition, said Curtice, “The rest of the world would be surprised and shocked that the UK was unable to hold together. It would not be perceived to be as big a player as it is now. Its weight in the world would be diminished."

The SNP-backed launch of the “Yes Scotland” campaign will take place at a conference centre on Friday in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, and will be attended by pro-independence celebrities whose names have not been revealed. One of Scotland's most high-profile celebrity supporters of independence is Sean Connery, famous for his cinematic depiction of British secret service agent James Bond. The same campaign spokesman declined to confirm whether Connery would attend.

Scotland historically is more inclined to vote for leftist parties, whereas English voters have voted in much larger numbers for Tories, underscoring a long-standing political fault line between north and south. Many Scots, while having personal ties with the US, were furious at what they saw as former prime minister Tony Blair's support of U.S. President Bush and his foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Sources: Reuters News Service, reporters Tully Fitzsimmons and Ian MacKenzie, and editior Michael Roddy )

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The Reasons for Rebellion: July 4, 1776

What follows is a partial list of the reasons set forth in the Declaration of Independence for our dissolution of the bands which connected us with Great Britain. They speak for themselves. Read them with Abu Ghraib, the Patriot Act, the Alphabet Soup Bureaucracies, anti-immigrant xenophobia, the suspension of habeus corpus, Guantanamo, Judicial litmus tests, Cuban embargoes, the WTO, the raid on ElDorado, IRS confiscatio of property, Kelo, the replacement of common law with stacks of rules, and military tribunals in mind.

Chilling Indeed.

"...He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people..."

On Kosovo Independence Day - Happy Birthday, Kosova!

My first 'contact' with Kosova (the Albanian spelling) came in the form of its people. As a teacher, I had a very diligent, hard-working, polite young man in my class who was a recent immigrant to the United States. He was struggling through the language barrier to work full-time and get a college degree while supporting his sister and parents. I learned that they had fled from Kosova into Macedonia as refugees. And I listened to his stories of the horrors of ethnic cleansing that forced his family to flee.

It is indeed an unexpected nexus of forces: the United States and Europe, both societies with Christian roots, have been protecting a small enclave of Muslim Kosovars against the political claims of Christian (Orthodox) Serbians, during a time when Muslims are often seen as the enemies of western civilization.

I have been interested in the region for several reasons. First, as a teacher, I was invited to teach summer courses at the University of Pristina in the capital city. Secondly, as an Orthodox Christian, my 'church circle' consisted of Balkan peoples: Serbs, Greeks, Romanians, and Russians, many of whom passionately criticized NATO, the EU, and the US for being involved in helping the ethnic Albanians (and Muslims) of Kosova. I spent a lot of time on the internet, on chat boards, and in actual conversations trying to sort through the hate and passion that would flare every time mention of an independent Kosova would be mentioned.

One of the 'constants' in these conversations was the reflexive attempt by Serbs and Serb-sympathizers (who want continued Serb domination over the region) to go back to medieval history, and wax eloquent about the Ottoman Empire, the birthplace of Serbian nationalism in the Kosovo region, the fall of the Byzantine empire...and any other historical facts that could be mustered from 700 years ago to cement a claim to the land.

Internationally, only Putin's authoritarian (and Orthodox) Russia supports this approach. It is laughable on its face: In what other international conflict would anyone seriously consider the events of the medieval era? Should Britain have a claim to Normandy? Should Switzerland be divided and given over to a Neo-Swabian empire? Should the Vikings re-assert claims for the Scottish Isles and coastal Ireland? Should the Teutonic Knights be given title to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania? The notion of asserting political claims by resorting to medieval land claims is preposterous anywhere in Europe...and yet, for many Serbophiles, memories last verrrrry long. The reality is that in present history, the Serbs dominated other ethnic groups in the now-defunct nation of Yugoslavia. With a penchant for fascist authoritarianism, Serbian leaders have carried out atrocity after atrocity against non-Serbs, especially Bosnian and Albanian Muslims. One million ethnic-Albanians have fled for their lives...and 11,000 were murdered and dumped into mass graves which dot the countryside. Over three dozen such graves have been located.

No wonder Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush have both sided with the NATO forces in support of the Kosovars. The Serbian fascists were no less brutal in their extermination of Kosovars than was Saddam Hussein in his attacks on the Kurds. And its scary to note that the extreme nationalistic Serbs *still* receive up to 40% of the vote in Serbian elections...and they continue to hide war criminals and defend the actions of Serb paramilitary death squads.

The Orthodox Churches, which have been vocal in the United States in opposing military action, are oddly silent on the militarism of their Serbian branch. The most extreme reaction came from the head of the Serb Orthodox Church in Kosovo, Bishop Artemije, who denounced the Serbian armed forces for doing nothing."Serbia should buy state of the art weapons from Russia and other countries and call on Russia to send volunteers and establish a military presence in Serbia," he said.

(It should be noted that Serbian Orthodox monks have stood out as lights of conscience as they have helped hids and protect Muslim Albanians during this time).

As I discussed these recent historical events online, I obviously upset some Serbs. They emailed me pictures of severed heads to show me who I was fooling around with.

But I am not intimidated that easily.

It is widely expected that Kosova will declare independence in less than 24 hours. Good for them....whenever freedom wins, it is a win for all of humanity. Happy Birthday, Kosova!