US Mum on Scottish Independence

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Griff Witte, US Remains a Wild Card in Scottish Independence Vote. Washington Post, Apr 12, 2014.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/eur ... de596424_story.html

Quote:

“the Obama administration has stayed on the sideline, insisting that ‘the future of Scotland is an internal matter.’ Now, with polls showing the unionist lead down to the single digits

“Analysts say a strong American statement could tilt the balance in a tight vote. But no one knows which way.

“In population terms, Scotland is relatively small — only 5 million people out of 63 million. But losing Scotland would cleave away a third of the UK’s landmass and a tenth of its gross national product, including a sizable chunk of the revenue from rich North Sea oil reserves. Independence could also render Britain’s nuclear weapons without a port to call home. Nuclear-armed submarines have long been based at the Scottish port of Faslane. But Scottish leaders say they would make their newly independent country a nuclear-free zone.

Note:
(a) “Obama — who is believed to have Scottish ancestry — is relatively popular there [in Scotland].”
(i) Barack Obama (His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was of mostly English ancestry)  Wikipedia
(ii) Auslan Cramb, McCain and Obama share royal lineage. Daily Telegraph, Jan 14, 2008
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -royal-lineage.html
(“John McCain, the Republican presidential contender, and Barack Obama, his Democrat rival, are both descended from the same Scottish king * * * William I of Scotland, or William the Lion * * * who ruled Scotland from 1165 to 1214”)

(b)
(i) For Faslane, see HMNB Clyde
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMNB_Clyde
(Her Majesty's Naval Base; 1964-present; to the north of the Firth of Clyde and 25 mi (40 km) west of the city of Glasgow [also on River Clyde] ; best known as the home of Britain's nuclear weapons, in the form of nuclear submarines armed with Trident missiles
(ii) nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_the_United_Kingdom
(UK was the third country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, in October 1952; “The delivery system consists of four Vanguard class submarines based at HMNB Clyde in Scotland. Each submarine is armed with up to 16 Trident II missiles [ballistic missiles made in US by Lockheed Martin, with British warheads in UK], each carrying warheads in up to eight MIRV re-entry vehicles. With at least one submarine always on patrol”)