Scottish politics in recent years has been consistently volatile, moving back and forth between scandals of incompetence, scandals of corruption, and even criminal scandals among its most prominent political figures. Yet throughout all that turmoil, the pivotal political question for the country remains whether to seek independence from the United Kingdom.
All that domestic turmoil, however, risks obscuring the most consequential aspect of Scottish independence—that it would be a geopolitical disaster for the United Kingdom, the United States, and Scotland itself. Scottish independence would effectively neutralize the U.K.’s military and diplomatic power on the global arena and deprive the United States of one of its most pivotal allies, an ally that remains a critical pillar of the United States’ defense structure.
