In which I boggle.

On the plane to Edinburgh they came around with newspapers, and I took a Scotsman for atmosphere. I learned that we – americans - think Scotland wants to nuke us.

Seriously. A Carnegie-financed think-tank is spouting nonsense about an independent Scotland being dangerous because the UK’s nuclear weapons are all contained within submarines based out of Scotland. Andrew Carnegie, by the way, was born in Scotland.

A quote from the article: “A veteran US Congressional defence analyst recently suggested that an "aggressively neutral" independent Scotland "might not be too good" for American defence.”

What the heck is wrong with these people? We are the only ones who have ever nuked anybody. We are so not allowed to accuse Scotland, of all places, of contemplating nuclear shenanigans. And what does ‘aggresively neutral’ mean? How can you be aggressively neutral? I mean, you could drape the entire country in beige canvas I suppose, but that seems a little impractical as well as aggressive.

Just - the impression that the fact that Scotland is currently part of Great Britain is the only thing keeping them from going rogue and bombing us is so completely bizarre. I got this mental image of a couple politicians just rubbing their hands together over the fact that once they are free to govern themselves the first thing they're going to do is break out the nuclear subs and take out america; the only decision left to be made is which state to aim at first.

The Carnegie Natural History Museum in Pittsburgh is a fantastic museum. Though there is absolutely nothing else to do in Pittsburgh, the trip is worth it for this museum alone. The Carnegie think-tank for international peace (or similar, I can’t be bothered to google it again) is completely cracked.

My favorite part of all of this, though, is the fact that at the end of the article there’s some sentiment akin to – Guys, getting rid of those submarines and nuclear weapons off our shores is just another really good reason to seek independence, chill.

So these think-tank people have clearly never, ever actually been in Scotland; a country where every place serving breakfast has papers out for patrons to peruse while they eat, simply everyone has a happy, muddy dog with them everywhere they go, and all the best museums and galleries offer free admission. I propose that anyone advising anything related to world peace should have actually traveled to some foreign countries before anyone takes them seriously.

In which I boggle.

On the plane to Edinburgh they came around with newspapers, and I took a Scotsman for atmosphere. I learned that we – americans - think Scotland wants to nuke us.

Seriously. A Carnegie-financed think-tank is spouting nonsense about an independent Scotland being dangerous because the UK’s nuclear weapons are all contained within submarines based out of Scotland. Andrew Carnegie, by the way, was born in Scotland.

A quote from the article: “A veteran US Congressional defence analyst recently suggested that an "aggressively neutral" independent Scotland "might not be too good" for American defence.”

What the heck is wrong with these people? We are the only ones who have ever nuked anybody. We are so not allowed to accuse Scotland, of all places, of contemplating nuclear shenanigans. And what does ‘aggresively neutral’ mean? How can you be aggressively neutral? I mean, you could drape the entire country in beige canvas I suppose, but that seems a little impractical as well as aggressive.

Just - the impression that the fact that Scotland is currently part of Great Britain is the only thing keeping them from going rogue and bombing us is so completely bizarre. I got this mental image of a couple politicians just rubbing their hands together over the fact that once they are free to govern themselves the first thing they're going to do is break out the nuclear subs and take out america; the only decision left to be made is which state to aim at first.

The Carnegie Natural History Museum in Pittsburgh is a fantastic museum. Though there is absolutely nothing else to do in Pittsburgh, the trip is worth it for this museum alone. The Carnegie think-tank for international peace (or similar, I can’t be bothered to google it again) is completely cracked.

My favorite part of all of this, though, is the fact that at the end of the article there’s some sentiment akin to – Guys, getting rid of those submarines and nuclear weapons off our shores is just another really good reason to seek independence, chill.

So these think-tank people have clearly never, ever actually been in Scotland; a country where every place serving breakfast has papers out for patrons to peruse while they eat, simply everyone has a happy, muddy dog with them everywhere they go, and all the best museums and galleries offer free admission. I propose that anyone advising anything related to world peace should have actually traveled to some foreign countries before anyone takes them seriously.