The Scottish National Party’s (SNP) support for British imperialism and NATO has been laid bare again by the crisis in Ukraine. Following Russia’s military intervention on 24 February, the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed Sturgeon’s motion offering ‘unqualified support’ to Ukrainian forces, condemning Russia ‘unreservedly’ and urging the British government’s ‘limited’ sanctions to ‘go further as soon as possible’.
Sturgeon dismissed Russia’s concerns around NATO, stating ‘assertions about its so-called eastern expansion and threat to Russian security lack credibility… Putin’s motives are simpler: imperialist expansion, coupled with fear of allowing democracy to flourish on his borders in case it finds its way into Russia’. Her comments were echoed by the Scottish Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem leaders.
Greenwashing this imperialist hypocrisy, the self-proclaimed ‘socialist’ Green MSP Ross Greer, and his party, which entered a co-operation agreement with the SNP government before COP26, applauded the termination of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline by ‘my Green colleague Robert Habeck, Germany’s Vice-Chancellor’. Greer lamented Europe’s continued dependence on Russian gas and pressed that ‘far greater sanctions’ on Russia ‘are now required’. A day earlier, on 23 February the SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon added her voice to the calls for Russian TV station RT to be banned stating that she was ‘appalled’ at the continued involvement of former SNP leader Alex Salmond on the channel.
At Westminster the SNP, which accounts for 45 of Scotland’s 59 MPs, have competed with the imperialist Labour Party for first place in the criticism of the Conservative government for not acting fast or tough enough against Russia both in terms of sanctions and military intervention. In tones reminiscent of the NATO backed overthrow of the Gaddafi-led government in Libya in 2011, which the SNP supported, their current leader at Westminster Ian Blackford stated on 24 February ‘President Putin – and President Putin alone – bears responsibility for these horrific acts…He is a dictator, he is an imperialist, he is a tyrant. He is as much a threat to his own people, as he is to us all’. The SNP’s foreign affairs spokesperson Alyn Smith MP has been arguing for a widening and deepening of British sanctions on Russia to include ‘the Belarusian economy’ and to match those imposed by the US and EU.
On 9 March Sturgeon took the lead in this rat race of warmongering and jingoism when she stated that the ‘West should keep it’s mind open’ to a NATO imposed No Fly Zone in Ukraine. It was left to the British Conservative government’s Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Jack to rebuke this as ‘naïve’ pointing out it could lead to World War Three.
This rampant display of loyalty to British imperialism and NATO is nothing new for the SNP. As leader of the party in 2010 the ‘renegade’ Alex Salmond proudly waved the flag marching against the closure of RAF Lossiemouth which was then home to squadrons of Tornado fighter jets which had been used continuously in Iraq (1991, 1998, 2003), Kosovo (1995, 1999), Afghanistan (2009) and went on to be used in Libya (2011), again in Iraq and Syria (2015-2019). In 2012 Salmond helped to secure the vote for policy change to one of SNP support for NATO membership which remains the party’s position today. Despite this, the SNP still claim to be committed to removing Trident nuclear weapons from Scotland.
Despite the ‘progressive’ ‘anti-Tory’ image the SNP have worn, aided by many of the pro-independence sections of the Scottish opportunist left, their blatant warmongering in support of NATO aggression in Eastern Europe is exposing again the imperialist ruling class agenda they serve.
Dominic Mulgrew
