I love that no one knows anything about Latvia!
To be honest, my knowledge of that part of Europe is kinda fuzzy.
While using stumbleupon yesterday, found a page that linked to this page, which was rather amusing.
A bunch of Brits writing down states of America and then vis versa, a bunch of Americans writing down the different nations of Europe. I must admit, I think I would get atleast half correct for the states and nearly all the European nations correct.
I once held a pub quiz with a picture round of the USA and naming all fifty states, expecting no one to get more than thirty states, one team, with a member who had lived and worked over there got forty-nine of the fifty correct.
Dimesdan said:
And I feel that if the roles were reversed, say how would the British or Europeans or wider world would feel if Texas left the union, I would say it's not our place and a case of internal matters.
It may be an internal matter, but I am sure that TPTB in America have an opinion of it. Of course Joe Schmoe American might not care one way or another, but most also have no idea what the ramifications are of Scotland staying a part of the U.K. vs. becoming an independent nation. I'm sure that American govn't analysts have compiled reports for TPTB in the American govn't regarding how Scotland leaving the U.K. will or will not affect America. Surely if the situation were reversed and Texas were leaving the U.S. then British analysts would be giving reports to TPTB in the U.K. about how it would affect them.
World history has shown us that countries have a habit of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries. I have no idea if any foreign power is trying to influence Scotland's decision in this matter, but would it really be surprising if they were? Of course, that isn't the main point of this post, but I'm just saying that it does happen.
Oh I know it does, there are numerous examples, even in recent history that shows that countries will meddle in the internal affairs of another country, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Egypt, to name a just a few examples, and that last example can be seen as the final nail in the coffin of the British Empire.
And here is a map showing the countries that Great Britain has invaded and obviously "meddled" in over the centuries!
So anyway, there is a difference between proactively meddling in a countries internal affairs (which you seem to be advocating) and writing up reports and saying this is what is happening.
I'm sure the Obama Administration is keeping an eye (just the one and half closed) on the situation, they probably have told Obama what the likely outcomes are. Now the thing is, if Obama then has an opinion on the matter (which he may not) and publicly announces it, I wouldn't be surprised if Alex Salmond uses this to his advantage. Either using it as an example of "American Imperialism" if he says Scotland should stay or if Obama says Scotland should leave the Union, "hey look, we have the Americans backing" and it would be safer economically to leave!
I'm more interested in what our European allies have to say on the matter and ultimately, if Scotland did leave the Union, the future of Northern Ireland? Would that be integrated into Eire or become a free state? And also, the future of what remains of the UK regarding the European Union.
