Why are senior SNP politicians so relaxed about appearing on RT (Russia Today)?
It isn’t hard to imagine how Russian President Vladimir Putin is feeling right now. His ally in Ukraine has been kicked out and as a consequence the country is expected to gravitate away from the Russian orbit and into the arms of the EU.
Until now Putin has been using Russian money to anchor Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine in a Russian-led bloc. However the jewel in the crown, Ukraine, now appears on the verge of breaking away from the Moscow line.
To say that Putin is displeased would be the understatement of the year. He is most likely indignant.
But Putin has been taking a two-pronged approach to the advancement of Russian interests. On the one hand this has involved the projection of power in places like Eastern Europe and Syria; but it has also meant undermining the West’s resolve in the face of unscrupulous Russian advancement.
Anyone who has ever tuned in to RT (Russia Today), the Kremlin’s propaganda channel, will understand perfectly well what I am talking about. RT is engaged in a wholesale misinformation campaign aimed at bolstering the prestige of the Russian Federation and discrediting enemies of the Russian state at home and abroad.
As I have previously written, Western commentators who appear on RT are unwittingly giving succour to a homophobic autocracy which behaves in a far more undemocratic and demagogic manner than our own government could ever dream.
That being so, one can understand RT’s enthusiasm for Scottish independence: the break-up of the United Kingdom would undeniably be in the Russian national interest. Russia fears the projection of Western power; and Britain is far greater than the sum of its parts when it comes to an international presence. Divide and conquer is not simply a worn-out cliché.
What is surprising is that the Scottish Nationalists are so keen to dance to the former KGB man’s tune. Why else would senior SNP figures choose so repeatedly appear on RT?
Here, for example, is Scottish first minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond doing a set piece interview with RT just last year (at a time when Putin was ramping up his government’s anti-gay rhetoric):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ4zFqIvq5s
As well as Salmond, Scottish health secretary Alex Neil, justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, external affairs minister Humza Yousaf, and Pete Wishart MP have all appeared on RT.
In a stunning piece of irony, Humza Yousaf likes to make a lot of noise about the UK’s human rights record. According to Yousaf, Scotland needs independence in order to expunge itself from the abuses perpetrated by the UK government. And yet he is happy to appear on RT!
Pete Wishart MP appears to think along similar lines. “With Independence, Scotland can make its own mark on the world, including the upholding of human rights,” he said in a recent interview.
What he did not disclose is that he has appeared on RT and – even worse – Press TV, the media wing of the Iranian theocracy.
The hypocrisy is breath-taking.
As Eric Lee recently noted, when RT describes itself as ‘news with an edge’ it literally means the edge of a Russian bayonet. The stories RT focuses on are “invariably ones in which the West, and in particular the USA, comes out looking bad”. When RT turns its attention closer to home the progressive mask drops, and is replaced by “the strident tone of late-Stalinist Soviet propaganda”.
In appearing on RT, the SNP are unwittingly endorsing the loathsome regime propaganda which appears alongside agreeable anti-coalition programming. They are also bolstering the foreign policy agenda of a government that is whipping up a tidal wave of prejudice against gay people and propping up Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad.
Russia is quite clearly lobbying for Scottish independence. The question is, why are the SNP so relaxed about dancing to the Kremlin’s tune?
A Yes Scotland staffer watching RT at their HQ
81 Responses to “Why are the SNP so relaxed about dancing to the Kremlin’s tune?”
Bill Cruickshank
Ah Alec, your first paragraph makes no sense, please explain the point you are trying to make. Not sure where Russia comes into it either. Saor Alba as you probably know (having googled it), is one of the native languages of Scotland and means” Free Scotland”. It is a term used by many non Gaelic speaking Scots. I am not a fluent Gaelic speaker, but have rudimentary knowledge of our most ancient language. I am fluent however in another ancient language of Scotland i.e. The Doric. If speaking my own Scots tongue makes me a “racist nutjob” then Amen to that.
With all due respect, you are obviously ignorant of Scottish politics, culture and language, but that does not make you a repulsive individual, resorting to abusive name calling does that. It’s up to you, but if I were you, I would avoid commenting on Scottish issues, as your ignorance of said issues is your Achilles’s Heel. Guid nicht.
dougthedug
What’s the SNP to do? If they avoid all channels which support and are funded by governments who take part in invasions of foreign countries, international kidnapping, sending suspects abroad for torture and who support murderously homophobic regimes in places such as Saudia Arabia they’ll have to boycott the BBC too.
Alec
Try reading the first paragraph again. Scotland always has had self-determination which is more than a referendum on something you want.
“Guid nicht”… what language is that? It looks like Dutch… why are you speaking invaders’ languages? Why are you not using a language even older than Gaelic, the Welsh? What’s the point of using languages which were not spoken across a majority area – never mind anywhere near majority population, except maybe the Teutonic ones which distrusted the Celtic fringes – of Scotland?
Why create a mythical racial fantasy if you don’t want to be seen as a racist nutjob?
When canvassing around Easterhouse and the like, have you got around to making-up responses along the lines of “oh, yes, we are very concerned about long gone languages”?
~alec
Alec
Red Clydeside, although historically significant, was smaller than the traditional Tory vote across Scotland. I agree, it’s important to know about Scottish history before making grand statements!
~alec
Alec
Just as there’s a decent position an Independence support can
take re a currency – namely, Jim Sillars’ wish for a complete abandonment of Ster£ing and adoption of a new unpegged currency – so too is there one for believing Scotland is “struggling for self-determination”.
It’s a wrong and refutable position to take in my view, but
it can exist without conflict and quite decently if… and here’s the important if… if you don’t go all gushy at arms of the Kremlin of Khomenists. And, just as it’s quite reasonable to
criticize aspects of the BBC, comparing them to Russia Today or PressTV simply does not deserve the compliment of a rational opposition.
Yet, with @Bill Cruikshank it’s more than that. In his plodding golf club mind, the question of these revolting organizations doesn’t even occur. He gazes past them, and initiates a pre-written script about something someone told him somewhere in Easterhouse.
~alec