In the final analysis, the defence force of the future Scottish State will be constituted on the basis of national need and after the necessary consultation required to elaborate long-term geostrategic goals. Constitutional principals guaranteeing the legitimacy of armed neutrality whilst delineating the scope of action open to our armed forces will form the grounding on which military expertise will be brought to bear when defence procurement and deployment become practical issues and no longer theoretical constructs. Siol nan Gaidheal does not pretend to be eminently qualified in such matters, nor do we claim exhaustive knowledge on the issues we have sought to draw attention to, rather we consider an informed if limited initial discussion of defence priorities in an independent Scotland to be a matter of the utmost timeliness.

If some of the themes highlighted here engender more sustained debate, then our principal aim - of removing the taboo from discussions on defence and independence - will have largely been realised. Detractors, cynics and all the squalid little acolytes of Union will, needless to say, seek to rubbish any visionary study which undermines their cosy and unthinking assumptions on Scotland’s relationship with England and the consequences for our country’s security “should we ever”/”if ever we dared” leave the apronstrings of Mother England and move on to rational, independent and militarily sure-footed adulthood. Nationalists need not concern themselves with the scaremongering which the scuttling hacks and minions of Unionism seek to pass off as revealed truth, they are in essence as well as in substance the losers of history and will sooner rather than later have to answer for their ultimate allegiance to subservience and snivelling dependency, however familiar, however “reassuring”. Scotland cannot and must not look to others for its defence. We seek no quarrel with our neighbours; we respect their difference, value their friendship and are open to co-operation on a significant number of common concerns, most pointedly ecological and economic. Our sovereignty, cultural integrity and military independence however, must, of necessity, remain non-negotiable if we are to sustain a viable and meaningful Nation State.

Our aspirations, however much interlinked with those of our peer nations in Europe and indeed the world, must remain as a matter of priority, “nationally” focussed. This is not to seek isolation, it is, conversely, to reject remote, unaccountable, centralist, empire-building oligarchies, the models for which are being constituted before our very eyes. National security is, in this increasingly worrying context, central to the retention of political independence, itself the only guarantor of national identity and individuality, the two constituent aspects of our pedigree as a member nation of a diverse, mosaic-like humanity. Let us not therefore countenance any non-sanctioned interventionism whether in the affairs of other countries or indeed our own.

Recent affairs elsewhere in Europe have shown that even independent sovereignty is no barrier to the essentially imperialist designs of Super Powers and their New World Order lapdogs. Properly resourced, resolute and flexibly non-aligned military strength represents, in our view, Scotland’s future guarantee of remaining an honourable and alert member of the international community of nations, seeking not to besmirch its standing abroad in imperialist posturing yet yielding to no-one in the defence of its inalienable national integrity. “Nemo me impune lacessit”, as it might still adequately be recalled.

Siol nan Gaidheal has fired the opening shots in this most apposite of debates... let others now take up the challenge and move our Nation’s thinking along the road to preparedness for mature, confident and, above all, secure national independence.