„Russian Threat” Over Britain

The less the UK is afraid of the Coronavirus – the more terrible Russia and Vladimir Putin seem to be. With a ritual of mysterious faces and atmosphere straight from the early Bond movies – there has just been published special Report of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, mainly build of censorship abbreviations and blackouts, but sufficient to raise at least two points in the British political debate: firstly, that as a rule, Russia is involved in EVERYTHING what the Western societies should be interested in according to their politicians and media. Secondly, that it is NECESSARY to increase the competences and budgets of all agencies and offices dedicated to fighting the invisible but omnipresent Russian aggression. And of course access to RT and Sputnik throughout the UK should be blocked. In a word - for Western party bureaucracies it is normal to look for an alibi and ask for extra money, but ...

But the document (which, if it were wrung out, would water a large part of drought-stricken central England) is of course treated with full solemnity and widely discussed, so in parliament, as well in media. As you might expect - with a special emphasis on fragments that would not be found in the Report, but everyone already knows that they must be there. This is, of course, about Russia's alleged influencing the results of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 and the BREXIT referendum in 2016.

Experts Know Better! After All, They Are Experts ...

Anyway, how could it not be serious, substantive and, in principle, binding and to be implemented as an enforceable criminal law - material among which official consultants, and in fact authors, are such aces of Russology as Anne Applebaum and Edward Lucas? After all, these masters even without opening their eyes and without having to listen to any question - they immediately know the answer and explanation of every crisis in the world: "It's Russia and Putin's fault!".

The Report itself, despite the official stamp of the House of Commons - does not differ (even with the disclosed part of the content) from the standard journalism of these two. So here we learn from it, that “Russia is simultaneously both very strong and very weak” and therefore it cannot be ignored, because for Moscow a principle is that “any actions it can take which damage the West are fundamentally good for Russia”, therefore, Russia's policy must be treated by the UK only as a threat, as well as the actions of China, Iran and North Korea (with which  the vile Moscow also maintains good relations!).

„Oral Evidences”

Russia is therefore a threat that the West must absolutely defend from – but at the same time Russians have some inexplicable paranoia that makes her see only aggressive actions from the West, when it (just because of pure friendship and to maintain old hopes) – tries to change the Russian political system. So, it is impossible to understand what these paranoid Russians are mad about!

But to make understanding easier – one of the recommendations of the Report is to block completely “Russian disinformation tools”, including RT and Sputnik. Reading and hearing these two media seems to be the main activity of the authors of the entire document, non-stop referring to "oral evidences", that is, their own TV appearances exposing that something was said or written in the Russian media about BREXIT or the independence of Scotland. Anyway, the very fact that the news media, which have their headquarters in Moscow, inform about anything - seems to reporters not only suspicious, but it is also a certain proof of the ominousness of the Russian threat!

New Red Scare

Despite the appearance of typical Western madness for the use of the public - the findings of the Report cannot be approached dismissively, however. As some observers point out (such as the popular Scottish left-wing portal - Counter) the whole action strongly reminds the Red Scare from the times of Thatcher and Reagan, when in the West every independent movement (especially trade-unions and anti-war) was terrorized.

Moreover, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson has disposed of the very innocent even suggestion of Russian interest in BREXIT while the fragments about the financial ties of old British money (whose holders often sit in the House of Lords) with new Russian capitals were also treated discretional (after all, gentlemen don't talk about money in public ...) - the Report is clearly used to attack Scottish independence aspirations, including the discrediting of those activists of the national movement who are against the membership of free Scotland in NATO

The American Aircraft Carrier Is Sinking

It is a blow at a very sensitive moment, during the registration of new independence parties in Scotland, preparing for the final victory in next year's elections to the national parliament and forcing London to a referendum on the dissolution of the Anglo-Scottish union imposed three hundred years ago.

It is no coincidence that the Scottish nationalist blog The Black Saltire reacted most consciously to the attacks based on the Report, saying: "Russians or anyone from outside influenced the 2014 referendum? Nae bother [no problem]! So let's vote again… ”. According to all recent polls, 54% of respondents consistently support the independence of Scotland. At the same time - 49 percent of English people want... independence of England, that means withdraw from Scotland, Northern Ireland, even Wales and deal with solving internal problems, instead of playing the Empire 75 years too late.

Someone (that is, not only the authors of the report, openly associated with the American war hawks, but also their British sponsors and promoters) wants to return to the Cold War, wants to use "Russian threat" to reorganize the UK political scene. Finally, it wants to defend the position of the United Kingdom as a land carrier in the service of the United States. Even if it were to sink in this role.