Real interference in Scotland's affairs emanates from London not Tehran

By John Wight

It has now reached the point where an election in the UK without allegations of foreign interference would not be a proper election. This time round it’s not Russia being accused of attempting to influence voters, it is Iran, with the election in question the upcoming Scottish elections on May 6.

This particular election, which will determine the political composition of the devolved Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, is easily the most important since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999. Because if, as expected, current Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is re-elected on a solid mandate, and the pro-independence party she leads, the Scottish National Party (SNP), achieves an overall majority, then the prospect of the break-up of the UK moves a crucial step closer.

This is why the UK political establishment is so unnerved. And this is what lies at the root of the claims of attempts by Tehran to influence the outcome.

In an article which appeared in The Times newspaper – ‘Iran interference in Scottish elections causing serious concerns’ – it is alleged that ‘Cyber specialists acting for Tehran have targeted voters on Twitter and Facebook by creating fake pro-independence accounts and groups, according to research by the Henry Jackson Society (HJS).’

It’s also claimed in the same ‘report’ that this activity is being conducted at arms-length from the Iranian government to allow Tehran's leaders to deny responsibility.

First thing first, let us take a moment to understand the Henry Jackson Society (HJS). This organization is less a thinktank and more a swamp in which fanaticism resides. Home to the most extreme imperialists, ideologues and reactionaries anywhere in the West, we are talking people who are determined to make of the world, per Tacitus, a desert in the name of Western hegemony and call it peace, and what’s more are willing to fight to the last drop of other people’s blood in order to do so.

Daily, the HJS spews out a deluge of pro-Western propaganda, defending the indefensible such as the destruction of Iraq, Britain’s ignoble alliance with Saudi Arabia, regime change in Syria, while being a key plank of the apartheid lobby in the UK, whose function is to support the dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian people and demonize anyone, such as former leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, who dares voice support for Palestinian human rights.

The gall involved in anyone in the UK accusing Iran of interfering in its internal affairs is literally off the scale, given London’s own malign legacy when it comes to interfering in the internal affairs of Iran and most every country in the Middle East and further afield.

Specifically, when it comes to Iran, the most glaring example of British interference was its role in the 1953 coup that succeeded in overthrowing the country’s then prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh, per his democratic mandate from the Iranian people, had the temerity to believe that Iranian oil should by right belong to Iran and be utilized in the service of the Iranian people.

The British and their American partner in this crime believed otherwise, and set in train the decades long rule of the country by the brutal tyrant Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which succeeded in toppling Pahlavi from his UK and Western-supported throne, London in conjunction with its regional allies has worked to undermine Iran’s sovereignty and independence. Under Thatcher, for example, the UK government secretly supplied Saddam Hussein with weapons during the Iran-Iraq War. This is despite its official position of neutrality and despite signing up to a UN Security Council resolution against doing anything to escalate and widen the conflict.

When it comes to media, the BBC World Service, funded by the UK Foreign Office, broadcasts in multiple languages, including Persian, providing a platform for Iranian dissidents up to and including individuals the Iranian authorities consider to be terrorists.

The wider point is that in this age of global media, social media, and the internet the domination of the narrative by the West is being challenged as never before. As a result of this clash of ideas not democracy but hegemony is under threat, which in the eyes of any right-thinking person can only be a good thing.

Not so in the eyes of the denizens over at the HJS, of course, but then I did say ‘right-thinking’ people.

Voters in Scotland are not idiots. They are not unthinking drones whose political views are capable of being shaped by memes or posts on Twitter and Facebook. The rise in support for Scottish independence has little if anything to do with Iran or Russia, it has everything to do with a Tory establishment that has always regarded Scotland less as a partner nation in the UK and more of a northern province of the UK.

Illegal wars, austerity, growing poverty, inequality, homelessness, foodbanks, Brexit, a state underpinned by archaic semi-feudal institutions, these are the drivers of independence in Scotland not Iran or any other country.

As things stand, the only malign influence in Scotland is a Tory establishment that a majority of Scots have long considered an alien presence. As such, independence cannot come soon enough.

This promises to be reflected in the results of the upcoming Scottish elections on May 6.

John Wight is an author and political commentator based in Scotland.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

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