I spend somewhere between one-third and a quarter of each year in Dubai, UAE. The reason is simple: both my children and all my grandchildren live there. My oldest granddaughter was fortunately out of the country when the US and Israel started their unprovoked attack on Iran. She is as safe as anyone can be in London right now.

I have been going to Dubai now for over 22 years since my daughter and her husband first moved there. Like so many Scots before them, they left Scotland in search of a better life, with greater prospects. My son followed four years later. Three of my grandchildren were born in the UAE, the other two–one in Lyon, France, and my middle granddaughter in the RAI, Paisley.

My children have prospered there; both own their own businesses. Their standard of living is far greater than anything they could have achieved by remaining in the Scottish colony. I am not the only grandparent in this position. So many of you have similar stories to tell of your children leaving Scotland for London or Australia, Canada, and numerous other places throughout the world in search of a better life. It is one of the reasons why I am so passionate about independence. I do not want other parents/grandparents to feel this kind of loss; it hurts. It is a dull, empty feeling in the gut that never stops.

It wasn’t the Scottish climate that forced them to emigrate; it was the lack of opportunity. The lack of visionaries in our governments that are able to bring hope to the masses. The English empire on the British Isles has never been about the many; it has always been about the few. There is a mistaken belief that in Scotland we live in a democracy. The fact that we get a few chances every other year or so to vote in gerrymandered elections is to make the masses believe the lie. The Union is still a feudal, class-conscious entity where those that inherited wealth have pulled up the drawbridge to prevent the proletariat joining them. Some successful financial spivs and foreign billionaires do sometimes get invited in, but never, ever into the inner circle. That is an exclusive club for old money, not for anyone that actually worked for their wealth.

These are the ; same people that actually run the politicians and civil servants. They control the media, the arts, the institutions, the NGOs, the charities, ever meaningful aspect of UK society. They throw out royal baubles every so often to the peasants, again for purely appearances’ sake. Control is all about fooling all of the people all of the time. Sadly, it works; bread and circuses keep all the people of the British Union compliant and docile.It is easier for them to transfer the nations wealth into their offshore bank accounts,

However, there is a glimmer of light in all this darkness. The events of the past week might just be the catalyst for radical global change. If this happens, the few in all western nations will lose out and the many may just get a break and better lives.

This unprovoked attack on the sovereign state of Iran is already beginning to look like an American disaster. They used their Gulf nation bases to attack Iran. The attack by the US and Israel broke international law. Keep that in mind as the state media apparatus and the broadcasters try to blame Iran for this war, on this occasion they are the innocent victim of this war.

The US by using these bases in the GCC to attack Iran, made the same bases and countries legitimate and legal targets for Iran. Again, do not allow the establishment and their media puppets to tell you anything different.

When originally negotiating for these bases in the Gulf,  the US will have, as part of the agreement, promised to defend these structures and the nation-states housing their military. The Americans love to boast and brag, none more so, than the orange daftie. “We are the strongest, best military the earth has ever seen! Nobody will be able to attack you or bomb your nations with us having these bases in your countries”

What a false boast that has turned out to be. The Gulf countries are finding out all this American bravado was just that. It has not made these nations safe; indeed, the exact opposite, they have found out the hard way that believing that the US cares or can protect your nation is a fiction. They are protecting Israel and the Epstein files. They view the destruction in the Gulf States as merely collateral damage, something to ignore and brush off as unimportant.

When this war ends, as all wars do, whether in victory for Iran or another lost war for America is irrelevant. Nations throughout the world with US bases now will have to decide if it is worthwhile having the US military based in their countries or if it is safer to ask them to leave. People will note that since 1945 the USA has played 41 away bombings and not seen a single foreign bomb hit their shores.

Those of you that have not been to UAE should understand this about the region. What the Emiratis have achieved there is nothing short of a miracle. From a barren desert land, they have built the eighth wonder of the world. A place that in modern times surpasses even Rome in its heyday. They have built cities and towns from nothing to vibrant modern luxurious, well-serviced entities. They have ensured everything from schools, hospitals, roads, and office blocks are the most advanced and most spectacular of anywhere else on the planet. This was done from almost scratch after the imperial British left to the present day. I am struck every time I return by the latest investment in infrastructure that just rises out of the desert as if by magic.This is key to their prosperity, investment in the nation’s infrastructure to create jobs,opportunity and better lives for those that choose to live there. The exact opposite of the UK and western ‘democracies’ who view investing in infrastructure without profit for the few distasteful.

Before I start getting comments about conditions for workers, etc let me say this; no country is perfect. All nations have problems and unfair practices or underclasses. That is not to minimise or deflect from my main point. This modern-day miracle now is at a critical stage of its development. The same wise heads that had the vision of UAE need to assess is being an ally of USA and Israel a risk or a reward?

As the title says, If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas. However, the best ever quote came from a famous naturalised American Henry Kissinger.

 

The world is changing rapidly. This unprovoked attack may just speed up the transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world. Like all empires, the US is ending in hubris, depravity, debauchery, greed and corruption. The same reasons all empires finally end! Our own governmrnts in both Edinburgh and London shame us by not condemning this act of US/Israeli aggression. Because, it is a fact, and ironic that an American, Abraham Lincoln famously said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

That could become the epitaph for the US hegemony!