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Scotland.An SNP seeking independence aren’t going to antagonise the US by “forcing” the Royal Navy out of Faslane. The Trident program is a strategic and commercial asset for the US and NATO.Of course as of right now they aren’t going to mention that as they seek to force another referendum. Trident and Faslane will be used by the SNP as a bargaining chip to extract long term financial commitments from the UK. It’s not that an independent Scotland can’t succeed but a good many analysts dispute the SNP’s rose tinted view of a nuclear free life without the Bank of England.It should be noted that under current regulations/statutes in the US, the MoD would not be permitted to continue using Scottish ship yards because an independent Scotland doesn’t qualify under the existing agreements signed by the US and UK that protect US defence tech and intellectual property.Clyde ship building is almost entirely dependent upon UK defence contracts as is the economy in and around the naval installations at Faslane.Though it would entail significant disruption and cost, the transfer of ship building to Belfast, Liverpool and Devonport etc. is nonetheless relatively straightforward as is the likely arrangements for any movement of the skilled workforce between Scotland and the UK.Any speculation about Scottish EU membership would by any reasonable assessment involve many years of negotiation (post application) and is very far from guaranteed, just look at the much wealthier and strategically important Turkey. Long gone are the days of impoverished developing nations like Spain, Portugal, Greece etc. being welcomed in and in receipt of attractive infrastructure loans from the European Bank. The 2008 crash and subsequent chaos killed that particular cash cow.

Disclaimer: I'm English and therefore have no skin in the Scottish independence game: I don't care either way - this is entirely a matter for the Scots. My answer is based entirely on anecdotal evidence, mainly conversations with the few Scots I know (who are all living and working in England, so inevitably pro-Union).Scotland can certainly be a successful independent country. No issues there - let's kill that nonsense from the off.However, the SNP needs to improve enormously the marketing of the independence proposition to regular voters. Here are three areas where they could startCurrency. Pick one, and stick with it. I humbly suggest they pick the Euro, since their ultimate destiny is to be an enthusiastic EU member. Point to Ireland - comparable country in many ways, rich, successful, and a Euro member bordering a Sterling country. That's a clear and logical choice, and avoids the whole “Bank of England will set your interest rate" line of attack. The ECB will set Scotland's interest rate, but that's the ultimate plan, so that becomes a dead-end for the media. More credible than talking about a Scottish pound which would have zero backing on day one, and likely sink like a stone.EU membership. Talk to the EU, and prepare the membership application, in considerable detail. Lots to offer the EU - huge fishing and oil resources, renewable energy - heck, throw in the whisky and haggis if need be. Be crystal clear whether a hard border will be required with England, (it will), and be straight about that when asked. Don't apologise: there are two railway lines and about 25 road crossings into England, so it's not difficult to shut off some roads and put border posts at the rest. The railways can operate like Eurostar between London and the EU as regards customs and border procedures; fairly simple. This is not a border that’s going to be politically difficult like Ireland's, merely a political choice.Citizenship. Will the 800,000 Scots living and working in England retain their voting and residency rights in Scotland? What will their status be in England/Wales/NI? My acquaintances have said they'd apply for r-UK citizenship, but I'm sure they are atypical in this respect. Passports and the question as to whether Scots foreign status in England would mean they need work visas will be a worry for many families. Nothing the SNP can do about that, other than to sell hard the EU citizenship line.This list is of course far from exhaustive, and isn't meant to be. I haven't commented on the raging Scottish fiscal deficit since I don't have precise figures, and this is always the subject of dispute as to its cause. Neither defence, (the r-UK will need to beef that up with Scotland a foreign country, move Faslane, Royal Navy shipbuilding etc.) and of course huge cultural ties will need to be severed sensitively and minimally.These are three issues I akways hear mentioned when conversation turns to Indyref 2.0 among friends and family. The message to the SNP is to present a far more thoroughly researched and polished presentation, or you'll lose to the inevitable Project Fear. Clearly you can't negotiate in advance with London because we'll simply give you a terrible deal to take back as the EUdid to Cameron. However, the EU will be receptive, if only to score a point against London in the Brexit saga.This is a unique window for the SNP, so it'll be interesting to see how they play it. Definitely their last chance for 50 years, barring nuclear war or asteroid strike. High stakes.

I. Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH)Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) aims to provide the medical community and society with objective findings of unethical and illegal organ harvesting. Organ harvesting, the removal of organs from a donor, without obtaining prior free and voluntary consent, is considered a crime against humanity, as well as a threat to medical science in general.About DAFOHDAFOH is founded and organized by medical doctors of various specialties from all over the world. Full membership is intended for medical doctors and medical professionals who recognize the necessity to stop the practices of illegal organ harvesting and will be granted after approval. Non-medical professionals can sign in as supporters.Membership is free and can be applied via email to [email protected] or by using the online Membership Application Form.Unethical Organ HarvestingIntroductionStarting in March 2006, three independent witnesses have publicly stated that some hospitals in China remove organs from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners without obtaining their prior consent. The witnesses further stated that the unwilling victims had been incarcerated in facilities that resemble detention centers or concentration camps. Their tissue compatibility was systematically analyzed and stored in data banks. This process allowed Chinese transplant surgeons to provide donor organs including kidney, heart, pancreas, liver, skin, and cornea on short notice. Publicly accessible websites of some of these transplant centers promised to provide donor organs within 2-4 weeks, in some cases even within 2 days. In Western countries, the waiting time for organs usually amounts to several years.The website of the Tianjin Oriental Organ Transplantation Center has documented the increase of liver transplants in a chart, which might serve as example for the expansion of the transplant medicine.Since March 2006, a large amount of evidence surrounding the practice of systematic government-sanctioned involuntary organ removals from incarcerated victims that are primarily Falun Gong practitioners has been collected and published. Overall the collected information reinforces the reliability of aspects of previous allegations.The Western understanding of free and voluntary organ donations does not apply to the situation at hand. According to the allegations, in China, the international standards of organ donation are turned upside down and organ recipients are not added to a waiting list until a suitable donor can be identified; rather, the potential organ donors are incarcerated, forming a sort of living organ donor “reservoir”. Their lives are in immediate jeopardy, as soon as their tissues are found to be compatible with an interested organ recipient and their organs are removed without consent. This type of transplantation “on demand” and “for profit” is unprecedented and needs to be investigated.Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting makes an additional distinction between organ harvesting from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners and organ harvesting from executed prisoners, which has been known to occur in China since late 1980s. In the latter case, the individual is sentenced to death due to a violation of the law, and the organs are removed after execution. Although this form of organ harvesting is itself of questionable morality, it is not yet in the same category as harvesting organs from innocent living Falun Gong practitioners, described in the Kilgour & Matas Report.The latter involves the murder of individuals detained as prisoners of conscience as part of a state sanctioned persecution of Falun Gong. These individuals did not violate the law and were not charged in judicial courts or sentenced by trial, they are innocent victims because the Chinese government persecutes the Falun Gong movement without having the slightest reason to sentence the individuals. Their organs are removed and sold for profit with the ensuing death of the involuntary donor. Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting holds that this form of execution is part of the persecution of Falun Gong and is tantamount to premeditated murder with associated robbery.It is important to appreciate that the very nature of secret concentration camps operating inside totalitarian regimes like China where the flow of information is entirely government-controlled, makes it difficult to uncover their inner workings because they remain inaccessible to outside investigators. Nevertheless, the extent of the amassed circumstantial evidence, combined with the uncontested severity of the allegations, demands that Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting takes action to raise awareness about these practices, and to call for additional investigations.Forced Organ Harvesting in ChinaThe harvesting of organs from executed prisoners in China started in 1984 when a law was implemented in China that allowed the practice. The public first became aware of this practice following the testimony of Dr. Wang Guoqi to the U.S. Congress in 2001. Worldwide, organ harvesting from executed prisoners is banned as unethical.In 2006, first witnesses and then the Kilgour & Matas Report alleged that organs were harvested from living prisoners of conscience, mostly from detained Falun Gong practitioners. The data suggest that organ procurement was “on demand” because organs were harvested without acceptable consent and the donors were killed in the process.Phone interviews by David Kilgour and David Matas revealed that in 17 locations in China, organs were procured from detained Falun Gong practitioners. This suggests that organ harvesting in China is a widespread, systematic, state-sanctioned atrocity.In their book Bloody Harvest, they quote a phone recording in 2006 of a doctor from a Chinese hospital who confirms that the hospital uses ‘fresh, live’ organs from Falun Gong practitioners:Caller: I want to know how long [the patients] have to wait [for a liver transplant].Dr. Dai: The supply of organs we have, we have every day. We do them every day.Caller: We want fresh, alive ones.Dr. Dai: They are all alive, all alive…Caller: I heard some come from those who practise Falun Gong, those who are very healthy.Dr. Dai: Yes, we have. I can’t talk clearly to you over the phone.Caller: If you can find me this type, I am coming very soon.Dr. Dai: It’s ok. Please come.II. Home 2015Who We areThe International Coalition to End Organ Pillaging in China is a coalition of lawyers, medical professionals and human rights advocates dedicated to ending organ trafficking in and from China. The Coalition is committed to highlighting the human rights abuses committed in China and to bringing these issues to the attention of the public and policy makers.Governments should enact measures to criminalize the purchase of trafficked organs at home or abroad. They could also require reporting of ‘organ tourism’, ban entry of those involved in trafficking organs, and prohibit their pharmaceutical companies from doing transplant field tests and clinical trials in China.Responsible business people should reduce trade and investment in China until its government ceases organ trafficking. As Beijing has also directed all of its embassies to spread hatred and false information against Falun Gong, how can anyone continue to do business as usual? In so doing, they are financing and nurturing a party-state, which pillages organs from its citizens for commercial purposes.FoundersDAVID MATAS Author / Human Rights Lawyer +1 204-944-1831David Matas has been actively involved as Director of the International Defence & Aid Fund for South Africa in Canada, Director of Canada-South Africa Cooperation, Co-chair Canadian Helsinki Watch Group, Director Manitoba Association of Rights & Liberties, Amnesty International, B’nai Brith Canada, the Canadian Bar Association, the International Commission of Jurists, Canadian Jewish Congress, and Canadian Council for Refugees and he has represented Lai Changxing in his extradition proceedings.DAVID KILGOUR Author / Former Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific+1613-747-7854David Kilgour is co-chair of the Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran, past chair of the Latin America and Caribbean policy working group of the Ottawa branch of the Canadian International Council, a director of the Washington-based Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD), a Fellow of the Queen’s University Centre for the Study of Democracy, a director of the New York-based NGO Advancing Human Rights and a director of the Ottawa Mission Foundation.ETHAN GUTMANN Author / Investigative JournalistEthan Gutmann’s research into Chinese Internet surveillance, the Laogai System, and the intersection of Western business with Chinese security objectives has received sustained attention for almost 15 years now. Ethan Gutmann has provided testimony and briefings to Congress, the Central Intelligence Agency, Geneva’s International Society for Human Rights, the United Nations, and the parliaments of Brussels, Ottawa, and Canberra. More recently its been Dublin, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Westminster. Ethan Gutmann has spoken at universities and press clubs around the world. Once a year he’s asked to supply soundbites for a television network: PBS, CNN, BBC, or CNBC.Home 2015Books - Can be bought from Amazon.#The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problemby Ethan Gutmann#State Organs: Transplant Abuse in Chinaby David Matas#Bloody Harvest: Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in Chinaby David Matas & David Kilgour#Why Did You Do That?: The Autobiography of a Human Rights Advocateby David Matas#AN UPDATE TO ‘BLOODY HARVEST’ & ‘THE SLAUGHTER’Read the full report at this below link:http://endorganpillaging.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Bloody_Harvest-The_Slaughter-June-23-V2.pdfTwo more articles on Epochtimes for a further reading as below:Interview With Ethan Gutmann, Co-author of New China Organ Harvesting ReportReport Reveals Vast State-Run Industry to Harvest Organs in China—————————————————————————Whenever people asked me how something like this horrible happened or still happening in China … I fully understand their feelings. Because as a normal and kind human being, no one can imagine or believe what is happening over there …To answer this question, we have to know what is Falun Gong, what is CCP and why the persecution and the forced organ harvesting crime. We can’t get to the right judgement without probing these aspects.Falun Dafa | Falun Gong | 法轮大法 | 法轮功The Official Source on Falun Gong and the Human Rights Crisis in ChinaEnglishThe Epoch Times - Breaking news, independent China news