As Others See Us: the world wakes up to the "spectre" of post-Brexit Scottish independence

The "spectre" of Scottish independence has been raised time and time again in international coverage of this month's referendum on leaving the European Union.

This week's Der Spiegel

France TV this week headlined on the prospect of Brexit leading to Scotland leaving the UK. "Nicola Sturgeon has announced that it would be unacceptable for Scotland to be thrown out of the EU against its will by the English," it reported. "As a consequence, she has threatened the British Government over and over again that she will organise a new referendum on independence."

Cue a repeat of those old debates about how easy it would be for Scotland to stay in the EU after Brexit and independence. And cue - again - the assumption that a way would be found. "In practice, it seems that if Scotland asked for accession to the EU, it would benefit from an accelerated procedure for entry," concluded France TV.

France TV on Cameron worrying about his state's dismemberment

France TV was following a well-worn path of news stories on this theme. And, of course, the London correspondents of world media outlets are taking their lead from the warnings - dismissed as scaremongering by Brexiteers - of politicians such as John Major and Tony Blair on Scottish independence following a Leave vote this month.

The Irish Times, for example, headlined on "Cameron frets over Scottish independence vote" in its Brexit coverage. (Media in the Irish Republic, facing the prospect of an EU frontier with the north, is firmly focussed on June 23. This week The Irish Times ran a header saying "Ireland is at ‘frontline’ of states exposed to Brexit". Mr Major and Mr Blair had also warned that Brexit posed a threat to the Northern Ireland peace process.)

READ MORE: How Scots poured cold water on indyref2 at Holyrood elections - at least according to overseas press

Russia's Federal News Agency stressed British angst over the prospect of Scottish independence following Brexit. "Great Britain fears losing Scotland after Brexit," it declared, citing UK news outlets.

In Spain, Madrid's ABC, always staunchly unionist, watching this week's TV debates said Cameron had "recognised for the first time that Brexit could add to pressure for Scottish independence". Catalonia's La Vanguardia, like many other publications, highlighted the interventions of Mr Major and Mr Blair on the "ruptura" or break-up of the United Kingdom after a Brexit vote.

ABC: "Blair and Major warn that Brexit could break up the UK"

John Major

Such stories have been doing the rounds for months, certainly since the SNP kept power in May's Scottish elections. The Washington Post last month headlined that "A British vote to leave the E.U. could shatter the United Kingdom".

"The spectre of secession again looms over the lush green expanse of the British isles," it reported from Edinburgh.

"If Britain chooses to ditch the E.U. despite a vote to stay from the Euro-friendly Scots, nationalist leaders here say they will revive the push for an independent nation in order to keep Scotland inside Europe.

"And they think that the second time around, they would win."

The Washington Post - perhaps reflecting wider US establishment concerns with constant constitutional risk-taking in the UK - was pretty hard on Prime Minister David Cameron's stance.

Correspondent Griff Witte wrote: "The potential for a British exit from the E.U. to reawaken the push for Scottish independence reflects just how much Cameron’s strategy may have backfired. Instead of laying the issues to rest, critics say, he may have unleashed the age of the 'neverendum' — a prolonged period of turbulence that does not stop until the public votes to take Britain out of Europe and split Scotland from the United Kingdom."

Mr Witte also had a bash at explaining to Americans why Scots did not share the Euroscepticism of the English.

"Scotland has long had a close affiliation with continental Europe, going so far as to side with the French in wars against the English," he said. "As citizens of a small nation, Scots see membership in a broader European community as a comfort; the English are more likely to see rival power centres on the continent as a threat."

Washington Post

But there are close UK watchers who - like the SNP itself - see problems in Brexit for independence. "Brexit will push Scottish nationalism up a blind alley," declared Andrea Pipino in Italy's Internazionale. Why? Because warning that Brexit could lead to another referendum could "boomerang" - prompting nationalists to vote against the EU. He added: "A Europsceptic victory in Scotland would undermine the proverbial - if, in truth, recent - claimed Europeanness of Scots.

"Independence supporters, therefore, find themselves up a blind alley where not only their principles clash with their political objectives but where every strategy has potentially negative consequences."

Internazionale

Some European "anti-nationalists" such as Basque socialist Ramón Jáuregui have equated Euroscepticism in parts of northern Europe, including the UK, with separatist movements such as the SNP. Repeating a widely held view that Scottish independence following Brexit could provoke Catalan independence supporters, he described nationalism as a "real disease", referring to it as the "the metastasis of the European project". Nationalism, he said, now comes in three types: separatists trying to create new states; unionists trying to stop them; and Eurosceptics.

Back at Der Spiegel, the warnings on Brexit could not be more stark. The Germans, the magazine suggested, will get tough after Brexit. Wolfgang Schäuble, the country's foreign minister, signalled that an isolationalist Britain could not expect to enjoy the access to the EU market currently on offer to Switzerland and Norway. "It would require the country to abide by the rules of a club from which it currently wants to withdraw." he said. "In is in. Out is out."