i don't welcome one says a shevardnadze and today we're away from our usual moscow studio where in a very special setting astonishingly beautiful shetland isles off the northeast coast of scotland for the north sea. you will find the shetland isles and there is a way harris said talk to the first scottish minister alexander salmond about the defining point of every land it's seventeen it's mr salmond's flagship policy to see scotland become independent from the united kingdom one of the benefits and the drawbacks let's take a look. and appealing

sounds to at least a third of the country's four million voters who want to the three hundred year old political union. who dares break with history to pay less to a foreign pocket retain its share of resource riches hundred it's environment of nuclear friction yes many believe strength lies in the union as referendum countdown begins in earnest focus is turning to the key players in the campaign the leaders the media and london's reach. will take the high road and rebuild hadrian's. we talk to alex salmond the first minister of scotland on his personal and political quest for sovereignty. aleksandr salmond the first scottish minister thank you very much for being with r.t. today i would great pleasure to be to be here what delight to have you fill me in

scope so you have sat recently and this is your quote the political union does not work for scotland anymore hell scotland back and imperils our future what is so wrong with remaining within the u.k. . democratic. i'm fifty years old. if for two thirds of my life scotland has not had the governments we vote for for two thirds of my entire lifetime scotland has voted in one direction england has voted in a different direction and because it was so much logical scotland we end up with a government in westminster which is not chosen by the scottish people so the first argument is the sense that democratic one that nations and scotland's a nation have a right to self-determination and the second argument is about what you do with that book you see i think it's a pretty universal law anytime anywhere anyplace but the best people to govern the

country the best people to choose how a country should be governed of the people who live and work in that country i think that applies everywhere and i think it certainly applies to sculp well you're only fourteen months away from the referendum does it worry you a little that that the majority of scots do not want independence from k. and for the last five years the polls haven't changed that. well if it comes to opinion polls or when i was reelected to useable by an absolute majority in a proportional system as to the scope and the boat three months before the election i was twenty percent behind in the opinion polls i ended up almost twenty percent in front in the opinion poll so i think polls change usually the change in our favor what will change the polls as people get more information about this about the concept of the opportunity of independents than before yes how do we know

this because if you poll the people who say we have enough information and we already understand the issues then by a majority these people are voting yes so as we get more information out to the public of scotland then the trend will be there yes direction and would love to be twenty percent from here. probably would do i think we're going to win the f.a. member yes we will think so absolutely we're not talking about the positive sides in case scotland gets independence it would actually hold ninety five percent of you case current oil and gas reserves that is of course if that's divide it geometrically from the british. while the powers that be in london the old guard would ever allow that to happen but i do have serious the contest over the there's no choice basically because the rest of the north sea is divided on equidistance the principle that you outlined if you were to divide it incidentally by the

current jurisdiction the legal jurisdiction because scotland has a sort of legal system even more. those would be ninety nine percent as opposed to by people. lane has been in the wind for the rest of the countries over the north sea for norway for denmark but i wouldn't accept that there is no choice but to do or not basis and that point is no longer seriously contested and of course there are difficulties in terms because the little that's a great asset for scola normally they will end wholesale value worth one point five thousand thousand million pounds over the next half century or so but of course the liabilities of united kingdom the u.k. is enormous national day to the if accumulated so we will have to accept provided of course we have a share of assets sheriff the national dead so there are pros and cons but the balance of advantage is overwhelmingly on the independents. you know i've been

travelling a lot around here up lately and talking to people especially in the central part of the western europe and people there fail back they hear a crisis that they would be so much better off alone without this the regulations and constrictions doesn't depend is really make much difference for scotland if it is part of you with or without u.k. membership or i think it's heavily does mean i'm in favor of being part of the of the european union i think independence is about control of your finances control few resources in the case of oil and resources in scotland but also control of your revenue if you control your revenue and therefore control your spending and how to distribute that revenue move the population then you are a genuinely independent country with independence which in the european union scotland would control one hundred percent all of its revenue base would decide how to spend its finances currently we have allowed control of less than ten percent of

our revenue base in the scottish parliament therefore ten percent is not independence one hundred percent even independence within europe is independence why. he want independent scotland to retain pound sterling right but if you continue to use currency without u.k. authority what scotland have a lender of last resort proposal is to have a joint arrangement that had to have an agreed couple say union you know stanley is as much i couldn't say as it's been the bank of england was founded by a scot so we'll be seeing. lots and lots of things for the world to be offended by scots but the point i'm making is the ship comes at the present moment doesn't belong to england it doesn't belong to george osborne the chancellor is part of the assets of the united kingdom but the point is quite simple we are prepared to take a share of assets and a share of liabilities in the way both these are huge but if of course he was to

argue as he suggests he might we can have a share of assets of the common currency then by definition we don't have a share of the liabilities and the liabilities for the data can be huge the many international precedents for example the breakup of the soviet union will be newly independent countries did not by negotiation end up paying the national debt of the soviet union so the belongs to london the present moment if they are to persuade us to accept a share which we are willing to do the new only basis in which we'll do it is if we have a share of the assets as well you can't of one with the other because of the bond with a penny and that is why incidentally the after the yes vote for independence will be no difficulty from london about sharing a common currency adam burke is you case second largest city financially in case becomes independent could you see it challenge london is something you would like to see well i think that would be a very real possibility if england were to leave the european union.

that is a live possibility that in the believe european union i think that the effect of england leaving the european union after scottish independence would be that many headquarter companies would move to scope i think would be very unwise for good to leave the european union but you know that's a choice for the people of england to make that's their choice and their legitimacy so you can see a sucker stance will be what i will say that it would get more headquarters on the circumstance but i should say this goes five sets a very strong and very able and particular in the things it does best asset management the long term investment trusts pension funds the long term investment or people's money or corporate money as opposed to the much more fanatic market driven. financial dealings of the of the city of london so to a great extent a skull should continue to do what we do best and that is to manage people's money carefully in long term investments and build up that special someone asset

management which is proving so enormously successful slow with companies the managing and growing like aberdeen asset management for example but any major political transformation such as becoming independent from the u.k. in your case really needs a lot of spending how much would it cost scotland to be independent how much would it cost once got to become independent it will be benefits from scott becoming on the ballot let's take the last five years just for example in the last five years scotland has contributed more by eight million pounds sterling relative to london than we received back again that is the the relative surface between scotland and london. million poems as well. who won one thousand six hundred pounds of disco so it's going to be independent over the last five years that every scot be one of those at six under par which i know it's not just about finance of course i mean the reason for scott becoming in the. that is

not that would be richer the reason for scott becoming independent the scope of the nation the nation should be self-governing they govern the feels better than allowing someone else to do it for them but who was a balance sheet calculation then it's very much in favor of scotia independence but can you tell me exactly what is difference between the devil marx and. as far as i'm concerned north most of the scots there saying you know we're fine as long as there is more power to the scottish parliament within the u.k. plus when it control over taxation and welfare why go through so much trouble for much and i say not come because westminster won't see control over our economy and welfare they've said no to that they've rejected that they say this far and no for will they will not will not concede control over scottish. or major natural resources or will how to pursue the licensing for renewable energy which is you know we've got a quarter one quarter of the potential read in renewable energy of the whole

continent if you put scotland and we don't have control over the licensing provisions for the amazing natural resource to london will not concede that that's why we've got a democratic opportunity to refashion relationship among the many things we're doing to keep we want to control economy we want to decide on more government but we're perfectly happy with the union of the cones for example we want to keep the royal family home the queen as head of state but then a much the queen is head of state of sixteen countries at the present moment it was scotland then it should be head to seventeen countries if we think about the history of scope and scope of the new england shared the same monarch when the scottish king became king of england for one hundred years while scotland and england were independent countries for all of the seventeenth century scott in that they would work independent countries that shared the same monarch so that's a perfectly easy thing to do in the modern world still you do see that her majesty queen as head of state as will an independent scotland so. continue to share what

is valuable and important the social union between scotland england so as people can travel freely between the countries can visit the friends and families that people from london can come and walk in and shetland and people from scotland can go to work in newcastle all of that will stay and remain as it should but we'll have control over who government and we'll have control over our finances and spending at least things other century. for talking to the first scottish minister alexander salmon here in a satellite in scotland we're taking a short break now we'll be right back.

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welcome back you're watching sophie and co and we are talking to alexander salmond the first scottish minister here in shetland isles scotland were talking about why scotland should get independence well talking about travelling crazily if you guys become independent as a part of e.u. you would actually have to open your university doors to all the british students who now pay nine thousand pounds a year does this this is where you get sick of the kind of costly for scotland well we believe we can maintain the coming to arrangement we've got legal advice to that effect but i don't and stella got more students coming to scott mr black. this year

because of the policies of the scottish cup we have a record number of scottish students studying in scottish higher education a record number of english students fleeing the high fees. buddy in scottish higher education and a record number of international students studying at scottish universities and colleges so we've got three records all in one year that's a great thing for scotland for scope that we face and it's a great thing for the scottish economy so i'm not worried about having more students understood to scotland that we can maintain a region which was a powerful if we're at the present moment that's the advice we've go what do you make of the recent claims that the u.k. defense ministry may simply designate their nuclear mabel basin for as a certain u.k. territory in case of a yes well of all of the exercises and project fear that the scaremongering campaign that was probably the least successful in the only lasted for two hours so the ministry of defense briefed the guardian newspaper and then doubting street

denied it within two hours of the paper being printed so that was a scare story whose life. was to our children and of all the scare stories and a deck of us nonce of the project feet of produced that was one of the least successful indeed probably the most spectacularly unsuccessful piece of monsoon the why why did they were dropped into a well of course they know the reaction of scotland to the suggestion they would try to and they call it to make it part of even the even the most fair haven't in scotland if there is such a thing we find objectionable the idea of you could have next part of the land of scotland that's why a life cycle of only two of us is a scare story what are you going to do with a because you don't want nuclear weapons but even if you wanted to it's not yours to use when you can to deal with that part well we're going to ask for it to be removed quickly under safely as possible and the emphasis on board we want to move

we want the timetable to be quick but we want to do it safe we will do what we don't want to have any risk to anyone by doing so. there are plenty of bests and stately in english ports in the so vague wooden four for vanguard submarines the difficulty is not bare for the submarines the difficulty is that we supplied with nuclear missiles of course resupply capability in both america and france and i think it's extremely unwise instantly i think would be ridiculous for the country of five and a quarter million people to have nuclear weapons i think would be unhelpful to the world community it's not going to be the case that scotland will host someone else's nuclear weapons very few countries do that unwise to do that so trident will have to be removed it's up to the people of england the people at westminster to decide whether they want to continue with a nuclear deterrent in my view to be very unwise to do so i think it's the most

phenomenal waste of money but i agree it's their decision but of course if they make that decision then of course they have to accept the consequences which is to feign some put it put it as well no the only reason that submarine will be odd it was his father we as the could think of from the the sentence a population no look scott was a peace loving country we want to cooperate if only a post would in favor of nato membership for example because our neighbor saw the need to bot. twenty five of the twenty countries in nato no nuclear countries and so we'll be a non-nuclear country biffen that most of the countries actually strive to be new care and that's why i'm asking if you become a world leader in case an independence then you know you're faced with countries like iran or north korea who could tomorrow having nuclear weapons and scotland not well i have to say i don't think in north korea. to try the threaten or attack scotland but let's remember the world has two hundred countries almost in it one

hundred ninety of them do not have nuclear weapons and depending how you calculate these things almost ten probably half. or probably some secretly i think i'd rather be one of the hundred ninety with weapons than one of the one full with nuclear weapons and there is absolutely no reason on earth that a country of five million people should possess nuclear weapons this would not be a good thing for perforation for the safety of the planet nobody seriously argues for that position i don't really want to enter into the debate a boat in with the nuclear weapons all i would say is this if you are actually justifying a nuclear dependent on the basis of no really and to come then you wouldn't want to try to steal when trident as a rule choice of nuclear system which frankly was designed by the british government to penetrate the defenses our own moscow that's what it was designed for it's not a deterrent against. or for that matter it's new that against the terrorist organization

so if you were persuaded in england of the argument of having a deterrent against iran then what you would choose is a deterrent of that sort of scale you go back to an all vulcan bomb or something you certainly wouldn't have a nuclear weapon system to renew it will cost one hundred thousand million pounds over its life cycle that would not be delivered you would choose. and certainly scotland doesn't want to engage in the sort of nuclear poker politics so the u.k. recently placed top on a global soft power survey do you worry that you're going to be left out because obviously you want the pardon you came stations they're actually attributing to that and you know i think we'll do far better projecting our own image of scotland we already do this and more divestment and we top the lead table not just for the u.k. but for europe as far as people coming in to invest in our country and we promote ourselves as scotland in terms of soft power when we don't claim to have we're not

going to have vast army so or navies or boehm or whatever that's not what we are we are in terms of soft power in terms of influence scotland is incredibly well placed with a country of five a quarter million people but there are not far off one hundred million people across this planet who either of scottish descent or have an affinity with scotland or or have a connection with scotland in terms of influence so this pilot scotland has a great deal of influence which will hopefully we'll be able to use for for good for promoting positively the case of scotland but also for doing what we can in the way that some of the scandinavian countries have done and tell him what norway for example in terms of being an honest broker to help to help solve difficult situations we'd like to do that we're willing to do and of course to the stars obligations to those on the planet who have nothing we already have built up an international development portfolio in scotland modest proportions no but something

with late to do a lot more off specializing perhaps in renewable energy which we have such an expertise in and water which we have a lot of. and therefore we look to. be welcomed into the community of nations as of the sponsible world so this is. what also the symbol of terms of influence agreed. of influence in terms of military power not very much but if i was offered the choice to be in a country with great influence or great military power then i would choose being a country with great influence what do you make of the b.b.c. coverage of your complaint having both in both places scotland and then the london paste operation i think. the chairman of the b.b.c. trust recently said he thought covering the referendum was the biggest challenge that the b.b.c. had ever faced. i think it has

a difficult challenge and i'm not sure that it's getting it right at the present moment. broadcasters by the nature usually an out of five more balanced newspapers and news triple don't have to be balanced nor should but broadcasters have to be very careful to be balanced but the b.b.c. finds scotland a challenge because so much of what they report for example on the network news or goes right across the u.k. and do this broadcast internationally they report for example scandals in the health service in england as if they were the scottish health service which is run quite separately education difficulties or lingual does if there were educational scope which is run totally separately so they find it very difficult and really feel the challenge to date of trying to differentiate the debate and position of scotland from the position living with only a b. that's understandable because you know the covering of country will hear more than

one hundred eighty five percent of the people stay in one country and the other fifteen percent will still stay in another three countries so perhaps they find it too difficult to challenge the law passed and said it was a greatest challenge it's not one that they're beating us yet and finally have you considered and thought about what your position may be in case of a no would you resign would you stay continue fighting for freedom but i totally interesting i been in politics for twenty five years or so and although i was one past the elections another one national life since i turned we've lost what i was doing on maybe the six politicians over. when you were an opposition and when i became a member of parliament at westminster we had three m.p.'s three out of a parliament six hundred fifty those very easy to be oppositionist to jump up and to be noticed because if you didn't jump up and nobody would pay any attention to

you whatsoever. when you want to lead a country. it's just a level to be positive to talk about the future to say what you're going to do a lot of people have and. you have to put the accent on the post of and you have to absolutely believe it with every fiber of your being so. listen well before the west another one of national action. lesson. every national election and that we think we are looking at the world we are approaching the people i'll take into the referendum campaign and one of the things you have to believe is you have to believe you're going to win and you have to believe it with every fiber of your being because if you are to persuade people if you are to have a conversation about the future you have to do it from the basis that we're going to win this referendum and scotland will become an independent country. thank you very much for this great talk a great pleasure thank you you are watching sophie and co our guest today was

alexander salmond thanks for watching and we will see you in our next edition. they were ready to do anything for their country to me is to love the country more than yourself if you join the military for any other reason that you're probably

not going to have a good day they were tools in the hands of the state now they live remembering the past which is impossible to get rid of. the war. but it ever good people get hurt. but i have heard good people be silent. a lot. but would prefer not to be sometimes i feel like. i should have died over there. because. i saw some people who died and. there is cheaper than therapy. on our.

economic ups and downs in the final months day but the deal sank i and the rest because i think the take it will be if briefly on a. lot of fun you will come and watch the polish face i think i feel. a pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm sure.

i'm going to. the eyes to the right two hundred seventy two the nose to the left two hundred eighty five. the british parliament rejects intervention in syria after the prime minister fails to convince lawmakers still launch war against president johnson. the u.s. is boosting its naval forces in the region saying it's ready to strike alone despite losing support of its closest ally. and more misery for sounds of stricken families in russia's far east where it's fear of the floodwaters which have devastated their towns and won't receive before winter.