On 7 January 2026, American authorities seized a Russian-flagged tanker in the North Atlantic Ocean. The US Coast Guard captured the Marinera between Iceland and Scotland, boarding the vessel and detaining its crew with logistical support from the British Royal Navy. The action, said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, was part of the armed maritime blockade Washington has imposed on Venezuela since December — which numerous UN experts have condemned as an “illegal use of force” which gravely endangers “the human right to life”.
In their efforts to enforce the Trump administration’s “total” embargo, American forces made use of two Scottish Government-owned airports. While at least three US military aircraft stopped over at Wick John O’Groats, others landed at Benbecula Airport in the Outer Hebrides. Asked in Holyrood about the use of Scotland’s public infrastructure to pursue US foreign policy objectives, the First Minister denied that he had any knowledge of the operation’s details but, nonetheless, backed the seizure. “If this is a measure to enforce agreed sanctions that were being circumvented by the use of this tanker, then I support that action,” said John Swinney. The SNP leader doubled down on this position three weeks later. On January 28, he told the Scottish Parliament that, “where international sanctions are applied”, his government is a “firm supporter of those actions being enforced”.
This explanation was at best ill-informed and at worst an outright lie. The Marinera was not subject to international sanctions, as the First Minister suggested, but rather the target of unilateral measures extra-territorially imposed by the United States. Consequently, just days after he had emphasised the importance of international law in the wake of America’s abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, John Swinney endorsed the enforcement of US national law in international waters.
Consensus on the legality of the Marinera’s seizure was quick to emerge. “There would appear to be no credible basis in law for this interdiction,” one expert told Declassified UK following the Marinera’s capture. This, however, was not enough for either opposition MSPs or members of the Scottish press to question the false foundations of the First Minister’s rationale.
The matter, however, did not end there. Following the 7 January Operation, the Marinera was moved to the Moray Firth off Burghead, where the 28-member crew remained for almost three weeks with no prospect of arrest or trial. On 26 January, after family members of the detained sailors launched legal action in Edinburgh’s Court of Session, Judge Lord Young granted an interim order preventing UK and Scottish authorities from removing the Marinera’s Captain from Scotland. Hours later, under the cover of darkness and in clear violation of Young’s interdict, the tanker’s captain, Avtandil Kalandadze, and first officer were quietly removed from Scottish jurisdiction by American forces. Aamer Anwar, who acted on behalf of Kalandadze’s wife, said it was “implausible” that the Scottish Government was unaware of these arrangements. “What has taken place is the effective removal of individuals from the Scottish jurisdiction in the face of live Judicial Review proceedings,” he said.
In recent weeks, politicians of all stripes have pointed to the case of the Marinera to illustrate how Scotland’s security can be undermined by foreign powers. Few, however, have directed their concerns Westward. Labour MP Torcuil Crichton, for example, argued that Scotland was now on the “front line” against Russia. John Swinney, meanwhile, called for British warships to be based in Scotland (a self-evidently contradictory statement for a supposed Scottish nationalist).
Scotland, as the seizure of the Marinera and its aftermath illustrate, is the vassal of a declining American empire – and our politicians can’t bring themselves to admit it. They prefer to ignore reality: Defending international law while embracing its destruction and clinging to the wreckage of a world order collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions.
If Mark Carney’s warning before the World Economic Forum was intended to serve as a wake-up call for Western liberals, Scotland’s political class wasn’t listening. Indeed, the Scottish Government is particularly poorly placed to respond to this moment of “rupture”. John Swinney’s SNP continue to aspire to the realisation of what Carney labelled “a pleasant fiction”. Whether in its support for NATO or the EU, mainstream Scottish nationalism continues to disavow national sovereignty in search of Scotland’s place among the institutions of globalised neoliberalism. The result is the subordination of Scotland’s economy, democracy and now our territory to American power.
Since Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, John Swinney has placated the President in whatever manner he can, including by awarding his business empire £180,000 of public money. In recent weeks, the First Minister’s charm offensive has reached new lows. Brazenly, Swinney has defended an illegal embargo against a sovereign nation which suffers under a crippling sanctions regime designed to impoverish its civilian population. He has done so while claiming to be acting in Scotland’s national interest. Few examples better convey the extent of the contemporary SNP’s intellectual degeneracy, a Party which owes so much to the anti-nuclear and anti-war movements of the latter half of the twentieth century.
They are, however, far from alone. In the months and years to come, instances of such geopolitical importance as that of the Marinera will become far more frequent. After all, as one RAF vice-marshal observed in 1989, “Scotland is very much the forward base in the UK for maritime operations as we perceive them, with NATO’s forward strategy of prosecuting any war which might occur in the Norwegian Sea.” If the apathy which characterised the Scottish ruling classes’ response to the Marenera is allowed to prevail, then so too will Scotland’s apparent submission. The consequent challenge for the anti-war movement is to engage the public on the questions their politicians evade; to pose, and popularise, an alternative vision rooted in the principles of democracy and popular sovereignty.
The core themes of this column were discussed at length in the latest episode of Skotia’s ‘Nest of Fearties’ podcast. Listen online now.
