A TWEET posted on September 17, 2014 from the official account of the White House and personally signed by Barack Obama revealed the sense of foreboding sweeping through the hierarchy of the world’s greatest superpower. “The UK is an extraordinary partner for America and a force for good in an unstable world. I hope it remains strong, robust and united.”

But will the USA maintain its hostility to independence now that the UK has voted to isolate itself from the rest of Europe?

During the 2014 referendum, an American “defence expert” by the name of Dr Phillips O’Brien regularly popped on our TV screens to warn us of the global security risks of breaking up Britain, and to ridicule the Scottish Government’s defence policy.

In one BBC interview, the then director of Glasgow University’s Global Security Network claimed that it would take up to 15 years to remove Trident from the Clyde and informed us that “anyone who thinks that an independent Scotland can do what it likes is living in cloud cuckoo land”.

Recently, Dr O’Brien seems to have shifted his ground. Brexit Britain, he says, “is unlikely to play a leadership role in determining Europe’s future defence structure.” So that creates a vacancy. During the last referendum, the independence movement’s support for nuclear disarmament was “perhaps the greatest handicap for the Yes side”. But “if the SNP and the Yes campaign develop their policies in a centrist, cooperative way”, he suggests that the US top brass might look more favourably on an independent Scotland.

Dr O’Brien seems to be well-connected with influential figures in the United States military establishment. And it looks like some, at least, are already adapting to the realistic possibility of independence – and hope that Scotland could be brought quietly under their wing to deputise as Washington’s eyes, ears and champion in the EU.

Meanwhile, in a parallel development, Anthony Browne, the head of the British Bankers Association, warns that Britain’s biggest banks are preparing to relocate out of London next year. Already delegations from Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt and Madrid are descending on the UK capital to plead their case.

Brexit has changed everything – but every silver lining has a cloud. To borrow the old Tory proverb, don’t expect something for nothing.

The bankers who crashed the world economy may well be attracted to the idea of relocating to an English-speaking, independent Scotland with full access to the European Union single market.

And the generals in the Pentagon may like the idea of forging a relationship with an English-speaking independent Scotland with a seat at the top tables of Brussels and Strasbourg.

The stars are aligning like never before in favour of an independent Scotland – and global power appears to be adjusting to a dis-United Kingdom. All of a sudden, it feels like we’re being wooed. Which makes me jittery.

It might be tempting for some to fall into our seducer’s arms. Anyone who fought the 2014 referendum will still remember the screaming press headlines warning that independence would lead to economic collapse and an upsurge in global terrorism.

It’s not hard to imagine that some people in the independence movement, eager to be welcomed onto the world stage, would jump at the chance to turn Scotland into a major centre of global capital. Nor is it hard to believe that some of the same people might be also be tempted to water down their opposition to nuclear weapons to appease the US establishment.

Political somersaults do happen. Tony Blair’s front benches were stuffed full of MPs who had once been passionate CNDers until they got a sniff of power. And a number had been members of left wing organisations ranging from the International Marxist Group to the Communist Party and the Socialist Workers Party.

Over the coming months, as the Brexit crisis deepens, the political pressure will be on to curb the radicalism that energised the independence movement in 2014. Expect more unlikely suitors to appear at the door, cajoling us to fight for an independence that would keep Trident, provide a luxurious home for bankers fleeing London, and see us becoming a naïve satellite of the US of A. In return, I suppose, we could look forward to a lot more kilt-swaying down the streets of New York during Tartan Week.

It has never been more necessary to talk about what kind of country we want an independent Scotland to be. Some people might believe that appeasing big business and reassuring the fearful is a clever political strategy. But beware the lessons of Quebec, where the main pro-independence party did precisely that. And as the Party Quebecois moved to the right, the movement fractured and dwindled.

We should not underestimate the pressure our politicians will come under to make concessions. But the day the independence movement loses its progressive vision and becomes yet another turgid, managerial centrist institution, removed from the lives of the millions, is the day that it will start to wither and die.

I can’t imagine what it is like to walk in the corridors of global power and feel the heat to conform. I can only reflect on what it is like in situations I’ve been in where you are a minority against ruthless and overwhelming power. It is not easy. When I was involved in strikes, there were always those who were tempted to grab at low-hanging fruit rather than climb that bit higher to the sweetest produce.

If we are to build a progressive independent Scotland, strong enough to withstand global pressure to conform, we will need to be open about the pressures it will face. Discussion of these conflicts and pressures cannot be confined to party hierarchies.

The need to raise awareness of politics, to question and debate, and to develop alternative ideas has never been greater.