Steve Forbes, the mostly shiftless heir to a crumbling media empire, has opinions about tomorrow's referendum on Scottish independence, and has been allowed, for reasons we find obscure, to air them in the Telegraph.

"As an American of Scottish descent," Forbes writes, he's against independence. But not in, like, an overreacting sort of way: "It is no exaggeration to say that it will fundamentally affect the course of Europe, the US and, indeed, Western civilisation."

Forbes argues that Scottish independence is fine and all, except that it will immediately Embolden the Terrorists. That's an idea that's been hammered hard for the past few months by most of the UK's right-leaning papers, including the Daily Mail, the Express and the London Evening Standard. But nobody's catastrophized with quite the flair of Forbes.

"The break-up of Great Britain would encourage all the forces of chaos, terrorism and aggression and set a terrible precedent," he writes. "Separatists in Europe would ramp up their campaigns exponentially, which would vastly increase political turmoil on a continent that is already becoming vulnerable to the kinds of political extremism we once thought had been extinguished in the ashes of the Second World War." In Russia, Vladimir Putin will use it to "give legitimacy" to his efforts to annex Ukraine, because Vladimir Putin, shy and retiring as he is, requires a good deal of encouragement to do most anything.

Also, everyone will go bankrupt, Forbes adds: " Both Scotland and the remnants of the UK will be poorer. Capital will flee Scotland. London will get hit as well. Who wants to keep capital in a country that is experiencing such far-reaching political turbulence?"

If you secede, Scotland, it sounds like Steve Forbes will never come visit you. Try to decide if you can bear that burden.

[Image via Associated Press]