Salmond has always held up ireland as the independence model we should aspire to along with other small nations "on the periphery of Europe" Theres also a big chunk of water between Iceland, Ireland and Norway, that was Salmonds "Crescent of Prosperity" Two of them are financial basket cases and almost sank into the "big chunk of water" the other chucked the EU altogether Thankfully, other "small nations on the periphery of Europe" like Portugal and Greece are doing very well