I think the shellacking the British economy is going to take will maybe give Scotland pause. It's bad enough being part of the Empire as it tries to negotiate an exit from the EU. It ain't much better as a smaller, independant country, trying to get back into the EU. Scotland's best play in this space, I think, would be to negotiate independence from Britain before the exit is official and try to stay in the EU. Seems a very tight schedule, though, since I think the UK has only 2 years left in the EU after the exit clause is invoked.

I think it would make a lot of sense for the EU to make it as painless as possible for Scotland to join. It'd be a valuable counterpoint to the presumably harsh treatment for the leavers.

There is also a very serious, and concerning, political angle to this. I'm not sure the extent to which xenophobic tendencies played, but certainly nationalistic sentiments were at the fore in this debate. From the outside (and not as an historian) looking in, it seems uncomfortably close to the types of events we've seen in the past that eventually lead to conflict between nations.

Precisely my thoughts.

This also significantly weakens the EU at a time when Russia is pushing itself forward. The EU is already struggling with refugees, now they have to contain the damage of a major partner pulling out.

Brussels can't speak with a single voice for Europe (and if they could, they're busy elsewhere) in opposition to some of Russia's more interesting adventures for some time at least. I don't imagine Putin is going to try to grow his borders directly again, but I can certainly predict increased efforts to control the political discussion in areas previously considered part of the Soviet sphere of influence. It shouldn't be surprising if a few months from now a few countries have more pro-Russian agitators than in years past. The EU is obviously weakened, it is absolutely in Putin's character to try to advance Russia's interests with this opportunity.

I do think the EU will be paying less attention to Russian mischief in the near term but I don't think NATO will take its eye of the ball.

My last thought is the impact this could have on the US elections. I've seen a couple comments to the effect that this gives credibility to nationalistic leaning parties which would benefit Trump. I disagree, primarily because I think most Americans are unaffected by politics in Europe. They just don't care. The effect it might have on Tump would be negative if the Democratic party could connect any damage to the British economy to nationalist or right-leaning policies, but I'm not sure that is possible.

It absolutely isn't a mirror image of the US but I do think you can see some parallels. The inability of experts to convince people seems telling. Emotion very much won over logic. People really need to be thinking about the consequences of their actions. People in democracies really do have the power to do pretty much anything they want. It's vital not to buy into the idea that the world is essentially self correcting and that we can't do very real damage to ourselves.