Argentina Claims Falklands (again)

As has been mentioned unlike 25 years ago there are 4 Tornado`s based there , a full on frigate or destroyer for naval operations cureently HMS Edinburgh) and a Castle class patrol vessel (HMS Dumbarton Castle) and a full company of troops

The MoD has announced that No. 1435 is converting to the Eurofighter Typhoon by the end of 2007 instead of 2009. This is in response to recent reassertions of claims of the islands by the Argentines

hmmmm ^^


as an aside - no 1435 flight have kept the tradition of naming there aircraft `Faith, Hope, Charity and Desperation`.

[edit on 3/4/07 by Harlequin]

Originally posted by FatherLukeDuke
they don't have any oil worth speaking of

There is oil off the coast of the Falklands.

Falkland Island Government Website: Oil Exploration Information

falklands-oil.com - Falkland Islands Government - Department of Mineral Resources

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by justanothergangster
.....are the falklands really that important?

To the English people living there it is.

Originally posted by infinite
they won't try anything funny like another invasion.

Betchya they do. Betchya they figure England is so messed up with dealing with Iraq and Afghanistan that they take advantage of the situation.

I agree. Radio reports claim that Britain has draastically down-scaled its navy. The Argentines might think that this, along with the proccupation of the hostage situation with Iran might give them a prime opportunity to claim the islands.

The people who live there are British and want to remain part of the UK. To abandon them to a foreign government wouldn't be right.

It would be suicidal for any UK Gov , to even contemplate handing those islands over to the Argies, The men who died during the Falklands war, their widows relative would be up in arms if the UK Gov even considered it...

At Least the UK Gov conceded in letting Argetinians to visit the Falkland for the commemeration of the Falklands War...

Beside as has been made clear already, The folks who live in the Falklands want to remains British and do not wantto become Argetinian......

Originally posted by justanothergangster
um it depends on how you look at it people in ireland are british but thats only cause britain forces them to be britains done some messed up stuff like the whole india thing.....have the people of the falklands always been british or was it a result of imperialism? ((not actually trying to argue im just curious))

You need to learn some history. Nobody is forcing the patriotic people of Northern Ireland to be British. That is why there is a problem today. Half the (Irish born) population consider themselves proudly British, the other half don't. It's not as simple as blaming British imperialism.

As for mentioning India and suchlike, you also need to take into account the immense extent to which Britain civillised the modern world - for all our faults we achieved more in that respect than any other country in history. There's a very good reason why Britain's parliament is called 'the mother of all Parliaments'. And it's a very telling sign that the vast majority of nations which were successful and prosperous under the British flag became hotspots of despotism after gaining independance.

I think Argentina is sabre-rattling once again because they can plainly see that we currently have a weak government. Infact when the original Falklands War was looming, Tony Blair wanted to appease the Argentinians - though he now of course claims he was right behind Thatcher.

Under Blair's government Britain's armed forces have been cut-back to a stupendous extent, so there's serious doubt that we could even mount another military foray down to the Falklands if need be. If Argentina want to invade the islands, they really couldn't pick a better time than now.

lets see the people are british so its not for the people.
the land isn't very good for crops.
what do they have gold, oil, diamonds, and lots of comercial fishing

Originally posted by proteus33
lets see the people are british so its not for the people.
the land isn't very good for crops.
what do they have gold, oil, diamonds, and lots of comercial fishing

It's like the Promised Land!!! Hmmm I wonder why more people don't move there then..... oh that's right it a couple of rocky Islands out in the middle of nowhere where the weather sucks most of the time with lots of sheep.

Please provide proof for your claims on the wealth of natural resources.

It isnt the falkalnds themselves that have the oil, but the nation that holds them has the lions share of mineral rights of antartica. The bulk of which is owned by the UK and Norway.

Despite the UK military being massively downgraded in size since 1982, its make up is completely different.
in 1982 Britains role within NATO at sea, was anti submarine on the most part. Its fleet reflected that. At the time it had 2 specialist amphibious assualt ships (HMS fearless and Intrepid) and 5 Sir class RORO auxiliaries.

With the end of the cold war and the threat from the Soviet Block, The UK changed its emphasis to Rapid reaction on a global scale. It has 3 much larger and more capable assualt ships (HMS Bulwark.Albion and Ocean) as well as 4 massive Bay Class Amhibious assult ships with internal dock and RORO capability. As well as 4? andrew wear RORO ships on permanent charter the UK can sea and airlift much more equipment and faster than it could in 1982.

Also to conisder another invasion likely would require argentina much more in the way of capability than 1982, as the only defence the FI had then was a squad of marines and an atartic suvey vessel. With a sumarine now down there constantly, and air defences, while argentina could invade again and probably succeed given its proximity, would pay a very heavy price before they even set foot on land.

No ship could leave the mainland without being sunk first. No aircraft could land without having a missile fired at it.

I think the other posters are correct they are always sabre rattling especially at election time. But if they did do it i think we will find out where the british governments priorities are.... oil of blood?

Originally posted by subz

There is oil off the coast of the Falklands.

The truth of the matter is they suspected there was oil off the coast in 1993. That was 13-14 years ago and no significant finds have been made nor do they export any oil according to the CIA fact book and Wiki.

en.wikipedia.org...

They do however have a pretty good income from fishing licenses paid by foreign companies and local fishing mostly squid with exports of HQ wool through. No unemployment either but there are just under 3000 est living there.

[edit on 4/3/2007 by shots]

If we initiate a military response against Iran, I could see the Argentinians moving for the Falklands again. They know Economic sanctions will not return their beloved islands.

We won't give the Falklands up to the Argies ever - It is now a matter of National Pride (among the long list of other reasons the Islands are part of the UK)

If the Argies take the opertunity to get their arses whooped again while our forces are stretched, I hope Blair (or whoever is in power at the time) simply looses patentence. Our air strike ability is very good now - even 25 years ago the Vulcan flew a mission from the UK (longest in the aircrafts history) as a show of what we could do. That baby could of carried nukes - it didn't.

The Argies are sore loosers, jealous of the standard of life of the British people on the islands, which is much better than the majorioty of Argintinans.

if they did try to invade the falklands there would be popular support for a war but it will never happen so it doesnt warrant thinking about...in fact if they did mobalize an assult force it would be sunk before they even got there,with satallite intelligence and all.

I'm an Argentinian myself(not an "Argie" like do you call us) and I think it would be very stupid to try to recover that #ty islands from the britains, they totally don't worth the try. All the people there are british or english speakers and they want to remain like that. It is all propaganda cause we are going into elections now. its always the same. But forget about us going to war, the people here hate the war after what the dictators did here.

See ya

Hopefully, the governement is not going to do anything stupid. Uk has problem in Irak and now in Iran. It's really not the time to go bact at war

It won't

I quoted from the head of the Argentina Army who said he does not want to see conflict again cause of the loss of life from last time

um the CIRA is still active maybe some people in ireland consider themselves british and no its not by choice under the good friday agreement ireland was supposed to have its own governing body britain forfeited on that imean do i need to bring up the riots in the 90s or the 80s or the 70s......and have you ever thought that those millions in fishing and the oil would be a high prize for south america which is where the falklands are if other countries seeing this as south american money going to the uk decided to help argentina take the falklands....seeing it as part of south america which imean geophysically it is part of south america.....the supply lines are easier to maintain over such a small area as compared to britains journey to hold off the invading forces.......you know there was a lot of people in india who considered themselves british and we all know how that ended

Not again! If the people want to saty with the UK why should anybody try to stop them?

and for that matter.....the falklands are mine....and mine alone ((seeing as how thus far this is all that argentina has done talk))

Originally posted by justanothergangster
you know there was a lot of people in india who considered themselves british and we all know how that ended

Thats a completely different story which is different from the Falklands. India has a rich ancient history that goes back thousands of years and it was an independent country before European colonalism.

Britain is still desperately trying to hold on to the scraps of it's former empire. The islands should go back to their rightful owners, Argentina.

If you look at South America, you will notice that every single country, but one, speaks Spanish. Brasil is the only one that doesn't, as they speak Portuguese. The reason for this, is that back in the day, when Spain and Portugal were the worlds greatest sailors and explorers, while the Brits were floundering about, Spain and Portugal were complaining about who controlled what. The Pope, who was tired of their complaints and had a great deal of power at the time, stepped in, and drew a line on the map. He had had enough of their squabbles and declared that everything on this side of the line belonged to Spain, and everything on the other side belonged to Portugal. As part of Brasil was on the Portuguese side, they thus owned it. They also claimed the area that had previously been explored and colonized. At this moment in time The Falklands became the sole property of Spain and there is no dispute about this. When Argentina became independent from Spain, the Falklands became theirs as well. The British took it away in their desire for an increased empire, but this was land taken and not given.

I saw that Argentina should have the land back. England does not belong in that neck of the sea. Let the locals have it. The sun has long set on the British Empire.