The Falkland Isles

[Crabby Shrimper]

Well, it seems that there are currently rumblings in the South Atlantic over the British owned and inhabited Falklands, so what does everybody think? Storm in a tea cup? Will Argentina invade? Will Brown lay out a welcome mat?

For what its worth I think the Argies are currently testing the waters, and as soon as they realise we'd be up for a fight they'll back down. Only thing is, our Navy's a lot smaller now than 28 years ago

 

[McNasty]

I see they waited until our very own soldier Chadded returned to the UK before they ventured out. Cowardly Argies.

 

[steveo]

. Only thing is, our Navy's a lot smaller now than 28 years ago

But we still have nuclear weapons.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Ross Kemp and Lewis Collins are on standby.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Well, it seems that there are currently rumblings in the South Atlantic over the British owned and inhabited Falklands, so what does everybody think? Storm in a tea cup? Will Argentina invade? Will Brown lay out a welcome mat?

For what its worth I think the Argies are currently testing the waters, and as soon as they realise we'd be up for a fight they'll back down. Only thing is, our Navy's a lot smaller now than 28 years ago

I don't think the democratic Argentina of Kirchner today is the same as the Argentina in the dying days of the Galtieri military dictatorship.

There might be some military brinkmanship to encourage diplomatic negotiations, but I can't see there being a military solution for either side.

 

[Firestorm]

ooooh, its been confirmed that there is oil off the coast of the Falklands and the Argies have stuck their heads above the parapet.

They have always felt that the islands are Argentinian territory and tbh I can see their point, If the Chinese felt that the Isle of Wight was theirs because the owner of the Golden Moon in Ventnor had once been to Bejing , we would all be up in arms, but apart from a bit of jingoistic chest thumping from a hugely unpopular Dictator 30 years ago, they have not really given much thought to it.

There should be a bit of international support , I think I read once that South Georgia being part of the British overseas bit means that Britain has territorial rights to a bit of Antarctica and has adhered to the international agreement not to drill for oil in Antarctica , however the Argies may be less accomodating if it was their rights and there are worries about enviromental damage.

However if the Argies just popped north and said to the Yanks, theres this country we are in a bit of a dispute with them and its got OIL, as long as they use the name Malvinas and don't mention Britain too loudly we could have a bit of a spat on our hands

 

[canveyshrimper]

Good post Gary, and pretty much agree. I was reading an article which reckoned there could be upwards of 60 billion barrels of oil there. I believe the Scots may have a vested interest here as I believe the exploration company there, Desire Petroleum are Scots based so no doubt they'll be claiming this as their oil as they did with North Sea Oil.

 

[TrueBlue]

The Argies aint got the balls to do anything or the money!

besides this time we have 1,000 troops and an airbase there now

 

[SARF]

Pre new aircraft carriers we would have an issue.. Yes we have less destroyers and frigates but they are much more capable than the stuff we sent down last time.. The argy airforce hasnt upgraded much since then our new type 45's would have a field day.. This tiem we have posseion of the extended airbase, Half a dozen Eurofighters would also enjoy the target practice the current Argy airforce would provide and any landing craft would be sitting ducks for them as well if the navy nuke sub in the area hadny finished them off first.. Half a dozen cruise missles would destroy their nearest military airbase.. In th eunlikely event that all our RAF and NAVY boys were asleep or missed the 4,000 Argy paratroopers in the fog then there is stil the matter of the garrison there.. Not sure how many of them are front line soldiers but if there are 500 of em then the Argys will strugglie to overcome the defences and keep their boys resupplied.. If , and its a big if, there are huge oilfields there then er unlucky they are ours.. There wil be planty of loot for the Argys if they are sensible with large onshore facilitiesbeing built in Argentina.. If they want to strop up then it will be pumed to the Falklands and tankered away with the refining work done elsewhere.. I suppose there will be an ongoing risk of Argy terroism but its fairly tough to cross 600 miles of atlantic then live rough on the Falklands lugging enough explosives to properly break something without proper military back up ..
It will be like the 70's again when we found North Sea oil, we wil all be millionaires.. oh er hang on.

 

[Bob Cratchitt]

Actually I think you find the rumblings are over the waters around the islands more so than the islands themselves. In fact they have passed a motion in their parliament that any ship passing through Argentinian waters on the way to the Islands would need a permit, also that have decreed that any company involved with oil exploration around the Falklands will be prohibited from operating in Argentina.

As mentioned above i do not think Argentina would consider an attack of the Islands and is just a case of sabre rattling. After all unlike 30 years ago, the British Army and RAF have been quite active on a war front recently, so are more experienced in such Crisis then they were back then.

 

[TrueBlue]

Actually I think you find the rumblings are over the waters around the islands more so than the islands themselves. In fact they have passed a motion in their parliament that any ship passing through Argentinian waters on the way to the Islands would need a permit, also that have decreed that any company involved with oil exploration around the Falklands will be prohibited from operating in Argentina.

As mentioned above i do not think Argentina would consider an attack of the Islands and is just a case of sabre rattling. After all unlike 30 years ago, the British Army and RAF have been quite active on a war front recently, so are more experienced in such Crisis then they were back then.

Then again I could see Brown bottle it and let them have it!

 

[canveyshrimper]

Actually I think you find the rumblings are over the waters around the islands more so than the islands themselves. In fact they have passed a motion in their parliament that any ship passing through Argentinian waters on the way to the Islands would need a permit, also that have decreed that any company involved with oil exploration around the Falklands will be prohibited from operating in Argentina.

As mentioned above i do not think Argentina would consider an attack of the Islands and is just a case of sabre rattling. After all unlike 30 years ago, the British Army and RAF have been quite active on a war front recently, so are more experienced in such Crisis then they were back then.

Pity they didn't think of that with the Belgrano. ;)

Also, although reduced in strength the navy isn't really playing a part in Afghanistan, apart I would say from the odd warship in the Gulf.

 

[TrueBlue]

Pity they didn't think of that with the Belgrano. ;)

Also, although reduced in strength the navy isn't really playing a part in Afghanistan, apart I would say from the odd warship in the Gulf.

I know from a mate who is on Ark Royal that they have not been doing anything major at the moment

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

The British Oil rig is due to arrive there later on today, should be interesting.

 

[Lord Football]

In the unlikely event that Argentina do anything stupid, how can the country afford yet another conflict?

 

[Swiss Tony]

In the unlikely event that Argentina do anything stupid, how can the country afford yet another conflict?

With all that beautiful money from the oil,we're gonna be rich i tell ya.

 

[Dick Bate's Protege]

With all that beautiful money from the oil,we're gonna be rich i tell ya.

God bless Imperialism.

 

[SARF]

we need to be expanding the military.. spending should be 10 per cent of GDP.. there is plenty of loot to be had in terms of raw materials from the south atlantic and the antartic.. As soon as the technology exists to extract it we need to able to look after our rather tidy share..

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I can see Argentina's point that the Falklands is close to their border so it should belong to them, and as us British like to be seen to be fair about these sort of things, why don't we give them Canvey Island and their oil?

 

[chadded]

I see they waited until our very own soldier Chadded returned to the UK before they ventured out. Cowardly Argies.

Well, quite. If I was there and they invaded (which they won't), it wouldn't have been a fair fight.

For what its worth, when I posted a while back on here about buying shares, I was after investing in Desire Petroleum and FI Oil and Gas.......