Are we about to witness another Falklands War ?

[LAFOLIE]

As things are begining to hot up between Argentina and the UK about drilling for oil off the Falklands Islands, do you think Argentina will again take the military option? The UK has already sent a small task force of Royal Navy destroyers and subs to the region. Whilst the UK is playing down the situation, could we see another 1982?

[jason]

Lets hope not. Theres far too many of our soldiers dying at the moment.

[dan-electro]

I remember in 1982 the suggestion was that the reason that Thatcher had taken the action against Argentina was because she was very unpopular in the polls with a general election only a year away and needed to win votes. There was also a suggestion at the time that there was oil in the waters off the Falklands Islands and the UK had to secure the Islands for that reason. Argentina don't have the resources to go to war and even if they did it would be a pointless task as they would simply lose again.

[unbroken69]

I remember in 1982 the suggestion was that the reason that Thatcher had taken the action against Argentina was because she was very unpopular in the polls with a general election only a year away and needed to win votes. There was also a suggestion at the time that there was oil in the waters off the Falklands Islands and the UK had to secure the Islands for that reason. Argentina don't have the resources to go to war and even if they did it would be a pointless task as they would simply lose again.

Yes, she waved the Union flag and claimed it for the conservative party, played with the lives of our soldiers for her own personal political advantage. This was despite denying the Falkland Islanders full British citizenship a few months before the conflict.

There is still quite a bad feeling about the Falklands conflict in Argentina, not least because of the atrocity on the General Belgrano. There was also talk of untouched oil fields in the area which at the time was seen as propoganda in securing a task force to re-take the islands. If there is indeed oil there I think the UK should enter some sort of agreement with Argentina concerning the resource. Don´t think it will come to another conflict though, Argentina have moved forward alot since 1982 and hopfully we have too and as another poster said we are losing too many of our brave soldiers as it is.

[Toiler On The Sea]

It was never a War to begin with, it was a 'Conflict'.

Give the Argentine government the time and co-ordinates of a spot in the middle of the Pampas then land a dummy cruise missle on it.
If they have any intentions to the Falklands, explain to them the deterent we have and that the next one will be in downtown Buenos Aires.

[unbroken69]

It was never a War to begin with, it was a 'Conflict'.

Give the Argentine government the time and co-ordinates of a spot in the middle of the Pampas then land a dummy cruise missle on it.
If they have any intentions to the Falklands, explain to them the deterent we have and that the next one will be in downtown Buenos Aires.

If you do happen to have your finger on the button, make sure you don´t press it on April 30th as Hugh Cornwell + band will be in downtown Buenos Aires that day. Im sure Hugh and his Argentine fans would appreciate the gesture.

[LAFOLIE]

It was never a War to begin with, it was a 'Conflict'.

Give the Argentine government the time and co-ordinates of a spot in the middle of the Pampas then land a dummy cruise missle on it.
If they have any intentions to the Falklands, explain to them the deterent we have and that the next one will be in downtown Buenos Aires.

If you do happen to have your finger on the button, make sure you don´t press it on April 30th as Hugh Cornwell + band will be in downtown Buenos Aires that day. Im sure Hugh and his Argentine fans would appreciate the gesture.

Be funny if old Hugh got locked up.........saying he was a British spy!!!

[unbroken69]

It was never a War to begin with, it was a 'Conflict'.

Give the Argentine government the time and co-ordinates of a spot in the middle of the Pampas then land a dummy cruise missle on it.
If they have any intentions to the Falklands, explain to them the deterent we have and that the next one will be in downtown Buenos Aires.

If you do happen to have your finger on the button, make sure you don´t press it on April 30th as Hugh Cornwell + band will be in downtown Buenos Aires that day. Im sure Hugh and his Argentine fans would appreciate the gesture.

Be funny if old Hugh got locked up.........saying he was a British spy!!!

Que embarrasing Hugh lyric:

"She looks like Ursula from Doctor No,
Me im the James im the double O.

[Rodney Blackstaff]

Caught a bit of this on the news this morning and from what was said it would seem that the Argentine government are in a similar situation as was the UK government in 1982. Then again over the years the Argentinians have periodically brought the topic of the Falklands to the nation’s ears in times of difficulty to stoke up a bit of national pride and in some ways improve their popularity amongst the people of Argentina. As to whether we are about to see another Falklands War/Conflict, I find it pretty doubtful but then again anything is possible in the world we live in.

The situation on the Falkland Islands is obviously very different now from those in 1982. The UK forces presence is far stronger and visible now and this on its own should act as the physical deterrent for any future action from Argentina. The Islanders in 1982 wanted to remain British and no matter what anyone feels about the situation, the islands are still a British dependency. This led to some critisim originally in 1982 due to the distance of the islands from the UK and it being a legacy of the ‘old empire of old’, but the plain matter of the fact is that while the Union Jack flag flies above the soil, we have a right to defend that land and the people who live there.

In 1982 I believe that Maggie did in fact use the situation to what she believed to be her (and the country’s) advantage but she also made some mistakes along the way, the biggest being that she and the government did not act quick enough. There was rumour and speculation, months leading up to the first Argentinian forces landing on the Falklands and prior to this the scene was being set down in South Georgia as early as the beginning of January. Instead of deploying ships into the area early, which we were within our rights to do, the government chose to solely go down the avenue of diplomatic contact, which I believed gave the Argentinians the chance to plan and execute the invasion which then took place. I was in the US at the beginning of 1982 and although there was never any talk from the people we met about the Americans ‘joining’ in, we did get asked about when we were going down there to the Falklands. We weren’t on standby to suddenly up anchor and steam down there, in fact it was only on our way back to the UK that we were told that we would be having a quick turn around and then sail down south. We sailed down to the Falklands in early May as part of the second battle group after repairs and upgrades had been completed.

As for the sinking of the Belgrano, any loss of life is a bad thing, but the decision was taken and it happened and by doing so I believe that it kept the Argentine Navy after that, out of the equation.

I could go on but I wont! Needles to say that whatever happens we have the right to defend the islands for as long as they bear the flag of this country!

Rodders

[NMH1965]

Caught a bit of this on the news this morning and from what was said it would seem that the Argentine government are in a similar situation as was the UK government in 1982. Then again over the years the Argentinians have periodically brought the topic of the Falklands to the nation’s ears in times of difficulty to stoke up a bit of national pride and in some ways improve their popularity amongst the people of Argentina. As to whether we are about to see another Falklands War/Conflict, I find it pretty doubtful but then again anything is possible in the world we live in.

The situation on the Falkland Islands is obviously very different now from those in 1982. The UK forces presence is far stronger and visible now and this on its own should act as the physical deterrent for any future action from Argentina. The Islanders in 1982 wanted to remain British and no matter what anyone feels about the situation, the islands are still a British dependency. This led to some critisim originally in 1982 due to the distance of the islands from the UK and it being a legacy of the ‘old empire of old’, but the plain matter of the fact is that while the Union Jack flag flies above the soil, we have a right to defend that land and the people who live there.

In 1982 I believe that Maggie did in fact use the situation to what she believed to be her (and the country’s) advantage but she also made some mistakes along the way, the biggest being that she and the government did not act quick enough. There was rumour and speculation, months leading up to the first Argentinian forces landing on the Falklands and prior to this the scene was being set down in South Georgia as early as the beginning of January. Instead of deploying ships into the area early, which we were within our rights to do, the government chose to solely go down the avenue of diplomatic contact, which I believed gave the Argentinians the chance to plan and execute the invasion which then took place. I was in the US at the beginning of 1982 and although there was never any talk from the people we met about the Americans ‘joining’ in, we did get asked about when we were going down there to the Falklands. We weren’t on standby to suddenly up anchor and steam down there, in fact it was only on our way back to the UK that we were told that we would be having a quick turn around and then sail down south. We sailed down to the Falklands in early May as part of the second battle group after repairs and upgrades had been completed.

As for the sinking of the Belgrano, any loss of life is a bad thing, but the decision was taken and it happened and by doing so I believe that it kept the Argentine Navy after that, out of the equation.

I could go on but I wont! Needles to say that whatever happens we have the right to defend the islands for as long as they bear the flag of this country!

Rodders

It has always been a good bit of political fervour and sabre rattling in Argentina from time to time to bring up the subject of The Falkland Isalnds. Yes they are 8000 miles away, but still British as are many other spurious islands around the world who have sovereignty from countries miles away from their shores.

Could we mount a Task Force like we did in 1982 no we couldn't as we are too far stretched and many of the platforms we had in our arsenal then are no longer in sevice.

However we have a far larger defense force now than we did in 1982 when a hand full of marines were left to defend Stanley and the Governors residence.

Also it was always rumoured that the yanks gave support behind the scenes without drawing too much attention to themselves. If it was to happen again I think this support would be far more overt taking in to consideration the support we have given them in private war against Global Terrorism'

[Stevie.T-'up north']

As 'Toiler on the Sea' rightly states, it was never a 'war' but a 'conflict' as neither Britain nor Argentina actually declared war. Because of this, no peace treaty was ever signed and so it could be argued that this same 'conflict' has been ongoing ever since - as it had been for many years prior to military intervention.

[zontar]

As a thick, largely uninformed Yank. I've no right to start a row, but does anyone think the UK govt can reason with a crazy fox like Chavez?

Would be like Michael Palin entering Monty Python's "argument clinic."