Rant of the day: 25/02/2010 :)

[cjlawrie]

Following peanutpete's rant post from yesterday I feel I need to get something off my chest today with my own rant of the day!

I find myself agitated about this new flurry of Falkland Islands dispute. All of a sudden we have Argentina claiming rights to the islands again now that there is an additional economic interest in the area. They have the right to say what they please, but I?m rather annoyed at the way the aggressors in this case are making Britain look old and still colonial!

From my perspective, we?ve had rights to the land for almost 200years. This was established way back in the times of Spanish, Franco and new territory disputes and claims. The land has been ours for so long and is part of Britain now. It?s like Gibraltar in some ways, it used to have strategic advantage but now its just part of the commonwealth.
Following xxx?s rant post from yesterday I feel I need to get something off my chest today with my rant of the day!

The problem I have are the comments and statements from the Americas regarding the land?

?What is the geographic, the political or economic explanation for England [sic] to be in Las Malvinas?"

What kind of stupid question is that to use as an argument to claiming the land?! They should ask themselves the same question I think. Idiot politician whoever said that statement if ever I heard one.

And tell me what makes them think they have the right to the land just because its 300miles from their mainland? Talk about colonial empire times and the bag and grab times of old?who are the aggressors here ? they are the ones wanting to create their own economical expansions by claiming British land that is well established for a long long time.

In the past they invaded [not so long ago!] and now they realise they cant get away with it so now they rally up all the pals they can and try to get the UN make us give it up?to me it?s as nonsensical?it?s as mad as if Norway were to lay claim on the Shetland Islands because the Vikings once landed there!

Does anyone else share my feelings? It wasn?t a colony like India or Hong Kong from the old empire days, this is just British land that happens to be across an ocean, that has had in the past some military strategic advantage [after all there were skirmishes there in the 1st and 2nd world war too], but the mere fact that we want to look for oil there has stirred things all up again.

I truly hope that we show some backbone on this issue. We need some smart people to turn the tables and make the UN realise that the claim is unjust and not valid. I would say that Spain would have a more legitimate claim on the place over Argentina!

[eggopp]

Here here, maybe if they try and take it again and we end up kicking them out again, we shouldnt stop there. If Argentina want to be aggressors, then they have to suffer the consequences. Like you say they think were being old fashioned and colonial, then lets act like it. In the days long gone when the empire was built, Britain which was once 'Great' would have gone over and conquered those who tried to conquer over us. Then once conquered and nicely situated in Argentina as new 'Britsh Soil' maybe lease the country back to them with over sight rules. However that said, i really dont wanna be recalled and go back to the Falkands again. Its a huge polital arguement and major mess. If there is oil there as they say, then our own ecconomy willl benefit, about time our fuel costs went down due to having our own supplies rather than importing.

Just a thought, so dont shout at me.

[Boss Hog]

quite right, we kicked there arse once, we can do it again.
Oh, I just remembered the spineless leader we have. nevermind.

We should hand back Northern Ireland before we give anyone the falklands.

[cj121]

"Oompa, oompa...stick it up ya Junta!"
A headline I seem to remember from the Sun at the time

[cjlawrie]

cj thats hilarious! Always count on the Sun to come out with a classic headline...

[rokkitsci]

Confused...

The problem I have are the comments and statements from the Americas regarding the land?

Being one of the ignorant United Statesians to which you refer to, I must admit to wondering why on earth you want the ghodzforsaken island in the first place? Does it have an abundance of topless native wimmens? Is it a source of some exotic spice? Is it a traditional familial vacationplatz? Is your Holy Shrine of the Ecclesiastical Divinity there?

Wot's all the fuss about, anyway?

Please enlighten me.

[cjlawrie]

Hm I meant to refer to the south American countries, apologies, not your kind self of course

basically it was contested land for naval strategic purposes [navy was the most important thing then] a couple of hundred years back. We got it, kept it and now there is protects of lots of oil in the area...and so its now contested land for economic reasons....

[tippexx]

Wot's all the fuss about, anyway?

Please enlighten me.

Well, the Yanks fault mostly George.

Or, one American privateer to be precise. Colonel David Jewett in command of the frigate Hero?na put into Puerto Soledad following an eight month voyage for repairs after a storm had serverly damaged his ship.

Jewett chose to rest and recover in the islands, seeking assistance from the British explorer James Weddell. On 6 November 1820, Jewett raised the flag of the United Provinces of the River Plate, now modern-day Argentina, and for whom he was employed and claimed possession of the islands.

The argument over sovereignty has pitched back and forth between Argentina and the UK ever since.

[eggopp]

Wot's all the fuss about, anyway?

Please enlighten me.

During the Falkands war... Sorry 'Conflict' as serving soldiers we were told we were going to protect British Sovereignty, which in my view is what even the USA would do to protect its own, we had and still have British Nationals that live and farm the land. I for one was deployed to the Falklands having just turned 20 years of age, disciplined and willing.. (About the same age then as alot of our idiot vandals now lol...)

At that time we were told its because of the high quantity of 'Iron Ore' which clearly has never been mined otherwise our Major companies like Corus (previously called British Steel) wouldnt now be struggling and closing down its factories.

Now we hear there is trillions of Dollars worth of Crude Oil there.. Hmmm were we misled? were we really going to protect the oil that they say they have 'just' discovered??

As for the 'wimmens' haha they mostly have beards to fend off the cold weather lmao..

[tippexx]

[QUOTE=eggopp;69255]
Now we hear there is trillions of Dollars worth of Crude Oil there.. Hmmm were we misled? were we really going to protect the oil that they say they have 'just' discovered??

At the moment I think all the fuss is just domestic electioneering by a dead-beat Argentine President.

And, if trillions of crude is discovered I doubt BP will be building any refineries on the Falklands. Argentina or Chile more likely and a road or pipe network leading directly north.

[RogMcDodge]

Gordon will be trying to wear Maggies wig next to win the election

[eggopp]

Oh i also spilt my own blood whilst out there... i had a splinter in my finger

[cjlawrie]

Gordon will be trying to wear Maggies wig next to win the election

Rofl! Will he don the hand bag too I wonder

[Big_T_UK]

WARNING, this is not PC, so do not read if you are sensitive.

Wow Craig, you are really trying to get me in trouble bringing up this topic aren't you?

OK, yes, Craig meant the South American countries that just formed a new group to remove the USA from the main organisation they have which they feel the USA has too much influence over, funny that! The USA is the country that has the biggest "stick", the only stick most of the South American countries have is the one they use to beat homeless children.

We fought and shed blood for the FALKLAND Islands on more than one occasion. It was of strategic importance in the first world war when it was pivotal in one of the great naval exchanges (google the Battle of Coronel).

We are interested in the SHED load of oil under the Falklands that we have known about for a long time. It is a lot but has always been economically in-viable to drill for as it is difficult geology in the area. To reach the oil from the islands they have to drill at an extreme angle, not straight down. This is not easy or cheap to do. That is part of the reason why we have only reached as far as exploratory drilling, not full scale extraction. As North Sea oil runs out the value of the remaining reserves increases and so it becomes economically viable to drill in the Falklands and re-open the coal pits closed in the 80's.

The real irony to this is that with the spineless governments we have had over recent history, if the Argentinians had not invaded in the early 80's we probably would have signed them over to them years ago. Our government does not want the expense and concern of maintaining the population and military presence down there. After the invasion the public got behind "our boys" so it is now political suicide to even THINK of handing over the islands. From my point of view the Argies did us a favour.

I will not argue that the Falklands conflict was a great and glorious victory for us. When the conflict started in theory Great Britain was a leading partner in NATO and a strong part of the alliance against the USSR. When it came to fighting a group of mainly conscripted soldiers with erratic levels of training and equipment, we did not come out covered in glory. Several front line warships sunk by single (French made) missiles (we rapidly re-thought the use of aluminium armour in the navy after this war). Our men fought stunningly, our equipment was lacking. One of the carriers we used (HMS Hermes) was about to be sold to the Australians/New Zealand navies (I forget which) but we rapidly decided to borrow it back for a few months. Most of our helicopters went to the bottom of the sea with the sinking of ONE cargo ship. Our troops had to march across the bloody islands rather than assault in helicopters. We lucked out that the sub-sonic Harrier turned out to be such a good air superiority fighter against land based supersonic (French made) Mirage aircraft. After we sank the USS Phoenix (Belgrano) the Argentinian aircraft carrier with (French made) super-etendard and (American made) A4 Skyhawk fighters ran for home and never came out to play again (like the Germans in WWI). If it had come out we could have suffered badly, our assault fleet being blown out of the water after our naval anti-aircraft system was shown to be highly questionable. Hopefully our nuke subs would have sent it and many more sons of Argentinian whores to the bottom of the sea.

Suffice to say, we did not come out smelling of flowers. The secret assistance the US military gave us is a topic of much interest. One example would be the fact that the British Harriers SUDDENLY appeared to be carrying in the latest version of the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile, that actually worked reliably, unlike earlier models. This was fresh off the production line, the paint was still wet. Turns out the first production run that was (unsurprisingly) made for the US Airforce suddenly found its way to our fleet. Try and get official confirmation of that story. The really interesting one is the tale I was told by a British submariner that the Belgrano was sunk by a US nuke sub, not a British one, and that it was all a cover-up. I am dubious to the extreme about this one though.

I only mention all the above for one reason. If we went to war with Argentina again we would get RAPED. With the reduced number of ships the Royal Navy now has to operate and our other commitments in hot sandy places, we could not send a fleet to fight them off. Sadly, and nobody hates this more than I, we do not have a Royal Navy any more, we have a fisheries protection fleet. We have fewer combat warships THAN THE FRENCH for the first time in four hundred years! We are even talking of "folding" the RAF in with one of the other forces, thus ending the proud history of the worlds oldest independent airforce.

Nobody wishes we still had an empire more than I, educating the world and bringing peace. Sadly we are no longer a proud and glorious country but a stale, weak prostitute of a country that only THINKS it can punch above its own weight. We think we have a "special relationship" with the US, say that in private to a US politician and they will laugh at you.

T.

[Boss Hog]

Sounds quite PC to me there T. A pleasure to read.