The Belgrano

[elmarko]

Just reading the history of the islands and I'm a bit puzzled as to how Argentina actually thinks it has any claim to their ownership at all - except that they are geographically quite close. They've been disputed by quite a handful of countries with Britain having the most obvious an long-running claim.

They don't have a claim is why, the only people I'd listen to would be the natives who lived there for 1000's of years before the English or the Spanish invaded the area.

The first war was political posturing taken too far.

If we have another over it, it will be due to the suspected oil.

 

[The Funktopus]

The new Exocet missile, which I believe Argentina have in their arsenel is labelled a Type 45 killer. If there is another small war, it will not be easy. We can just hope Chile remains as loyal as they have been the last 30 or so years.

Nope. The latest version of the Exocet is the MM40 Block 3, which Argentina does not have. Besides, despite a slight increase in range, it's still a sub-sonic seaskimming cruise missile, a weapon Type 45's SAMPSON Radar and Sea Viper missile system is designed to defeat.

 

[Edrof]

This made me laugh in another forum:

Argentina wont attack anyone unless another dictatorship gets into the power (it was a dictator the one that attacked the british to tryu to get Malvinas, the ones you call falklands, BACK to their original owners).

England should stop the ******** and return Malvinas to Argentina though, which is the original owner of it.

I cant understand how anyone with at least one bran cell working cant understand that two islands at less than 200 miles from a country belong to that country instead of belonging to another country more than 10000 miles away.

I get it, Britain was a colonial country, but its time that you get having colonies is not an option anymore in today's world.

Also, the sovereignty of Britain over that islands is not recognized by anyone except the british. Even USA said they wont say which sovereignty they recognize (clearly because they dont want to disturb their allies) and that they think they need to sit and talk this through (which Britain doesnt want to). All the countries in the region acknowledge Argentinian right to have sovereignty over the island.

Also, it is irrelevant what the people in Malvinas want. If i convince my town that we wanted to belong to Deustchland, that wont happen even if we all want it. The islands belong to Argentina and were ilegitimately taken in the 19th century by Britain.

 

[matt_fsr]

I was thinking about making a thread on this just the other day: if the Falklands Conflict was replayed today, how would it differ?

Well no-one can say with any certainty, but our weak point in the defence plan is the airstrip/planes we have.

Any special forces surgical strike that can render them inoperable, is pretty much an instant war-winner.

And remember, it's a WHOLE lot cheaper forming, training and equipping a small SF group, than it is to equip and maintain an aircraft carrier.

 

[Firestar_3x]

Well no-one can say with any certainty, but our weak point in the defence plan is the airstrip/planes we have.

Any special forces surgical strike that can render them inoperable, is pretty much an instant war-winner.

And remember, it's a WHOLE lot cheaper forming, training and equipping a small SF group, than it is to equip and maintain an aircraft carrier.

In what way? We don't even know how we defend the airstrip on the island, we don't know which crack teams are around it, but you can bet your bottom dollar with the latest eurofighters on station security will be very tight indeed.

We don't need an aircraft carrier in the area because Argentina doesn't really have an airforce, so that leaves use with ship to shore landings, and with eurofighters in the air and ships offshore thats not going to go to plan.....

You need to remember they took the islands with a suprise attack, they can't do that this time.

 

[Hitman_Leon]

Don't Argentinian footballers get that sinking feeling enough since Diego went down the path of drugs.

 

[Participant]

This made me laugh in another forum:
...
"Also, it is irrelevant what the people in Malvinas want. If i convince my town that we wanted to belong to Deustchland, that wont happen even if we all want it. The islands belong to Argentina and were ilegitimately taken in the 19th century by Britain."

I actually sympathise with this point. Otherwise I could fly a load of Brits to the Vatican then invade it on the basis that most of the Vatican now wants to be British .

However the strongest kid wins in this scenario and unless the entire South American continent wishes to fight with Argentina, then I doubt the Argies are the strongest kid.

Regarding N. America stepping in on behalf of the Brits, you know they can't do that and please don't talk about it being a disgrace because of what we've helped the US with recently. 1. they're in no way comparable and 2. don't forget WWII where the Americans basically came to our rescue.

 

[Cosimo]

Don't Argentinian footballers get that sinking feeling enough since Diego went down the path of drugs.

Tevez certainly has that feeling at the moment.

 

[PhillyDee]

I actually sympathise with this point. Otherwise I could fly a load of Brits to the Vatican then invade it on the basis that most of the Vatican now wants to be British .

Its an entire island though, not a small town.

 

[Participant]

Its an entire island though, not a small town.

You think the Vatican is just a small town? It's a sovereign state. Besides which you're using (incorrect) semantics to ignore my overall point.

 

[Firestar_3x]

So using the logic of proximity i now demand France hands itself back to the british......

 

[pingwing]

To be honest, the whole Falklands claim is a joke.

I fail to see how a group of people who originated from Spain have a more valid claim over these islands than a group of people who originated from England.

Sovereignty isn't derived from where you come from

Or really from who lives there. It only derives from the peoples acceptance of those who rule over it. Clearly the Falklands (and Gibraltar) are pretty happy under the crown and don't seem to care about location or the historic ethnicity of those who live there.

Can only support the continuation of the best situation for the ordinary people opposed to the mad claims of states and stuff

 

[Edrof]

So using the logic of proximity i now demand France hands itself back to the british......

...and Argentina should book a big boat back to Spain and Portugal, lawl.

 

[spudbynight]

The Falklands are c300 miles off the coast of Argentina. It isn't as if they are even close to their territorial waters.

Just to give people an idea 300miles off the coast of the UK would take you pretty much to Frankfurt.

 

[Nitefly]

The whole Fawklands issue is... interesting. I'm fairly sympathetic to the Argentine side really.

The British often forget the context of the Falklands war from the Argentine perspective. It was attacked last time under a ruthless dictatorship at the end of the 'dirty war' in attempt to gain political support from the people. The support of the people wasn't entirely there and there were muted protests against it - keep in mind at this time it was illegal to travel round in Argentina in more than a group of three persons. It was dreadful. To them though, it makes about as much sense as it would to us if Chile had been claiming the Isle of White and putting a military base there.

It's all so arbitrary. I don't think 'we were here first hurr hurr' is any more of a decent argument to give claim over it than 'it's close to us hurr hurr'. I'm not even totally dismissive of the idea that if people really want to live in Britain, they should just move back to Britain.

Ultimately, as people are inhabiting it are sided with the British then it should probably remain British simply to keep the status quo.

The Falklands are c300 miles off the coast of Argentina. It isn't as if they are even close to their territorial waters.

Just to give people an idea 300miles off the coast of the UK would take you pretty much to Frankfurt.

It's still slightly closer to Argentina to the UK.

 

[Participant]

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is trying to make a name for herself.

GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN LOVE



Kidding. 20 years ago I bet she was quite hot though.

 

[Yas786]

Meh. It's their ship, not ours. I'd have a problem if they named it after a ship of ours they sunk.

+1/...i dont get why people would get upset over some so small really lol. If they want to name their league after a sunken ship, which belonged them then no big deal.

 

[Robbo]

Nuke them. I don't care.

 

[spudbynight]

It's still slightly closer to Argentina to the UK.

But it isn't close. The Isle of Wight is less than a mile off the English coast.

 

[matt_fsr]

In what way? We don't even know how we defend the airstrip on the island, we don't know which crack teams are around it, but you can bet your bottom dollar with the latest eurofighters on station security will be very tight indeed.

I don't doubt that for a second... but as Anonymous proves on a near-daily basis, all security systems can be breached.

We don't need an aircraft carrier in the area because Argentina doesn't really have an airforce, so that leaves use with ship to shore landings, and with eurofighters in the air and ships offshore thats not going to go to plan.....

Sorry if I was unclear before, I meant that Argentinian resources are limited, and so they may have chosen to focus on the Special Forces/Asymmetrical warfare aspects, now that they haven't been keeping up maintenance costs of a carrier since the year 2000.

You need to remember they took the islands with a suprise attack, they can't do that this time.

Given the competence of our politicians... little would surprise me any more.