[SOC] Falklands/Malvinas (Hopefully Balanced Brit View)

[Chris Redding]

This is only of minority interest (if at all). Just bin it if you have =
no interest....sorry for the bandwidth.
=20
1. Yes, there are massive hydrocarbon resources below this part of the =
earth, but even before the war, the British and Argentine governments =
were collaborating on exploration projects. Britain (among many other =
countries) had invested heavily in Argentina in the past, Britain mainly =
taking on the railways and other infrastructure. Now peace has returned, =
and relations were normalised between the two countries some years ago, =
this project has resumed with an increased pace. Hopefully sharing =
'sovereignty' of (and therefore the income from) the oil and gas =
destroys any future reason for armed conflict over the islands =
themselves.

2. Britain and Argentina had long been talking 'open channel' about =
sovereignty. Just because the islands pass into the jurisdiction of =
Argentina would not in itself stop the Islanders feeling 'British'...we =
have our expats everywhere, and have handed over (with varying degrees =
of reluctance) millions of square miles of former colonies, to the =
extent that the resulting free 'Commonwealth' is occupied by one quarter =
of the population of the earth.

3. Yes, Britain was open to suggestions from Argentina, but it was =
'agreed' that (no matter what the politicians managed to cobble together =
in smoke-filled rooms) the final word would lie with the Islanders =
themselves. When asked, they rejected the idea by a large (but not by =
any means unanimous) majority. When Argentina passed from being a =
quasi-democracy to being a very bad neighbour ruled by a brutal military =
junta with an appalling civil rights record, this obviously made the =
islanders less likely to agree. If the present democratic regime can =
survive the current financial crisis, then the islanders themselves =
might someday in the future be open to friendly compromise with a =
hopefully peaceful, democratic and prosperous Argentina.

4. There is very little ill-will in Britain towards any Argentinean who =
does not happen to be a member of their disgraceful football team. =
During the invasion, the islanders were not particularly brutalised, and =
both sides managed to stay broadly within the Geneva convention, with =
only two 'dubious' actions in the entire campaign (one each). I know for =
a fact (from contacts in Argentina) that the right-wing football =
hooligan who probably wrote those words represents a very minority view =
among Argentina's people. (For example we have a Brit rugby team in the =
country at this moment). Soccer unfortunately tends to attract an =
element who like to use the 'tribal' nature of its support as a vehicle =
for extreme political views.

5. Rockall is a small pinnacle of rock in the Atlantic a few hundred =
miles West of Scotland. It is worth 'rock-all' in itself save for the =
fact that the ocean surrounding it is populated with fish. It may have =
oil and gas beneath, but it is well off the continental shelf, so the =
technology needed to extract it is at the moment well into the realms of =
science fiction. The only 'dispute' over oil is between the 'separatist' =
element in Scotland and the rest of the UK, whereas in reality it is =
actually 'owned' by the oil companies who paid for exploration licences =
(the UK receives a royalty on each barrel extracted from its sector of =
the North Sea).

So...why did the Brits fly off the handle when Argentina invaded these =
few cold windswept rocks? (and it was bloody cold...trust me).

1. Well, although Britain is not a superpower any more (nor want to be) =
we are (like yourselves) not accustomed to having sand kicked in our =
faces by tinpot military juntas.

2. It was necessary to demonstrate that the use of force against =
Britain's few remaining colonies would not be tolerated, just in case =
'anyone else' was watching with interest. It was for the attention of =
other countries (for example Spain) who claim the few little remaining =
red dots on the globe as their own against the will of the people who =
live there. Fortunately these countries are all at the moment reasonable =
peaceful democracies, but if any of them were to be taken over by an =
aggressive Junta, it would be best to have this little squabble in the =
history books, just to signal that taking aggressive action would be =
something of a 'career decision'.
=20
Although we are still quite a 'martial' nation, obviously (as a local =
'minipower' nowadays) there is a limit to what we can do, so please for =
gawd's sake don't invade Bermuda.

(I have got my tin helmet on now in case some swine translates this into =
Spanish and posts it)

73 and thanks.

Chris, GQ4PDJ


























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