Margaret Thatcher was Britains greatest leader since Churchill. Discuss.

[DaShi]

You might be surprised, I am a UK conservative after all. UK conservative just happens to = US liberal though.

That and HC doesn't know anything about Thatcher other than Thatcher=conservative.

[Egbert]

What is so great about keeping the Falklands?

What would be so bad about furrinners snatching some US islands, say Hawaii for example?
Nothing to worry about, the Argentinians just snaffled some of our territory. Let us do nothing about it?

[giblets]

What would be so bad about furrinners snatching some US islands, say Hawaii for example?
Nothing to worry about, the Argentinians just snaffled some of our territory. Let us do nothing about it?

Right, the population of Hawaii is only ~450 times larger than that of the Falklands. Those things are roughly equivalent.

[Hauldren Collider]

Don't forget that by defending the Falklands they showed the world that they were willing to protect their remaining overseas assets. That may be of dubious value, but that value is hard to quantify.

[giblets]

Well I don't think they could have protected Hong Kong if they wanted to, and what good are any of the other overseas islands?

[C0ckney]

Note the "was" in the thread title. Blair didn't come between Churchill and Thatcher chronologically.

that's a silly interpretation. it's perfectly clear that kentonio meant from churchill up until the present day.

[Hauldren Collider]

Well I don't think they could have protected Hong Kong if they wanted to, and what good are any of the other overseas islands?

Yes, they absolutely could have. China would not have contested, for a few reasons: 1, if they had tried to fight a war over Hong Kong, enough of the city would have been destroyed to make it worthless anyway. 2, Britain's Navy, although much smaller than ours, is orders of magnitude more capable than China's. 3, both countries have nukes and the Chinese would be reluctant to enter a shooting war with another nuclear power.

Frankly, I don't know why the British didn't keep it.

[Hauldren Collider]

she lead George "dont be wimpy" Bush into the Gulf War and the world paid for it with 9/11 and much more

and then George's son lead Blair into the 2nd Gulf War

who was before them? The word greatest sure wouldn't apply to those two

You think 9/11 had to do with the first Gulf War? WTF?

[giblets]

Yes, they absolutely could have. China would not have contested, for a few reasons: 1, if they had tried to fight a war over Hong Kong, enough of the city would have been destroyed to make it worthless anyway. 2, Britain's Navy, although much smaller than ours, is orders of magnitude more capable than China's. 3, both countries have nukes and the Chinese would be reluctant to enter a shooting war with another nuclear power.

Frankly, I don't know why the British didn't keep it.

They must have not thought the Chinese would think the British would start a nuclear war if the British weren't getting their way with some distant overseas posession. For ****s sake, did Thatcher ever threaten to use nuclear weapons on an Argentina that wouldn't have been able to retaliate in kind? It's not like a threat of nuclear war would be credible. They also, obviously, didn't think they could stop the much larger Chinese army from taking something that neighbors the mainland. Send troops into a city doesn't automatically reduce it to rubble either.

[DaShi]

Yes, they absolutely could have. China would not have contested, for a few reasons: 1, if they had tried to fight a war over Hong Kong, enough of the city would have been destroyed to make it worthless anyway. 2, Britain's Navy, although much smaller than ours, is orders of magnitude more capable than China's. 3, both countries have nukes and the Chinese would be reluctant to enter a shooting war with another nuclear power.

Frankly, I don't know why the British didn't keep it.

How did you get into CMU?

[giblets]

You think 9/11 had to do with the first Gulf War? WTF?

He probably thinks the 9/11 attacks are related to the American military presence in Saudi Arabia which is related to the Gulf War.

[Berzerker]

You think 9/11 had to do with the first Gulf War? WTF?

9/11 was the culmination of Al Qaeda attacks on US interests that began after Bush/Clinton left an army in Saudi Arabia to enforce sanctions on Iraq...

ty gribbler

[Egbert]

Yes, they absolutely could have. China would not have contested, for a few reasons: 1, if they had tried to fight a war over Hong Kong, enough of the city would have been destroyed to make it worthless anyway. 2, Britain's Navy, although much smaller than ours, is orders of magnitude more capable than China's. 3, both countries have nukes and the Chinese would be reluctant to enter a shooting war with another nuclear power.

Frankly, I don't know why the British didn't keep it.

The lease on the greater part part of Hong Kong expired and therefore had to be handed over. The remaining bit of Hong kong was not viable by itself therefore the whole lot was handed back to China. There was never any question over fighting over it. Lease expired, end of story.

[Hauldren Collider]

Yeah, I understand that. I just don't see why Britain couldn't have just as easily reneged on its promise to hand over Hong Kong.

[kentonio]

Why would we? A deals a deal.