The Falklands, does Argentina have a valid p.o.v.?

[kentonio]

You could probably sweep in and take them just like last time. The problem isn't taking them, it is keeping them.

No they really couldn't. We keep a garrison there to prevent it happening again and have total air superiority.

[molly bloom]

I've thought that the Dirty War was USA-sponsored anti-Socialist state terror. Do you have a link to where I could read about your part of the picture?

It's a little bit of sarcasm.

Spain also used to go on about British-occupied Gibraltar, conveniently ignoring the two outposts it has on what would otherwise be Moroccan territory:

Ceuta and Melilla, fragments of Europe on north Africa's Mediterranean coast, came under Spanish control around 500 years ago.

Madrid says the urban enclaves are integral parts of Spain. They are surrounded by Morocco, which views the Spanish presence as anachronistic and claims sovereignty.

But improving relations were jeopardised in November 2007 by Spanish King Juan Carlos' II first visit to the territories in more than 30 years, which King Mohammed VI strongly condemned.

Spain also controls a scattering of islets along the north African coast, including uninhabited Perejil, which was at the centre of a spat in 2002 when Moroccan soldiers occupied it before being removed by the Spanish army.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14114627

[BeBMan]

No they really couldn't.

They're just trying it the wrong way all the time, they haven't learnt anything

What they first have to do is to establish some trade post at the coast, to trade stuff with the natives, like glas marbles and slaves.

If it all goes well, fine, maybe they can buy them off that way. But when those native people are complaining or get annoying otherwise, they have several options:

- give the trade guys authority to do their own wars or look the other way when they do it
- cry for regular forces to restore order/bring civilization/whatever
- bring in firewater or nice warm blankets for the people

[PLATO]

Funny as it sounds, that is on the right track. The only way for Argentina to get the Falklands is to build relationships and make their culture the preferred one. Once the citizens perfer Argentina to Britain then it would be easy. I think that would take a very long time, but it seems the only way I can see of Argentina getting the Falklands

[giblets]

The 3140 British subjects living in the Falklands will probably never decide they'd rather be part of Argentina, so it would be easier to just get 3141 Argentinians to immigrate to the UK and them move to the Falklands.

[N35t0r]

Funny as it sounds, that is on the right track. The only way for Argentina to get the Falklands is to build relationships and make their culture the preferred one. Once the citizens perfer Argentina to Britain then it would be easy. I think that would take a very long time, but it seems the only way I can see of Argentina getting the Falklands

Funny as it sounds, that's exactly what was happenning before the war. Back then, fishing rights were administered by Britain, and the islands saw little (if any) of that money. They had to travel to Chile or Argentina for any major surgical procedure, as there weren't any direct flights to Britain. Even fresh butter was considered a luxury. Several of the Islanders I met mentioned that before the war they were having their kids learn Spanish, as they believed they were going to become a part of Argentina within their lifetimes. And all of them agreed that despite having to suffer the occupation, the war changed their lives for the better...

[Wezil]

The 3140 British subjects living in the Falklands will probably never decide they'd rather be part of Argentina, so it would be easier to just get 3141 Argentinians to immigrate to the UK and them move to the Falklands.

[N35t0r]

That would imply that after living in the UK long enough to get cityzenship, they'd still want to move to the falklands and become argentine cityzens again...

[Wezil]

Of course they would. They'd suffer as British citizens to fulfill the long-term plan.

[Provost Harrison]

Of course we'll return them! And the Elgin Marbles are also in the post to Greece

[Dinner]

No, what happened was that the argies made a load of bad decisions for themselves.

That's certainly true. Argentina did just about everything possible to screw up a sure thing.

[Dr Strangelove]

The 3140 British subjects living in the Falklands will probably never decide they'd rather be part of Argentina, so it would be easier to just get 3141 Argentinians to immigrate to the UK and them move to the Falklands.

Better yet, Argentina decalres itself a "People's Republic" allied with Cuba, then 3141 Argentinians escape in small boats to the Falklands and claim political asylum.

[Tupac Shakur]

They should've cleansed the population when they had a chance. This always works.

It sure seems to have worked for the British.

[kittenOFchaos]

Argentina should wait few more years until Brits scrap that little bit of navy they have left, and then annex... The British may not even have the royal yacht left to come back and reclaim.

I thought that until I actually looked at what we're building. Although we've scrapped our old carriers, the new ones are a vast improvement - a completely different league to the tiny ones we had before (over 3 times bigger!!!). Our new carriers are more closely equivalent to the American Super-Carriers, will have awesome escorts and top-notch jets. Combined with our new Astute subs and Britain is substantially more powerful than any time previously.

In the meantime, we've got far better jets than Argentina, nuclear submarines and top-notch destroyers to help defend the island.

Argentina would have been better served by talking to us nicely, improving relations (not doing a mini-Falkland embargo) and getting joint-sovereignty. It makes sense, the Falklands were settled and developed by Britain, but we've got to recognise how far they are from Britain and that military tension makes it less likely people would invest in developing oil extraction. Maybe if Argentina gave us the amputated 'hand of God' we'd just give them the islands.

[Krill]

Maybe if Argentina gave us the amputated 'hand of God' we'd just give them the islands.

Tempting...

Publicly removed on a stage in the Mall?