dog-days Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 According to the BBC, a big South American trading bloc (Mercosur, including Argentina - duh - Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) has voted to ban ships flying the Falklands flag from using their ports.Is this just Uruguay currying favour with Argentina, or a sign of something more serious? President Fernandez's speech sounds a bit scary:Malvinas is not an Argentine cause, it is a global cause, because in the Malvinas they are taking our oil and fishing resources.And when there is need for more resources, those who are strong are going to look for them wherever and however they can.The tension over the Falklands seems to have revived because of British exploratory drilling for oil in the seabed surrounding the islands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lummel Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Obviously not a good period for British diplomacy.Drilling and exploration around the Falklands has been going on for years. Afaik they've only found gas, maybe with oil rims and most of the drilling has come up dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuisDantas Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Tsc. South American arrogance. Typical and disgusting as ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arataniello Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Ships change their flag to some other flag of convenience. End of problem, surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuisDantas Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 It is a dangerous precedent, and a major diplomatic attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Wizard Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 The UK had better not let Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Maxi Rodriguez leave the country then. If Argentina invade our islands, we amputate their footballers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I reckon they're just doing this so they can get out of coming to the London Olympics without looking like bad sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog-days Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Obviously not a good period for British diplomacy.Drilling and exploration around the Falklands has been going on for years. Afaik they've only found gas, maybe with oil rims and most of the drilling has come up dry.Which makes the motives behind this move a bit strange. Did the governor of the Falklands stamp on President Fernandez's pet hamster? Perhaps the Argentines just wanted a personal Japan to poke with a stick, a la China.I reckon they're just doing this so they can get out of coming to the London Olympics without looking like bad sports. But Paraguay really has a chance of getting somewhere in the synchronised swimming next year; I don't think they'd want to be robbed of their second ever Olympic medal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rane Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 This is not particularly surprising. Most countries in the region have always supported the Argentinian claim to the Maldivas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 This is not particularly surprising. Most countries in the region have always supported the Argentinian claim to the Maldivas.I don't really see why it's fairly ridiculous, of all the numerous examples of British imperialism Argentina has picked one of the few were the British Empire didn't really do a huge amount wrong to bitch about for going on 180 years. I mean come on, if you're being generous Argentina controlled the Falklands for about four years in the early 19th century (and more realistically it was about 3 months), the British claim predates the Argentinian one and none of the population seems to have any desire to be part of Argentina. It's getting a bit embarrassing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddington Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I'd imagine a lot of the sabre rattling is due to problems in Argentina. Also the fact that we don't have any aircraft carriers at the moment doesn't help much. I am not sure how keen France would be to get involved in the Falklands with us.Good time to force some concessions from UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mormont Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 The UK had better not let Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Maxi Rodriguez leave the country then. If Argentina invade our islands, we amputate their footballers.Better yet: if they invade, we send Tevez back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I'd imagine a lot of the sabre rattling is due to problems in Argentina. Also the fact that we don't have any aircraft carriers at the moment doesn't help much. I am not sure how keen France would be to get involved in the Falklands with us.Good time to force some concessions from UK.That only matters if Argentina captures them. Then we wouldn't be able to get them back. But these days there is a decent force of soldiers and aircraft based there and a nuclear attack submarine on patrol around the coast. They'd have to be mad to try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Wizard Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I'd imagine a lot of the sabre rattling is due to problems in Argentina. Also the fact that we don't have any aircraft carriers at the moment doesn't help much. I am not sure how keen France would be to get involved in the Falklands with us.America owes the UK for Iraq. Any chance Obama will repay Bush's debts and lend us a few aircraft carriers? :leaving: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddington Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 America owes the UK for Iraq. Any chance Obama will repay Bush's debts and lend us a few aircraft carriers? :leaving:I don't think we would get any overt support from the US, it would be probably more in the sharing intel. I doubt it will come to needing Aircraft carriers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Is there much on the Falklands besides sheep? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lummel Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Sheep shit?You can never have enough of that, God knows we don't have plenty on the islands of Britain.There are the territorial waters - fishing rights, some finds of gas and apparently very recently oil has been found (finally after decades of surveys and drilling). That has some value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddington Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Also as I understand it, most of the Islanders wish to remain British. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSarichFan Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Is this really news in England? Here the falklands don´t seem to be a popular topic on the news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddington Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Is this really news in England? Here the falklands don´t seem to be a popular topic on the news. There's a rare article or story maybe, nothing much. European matters and which celeb got there voicemail hacked are pretty much all we hear at the moment. Also at the moment we are engaged in our favourite past time. Winding up the rest of Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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