David Cameron 'bordering on stupidity' over Falkland , says Argentina president

Not a chance, their military has been cut even more than ours since the 80s.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Chris

Flt. Lt. William Wales is following in his uncle Andrew's rotor blades and heading south to fly helicopters in the Falklands.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15682242

but when unky andy was there some naughty people were trying to kill him

Unky Andy was trying to kill some of the naughty people too ... this time the royal posting is purely with the aim of saving lives though, as he is on detachment with a search-and-rescue team.

[Alan Fry]

i think that with britain cutting defence, oil discoved in the falklands, all of south america behind argentinas claim, and argetina continuting to claim those islands, plus david cameron losing popularty (like the Maggie before the falklands war), war is coming, when is another matter

Originally Posted by Alan Fry

i think that with britain cutting defence, oil discoved in the falklands, all of south america behind argentinas claim, and argetina continuting to claim those islands, plus david cameron losing popularty (like the Maggie before the falklands war), war is coming, when is another matter

Who is going to fight it?

We have no aircraft carriers at present and when we do we will have to borrow some planes to put on those carriers..we are cutting naval,army and RAF staff as well as in hardware.. Argentina have also been forced to make cutbacks in their military.

There will just be a war of rhetoric but not of armaments.

Argentina's military spending is almost the smallest in South America and its infrastructure and equipment has had little in the way of upgrades since 1983.

Despite our own spending cuts, the UK's military is technologically far more advanced than it was in the early 1980s and there is a lot more hardware deployed to the Falklands also. Even if they fancied having a go, Argentina couldn't get near enough to the islands to land on them.

[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Who is going to fight it?

We have no aircraft carriers at present and when we do we will have to borrow some planes to put on those carriers..we are cutting naval,army and RAF staff as well as in hardware.. Argentina have also been forced to make cutbacks in their military.

There will just be a war of rhetoric but not of armaments.

i have no idea if britain can fight a war against argentina

but it was defence cut in the uk the encoruged argentina to start this war, a mistake then and now

---------- Post added at 12:13 ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 ----------

Originally Posted by Chris

Argentina's military spending is almost the smallest in South America and its infrastructure and equipment has had little in the way of upgrades since 1983.

Despite our own spending cuts, the UK's military is technologically far more advanced than it was in the early 1980s and there is a lot more hardware deployed to the Falklands also. Even if they fancied having a go, Argentina couldn't get near enough to the islands to land on them.

what if the other south americans join in, they back argentinas claim

Defence cuts led to a catastrophic miscalculation of British resolve on the part of the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina at the time. Argentina and its government are now both very different. They may still want the Falklands back but they have neither the political will nor the resources to take them by force.

Prince William has nothing more to worry about during his forthcoming tour than fishermen getting blown overboard in the South Atlantic.

---------- Post added at 12:17 ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 ----------

Originally Posted by Alan Fry

what if the other south americans join in, they back argentinas claim

They are also democracies with economies and international reputations to protect. It won't happen.

[Alan Fry]

well i hope that britain and argentina have another war, ultimately they should talking about a agreement:

maybe they should have a Referendum on the falklands to deiside their future

Territorial claims causes in the constitutions of foreign countries really aren't worth sending people to die for. They are simply ink on paper and nothing more. Such things only become a problem when they are used to legitimise military activity.

But the military activity needs more than a bare territorial claim to be worth the cost. It was worth it to the military government of Argentina in 1982 because military dictatorships are by their nature attracted to military solutions. They had a problem with their domestic popularity and saw military action in pursuit of a popular cause as a solution.

There is not going to be another falklands war argentina is not that stupid the cost to them would be horrendous and very likely a complete fail. Falklands are secure for what threat they face and that will be the case for the foreseeable future no government in the UK can afford to let those islands go as long as the population there wants to be british and that also shows no signs of changing in our lifetimes.

It's all a moot argument it really is something that might be fun to hypothesise about but at the end of the day no actual physical activity will occur because of it again.

[Kingofthedead4]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15703340

The Duke of Cambridge's posting to the Falkland Islands has been condemned by Argentina as a "provocative act".

Britain says Prince William's deployment for training as a helicopter rescue pilot is routine.

But Argentine official Sebastian Brugo Marco said Argentina could not ignore the "political content" of the mission.

The prince's tour next year will come shortly before the 30th anniversary of Argentina's defeat in the Falklands War.

Argentina still claims sovereignty over the islands, which it calls Las Malvinas.

Mr Brugo Marco, the Argentine official with responsibility for the South Atlantic territory, made his comments in an interview with the Argentine newspaper, La Nacion.

"It is one more provocative act that shows Britain's military presence in a zone of peace where there is no armed conflict," he said.

"One cannot ignore the political content of this military operation bearing in mind that the prince forms part of the Royal Family".

'Arrogant' Britain
The Royal Air force has stressed that the posting is a normal part of Prince William's training and says he will not perform any ceremonial duties.

His uncle, the Duke of York, served as a helicopter pilot in the 1982 conflict, when Argentina invaded the islands only to be defeated by a British task force.

Earlier this year Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called Britain "arrogant" for refusing to negotiate on the islands.

Her government stepped up its campaign to gain sovereignty over the territory in 2010 after Britain started to search for oil in Falklands waters.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said there can be no negotiations on the status of the islands unless the people of the Falklands want them.

Britain has ruled the Falklands for more than 180 years, but Argentina insists it has a prior claim.

Surely the sending of a member of the royal family is not a political or threatening move. If anything I think its a let's shove him out of the way then he does not get hurt move.

Argentines are talking tough but thats all it is talk they are in no position to actually do anything about it and the falklands are not the easy target they once were. Of course there is nothing provacative in william doing a tour down there unless your looking for something to call provocative which they are.

Rattling of sabres for the benefit of the argentine public knowing they won't have to do anything about it.

[Sirius]

Falklands war part 2 some how i don't think so. The Argentines had there arses handed to them on a plate once i don't think they want it again.

[DocDutch]

But Sirius, the last time the Royal navy had fighters that could operate from carriers like the Sea Harrier, now it would have to be long range support of tankers.

oh not to forget last time there was a decent navy left as well dont think the type 45's are that great for air defence myself and without air support a fleet is a sitting duck