Argentinean hate-fest continues

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

The president of Argentina demands talks again, and the population of the Falklands vote to retain British sovereignty. Are the Argentineans stubborn, stupid or both? Not only do they dismiss the democratic right of the islanders to self-determination but they don't even help their case by deliberately making life awkward with various commercial restrictions. Seems they haven't learned the basic lesson of diplomacy which is that you don't win friends by bullying them.

I suspect this is unfortunately all about the oil that the Falklands may/may not be sitting upon. Argentina want their share of the proceeds and it's also a good distraction for the local population away from their domestic issues.

My biggest concern is that with the state of our defence capability, I can't see how we can liberate the Falklands again should Argentina attack.

We've no aircraft carriers, our Navy doesn't have as many ships as we had back in the 80's and those troops we haven't just laid off are heavily committed in Afghanistan. We've also no friendly countries/bases nearby where our strike planes could take/off land from.

There's no way the garrison & couple of planes we have on the island can withstand an assault for a month which would be the minimum it would take to get any sort of support there.

I think Argentina are taking this to the UN, who will hopefully talk some sense into them.

Argentina is in a bit of a mess at the moment. I don't think their military are capable of much at the moment.

If we are going to enter into negotiations with Argentina, one would hope that the second word that our delegation uses is "Off"!

I think for once Cameron is on the right track with his "No negotiation" stance.