Falkland War Part 2?

[KMFJD]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8518982.stm

Looks like Argentina is impossing a shipping ban for boats traveling to the Falklands, guess they don't like the fact that the British are starting to drill for oil and they are missing out.

-Does Argentina have any valid claim to the Falklands? Seems that the British have been there for almost as long as Argentina has been an independant nation and have been the only people to permanently colonize the islands.

 

[Red Dawn]

This is all Argentina will do, they learned their lesson.

 

[shiner]

The British need those islands for strategic sheep purposes!!

 

[nick1985]

This is all Argentina will do, they learned their lesson.

Pretty much

 

[alphatarget1]

It's just stupid how many soldiers lost their lives over these kinds of territorial disputes.

Argentina got pwned by a relatively small (in size) country and a declining power which is almost 8000 miles away. It was kind of sad actually.

 

[Dari]

It's just stupid how many soldiers lost their lives over these kinds of territorial disputes.

Argentina got pwned by a relatively small (in size) country and a declining power which is almost 8000 miles away. It was kind of sad actually.

They got help from the United States...

 

[nick1985]

Argentina got pwned by a relatively small (in size) country and a declining power which is almost 8000 miles away. It was kind of sad actually.

Since when does the physical size of a nation determine its military power? Ever hear of Israel?

 

[brandonbull]

It's just stupid how many soldiers lost their lives over these kinds of territorial disputes.

Argentina got pwned by a relatively small (in size) country and a declining power which is almost 8000 miles away. It was kind of sad actually.

I think the fact that the British kinda have well trained troops and modern equipment in some small way factored in said pwnage.

 

[rudder]

They got help from the United States...

Argentina had French exocet missiles. What is your point?

 

[KMFJD]

They got help from the United States...

What type of help did they receive? Was reading another thread earlier that stated Thatcher called up the French PM threatening to use their nuclear submarine that was around those waters if the french did not give the British the exocet disarm codes...no proof of this of course

 

[alphatarget1]

Since when does the physical size of a nation determine its military power? Ever hear of Israel?

Israel doesn't have to travel 8k miles to fight. Britain barely won. I would say if Argentinians had better tacticians the British could've lost.

 

[rudder]

Israel doesn't have to travel 8k miles to fight. Britain barely won. I would say if Argentinians had better tacticians the British could've lost.

Had the Brits two aircraft carriers been sunk by exocet missiles... they would have been in serious trouble.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Israel doesn't have to travel 8k miles to fight. Britain barely won. I would say if Argentinians had better tacticians the British could've lost.

A lot of the Argentinian bombs that hit the British ships were duds.

 

[StageLeft]

Every war has woulda shoulda.

 

[Jaskalas]

Had the Brits two aircraft carriers been sunk by exocet missiles... they would have been in serious trouble.

Who would have been in trouble exactly?

http://www.guardian.co.uk
Margaret Thatcher forced François Mitterrand to give her the codes to disable Argentina's deadly French-made missiles during the Falklands war by threatening to launch a nuclear warhead against Buenos Aires

 

[daniel49]

had the Argentine army been able to amphibiously land thier llama cavalry, the brits would be singing a different toon.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I thought territorial waters only extended 200 miles. The Falkand Islands are more than 200 miles away from Argintina.

 

[alphatarget1]

Had the Brits two aircraft carriers been sunk by exocet missiles... they would have been in serious trouble.

God save the queen?

 

[ichy]

-Does Argentina have any valid claim to the Falklands?

No. The Falklands have belonged to the UK since before Argentina existed, and the residents of the islands overwhelmingly want to remain part of England. The '82 war was a simple ploy by Galtieri and his band of thugs to distract the Argentine population from domestic issues.

 

[ichy]

Had the Brits two aircraft carriers been sunk by exocet missiles... they would have been in serious trouble.

It was worse than that. The Argies didn't have to sink either carrier, they just had to render one of them incapable of conducting flight operations. In his book about the war Admiral Sandy Woordward (the commander of the UK's task force back in '82) said that if one of his carriers had been disabled that would've been it and they would've lost. He also mentioned that one of the biggest enemies was the weather. If Argentina had managed to hang on for a couple more weeks the British task force would've had to withdraw just because their ships were getting pounded to pieces by the South Atlantic.

 

[ichy]

Since when does the physical size of a nation determine its military power? Ever hear of Israel?

Since the 1960s the UK had given up on projecting militar power South of Gibraltar or East of Suez. The Royal Navy was equipped to fight the Russians in the North Atlantic, not to mount an amphibious operation halfway around the world. The fact that they were able to win the war was a testament to the skill and professionalism of the UK's armed forces and the incompetence of the Argies.

 

[Lemon law]

It was not worth fighting over them, but now that there may be oil, its always time to send soldiers to die for the glory and greed of their nation.

If Abraham was willing to sacrifice sheep and maybe his sons for the glory of God, surely we can find an excuse to spill more blood.

 

[ichy]

It was not worth fighting over them, but now that there may be oil, its always time to send soldiers to die for the glory and greed of their nation.

If Abraham was willing to sacrifice sheep and maybe his sons for the glory of God, surely we can find an excuse to spill more blood.

A nation's sovereign territory and its citizens aren't worth fighting for? What should the UK have done in 1982, allow a tin-pot dictator and his band of thugs to simply seize the islands from them? To hell with that! Britain stood up for what was rightfully theirs, and they have every right to be proud of what they did. Hell, they even did the Argies a favor since the war resulted in Galtiere & Co. being kicked out of power.

 

[Pepsei]

Who would have been in trouble exactly?

UK would actually use nuke? glad we didn't have to find out.

also, seems like a waste if you purchase missiles that could be disabled by the seller. i'd have someone go in there and change the code.

 

[ichy]

UK would actually use nuke? glad we didn't have to find out.

also, seems like a waste if you purchase missiles that could be disabled by the seller. i'd have someone go in there and change the code.

The bit about the Exocets being disabled sounds like BS. Off the top of my head I believe that Argentina had a mere five air-launched Exocets, and they were able to sink at least two ships with them (HMS Sheffield and the transport Atlantic Conveyor.) Doesn't sound like they were disabled to me. I think that the French did provide the UK with some information on how the missile's seeker worked which may have improved the effectiveness of jamming.