[Destroyer25]

(Original post by Steevee)
It was on the basis that I doubt she would indeed oblige the former, so she would then have to do the latter

One would hope.

[Greg.]

(Original post by Pitt1988)
Got shares in Falkland oil! They don't wanna be getting their hands on it.

Ditto. Rockhopper?

[Otto von Bismarck]

As for paying for a crack legal team, Argentina's nominal GDP is just a quarter or so above last years revenue for BP and Shell. ExxonMobil is a fair bit in excess. Argentina wouldn't stand a chance in a fair court of law.

Unfortunately they would fix it by lodging it in an Argentinian court. Plus they have past form for not paying foreign debt when the oil firms sue them in the UK/US. Its all sabre rattling though. Id be far more concerned with their growing links with China. In a decade or so I reckon the pressures of oil demand from that area of the world could have some nasty consequences...

[cl_steele]

(Original post by Destroyer25)
Cristina Fernández isn't that pretty man. She's 59 you know.

she's aged damn well though

[kingsholmmad]

(Original post by Steevee)
And in answer to OP, yes, I do think it's time we start threatening to impose embargos. And having serious talks with the South American nations supporting Argentina on this. I don't know our extent of involvement with any of them, but surely we can twist some arms or offer some incentives somewhere?

With the centuries of experience of diplomatic double-dealing we've had, we should be able to flatter / bribe / blackmail a couple of them into at least a position of neutrality. Getting Chile on our side would be quite useful, though.

Failing that, I say we buy one of the tiny little rock islands off the Falklands and rename it 'Cristina - TITS or GTFO'

Alternatively, there's Observatory Island, just off the Argentine part of Tierra del Fuego, right in an area of pretty high tectonic instability. I mean, it's not like a bit of injudicious drilling that "accidentally" causes an earthquake and tsunami, could be construed as an act of military aggression, however much it wound up the Argies.

[GeorgetheAug]

Falkland inhabitants: "We don't want to be Argentinian!"
Britain: "Leave them alone!"

Palestinians: "We don't want to be Israeli!"
Britain: "Tough it's their PROMISED LAND!"

[NietzschanGuy]

I'd be in favour of sitting back and letting things play out for now. We hardly have the military capability for an offensive war, and if we were to carry it out what is our target? Argentina's mainland? The second a bomb dropped we'd lose all sympathy worldwide. This issue rests on the sympathetic response we can generate on the basis of appearing to be the victim, and so it makes little sense to take any retaliatory action as of yet. If the Argentinians are serious let them attack, and everyone they harm in the first attack gets us more international support for a response.

But let's face it, they're not going to attack. They may have south america largely backing them but apart from Brazil that's not really all that much for them to go on is it? I'd even be hesitant to consider sending any additional support to the Falklands. Again, all the political benefits from this situation we can garner will rest on us appearing defenceless and victimised. That goes triple for the sympathy for the islanders themselves.

[Snagprophet]

(Original post by GeorgetheAug)
Falkland inhabitants: "We don't want to be Argentinian!"
Britain: "Leave them alone!"

Palestinians: "We don't want to be Israeli!"
Britain: "Tough it's their PROMISED LAND!"

In all fairness, we weren't even for a Jewish state anyway.

[Llamageddon]

Argentina can keep talking all they want. We have £1.4bn worth of trade with them, have political support from the US/ EU and are holed into the falklands so deeply that the entire brunt of argentinas armed forces would do sweet FA against the islands.

[geetar]

Quickly, someone call Sean Penn!

[cl_steele]

(Original post by GeorgetheAug)
Falkland inhabitants: "We don't want to be Argentinian!"
Britain: "Leave them alone!"

Palestinians: "We don't want to be Israeli!"
Britain: "Tough it's their PROMISED LAND!"

i must admit this did make me laugh a wee bit

[Psyk]

(Original post by Snagprophet)
In all fairness, we weren't even for a Jewish state anyway.

Didn't they actually have fight against the British to create Israel?

[Snagprophet]

(Original post by Psyk)
Didn't they actually have fight against the British to create Israel?

I believe we sunk a boat with Jewish migrants on.

[kingsholmmad]

(Original post by Psyk)
Didn't they actually have fight against the British to create Israel?

And now the Argentinians are going to have to fight the British to create Los Islas Malvinas. Well, if defending the Falklands were to mean that we had to withdraw all our troops from Afghanistan (not that it would), I can't say I would be at all disappointed.

[Psyk]

(Original post by Snagprophet)
I believe we sunk a boat with Jewish migrants on.

I watched that mini series on Channel 4 called The Promise. Not sure how factual it is (it's fiction based around real events), but in that there was a fair bit of conflict between Jewish settlers and the British administration. Not a full scale war, but there were bombings and skirmishes. It did have a clear anti-Israel bias though.

[Heinz the German]

(Original post by Psyk)
I watched that mini series on Channel 4 called The Promise. Not sure how factual it is (it's fiction based around real events), but in that there was a fair bit of conflict between Jewish settlers and the British administration. Not a full scale war, but there were bombings and skirmishes. It did have a clear anti-Israel bias though.

The Irgun and Lehi (Stern Gang) were a bunch of terrorists, using the same tactics that Hezbollah and the like use now. The Deir Yassin massacre, the Binyamina train bombing, the Sergeants affair (the incident portayed in The Promise), the King David Hotel bombing. The irony being that even whilst British troops were liberating concentration camps during WW2 that radical jewish elements in Palestine were assassinating British diplomats there.

[Bonged.]

(Original post by kingsholmmad)
And now the Argentinians are going to have to fight the British to create Los Islas Malvinas. Well, if defending the Falklands were to mean that we had to withdraw all our troops from Afghanistan (not that it would), I can't say I would be at all disappointed.

Absolutely. I'd rather British troops are defending people that want them there in the first place, and the falkland islanders desperately want (and I would say deserve) our protection. If our country was to do one noble thing, it would be to preserve the right to self determination of the falkland islanders.