Falkland Islands: Tensions Rising

[Tim Deegan]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. I wonder if the union members will feel the same when they're laid off due to lack of trade?

Well it sounds like they have had enough money out of the UK.

The funny thing is that it will be just another stop for the cruise ship, and probably won't be much of a big deal for most of the passengers. But for the tourist industry near the port in Argentina, it could be a huge financial blow.

---------- Post added at 18:24 ---------- Previous post was at 17:49 ----------

It's on the BBC News site now:

Two cruise ships carrying almost 3,000 passengers have been turned away from an Argentine port, apparently because they had visited the Falklands.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17184955

[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

It's also being reported on the Falklands own newspapers site:

http://www.penguin-news.com/index.ph...from-falklands

This is madness!

---------- Post added at 09:49 ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 ----------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17157373

Reading the BBC article, we are well prepaired, except in terms of Aircraft carriers!

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Alan Fry

This is madness!

---------- Post added at 09:49 ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 ----------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17157373

Reading the BBC article, we are well prepaired, except in terms of Aircraft carriers!

The Falklands are well defended, don't worry. The islands had no defence in 1982, so the Argentinians walked in.

It's easier to defend than to liberate.

[Osem]

I wonder if the Argentinians would feel it justified for us to stop all flights to the Falklands made by the families and loved ones of those Argentinians buried there. In not stooping to their level we show oursleves to have the moral as well as geographical high ground.

[Mick]

The Argentinian economy is in crisis I believe, it's their loss to turning away 3000 people with money to spend. But what I cannot wait to hear this week is what their second rate celebrity supporter, Sean Penn has to say on the matter.

[Tim Deegan]

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

The Falklands are well defended, don't worry. The islands had no defence in 1982, so the Argentinians walked in.

It's easier to defend than to liberate.

Don't forget 'pride comes before a fall'

Many military leaders have underestimated their enemy in the past, and paid for it.

It only takes one lucky shot, or one glitch in the defence radar to lose a ship.

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Tim Deegan

Don't forget 'pride comes before a fall'

Many military leaders have underestimated their enemy in the past, and paid for it.

It only takes one lucky shot, or one glitch in the defence radar to lose a ship.

Lucky shots tend to be one in a million, the missiles that hit Sheffield, coventry and the support ships would not have got through to hit a type 45.. It's also doubtful if the exocet would even lock onto a type 45..

But you seem to be so negative, anyone would think you want the argies to win????

[Tim Deegan]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Lucky shots tend to be one in a million, the missiles that hit Sheffield, coventry and the support ships would not have got through to hit a type 45.. It's also doubtful if the exocet would even lock onto a type 45..

But you seem to be so negative, anyone would think you want the argies to win????

Will you stop having this "we can never be beaten attitude", it is so arrogant!

I'm not being negative, I'm being realistic.

We may have better technology than them, and we may have more forces there than we did last time. However if they threw everything they have at us, then our forces could quite easily be overwhelmed.

Remember the Taliban are still killing our soldiers even though they don't have anywhere near the sort of technology that we have.

I personally don't want any British serviceman killed. And if Argentina think they have a chance, then there could be a lot of bloodshed. As I have said from the start of this thread, if we had aircraft carriers in the area, then they wouldn't dare even to try.

However their special forces are highly respected.

Most military thinkers agree they offer the only credible threat through a surprise attack on Mt Pleasant. One scenario might be a civilian airliner packed with special forces to divert to Mt Pleasant, says Colonel Southby-Tailyour. "It would take a very brave politician to shoot down a civilian airliner in cold blood. The Argentine forces are good. They could jump out and shoot everything up."

What would be interesting would be to find out the actual strength of the Argentine military.

---------- Post added at 12:24 ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 ----------

Originally Posted by Mick

The Argentinian economy is in crisis I believe, it's their loss to turning away 3000 people with money to spend. But what I cannot wait to hear this week is what their second rate celebrity supporter, Sean Penn has to say on the matter.

[Kymmy]

I never said we can never be beaten, what I am saying is that 40 year old technology has a tendency of always being beaten by up to date technology.. The argies haven't updated any of their aircraft, armaments..etc since the last so called war.. This time they can't sneak up on us (I wonder how many military sats UK/US..etc are pointing at their coastline/bases) and the current complement (with or without the type 45's even) could cope with an invasion comparable to what they did in the 80's..

If anyone has got a defeatist mentality then go join up..

[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

I never said we can never be beaten, what I am saying is that 40 year old technology has a tendency of always being beaten by up to date technology.. The argies haven't updated any of their aircraft, armaments..etc since the last so called war.. This time they can't sneak up on us (I wonder how many military sats UK/US..etc are pointing at their coastline/bases) and the current complement (with or without the type 45's even) could cope with an invasion comparable to what they did in the 80's..

If anyone has got a defeatist mentality then go join up..

What if Iran, Russia and China gave milltary aid to Argentina? (just to annoy the UK!)

[Kymmy]

If they haven't done by now I doubt if they will do.. Argentina had to go the round about route last time to buy the exocets.. You can't just also buy an up to date missile without an up to date aircraft to launch it, which also means up to date training for the crew. Even those weapons would have difficulty penetrating a type 45's defences.

As for the Taliban in the previous post it's a totally different scenario.. We're not going in to a country where part of the indigenous population is acting as a guerilla force.. I doubt if Argies could hide amongst the population and there's few other places to hide.. So the recent conflicts in Iraq/Afghanistan is not comparable.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Alan Fry

What if Iran, Russia and China gave milltary aid to Argentina? (just to annoy the UK!)

If that happened then I can see the yanks joining in on our side. They'd be watching any military action by the above 3 countries VERY closely and I reckon they'd join us as a big brother (although no doubting wanting any action taken to be "US-led" )

[Tim Deegan]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

I never said we can never be beaten, what I am saying is that 40 year old technology has a tendency of always being beaten by up to date technology.. The argies haven't updated any of their aircraft, armaments..etc since the last so called war.. This time they can't sneak up on us (I wonder how many military sats UK/US..etc are pointing at their coastline/bases) and the current complement (with or without the type 45's even) could cope with an invasion comparable to what they did in the 80's..

If anyone has got a defeatist mentality then go join up..

I really hope you are right. But I believe you are being far too cocky, and that's exactly what Maggy did in the 80's. And that's why we very nearly lost the "so called war" as you put it.

I can't believe you seriously think that 1200 troops, 4 fast jets, and three ships (including only 1 type 45), can take on a whole country's military, that is only 200 miles or so away, if they were really determined. If they did decide to invade, then yes, we could put up a far better defence. But it all depends on how much they throw at us, as to how long we could hold out for. Even to resupply our troops we have to go 1000's of miles.

Lets just take a scenario where Argentina are determined to take out the only type 45 that we have in the area. And they launch 30 fast jets armed with whatever anti ship missile they have these days, in a simultanious attack. Now in theory I'm sure the type 45's are capable of taking out more than one missile ar fast jet at a time....but 30???

So like I said, we shouldn't get so cocky. And we need our aircraft carriers recommisioned.

Oh, and don't forget. Obama isn't backing us on this one.

[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by Tim Deegan

I really hope you are right. But I believe you are being far too cocky, and that's exactly what Maggy did in the 80's. And that's why we very nearly lost the "so called war" as you put it.

I can't believe you seriously think that 1200 troops, 4 fast jets, and three ships (including only 1 type 45), can take on a whole country's military, that is only 200 miles or so away, if they were really determined. If they did decide to invade, then yes, we could put up a far better defence. But it all depends on how much they throw at us, as to how long we could hold out for. Even to resupply our troops we have to go 1000's of miles.

Lets just take a scenario where Argentina are determined to take out the only type 45 that we have in the area. And they launch 30 fast jets armed with whatever anti ship missile they have these days, in a simultanious attack. Now in theory I'm sure the type 45's are capable of taking out more than one missile ar fast jet at a time....but 30???

So like I said, we shouldn't get so cocky. And we need our aircraft carriers recommisioned.

Oh, and don't forget. Obama isn't backing us on this one.

So why don't we send more of the UK armed forces to the Falklands!

Also, draw up a list of passenger ships that could be used in a future war, like the Cunard and P&O cruises fleets!

[Kymmy]

As they say one bomb can outweigh an army of a thousand..

The argies have no decent weaponry, yes they could win a hand to hand fight army to army based on the current south atlantic deployment but once you bring in weaponry and technology we have a good 10-1 advantage.

It's a shame to the memory of those who have fought and died for this country that some people here have such a defeatist attitude.