UK plotting another war in Malvinas'
Fri Dec 23, 2011 7:19PM GMT
Britain's military authorities are considering contingency plans to go
to war with Argentina in case the South American country moves to
reclaim its occupied territory of Las Malvinas (the Falklands).
The new sabre-rattling comes amid the South American 'Mercosur'
trading bloc's call for the ships from the Falklands be banned from
docking in their ports.
Among contingencies being considered are deploying nuclear-armed
submarines to the UK-occupied Las Malvinas.
Mercosur, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay have
agreed to ban boats sailing under the Falklands flag from docking at
their ports - even though Paraguay does not even have a coastline.
The member states voted unanimously in their 3 December meeting to
support Argentina in the territorial dispute of the islands known to
the United Kingdom as the Falklands, but to Argentina as Las Malvinas.
The UK's legal claims to the Islands can be traced back as far as
1690, but they've only “occupied” the Islands consistently since 1833.
Argentina controlled the Islands for a brief time before 1833, and
that's the basis for the territorial disputes.
On April 2nd, 1982, Argentina deployed troops from Patagonia to take
back Las Malvinas.
The two sides fought a devastating 74-day war that left dead 649
Argentine forces, 255 British troops, and 3 civilians in the Island
who were caught in the crossfire.
On June 14th, the same year a thoroughly beaten and embarrassed
Argentina finally withdrew from Las Malvinas.
The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) announced in November that it will assign
Prince William, the heir to the British throne, to the Falkland
Islands, off the coast of Argentina.
Prince William will serve as an RAF rescue helicopter pilot for six
weeks from February to March 2012 in the islands, which is still a
source of tension between both countries, the Ministry of Defense
(MoD) said.
The prince's deployment could provoke more sabre-rattling, according
to informed sources.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has said that
Britain was ready to use its military to steal natural resources
'anywhere, anyhow'.
“They're currently taking our oil reserves and fish stocks from the
Falklands but when they need more natural resources they will come and
use force to steal them wherever and however they can”, she added.
Britons are concerned that sweeping cuts to the Royal Navy, which
means the UK will soon be without an aircraft carrier, would leave the
country incapable of launching another Task Force like that sent by
then prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1982 to consolidate its
occupation of the islands.
But, the islands is rich in terms of oil resources. British oil
explorer Rockhopper has announced the discovery of two further big oil
hits, as well as a discovery of gas 80 miles off the Falklands coast.
The UK government has been condemned by Argentine officials for trying
to exhaust "Argentine natural resources".
Arturo Puricelli, Argentina's Minister of Defense, said last week that
the UK, in addition to “wanting to dress up [the occupation of Las
Malvinas] as ecology or environmentalism”, is actually more concerned
with “our resources.”
He reiterated that his country would handle the issue “definitively”
by peaceful means, since it's the 21st century, but did not elaborate.
Minister Puricelli's remarks echo a statement made by Jorge Arguello,
Argentine Ambassador to the UN, in September.
Arguello told the China Foundation for International Studies, a
Chinese think tank, that the 21st century will prove to be “the
century of the natural resources dispute”, adding that the “fisheries
and oil have much to do with this [Malvinas] conflict.”
The Minister's remarks underline a central Argentine concern: if Las
Malvinas son Argentinas, then the oil in the surrounding waters is
also Argentina's.
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