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'A deep-rooted hatred of the British': How Israelis 'armed junta' in Falklands conflict Israel secretly provided arms and supplies to Argentina during the Falklands conflict, according to revelations in a new book. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin had such a deep-rooted hatred of the British that the Jewish state covertly became the biggest supplier of military equipment to the Argentine military junta. Gas masks, radar alert systems, air-to-air missiles and fuel tanks for fighter bombers were sent from Tel Aviv to arm General Galtieri’s forces. The most audacious deal involved supplying 23 French-built fighter aircraft – Mirage IIICs – which...

According to a new law passed on March 16th in Argentina, oil and gas explorations are prohibited along the Argentine shelf in the Malvinas or Falkland islands without prior authorization from the national government. The law boosts fines and sanctions for all companies that are involved in the oil industry on those islands and has led to a diplomatic row with London over a prospective "black gold" bonanza. Last year the British company Desire Petroleum began drilling for oil in British controlled-waters at the South Atlantic, despite strong criticism from Argentine political leaders. The Foreign Office in this country has...

Royal Navy's Falklands ship turned away by Brazil The Royal Navy's Falkland Islands protection ship has been turned away from docking in Rio de Janeiro in an indication that Brazil's new government could back Argentine claims to the islands. By Robin Yapp, Sao Paulo Despite continuing tensions with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, the Navy had until now enjoyed cordial relations with its Brazilian equivalent. But last week, within days of the former left-wing guerilla Dilma Rousseff succeeding Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as Brazil's president, HMS Clyde was refused permission to stop in Rio. Miss Rousseff is due to...

BBC journalist Brian Hanrahan, is counted out at the age of 61 by Mark Jefferies, Daily Mirror 21/12/2010 HE counted them all out… and he counted them all back. And yesterday friends and colleagues were counting the loss of war reporter Brian Hanrahan – as a great bloke. The BBC stalwart, who made his name in the heat of battle in the Falklands, has died aged 61 after a short illness. He delivered his famous line about Harrier jump jets during the 1982 conflict to get round restrictions on revealing how many planes had taken part in any particular operation....

Let’s review the evidence. President Obama received from Gordon Brown a pen-holder made from the timbers of a Royal Navy anti-slavery vessel, and reciprocated with DVDs. He silkily downgraded the UK from “our closest ally” to “one of our allies”. He gave the Queen an iPod full of his own speeches. He used the Louisiana oil spill to attack an imaginary company called “British Petroleum” (it has been BP for the past decade, ever since the merger with Amoco gave it as many American as British shareholders). He sent a bust of Winston Churchill back to the British Embassy. He...

A group of former Royal Navy chiefs have urged the Government to reverse its decision to scrap the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and the fleet of Harrier jets. The commanders said the recently-announced defence cuts would leave the oil-rich Falkland Islands open to a fresh Argentinian attack 'from which British prestige...might never recover'. In a strongly worded letter to the Times signatories including former Navy boss Lord West, insisted the David Cameron was badly advised before agreeing to the measures.

The company said a test at its Sea Lion 1 well had produced consistent rates of more than 2,000 barrels of oil a day, as it had hoped. "Rockhopper is the first company to successfully flow oil to surface in Falkland Islands waters," Pierre Jungels, executive chairman, said. "We believe that Sea Lion is the largest fan sandstone body in the North Falkland Basin and, given this successful flow test, that the Sea Lion discovery will be commercially viable."

Prince William is battling to go to the Falkland Islands next year as an RAF search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. William, 28, finishes his training in the autumn and is due to travel to the Falklands for eight weeks next summer. But there is a huge question mark over whether Buckingham Palace will let him take up the post because Argentina is pressing its claim to the islands. A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘He will try everything in his power to make sure he goes out there with the rest of RAF Valley in Anglesey. ‘He has Royal engagements and...

David Cameron is set to restate "robustly" Britain's sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in unscheduled talks with the Argentine president at the G20 gathering of world leaders. British sources said the Prime Minister would starkly turn down a fresh request from Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for talks on the issue as tensions rose once again between the two nations. Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Mr Cameron was expected to make his point to Ms Kirchner either during an official leaders' dinner at the Toronto summit last night or at some point in the "margins" of official discussions on Sunday....

The special relationship is over. We gave America years of unwavering support after September 11. And now we see how Barack Obama’s administration repays us. First, Obama declared that America was “neutral” over the sovereignty of the Falklands, ignoring the clear wishes of the islands’ population. And, second, his Assistant Secretary of State, Philip Crowley, snubbed Britain by failing to use their proper name and instead calling them the “Malvinas”. I don’t know where Obama learned about diplomacy, but his stinks. I’m normally pro-American, but Mr Obama’s seeming support for Argentinian aggressors, who have no legitimate claim over the Falklands,...

Suppose a foreign power sent a telegram to Mexico to encourage Mexico to invade the Southwest United States in a "reconquista" of its "lost territories." Would the United States regard that as a hostile act and perhaps even an act of war by said foreign power? This is not an academic question because the Zimmerman Telegram played a role in the United States' declaration of war on Germany in 1917. Unlike Barack Obama, however, Zimmerman did not go so far as to incite one country to attack another outright; he offered to finance a war by Mexico only if the...

BUENOS AIRES, - Argentina marked the anniversary of the 1982 Falklands war with a parade, and the country's president says Britain should turn over the islands . Argentina invaded the Falklands, claiming they were part of its sovereign territory, but a British counter-invasion defeated the Argentines, who lost 904 lives. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner delivered a national address on the anniversary Friday from Ushuaia, which was the hub of the Argentine military operations during the 1982 conflict, The Times of London reported. Under Argentine law it is the capital of the region that encompasses the islands, which Argentina calls...

Almost 30 years after losing a war over the Falkland Islands, Argentina is once again warning Britain that it still wants back what it calls the Malvinas. Argentina is now angry over a British company's oil exploration off the windswept islands in what it considers its own South Atlantic backyard. Although nominally democratic, the unpopular Kirchner government in Buenos Aires has claimed that the sparsely settled islands are a symbolic matter of Spanish-speaking pride throughout Latin America — and is theirs because the islands once belonged to Spain in the 19th century. In response to all this, the Obama administration...

Last week’s appalling declaration by Washington that the US would remain neutral in the conflict between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands, has prompted this list of the ten biggest insults so far by the Obama administration against America’s closest friend and ally. For a government that pledged to “restore” America’s standing in the world, it is doing a spectacularly bad job, kowtowing to America’s enemies while consistently kicking her allies. Without a shadow of a doubt, Barack Obama has been the most anti-British president in modern American history. The Special Relationship has been significantly downgraded, and at times humiliated...

It is embarassing to be represented by an Administration that abandons its allies and embraces its enemies. Sadly, that is precisely what the Obama Administration does on a regular basis. Today, they demonstrated just how little they care about our strongest ally, Great Britain: Argentina was celebrating a diplomatic coup yesterday in its attempt to force Britain to accept talks on the future of the Falkland Islands, after a two-hour meeting in Buenos Aires between Hillary Clinton and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Responding to a request from Mrs Kirchner for “friendly mediation” between Britain and Argentina, Mrs Clinton, the...

In what is quickly becoming a recurring theme for the Obama Administration's foreign policy team, America is once again injuring our allies in an effort to comfort our enemies . . . or at least to comfort Socialist Evita wannabes like the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Perhaps our Secretary of State sees something familiar; the Kirchners are Argentina’s Clintons, lefties who wished to pass power from husband to wife. The background is simple. The British have solely possessed the Falkland Islands for more than 170 years. This has led the Argentinean government, when economic times are tough,...

UNITED NATIONS — It’s diplomatic déjà vu all over again. The long forgotten Falkland Islands, deep in the South Atlantic, have again regained the spotlight as Argentina presses its political case at the United Nations reviving its perennial political dispute with Britain. Argentina’s Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana met with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to press for UN political involvement in the case. The Minister later told correspondents that the islands, which it calls Las Malvinas, are an integral part of Argentine territory. Tensions rose recently when British companies started drilling for oil in the nearby waters. Claiming sovereignty, Argentina’s military...

The transcript of Hillary Clinton’s press conference in Buenos Aires with Argentine President Kristina Kirchner last night, has just been released by the State Department, and it is a real eye-opener. Her remarks represent an astonishing propaganda coup for the Peronist regime in its dispute with Britain over the Falklands, with Washington brazenly backing its position. Here’s a snippet: QUESTION: (In Spanish) And for the Secretary, it’s about the Falklands. The – President Fernandez talked about possible friendly mediation. Would the U.S. be considered – would the U.S. (inaudible) consider some kind of mediation role between the UK and Argentina...

The Obama administration continued its “smart power” efforts with America’s closest ally by demanding that the UK negotiate with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. Hillary Clinton appeared with Argentina’s President Kristina Kirchner yesterday for a press conference in which she pushed for talks to settle the status of the islands — which the British already consider completely settled now. Nile Gardiner calls Hillary’s comments a “slap in the face” to the 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, according to a book. Rendez-vous - the psychoanalysis of François Mitterrand, by Ali Magoudi, who met the late French president up to twice a week in secrecy at his Paris practice from 1982 to 1984, also reveals that Mr Mitterrand believed he would get his "revenge" by building a tunnel under the Channel which would forever destroy Britain's island status. (Excerpt)....