Chavez vows revenge for Falklands war

The Sunday Times Online (UK) ^ | September 2, 2007 | Martin Arostegui

[Jeff Head]

In a new outburst of antiwestern sabre-rattling, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has threatened Britain with “revenge” for the Falklands war of 1982. The belligerent Latin American leftist warned last week that his recent build-up of sophisticated Russian and Iranian weapons would be used to destroy the British fleet if it attempted to return to the South Atlantic.

Speaking on his weekly television show Alo Presidente (Hello, Mr President), Chavez denounced what he described as Britain’s “illegal occupation” of the Falklands and repeated his call for a regional military alliance against Britain and the United States.

“If we had been united in the last war, we could have stopped the old empire,” Chavez said, as he gesticulated to maps showing how Venezuelan aircraft and submarines would intercept British warships. “Today we could sink the British fleet.”

Chavez has often expressed support for Argentina’s claim to the Falklands, but his latest broadside was notable for both its antiBritish vitriol and its unprecedented threats. He declared that British history was “stained with the blood of South America’s indigenous people” and demanded revenge for the “cowardly” sinking of the General Belgrano, the Argentine cruiser.

Western diplomats have long grown used to harangues from Chavez, who announced this weekend that he would negotiate with guerrillas holding dozens of hostages in Colombia, including three US contractors and Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian abducted as she campaigned for president in 2002. But US and British officials have recently become more concerned by his willingness to lavish billions of dollars from Venezuela’s soaring oil income on military capabilities.

[Jeff Head]

FYI-pinging in case you missed this.

[CORedneck]

A bullet or better yet, some rope would do Chavez some good !

[Jeff Head]

He is ceretainly a blow-hard and clearly has visions of replacing Castro as the Carribean Marxist/Socialist de jour. He is building up his military and this statement, albeit he would be hard pressed at the current time to make good on it, particularly with any US involvement, certainly, IMHO, makes his intentions clear.

[Jeff Head]

Tjhoughts on this guy and his ranting? I know it will be witty...hehehe.

[Jeff Head]

Thoughts on this guy and his ranting? I know it will be witty...hehehe.

[Tarpon]

Just offer his army no strings visas. Clean him out real quick, no shots fired.

[MrB]

That’s a lot of hardware when in actuality you only need one man, one scope, one trigger, and one bullet.

[Jeff Head]

That is correct...but if we make a martyr of him, another may easily climb into his shoes and continue to stir the pot. Of course, we could repeat the process ad infinitum.

OTOH, if we make an absolute fool of him, he may be replaced by someone less apt to act that way and more disposed to work with us.

Of course...should he actually attempt this, then I would hope that either a bullet of a JDAM is going to have his name on it real quick.

[Jeff Head]

Given his dealings with China and Iran...thought you guys might be interested in this blustering and data point from the Venezuelan thug.

[cva66snipe]

While he still feels secure enough for public appearances there needs to be a Letter of Marque issued against him and a bounty on his miserable hide. It needs to be done low key. Let the world wonder why he suddenly took a dirt nap.

This whack job is too big a threat to let him go for too long. He's far more dangerous than Castro and is reckless enough to try anything for power. Him being China's sock puppet in our neighborhood doesn't help matters either. If he starts consolidating power in Central America nations or Cuba we may have a huge mess to deal with a lot worse than we are ready for right now I'm afraid. His track record so far doesn't show any signs of easing up.

[spetznaz]

1) The JSF has NOT achieved operational status yet.

2) The plans for the carriers (UK) that will have the F-35s are just past design status. The real information is that the UK will have 2 of them while France will get 1, and that the British hope to fly F-35 JSFs off them while the French will go with the naval Rafale variant. The carriers will nto be chugging towards Venezuela for quite a number of years, and they are still in the twinkle-twinkle stage still (i.e. design plans).

3) Chavez has been purchasing a bunch of weaponry that could (particularly the missile types) threaten surface combatants. Again, Hugo would not win (and any surface combatant he put out in the sea would face Brit subs, and there are few things as lethal as a British submariner in a British Submarine looking to introduce some hapless soul to Davy Jones). But he could still be able to harass the British taskgroup, and he would definitely sink more ships than the Argies did all those years back. Definitely.

And with the current climate in Britain, even the loss of one ship would have all the peaceniks stepping over each other to be the first to start marching the streets. Hugo may have a fool's deck of cards, but it is currently stronger than what the Brits have (not in terms of capability, but in terms of political leverage .....it is similar to the stunt the Iranians pulled with the British sailors when they kidnapped them like they were mere tots. In terms of capability the Brits are far ahead ...goodness, they have nuclear SLBMs in missile boats patrolling beneath the sea ....but in terms of political leverage Hugo has the Brits by the b@lls!)

It would be interesting to see what would happen if they went off against Venezuela after bringing troops from Iraq ....I doubt any current British politician would risk his political career like that. And what is ironic is that France's Sarkozy would probably smite Hugo across the face LONG before any current British politician even thought of sending a sub to sniff-sniff along Venezuela's coast.

[PGalt]

Hugo may have a fool's deck of cards, but it is currently stronger than what the Brits have (not in terms of capability, but in terms of political leverage .....it is similar to the stunt the Iranians pulled with the British sailors when they kidnapped them like they were mere tots. In terms of capability the Brits are far ahead ...goodness, they have nuclear SLBMs in missile boats patrolling beneath the sea ....but in terms of political leverage Hugo has the Brits by the b@lls!)

Thanks for the information. When rhetoric meets reality think, Rachel Corrie, think Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, think Saddam Hussein.

[Jeff Head]

I agree. He is shaping up to be a real threat in the future, particularly when viewed inconjunction with our other enemies, all of whom he is aligning himself with. Right now all of this may be bluster and posture...but he is buying the advanced weapons and he is telling us up front, exactly what he intends to do with them (just like the nut case in Iran)...for me, that’s enough.

[Jeff Head]

Thanks for all of that...well said, and, IMHO, spot on.

[Little Ray]

Actually, he’s gonna bankrupt his country and go the way of North Korea - a blind, stumblilng, insane shamble of a nation.

If I had power and money like that, I’d be investin’ stuff that would pay off - factories, research, and what-not. And luring other folks industries and businesses with my tax policies...

[Jeff Head]

Agreed, ultimately it is a failing policy. But, in the mean time, if he gets support from China and others, who have money and will buy his oil, he will continue to get the infusions.

[Little Ray]

Dunno. He has 18% inflation, not Zimbabwe, but still pretty bad. He has tripled government spending. He's gonna have to devalue the currency, the bolivar, pretty soon, just to keep his oil revenue up. I'd say the good money was on a crash before he becomes a real problem.
Still, it would be nice to give the USN a chance to do some real ASW work and allow them to shoot down some modern fighters.
The downside is that the narco-terrorists will probably inherit the wreckage or co-opt the current regime.

[archy]

What is the status of the Royal Navy now compared to 1982?

Could the Brits even begin to attempt the same operation today?

Oh, yeah. Note that while it took HMS Conquerer some three weeks to arive after setting sail from Faslane Naval Base on Scotland's River Clyde, five days after her arrival she spotted the Argie flagship and began shadowing her while awaiting instructions. After the opening shots of the war had occurred British admiral Rear Admiral J. F. Woodward ordered Conqueror to sink Belgrano. On 02 May Conqueror became the first nuclear-powered submarine to fire warshots in anger when she launched three torpedoes at Belgrano, two of which struck the ship and exploded. Twenty minutes later, the ship was sinking rapidly and was abandoned by the crew. The two escorting destroyers fled the scene under fear of further attack. 323 Argentine sailors aboard were killed.

On 23 March 2007, 15 British Royal Navy/Royal Marines from HMS Cornwall were surrounded by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, had their boat allegedly rammed, and were subsequently detained off the Iraq-Iran coast. The 15 personnel were released on 4 April 2007, coincidentally just about the amount of time it would have taken for British nuke boats to have arrived from their home bases as the HMS Conquerer, decommissioned in 1990, did before.

The Brits have good equipment, and some excellent personnel. All they need is the sort of outstanding leadership and will of the sort they had back in 1982.

[archy]

and there are few things as lethal as a British submariner in a British Submarine looking to introduce some hapless soul to Davy Jones

Concur. Though they take quite a while to go from drawing board- well, computer screens ,now- to shakedown cruise, and Brit reactor designs of the recent past have not been terribly successful over the long run.

S119, HMS Astute, namesake of her class, was launched 08 June 2007 and is scheduled for her Commissioning in 2009, to hopefully be followed by sisters Ambush in 2010 and Artful in 2012. A fourth hull, S122, is to be laid down this year, to be given the name Audacious. After that, the Brits have the option of either building four more Astute-class boats,or going with a new design.

[Schwaeky]

Ark Royal? Did they name a new ship for the battlewagon the Nazis sank early in WWII?