Posted on 12/05/2011 2:56:23 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
Argentina has launched a naval campaign to isolate the Falkland Islands that has seen it detain Spanish fishing vessels on suspicion of breaking the country’s “blockade” of the seas around the British territories.
Argentine patrol vessels have boarded 12 Spanish boats, operating under fishing licences issued by the Falkland Islands, for operating “illegally” in disputed waters in recent weeks.
Argentine patrol commanders carrying out interceptions near the South American coast told Spanish captains they were in violation of Argentina’s “legal” blockade of sea channels to the Falklands.
The warning has been backed up in a letter to Aetinape, the Spanish fishing vessels association from the Argentine embassy in Madrid warning boats in the area that “Falklands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and adjoining maritime spaces are an integral part of the Argentine territory.”
President Cristina Kirchner has adopted a steadily more belligerent stance towards Britain’s South Atlantic possessions.
A newly formed gathering of South American nations meeting in Venezeula backed Argentina’s sovereignty demands at the weekend.
Argentina’s claim over the Falklands was backed by a newly formed block of South American and Caribbean countries, CELAC, on Saturday with unanimous approval. Mrs Kirchner used the last UN General Assembly meeting to put Argentina’s claims of sovereignty over the Falklands on a par with Palestinian claims to statehood.
But it is the Falklands economic lifeline that has been most affected by Argentinian manoeuvring.
It announced permits were required by all ships using Argentine waters en route to the Falklands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, all of which are UK controlled.
Argentina declared vessels were “operating illegally” in the South Atlantic if they did not request permission to enter Argentine waters. The authorities declared their willingness “to put an end to all those illegal fishing activities”.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Nonsense.
We have a naval force in the South Atlantic, inc at least nuclear submarine, air cover, and the garrison on the actual island that is ten times the size and much better armed than 1982, to the point that it wouls shred a landing by itself.
The initial British force would be enoiugh to hold off or even defeat any Argie moves. And cuts aside, we would still have more than enough to send another Task Force south, this time much more advanced than 1982.
Actually we still can.
You don't have an i-max monitor?
ROFL. Where can I get one of those?
We still have HMS Illustrious.
Due to be scrapped in 2014, but if this nonsense continues, I can see it being kept until the new carriers are due (2018-2020).
Just as Obama erred in calling the nation England, you erred in calling it great.
It is merely Britain
I think of it as the UK. What exactly is the correct name?
United Kingdom or Great Britain?
Peace is the interval between wars.
War is normal, peace is anomaly
‘Great Britain’ and ‘Britain’ are both geographical terms, not the name of the nation or state. (The ‘great’ refers to quantity not quality, and distinguishes the island from ‘little Britain’, or Brittany.) The full name of the state is ‘the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’.
Alright, that’s funny. In a really low brow sort of way, of course.
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