1. It’s interesting and worrying that we are expending so much bandwidth on the likelihood/means/intent of Argentina attempting to take the Islands again. The Argentinean Government may be fanatical but it’s not stupid (that’s a compliment amigos). They don’t need to take the Islands. They just need to harass the oil exploration and oil production shipping and other assets. That is very probably within their current Naval capabilities.
2. Harassment and general embuggerance will result in one of two things;
a. we will send Maritime assets (I include Nimrods in that) that either aren’t currently free or no longer available to prevent/deter the harassment.
b. we will negotiate some backdoor deal with Argentina to “share” the wealth.
c. a combination of both (OK, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition)
3. Option “a” will require political will and backbone. It will also require money to regenerate and multiply Maritime (see, I’m being very Purple here) forces and that would be a fraction of the wealth to be “harvested”.
4. Option “b” will require no political will nor backbone. It’s totally affordable; in the short term. Who really cares what the Bennies think (well, actually, I do) and can’t we buy them off quite cheaply anyway (not necessarily)?
5. It’s all good fun playing Trump Cards and thinking like CGS (past and present) but it’s not really addressing the likely threat and the probable true loss of National wealth. Also, we can almost guarantee public apathy because it doesn’t involve singing, dancing, celebrities or sex. It also might need a waste reduction exercise in Health, Education, Benefits and anything else a Mail/Sun reader believes it’s entitled to.