and now the argies are making noises....
Argentinian president ridicules Cameron over Falklands | World news | guardian.co.uk
"The Argentinian president has criticised David Cameron for insisting the Falkland Islands should remain a British territory.
Cristina Kirchner described the prime minister as "arrogant" and said his comments were an "expression of mediocrity and almost of stupidity"......
"In her criticism of his comments, Kirchner said Britain "continues to be a crude colonial power in decline"........
"On Wednesday the commander of the naval task force that recaptured the Falklands warned they had since become "perilously close to being indefensible" against an Argentinian attack.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Admiral Sandy Woodward cited the lack of an aircraft carrier and weakening US support for British sovereignty. "The simple truth is without aircraft carriers and without the Americans we would not have any hope of doing the same again today." Last year, five retired commanders warned that the scrapping of the Harrier jets and HMS Ark Royal as part of defence cuts amounted to an invitation to invade the Falklands."
And its worth looking at that article by Sandy Woodward
Falkland Islands: Britain couldn't defend anything further than other side of English Channel | Mail Online
"Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope’s warning yesterday that Britain does not even have enough ships to continue even the small operation in Libya, highlights the weakened state in which defence cuts have left our navy; a position from which we are incapable of defending our territory in the south Atlantic.
The received political wisdom runs counter to this, of course. Westminster-based politicians will say that whoever controls the islands’ Mount Pleasant Airbase controls the Falklands and that with up to 1,000 RAF personnel stationed there and a further 500-1,000 Army troops garrisoned nearby, Mount Pleasant is firmly in British hands and staying that way.
Well, I wish I shared their confidence. Because what the politicians won’t tell you is that Mount Pleasant was, until recently, equipped with only four ageing and ineffective Tornados – the same attack aircraft that have made such heavy weather recently of providing air support in Libya. When they were needed at short notice, only three of the RAF’s 135 aircraft were ready for action.
Apparently these Tornadoes have now been replaced by four Typhoons, about which there have been many rumours of too few trained pilots, inadequate spares and poor ability in aerial combat. Neither type of aircraft has any anti-ship weapons systems, which would be vital against any invasion by sea.
Central to long-term plans for the defence of the Falklands is the idea that if attacked, Mount Pleasant could be rapidly reinforced by air. Unfortunately, any swift operation could take out the runways by lunchtime and air reinforcement would have nowhere to land. I’d like to know what our Government is planning to do about that.
Without aircraft carriers (today HMS Illustrious is our only remaining carrier, and she has no fixed-wing aircraft, which are much faster than other planes) it was always going to be pretty difficult, but without the Americans it would be nigh on impossible.
Despite much talk of sharing resources, I can’t see the French handing over the keys to one of their carriers so we can fight another war in the South Atlantic."