Six more than the Kiwi's:)

Sorry, back to the South Africans..............

We have many qualified fighter pilots, it is just that they fly for other Air Forces. Really is a good money saver.

Capetonian, I wholeheartedly agree that HH's very likely lack of practical knowledge of the situation makes his comment a daft one! It is usually the way. :rolleyes:

Jan Smuts must be spinning in his grave.

If the South Americans decide to gang up against us (OK, Chavez is dead), our only friend in the South Atlantic is likely to be South Africa. If anything nasty happens to the Suez Canal or the Gulf, the Cape of Good Hope becomes rather important. A weak South Africa isn't in our best interests. There again, neither is a corrupt one but there's bugger all we can do about that. De Klerk and Botha weren't angels but they never sought parity with Zim.

Exactly how big do you think the British merchant fleet is these days GBZ?

(Answer in 2008: 180)

Well, if you counted the number of ships flying the Red Duster, it wouldn't take very long. Counting the ships that are British owned would take somewhat longer, though. If you then extend the count to ships that are insured in Britain, the numbers should start to stack up.

Regardless of the size of the British Merchant Fleet, it is the effect that disruption would have on us that would be the salient point. Disruption to a bulk carrier, say, under any flag would affect us if it was destined for a British port. Additionally, we probably need to view it as the effect it could have on Europe as a whole. A strength in South Africa is a strength that "we" don't have to provide. Just my view, for what it's worth.

I think it's a bit simpler. If the Brazilians are agin us, we're screwed. If they're not, nae bother.
Unless the Government of the day is prepared to take the handcuffs off the RN subs, in which case nae bother for the next 5 years, but I doubt they will.