Yes who do they think they are those Argies? Falklands being as far as 1500 k's from Argentina and only 12750 from good old blighty. The hide of them to expect ownership of islands just off their coast. Let's put up the flag and beat our chests, a toast to Maggie Thatcher.

Why don't they just claim Spain's African territories instead?

(hat and coat at the ready)

Phew....I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks like that, but daren't say it on here for fear of "reprisals" :ouch:

It's ridiculous in this day and age that we "own" a p!ss poor island thousands of miles away from the UK but on the doorstep of Argentina and I can fully understand why they want it back. Imagine if Argentina "owned" the Shetland Islands.....what would we be saying and doing ?? The money that has gone in to maintaining a military presence there, and the British lives lost defending it, is beyond my compression. It's exactly the same with Gibraltar and a good few other places I could mention

Stands by for incoming......

Geographical location is coincidental and irrelevant.

Their economy or ours?

ARGXIT

well in this case it was Argentina who made the change so their's

But I agree the UK Govt occasionally bangs the drum when it suits them

Problem isn't "owning the islands" - it's the people that live there - FI, Gib etc (tho not the Chagos Islanders of course.

left over bits of Empire but the inhabitants want to stay part of the UK. We're gradually getting rid of the King being Head of State of some very large countries across the world but it takes an interminable time. The French have similar issues, especially in the Pacific. If people want to stay British (or French) do we have the right to dump them??

Nope, but we do anyway if it suits us. How are things in Hong Kong these days?

If it's coloniism that rubs you up the wrong way, the question you should be asking is, how far are "those Argies" from Spain?

You’d have a job. Unless you’re a dedicated necrophiliac.

NZ is about 1500 km from Tasmania. When is the Australian fleet sailing?

You miss the point entirely! It has nothing to do with the territory, but everything to do with the population. There has never been an indigenous population, and the current population can trace their ancestry back to the first resident population.
The UN and the UK Government recognise the right to self determination of the population, NOT any territorial claim to the actual land.

On that basis the islands will never be Argentinian.

……. last time I was there it looked as if it was everything to do about oil.

Argentina is, at last, thinking of exploring their own offshore zone for oil

Indeed. If you believe that the Spanish who settled in South America now have the right to live there as Argentineans, then you can't deny the same right to the British who settled on the Falklands. In fact, the British claim is more ethical as it does not involve supplanting any indigenous peoples, as the Argentine claim does.

There have been previous rounds of oil exploration offshore Argentina, It remains to be seen whether this next round will find anything significant. It is also not obvious how any development offshore Falklands would deal with the associated gas, and flaring to produce is becoming increasingly awkward to justify. Personally I suspect that the window of opportunity to commit to any significant field developments in the more challenging frontier areas is rapidly closing and may only be open for another few years.

I think this will be Shell's third go at exploration offshore Argentina (it is a Shell-Equinor-YPF venture). An ex boss of mine did the RFT in the bottom link.

https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/...petgeo2020-132

https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/165/3/850/555871

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321524379_The_Argentina_Continental_Margin

https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/former-ypf-official-upbeat-on-argentine-offshore-potential

Shell also in JV with Qatar. I’m not sure if they’ve actually done any explanation yet though.

Crass statement from crass idiot who wouldn't be involved. :hmm:

How would you feel about your grand daughter be killed in the conflict you want to "bring on"?

WANT IT BACK??? They never *****ng owed it in the first place