Not sure of best place to post this however this thread is as good as any.

I remember the Gulf War being dismissed as being over oil whilst the Falklands war was to do with defending our Commonwealth. I always believed that the Falklands war was primarily to protect any claims the UK have to teh minerals to be extracted from that area of the globe:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10100769.stm

Not sure of best place to post this however this thread is as good as any.

I remember the Gulf War being dismissed as being over oil whilst the Falklands war was to do with defending our Commonwealth. I always believed that the Falklands war was primarily to protect any claims the UK have to teh minerals to be extracted from that area of the globe:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10100769.stm

I have been following that relatively closely, there are shades of 1982 as the Argentines are tubthumping over Las Malvinas.

Apologies for the tangent.

I have been following that relatively closely, there are shades of 1982 as the Argentines are tubthumping over Las Malvinas.

Apologies for the tangent.

PY Actually it wasn't about the Commonwealth, it was always about defending our rights under the Antarctic Treaty concerning territorial claims over the Antartic land mass, and by inference, our claims on mineral wealth revenues deriving from them. We have a claim as it's based on "coastline" in the vicinity. Las Malvinas has a really significant coastal length despite its small size. This was never a secret. We can't drill there now for at least 40 years (Madrid Protocol) but when the Arabs run dry*, and run dry they will, we will be all over it. Furthermore we will all be thankful to a historic PM figure in Margaret Thatcher, 70 years after the conflict.

More here.

strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/1 ... fferently/

*I really think that when this happens we will see an end to Arab-Isreali disputes as the Arabs won't have a pot to in then.

Anyway I voted tonight. Blue and Blue. May make a difference to the council, but Helen Jones could be a child abusing crack whore and still get voted in, sadly.

PY Actually it wasn't about the Commonwealth, it was always about defending our rights under the Antarctic Treaty concerning territorial claims over the Antartic land mass, and by inference, our claims on mineral wealth revenues deriving from them. We have a claim as it's based on "coastline" in the vicinity. Las Malvinas has a really significant coastal length despite its small size. This was never a secret. We can't drill there now for at least 40 years (Madrid Protocol) but when the Arabs run dry*, and run dry they will, we will be all over it. Furthermore we will all be thankful to a historic PM figure in Margaret Thatcher, 70 years after the conflict.

More here.

strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/1 ... fferently/

*I really think that when this happens we will see an end to Arab-Isreali disputes as the Arabs won't have a pot to in then.

Anyway I voted tonight. Blue and Blue. May make a difference to the council, but Helen Jones could be a child abusing crack whore and still get voted in, sadly.

The problem with that theory is that before they invaded, government policy regarding the Falklands was along the lines of how to get it off our hands quietly.

news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static ... y/hunt.stm



After the Argentinians invaded, the advice given to Mrs Thatcher in Whitehall was that we should have let it go, because it would be too militarily risky to mount a convincing campaign from such a distance, and the benefits weren't worth the costs, or the political risks to Thatcher.

A lot of people like to claim that Thatcher engineered the Falklands War to win her popularity, but at the time it was a case of her taking a massive political risk, rather than sensing an opportunity to gain popularity. She was already massively unpopular, and if the Falklands campaign had gone badly she would have been forced out.

Also its a bit of a myth that wars win elections. Remember that straight after World War Two ended in 1945, Churchill was voted out by a landslide Labour victory under Clement Attlee! If Churchill couldn't win a 'khaki' election campaign after fighting off the Germans then nobody could!

The reality IMO of why Thatcher won in 1983 wasn't because of the Falklands, it wasn't even because Thatcher was massively popular at the time, it was because the Labour party had split in two and Roy Jenkins and his mates had created the SDP which went into alliance with the Liberals and split the anti-Thatcher vote by robbing them of a lot of Labour votes. Labour only held onto their safe seats in 1983....all of the marginals went the Conservatives way, because the SDP had taken enough Labour votes away to reward the Conservatives under the first past the post system.

I reckon had it not been for the SDP breaking off out of the Labour party, Thatcher would have lost in 1983, or would have ended up in a hung parliament. Falklands or not, that was what killed Labour off. The same happened in 1987 when there was no pre-election war, and the public by this time was seriously hacked off by the Thatcher government, but once again the SDP robbed a lot of votes off Labour and it meant that an election campaign which had been pretty close and predicted a close result, ended up with Thatcher getting a 100 odd seat majority.

The problem with that theory is that before they invaded, government policy regarding the Falklands was along the lines of how to get it off our hands quietly.

news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static ... y/hunt.stm



After the Argentinians invaded, the advice given to Mrs Thatcher in Whitehall was that we should have let it go, because it would be too militarily risky to mount a convincing campaign from such a distance, and the benefits weren't worth the costs, or the political risks to Thatcher.

A lot of people like to claim that Thatcher engineered the Falklands War to win her popularity, but at the time it was a case of her taking a massive political risk, rather than sensing an opportunity to gain popularity. She was already massively unpopular, and if the Falklands campaign had gone badly she would have been forced out.

Also its a bit of a myth that wars win elections. Remember that straight after World War Two ended in 1945, Churchill was voted out by a landslide Labour victory under Clement Attlee! If Churchill couldn't win a 'khaki' election campaign after fighting off the Germans then nobody could!

The reality IMO of why Thatcher won in 1983 wasn't because of the Falklands, it wasn't even because Thatcher was massively popular at the time, it was because the Labour party had split in two and Roy Jenkins and his mates had created the SDP which went into alliance with the Liberals and split the anti-Thatcher vote by robbing them of a lot of Labour votes. Labour only held onto their safe seats in 1983....all of the marginals went the Conservatives way, because the SDP had taken enough Labour votes away to reward the Conservatives under the first past the post system.

I reckon had it not been for the SDP breaking off out of the Labour party, Thatcher would have lost in 1983, or would have ended up in a hung parliament. Falklands or not, that was what killed Labour off. The same happened in 1987 when there was no pre-election war, and the public by this time was seriously hacked off by the Thatcher government, but once again the SDP robbed a lot of votes off Labour and it meant that an election campaign which had been pretty close and predicted a close result, ended up with Thatcher getting a 100 odd seat majority.

Foreign office view vs that of the treasury. It's about vested interests and Maggie showed a lot of balls in doing what she did. Under Labour we would have whimpered away with some sanctions and strong words.

I'm still suprised we still have hold of Gibraltar after 13 years of Labour .

Foreign office view vs that of the treasury. It's about vested interests and Maggie showed a lot of balls in doing what she did. Under Labour we would have whimpered away with some sanctions and strong words.

I'm still suprised we still have hold of Gibraltar after 13 years of Labour .