Falklands defence review after military deal between Russia and Argentina

T

tay

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Britain 'to send more troops to Falklands amid invasion fears'






Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is expected to announce a "significant increase" in troops sent to the Falkland Islands amid fears that Russia is helping to arm Argentina.


Russian President Vladimir Putin is believed to be working on a deal to lease 12 long-range bombers to Argentina, 33 years on from the Falklands War.


Fallon's decision reflects "operational judgments" and the "increased nature of the threat", a Whitehall source told The Sun last night. "We want the people of the Falklands to know they are uppermost in our thinking," they said.


The increase in personnel and equipment will bolster the 1,200 troops already stationed in the Falklands. Four RAF Typhoon jets, a small fleet of Sea King search and rescue choppers and a Rapier anti-aircraft missile battery are also stationed on the islands.
Sir Gerald Howarth, a Tory MP and former defence minister, said he was "delighted" that the government was demonstrating its "unwavering commitment to the Falkland Islands so Argentina can be left in no doubt they are British sovereign territory and are deterred from repeating the folly of 1982".


He added that the threat had increased and Argentina's President Cristina de Kirchner had become ever more unpopular. "Who knows what she will do?" he said.


The Sunday Express reported in December that Russia was planning to offer Argentina 12 Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer aircraft in exchange for beef and wheat to beat EU sanctions over Ukraine.


The Sun says a potential new "oil bonanza" from exploratory drilling in Falklands territorial waters would also make a new invasion "much more profitable".






Read more: Britain 'to send more troops to Falklands amid invasion fears' | News | The Week UK
 
Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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Another reason why we need to increase defence spending and the size of the British military, not cut them.

I hope you're reading this, Mr Cameron.

I like the front page of today's Sun, which deliberately echoes its famous triumphal front page during the Falklands War when HMS Conqueror sank the Belgrano:



 
Spade

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I would be surprised Britain can still muster the "O! What a lovely war" propaganda of a century ago. I thought these antediluvian fanatics were resting in Happy Valley Retirement Urns.
 
Blackleaf

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Spade said:
I would be surprised Britain can still muster the "O! What a lovely war" propaganda of a century ago. I thought these antediluvian fanatics were resting in Happy Valley Retirement Urns.
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Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical developed by Joan Littlewood and her ensemble at the Theatre Workshop in 1963, which was later turned into a 1969 film directed by Richard Attenborough in his directorial debut.


EagleSmack said:
A posting in the Falklands. Yikes. Boring duty there.
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Don't be daft.

RAF Mount Pleasant has a wide range of social and sporting facilities including a gym, swimming pool, golf course, diving centre, karting, laserquest, library, cinema, bowling, climbing wall and indoor and outdoor sports pitches. As of August 2010 it has the only cricket ground in the Falklands. There are two NAAFI shops, hairdressers, a medical centre and an education centre on the station. BFBS Radio also maintains a live local station on the site. There is also a complex that includes a Costa café and a small shop, which are both owned and run by the Falkland Islands Company.

Incidentally, RAF Mount Pleasant has the world's longest corridor (below). It is half a mile long and links the barracks, messes and recreational and welfare areas of the station. It's been nicknamed the "Death Star Corridor" by personnel.



 
Tecumsehsbones

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Blackleaf said:
Incidentally, RAF Mount Pleasant has the world's longest corridor (below). It is half a mile long and links the barracks, messes and recreational and welfare areas of the station. It's been nicknamed the "Death Star Corridor" by personnel.
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Good to see the Briddish are taking their cultural references from American films. Shows that, deep down inside, they know who the boss is, the squeals of desperate Queen-lickers notwithstanding.
 
Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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Tecumsehsbones said:
Good to see the Briddish are taking their cultural references from American films.
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"American" film, my ****.

Most of the Star Wars filmed - like this new one - were filmed in Britain (at Elstree, Shepperton and Leavesden studios) using mainly British crews and expertise.
 
Tecumsehsbones

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Blackleaf said:
Have you gone stark raving mad?
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Try to follow. You allege that Whittle invented the jet engine. It is a matter of record that the first jet aircraft was the Messerschmitt 262. So if Whittle, and only Whittle, had the jet engine, and the Germans had a jet aircraft, logic would dictate that Whittle must have given the secret of the jet engine to the Germans. This occurred in wartime, and you might recall that the Briddish and the Boxheads were on opposite sides. Last I checked, giving something as militarily effective as a jet engine to the enemy in wartime would be treason. Ergo, only two results are possible: either Whittle was not the sole inventor of the jet engine, or he gave it to the Germans and was therefore a traitor.

Which is it?
 
Blackleaf

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Tecumsehsbones said:
Try to follow. You allege that Whittle invented the jet engine. It is a matter of record that the first jet aircraft was the Messerschmitt 262. So if Whittle, and only Whittle, had the jet engine, and the Germans had a jet aircraft, logic would dictate that Whittle must have given the secret of the jet engine to the Germans. This occurred in wartime, and you might recall that the Briddish and the Boxheads were on opposite sides. Last I checked, giving something as militarily effective as a jet engine to the enemy in wartime would be treason. Ergo, only two results are possible: either Whittle was not the sole inventor of the jet engine, or he gave it to the Germans and was therefore a traitor.

Which is it?
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Whittle did invent the jet engine. It's a well-known fact with plenty of literature on the subject. He was even knighted - SIR Frank Whittle - for his invention.

As for the Messerschmitt 262, it was NOT the world's first jet aircraft. The world's first jet aircraft was the German Heinkel He 178, which underwent successful test flights within a week of Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939.

The reason why the Germans had the jet engine was that they used the jet engine constructed by the German Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain. But whilst they were the first OPERATIONAL jet engines, Whittle developed his jet engines some years EARLIER than those of Germany's von Ohain. Whittle created the engine first. That is why it is Whittle who is credited today for inventing the jet engine.
 
T

tay

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Speaking on the 33rd anniversary of Argentina’s invasion of the disputed south Atlantic islands, which it calls the Malvinas, Kirchner said on Thursday the defence ministry had 30 days to make all files on the conflict public.


She also used the anniversary – commemorated in Argentina as the Day of the Veterans and Fallen of the Malvinas Islands War – to criticise Britain’s recent announcement that it will beef up its defences in the islands.


Fernández said Argentina was determined to gain sovereignty over the islands, but through peaceful means.


“International law and dialogue, not militarisation, are the path to a reunion and sovereignty,” she said at a ceremony in the city of Ushuaia, at the southern tip of South America.


“We will see the islands form part of our territory again. It’s not just wishful thinking,” she told an audience that included war veterans in dress uniform.


The dispute has flared again in recent years since the discovery of significant oil deposits off the islands.




more




Argentinian president Fernández orders declassification of Falklands war files | World news | The Guardian



























Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner poses with veterans of the 1982 Falklands (Malvinas) war. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images








 
Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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Sons of Liberty said:
but they got their asses kicked.
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Yeah? How? I'd say, looking at the figures, that it was the bloody Argies who got their arses good and properly whipped.

And put it this this way, the Americans would have lost the Falklands War and it been them fighting the Argies rather than the British.
 
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