 |
| Royal Marine commandos raise the flag at Government House, Port Stanley - June 4, 1982 |
Today the Telegraph is reporting that British Royal Navy strategists take seriously the nationalistic trash-talk emanating from leftist twit Cristina Kirchner: there's already planning for contingencies ranging from a simple show-of-force to another direct military challenge to British sovereignty in the Falklands-
In a situation that eerily echoes that of today -except replace 'left wing' with 'right wing'- in April 1982 the South American country had a failing right-wing junta in Buenos Aires -desperate for some populist appeal/diversion to quell domestic (economic) unrest- attempt to buoy public support through an ill-advised nationalistic military conquest.
And it worked, for a while: not only was the planned invasion and occupation of the Falklands launched prematurely (for political reasons) with lightly-trained troops, the military government
-under the command of General Leopoldo Galtieri- severely underestimated the steely resolve of PM Margret Thatcher in attacking what they refer to as the 'Malvinas', a small group of British-held islands 300 miles off the Argentine coast (then subsequently the inhospitable South Georgia Islands +840 miles further out to sea).
Royal Navy flotilla steaming towards Port Stanley just days after the invasion. Following a somewhat costly (for both sides)
ten-week war fought on land, at sea, and in the air, British training and equipment proved far superior: Argentina had their butts handed to them (only the Argentine Air Force offered any real challenge). This brought-about the collapse of the incompetent military regime as well: Britain liberated not just Falkland Islanders, but in-effect the entire Argentine nation.
Yet today, the far-Left Peronist-nationalist administration of Cristina Fernandez-Kirchner is not long on gratitude to say the least, instead threatening to re-ignite the issue at the UN, perhaps even blockade the island economically, or ...? (The suspicion that major oil reserves lie nearby has alot to do with this, some experts say the undersea deposits could rival most any in the world).
Predictably Castro, Chavez (El Bombasto), and other belligerent Bolivarian boneheads have long been egging her on, speaking enthusiastically in support of resurrecting Argentine claims on islands that have been inhabited by British citizens for over 175 years now.
 |
| Argentine light-cruiser ARA General Belgrano on its way to the bottom |
A recent six-month tour of duty on the Falklands by heir-to-the-throne Prince William (helicopter pilot) also rubbed the gauchos the wrong way, and there are rumors of a British nuclear attack submarine -the kind that sunk the Gen Belgrano last time- has been deployed to the South Atlantic... as you may have guessed, they don't much care for that, either.
But the loudest and clearest message is being sent by the most advanced warship in the Royal Navy -'ultra-modern' destroyer HMS Dauntless- which was dispatched to the vicinity of the Falklands, providing Kirchner ample incentive to mind her manners.
So far -alas- she's not: much like Barack Obama's Teamster/SIEU, ACORN, and '#occupy' street-muscle, radical Kirchner goons have already been threatening to violently attack British business interests.
President Kirchner still claims to be committed to finding 'peaceful solutions'... probably not the worst idea she's ever had, considering Dauntless sports a powerful battery of high-tech missiles that could 'take out all of South America's fighter aircraft... let alone Argentina's' according to one Royal Navy source. Indeed, the 70-mile range of the state-of-the-art Sea Viper 'smart' missiles on-board enable the British to down every single Argentine fighter that dare take to flight the minute it leaves the ground...
 |
| -click to enlarge- |
This all has Fernandez-Kirchner in quite a huff, and she's been giving long Chavez-esque diatribes on the subject re. the 'unnecessary militarization of the South Atlantic': but what is truly 'unnecessary' is the way in which she's chosen to demagogue the dispute for domestic political consumption. Given the Argentines' unsettling record in dealing with this ongoing issue, who's to blame Whitehall for taking preventative measures- could save a lot of lives on both sides.
With the United Kingdom's seat on the UN Security Council preventing much happening down there either, it's hard to see just what Cristina Fernandez-Kirchner is hoping to accomplish... now that she's got the kids whipped into a frenzy, there'll be nothing but disappointment to offer them for the foreseeable future.
Just don't try anything funny, crazy lady-
Argentina war 1982 Thatcher Falklands Royal Navy xxx Kirchner