New threat to the Falklands.

Blackleaf · New threat to the Falklands.

BREAKING NEWS

New threat to Falklands

By PETE BELL
Sun Online

FEARS are once again growing for the security of the Falkland Islands after a series of confrontations between the RAF and the Argentinean air force.

And Government advisers are demanding Tony Blair warn the Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner to keep his hands off.

Government sources admit to worries that our military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan are leaving the South Atlantic islands wide open to attack. Argentina has long coveted the 'Malvinas' - as they call the Islands - which British troops seized back after their invasion in 1982.

Argentina has been steadily increasing the size of its air force - it is now twice as big as it was during the 80s conflict - and is reported to have tested RAF defences by repeatedly flying over Falklands' airspace.

The Argentinean navy has also seized a number of Falkland Islanders' boats that strayed into their waters.

According to the newspaper Scotland on Sunday, a Foreign Office source said of recent events: "There have been a number of incidents, and even if they weren't all connected, they might suggest the government in Buenos Aries is feeling a bit bullish.

"No-one is saying they are about to invade, but you have to maintain your position.

"We all remember that, after the original conflict, Britain was accused of giving the junta the impression that their invasion would not be opposed.

"We would, of course, prefer them to get the message, but maybe - sometimes - we just have to underline it ourselves."

thesun.co.uk

Blackleaf

Argentina 'arrests' British squid trawler
Oliver Balch in Buenos Aires
(Filed: 26/02/2006)

Argentina has impounded a British trawler in a dramatic escalation of a dispute over squid fishing rights off the Falkland Islands, raising tensions between the two countries.

The high seas "arrest" of the trawler last week follows a low-level "squid war" that has been waged amid allegations of over-fishing and infringements of sovereignty. Argentina claims that the John Cheek was illegally fishing in the Argentine economic exclusion zone last Monday.

The British Embassy in Buenos Aires, however, believes that the trawler, now under Argentine coastguard control at the port of Comodoro Rivadavia, 945 miles south of Buenos Aires, was in neutral international waters.

Mario Domingo Daniele, an Argentine senator, recently branded the British fishing licences that are issued by the Falklands as "illegitimate" and declared the waters "part of what belongs by right to our country".

The Argentine Chamber of Fishing Industries (ACFI) has called for "strong penalties" for the John Cheek.

"We completely reject all fishing undertaken by the colonial British administration in the Malvinas, which contravenes the rights of Argentina over the islands," said Mariano Perez, the director of the ACFI.

Falkland Islanders argue that the real issue at stake is Argentina's renewed desire to threaten the existence of the islands as British territory. Meanwhile environmental groups say that over-fishing of the waters will devastate the squid population. The World Wildlife Fund recently released a satellite photograph taken by the University of Sienna that shows the extraordinary extent of night fishing around the Falklands.

Although several boats from the Far East have previously been detained for squid fishing without a licence, this is the first time that a British vessel has been seized. The 31 crew offered no resistance when the Argentine inspectors boarded the John Cheek. The boat's Spanish skipper, Jaime Cortizo, is still with the vessel in Argentina.

Jan Cheek, the co-owner of the impounded vessel, said that the Argentines themselves encouraged over-fishing in a calculated move by the Argentines to damage one of the Falklands' main sources of income. "The Argentines are quite happy to harm their own stock if it will harm our financial viability. They send their ships out at least a month earlier than we do," she said.

Javier Corcuera, the director of Vida Silvestre, an Argentine environmental group, said the two governments were using squid as a "sovereignty tool" in the tussle over the future of the Falklands.

"Argentina gives lots of permits to fish squid and the Falklands are doing the same because they both want to exert their presence in the region," he said. Emiliano Ezcurra, the campaign director for Greenpeace Argentina, added: "Many ships enter our waters and literally steal Argentine fish."

The John Cheek is also accused of operating with a Falklands flag, which Argentina does not recognise. Harriet Hall, the Falklands' acting governor, rejects this: "We have no doubt over our sovereignty and therefore the vessel has the right to fly the Falklands' ensign."

Argentina invaded the islands in 1982 but was forced out in a conflict that claimed the lives of 272 British servicemen and civilians and 649 Argentines.

Catches of Illex squid, the Falklands' most important fish stock, have plummeted in recent years. Last year, the Falklands registered 1,700 tons of squid, a 15-year low and a startling reduction on the 150,000-ton catch of 2001.

telegraph.co.uk

Aventinian

If the Argentine military stray into our territorial waters or airspace, they should be shot down or sunk immediately. No question about it. It'll save lives in the long run.

Morph

So if an Argentinian millitary boat comes into the falkland waters it should be shot at??? no asking them what was going on or trying a diplomatic solution. No asking questions before we shot is one of the reasons for the bloody wars in Afganistan and Iraq and i have no desire to start another

Wolf of Badenoch

SLG

Morph

should we hand them over though if the people wish to stay under Britain? It was them who appealed in the first place? If they wanted to be handed over then i would understand this but they dont seem to.

Aventinian

azzuri

......have to agree there - this bares no resemblence to the Afghan or Iraqi situation whatsoever. Iraq and Afghanistan didn't threaten to invade Britain or demand a part of it.

But this'll never happen for 2 reasons;

1. Britain simply can't let this happen - after the Falklands war where a lot of money and lives were spent defending them just over 20 years ago - people will ask why they weren't just handed over then to save lives and a lot of money spent. It would also put a lot of noses out of joint, especially those in the Military who put their lives on the line to keep those islands a part of Britain.

2. Blair will call in a favour from Bush. Blair has supported Bush in both wars unreservedly - he will expect a little back and in this instance Bush will kindly tell Argentina not to make a big issue out of this.

Morph

surely firing at there boats would make us agressors though

redlak

As someone who served in the falklands 1983 some months after the conflict I perhaps can speak for those who never came back including some from my regiment. War must be averted diplomacy must be exerted it is always my view those most keen to start wars have never been shot at.

The investment in the Islands is huge a new international airport was constructed along with many other additions to infrastructure all for a base line population of 2400.

Rinty · j

Morph

if the people of Arran were argentine and had been under Argentinian control for years and we suddenly claimed them but they wanted to stay Argentinianthen i would agree with Argintinas arguement. Just as i agree that the Falklands are British and want to be that way so why give them to some one who they dont want to be given to. Argentina like the idea of the falklands due to deposits of Oil and the need to stabilise a fluxuating economy. Again Oil the source behind war. Its quite sad

Morph

http://www.politics.co.uk/issues/falkland-islands-$2120132.htm

This shows one side of the arguement however may be bias

SLG

Wolf of Badenoch

True Scotsman

SLG wrote:

I'd rather the Norwegians ruled Scotland than the British Wink .

I agree with you SLG. I'd rather be ruled by Norway than be ruled by Great Britain. We maby have to pay more for our food, water, gas etc. but I think Scotland would be probably be more democratic & much better off being part of Norway but I dought Norway would want to rule Scotland again but then again I could be wrong.

_______________________________
FREEDOM FOR SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!

parkhead_rfb

sorry tu burst any bubble lads but scotland is just a part of britain as anywhere else and has been culpable in most of its crimes all over the world.

Aventinian

redlak

I guess the issue is Argentina would not be raising the stakes at the current moment if our defence forces were not so woefully overstretched in places we are not welcome in. After all who appointed us to the dubious role of World Policeman in just about every trouble spot you care to mention.

Now Aventinian during the cold war many probes were made by soviet forces on a regular basis yet we did not blow them out of the water or sky, possibly in recognition that for a large part it was mind games and the understanding we had an equal force to their own.

The difference at the moment is the chronic underfunding of traditional sources such as our regiments/airforce etc and it is this weakness which draws interest from Argentina seeking to deflect its citizens from the economic problems at home. To use jingoistic language in an attempt to bolster support at home same as 1982.

SLG

Aventinian

I don't believe we are occupying any sovereign states at the moment...

SLG

Morph

Parkhead sorry i really dont see what you meant by this?

Aventinian