The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXII

[Lohrenswald]

Because Domen from Poland needs trollin'. Stick around and you'll see why.

From the "Are the Jews and Israel a pawn in West Crusade?"-thread I perfectly understand.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

So the Argentinians lost the Falklands but won the Papacy. Can they take the consolation prize shut the hell up now?

 

[Joecoolyo]

I foresee a new crusade.

 

[timtofly]

I foresee a new crusade.

To the Falklands? Or to take care of that pesky Hebrew cousins problem?

 

[Joecoolyo]

He can kill two birds with one stone!

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

what are these falklands everyone talks about

 

[ace99]

An endangered flightless bird. The Argentinian's want to eat or possibly fornicate with them all while the British want to preserve them in their natural habitat believing that sheep are better suited for aforementioned purposes.

Now the Argentinian's can have the Pope weigh in on the matter.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

The Falklands are a group if Islands off the coast of Argentina. It is a British territory, and in a recent referendum its inhabitants overwhelmingly chose to remain so. The Argentine government however claims that it belongs to Argentina. They launched an invasion in 1982 (which conquered the archipelago but could not hold onto it once British reinforcements arrived) and there has been some rhetoric implying the possibility that they might try again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

what is on that island that they're so interested in

 

[Antilogic]

what is on that island that they're so interested in

Nothing but wounded pride.

 

[cardgame]

what is on that island that they're so interested in

Endangered flightless birds

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Nothing but wounded pride.

Not just wounded pride. They also have sheep!

Sheep farming was by far the dominant industry back when Argentina invaded, but these days off shore fishing and tourism are becoming more important. Much of the tourism is driven by people coming to see wildlife such as penguins.


It is widely believed that the Argentine government likes to focus on the Falklands mostly as a way to distract its own people from how poorly they are governed.

 

[ace99]

The British fetish for retaining their last tiny bit of Imperial Glory probably has equal amounts to do with it. If they had any sense they would have sold the damn thing for a cool profit along with some of their other random places they own.

 

[Borachio]

Nothing but wounded pride.

Aaaah. You mean like 9/11?

I think there's something in national pride, though, as an explanation for the Falklands War.

But how much is tied up too, in international credibility? What would the British position have become on the Security Council, for instance, if they had just stood by in the face of the Argentinian invasion (which should never have been allowed to happen in the first place, btw), and said "Oh well. Ain't nothing we can do. Nor is there anything worth doing"?

 

[Quackers]

The British fetish for retaining their last tiny bit of Imperial Glory probably has equal amounts to do with it. If they had any sense they would have sold the damn thing for a cool profit along with some of their other random places they own.

That would be foolish considering the Falkland Islands sits on a continental shelf which may have access to some quite sexy amounts of oil - if we can get out white hands on that black gold we can enrich the treasury even further, keep the Falkland Islands and rub it into Cristina Kirchner's botox injected face

 

[Dachs]

Don't forget the original reason the British made their grab for the Falklands: guarding their access to the Pacific.

 

[Borachio]

I thought its use was as a coaling station. Independent of S. American states.

Unless you're using the word "guarding" in an unusual manner. In which case...yeah, I guess so.

 

[Dachs]

I thought its use was as a coaling station. Independent of S. American states.

Unless you're using the word "guarding" in an unusual manner. In which case...yeah, I guess so.

The British weren't too concerned about coaling stations in the 1760s.

 

[Borachio]

True.

But I can't see how much use it would be guarding the Horn passage.

I thought the British just went round the globe laying claim to any bits of "unoccupied" land they could. Just on the off-chance really.

 

[Dachs]

True.

I just can't see how much use it would be guarding the Horn passage. I thought the British just went round the globe laying claim to any bits of "unoccupied" land they could.

The most serious of these [Anglo-Bourbon] clashes was that over the Falklands, and it was shelved rather than solved in 1766. Lying as they did in the South Atlantic, to the east of the Straits of Magellan, these islands were seen in London as strategically important - as a staging post - for any British attempt to break into the Eastern Pacific Ocean, which Madrid was determined to maintain as a Spanish mare clausum, a status which the Treaty of Utrecht appeared to uphold.

Bolding mine.

A staging post has two purposes: serving as a base from which attacks can be made, and guarding supplies, troops, leadership, and infrastructure necessary for these attacks.