The Falkland Islands

[faceless]

Argentina imposes shipping rules in Falklands oil row
Argentinian decree escalates dispute with Britain over oil exploration in the south Atlantic as drilling due to start
Rory Carroll,
guardian.co.uk,
17 February 2010

Argentina has tightened controls on all shipping to and from the Falkland Islands in another escalation of its row with Britain over oil and gas exploration in the south Atlantic. President Cristina Kirchner issued a decree obliging vessels which use Argentine ports to seek a government permit if they enter or leave British-controlled waters. "Any boat that wants to travel between ports on the Argentine mainland to the Islas Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands … must first ask for permission from the Argentine government," Aníbal Fernández, the cabinet chief, told a news conference in Buenos Aires yesterday.

Argentina lost a brief 1982 war over the islands, which it calls the Malvinas, but still claims sovereignty and describes the British presence as an occupation. Its ire has been stoked by imminent exploration for hydrocarbon deposits which could turn the archipelago's 2,900 inhabitants into oil barons. A rig, the Ocean Guardian, is expected to arrive today and soon start drilling 100 miles offshore. Geological surveys suggest up to 60bn barrels may lie beneath the seabed.

A British company, Desire Petroleum, has hired the rig to drill prospects in the North Falkland basin and will later lease it to two other British companies and an Australian one – Rockhopper, and Falklands Oil and Gas; and BHP Billiton – which also have exploration contracts. They will use the rig in rotation throughout 2010. It will be the first drilling in Falkland waters since Shell suspended exploration in 1998 after oil prices slumped to $12 a barrel. Oil companies are bullish about prospects this time round but island authorities caution that no commercial deposits have yet been found.

Earlier this month Argentina lodged a formal diplomatic protest. Last week it prevented a cargo ship from sailing on suspicion it was carrying oil drilling equipment to the islands and the foreign minister, Jorge Taiana, met the governor of Tierra del Fuego province, Fabiana Ros, to co-ordinate Argentina's response. Yesterday's decree will force all ships – not just those involved in hydrocarbon exploration – bound for the islands or travelling through waters claimed by Argentina to secure the new permit. The decree did not specify, and officials did not elaborate, what sanctions Argentina may levy on ships which do not comply. Analysts said Buenos Aires was giving companies a warning and driving up the costs of business with the Falklands.

A British embassy spokesman played down the decree's significance. "The way in which Argentina applies its laws within Argentine territory is a matter for Argentina … the United Kingdom has no doubts about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and the surrounding maritime area."

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I'm sure these oil searches are just the start of the real reason for Britain being involved in the 1982 war. The Falklands are a god-send when you consider that the Antarctic will not always be protected from exploitation.

[luke]

US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute


Falklands war veterans, one holding up a sign that reads in Spanish "The islands are Argentine," referring to the Falklands islands, demonstrate in front of the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Wednesday Feb. 24, 2010.

Washington refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands yesterday as the diplomatic row over oil drilling in the South Atlantic intensified in London, Buenos Aires and at the UN.

Despite Britain’s close alliance with the US, the Obama Administration is determined not to be drawn into the issue. It has also declined to back Britain’s claim that oil exploration near the islands is sanctioned by international law, saying that the dispute is strictly a bilateral issue.

Argentina appealed to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, last night to intervene in the dispute, a move Britain adamantly opposes.

“The Secretary-General knows about the issue. He is not happy to learn that the situation is worsening,” Jorge Taiana, the Argentine Foreign Minister, said after meeting Mr Ban in New York.

“We have asked the Secretary-General, within the framework of his good offices, to stress to Britain the need to abstain from further unilateral acts.”

A top UN aide acknowledged, however, that Mr Ban would not be able to mediate because of Britain’s opposition.

Sir Mark Lyall Grant, Britain’s Ambassador to the UN, said: “As British ministers have made clear, the UK has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands . . . We are also clear that the Falkland Islands Government is entitled to develop a hydrocarbons industry within its waters, and we support this legitimate business in Falklands’ territory.”

Senior US officials insisted that Washington’s position on the Falklands was one of longstanding neutrality. This is in stark contrast to the public backing and vital intelligence offered by President Reagan to Margaret Thatcher once she had made the decision to recover the islands by force in 1982.

“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality,” a State Department spokesman told The Times. “The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”

Kevin Casas-Zamora, a Brookings Institution analyst and former vice-president of Costa Rica, said that President Reagan’s support for Britain in 1982 “irked a lot of people in Latin America”.

The Obama Administration “is trying to split the difference as much as it can because it knows that coming round to the British position would again create a lot of ill will in the region”, he said.

British officials in Washington said that they were comfortable with the US response to the dispute, but indicated that any American support for mediated negotiations would not be well received. It was “up to the islanders whether they want mediation or not”, one official said.

Britain has boosted the islands’ defences since the conflict, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, the First Sea Lord, said last night. “We have built a massive runway. We have emplaced forces on the ground, we have sophisticated early warning systems. It is a different package. To compare the way we dealt with the issues in 1982 with today is nonsense,” he said.

from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7040245.ece

[Neeko]

would we go to war with spain if they asked for gibraltor back ?

[faceless]

Oil discovery in Falklands hailed as biggest of its kind since North Sea oil
By Katherine Faulkner
5th June 2010

An oil field discovery in the Falklands was hailed yesterday as potentially the biggest discovery of its kind since North Sea Oil. Shares in Rockhopper exploration soared 52 per cent yesterday as the company said it expected to pump out at least 242 million barrels of oil from the 'Sea Lion' well - the expedition's first major oil find. And some predicted there could be millions more barrels of oil lying untapped in the area - sparking hopes that the region could hold as much oil as the North Sea.

Experts yesterday said it was highly unlikely the oil field could be sitting in isolation. 'Our analysis of the data from the Sea Lion well suggests that there is significant potential upside on our acreage,' Rockhopper said in a statement yesterday. Commercial production could lead to an economic boom for the remote British territory, which is home to about 3,000 people. But the news is sure to spark tensions in the region.

Argentinia, which invaded the British territory in 1982, has vowed to block British oil-drilling projects in the islands. In 2007 the Argentinian government scrapped an oil agreement which would have entitled it to a share of the spoils. And any drilling in the region is likely to come under intense scrutiny following the disastrous BP oil spill in the gulf of Mexico.

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Imagine that!

[Mixxa]

I'm sure any oil drilling would be conducted with the utomst diligence and regard for the safety of the environment. BP have a very good track record oh this. The Gulf of Mexico disaster is Obama's fault. If they'd been allowed to drill in Alaska, this would never have happened.

[Aja]

The Gulf of Mexico disaster is Obama's fault.

I need To get a drink ~~~~~~

[faceless]

haha, don't worry Aja, Mixxa's just taking the piss... maybe I should add some sarkybugger tags!

[faceless]

scratch that, the cunt actually is that much of a bawbag!

He just posted a whole pile of utterly predictable self-righteous shite in the Galloway section. He's been a member for almost 7 months yet waits this long to say what he actually thinks? What a prick...

[Aja]

[Aja]

[modern]

I missed that, what did they say in the Galloway section?

[faceless]

[luke]

Israel 'supplied arms to Argentina during Falklands War'
Israel secretly supplied arms and equipment to Argentina during the Falklands War due to Prime Minister Menachem Begin's personal hatred of the British, a new book discloses.

Air to air missiles, missile radar alert systems, fuel tanks for fighter bombers and gas masks were dispatched from Israel apparently destined for Peru but were then transported on to Argentina, it claims.

As the British Task Force sent to reclaim the islands after the 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falklands began to get the upper hand, Argentina's ruling military junta was left with few choices from which to source replacements for equipment lost in war.

But according to 'Operation Israel: the rearming of Argentina during the dictatorship (1976/1983)' the junta found that Begin was willing to strike an agreement.

Interviews conducted by the author of the book, the Argentine journalist Hernan Dobry, reveal that Begin saw the deals as a form of revenge for the hanging of a personal friend, Dov Gruner, by the British Mandatory Authorities in Palestine in 1947.

After the Argentine Air Force contacted Isrex, the Israeli defence company, a meeting was arranged between representatives of the company and Begin.

Israel Lotersztain, a salesman for Isrex Argentina, said Begin interrupted the Isrex officials as they tried to explain the situation, saying: "You've come to talk badly about the British. Is this going to be used to kill the English? Kadima (go ahead).

"Dov [Gruner] up there is going to be happy with the decision. Obviously, it must be all done perfectly."

Gruner was sentenced to death for his part in an attack on a police station by Irgun, the Zionist underground paramilitary movement which Begin commanded before the state of Israel was established.

As he awaited hanging, he wrote a letter to Begin, thanking him for his support and emphasising his belief in Irgun.

"He [Begin] hated the English above all; everyone had forgotten the British occupation, but not him" according to Lotersztain.

His colleague Jaime Weinstein agreed, saying: "He did all that was possible to help Argentina, selling her weapons during the Malvinas [the Argentine name for the Falklands] conflict."

Israel needed a third party to help with the deal so that the British would not know that it was helping Argentina and this is where Peru, despite the fact that it had tried to broker a peace plan which Argentina rejected, came in.

Dobry reveals that Fernando Belaunde Therry, the Peruvian president, authorised Israel to transport arms and equipment to Lima and Callao, Peru's main port, before being secretly flown to Buenos Aires aboard Aerolineas Argentinas planes.

The Peruvian Air Force signed blank purchase orders, which enabled Argentina to request whatever they needed from Israel.

"The task was to support them in everything we could, and there was no problem to sign a purchase order," said a high-ranking Peruvian officer.

According to the book, which has been previewed in the Argentine newspaper La Nacion, larger planes than the Peruvian Air Force could provide were needed for some heavier equipment leading to the involvement of a Belgian company using the Luxembourg flag which was approved by Mossad.

However, British intelligence services kept track of aircraft landing in Peru and even photographed some of the arrivals.

"A newspaper once published a picture showing the loading on to an Aerolineas Argentinas plane and the British ambassador in Israel took the photo to Begin and hell broke out," said Lotersztain.

"They were aware of the whole operation to the extent that sometimes when we discussed whether some supplies had arrived we would say, 'let's ask the English'".

There were five flights in total from Tel Aviv to Buenos Aires via Lima, loaded with equipment such as gas masks, radar warning systems to prevent fire from enemy missiles, air to air missiles, duvet jackets and spare parts.

Additional fuel tanks for fighter bombers supplied by Israel were particularly important for Argentina's war effort as they enabled pilots to fly to the Falklands and return to the Argentine mainland without stopping.

Dobry discovered that Israel sent 1,500-litre tanks rather than the standard 1,300-litre models and writes that this meant the British Task Force had to move its fleet further east to prevent further bombings.

"The Jewish state was not only willing to supply the government of Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri in everything it needed but was also proactive in advising and conveying their experiences in combat," said Dobry.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/8463934/Israel-supplied-arms-to-Argentina-during-Falklands-War.html

[faceless]

now there's a story that will cause a few overloads for EDL supporters... haha

[luke]