Oil found in the Falklands

[rov1100]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12804076

Forget about Gaddafis oil who is now going to help Britain to protect our own?

[sandyRoe]

Would we still be capable of sending a fleet to protect our interests? Maybe our American friends would help us?

[Davethedog]

Sandy I understand there are some pedelos available on the south coast.

[anotheoldgit]

I wonder how long it will be before we sell our rights to it?

[AKMild]

The UK's armed forces could not repeat the heroic recovery of the Falkland Islands in 1982. We had 2 aircraft carriers and a fleet of Sea Harriers then and came perilously close to losing - closer than the press of the day could report. Now we have no carriers or Sea Harriers and are spread too thin to be able to mount another recovery, should Argentina have the appetite to exercise what it claims has always been its property. The USA did not immediately support the UK's efforts in 1982 (as it had just signed trade agreements with the Argentines, I believe), so any support from them would depend on other factors.

The sovereignty of the Falkland Islands has been an issue for such a long time and I think I am right in saying that the islanders themselves want to remain dependent on the UK. Rather than let the discovery of oil create animosity in the region, maybe the resource and its development could be shared in some way with the Argentines provided that the islanders themselves benefit. But maybe the islanders don't want that 'benefit', and if somewhere is worth fighting for then it is worth keeping, let alone what a sell-out would mean to the memory of our forces that fought and died there in 1982. A difficult question indeed.

[Zeuhl]

Issues regarding resources claimed by The Falklands are not new.

I understand the waters around the Falklands are also the biggest single source of the world's Calimari (Yum Yum)

We do have a credible defence capability permanently based there now - unlike the ambiguous state of play in 1982.
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[steg]

we could use our share of Libya's oil to get there and protect it ourselves .......... will 2 buckets be enough?

[rov1100]

We had help from Chile last time. They have said it won't be there in future conflicts.

[Ratty2E]

But we've known about the oil in the Faulklands for years. Why do you think a tiny island in the middle of nowhere was fought over so keenly, I'm pretty sure it wasn't just to keep the penguins British.