Well, of course the new Government of Argentina has reaffirmed the claim to the Falkland Islands. That is just one of those things which new Governments of Argentina do. No doubt, there are several others. And no doubt, those, too, have been done.
But Argentina is not going to press that claim, and the Falkland Islanders need to be very glad indeed of that, because there would and could be no question of any pressing back by a bankrupt and flooded out country that owns almost nothing of its own economy, where the infrastructure would disgrace much of the Third World, and where catastrophic wars have now been going on for as long as an entire generation of voters can remember.
Pressing back with what, exactly?
The cost of defending one of the British Overseas Territories, the only one that needs it, is greater than would be the cost of declaring them all independent, including the restored Chagos Islanders, each with a permanent annual grant of one billion pounds.
Why not do that? Seriously, why not? There would be no need to ask them. We never used to ask in the past. We do not need to ask now. Like teenagers, they would get to be consulted when they started putting money in the pot.
If a billion a year did not include enough to provide for the defence of 4,700 square miles, then the 2,932 inhabitants of those square miles would not deserve to be defended.
"Seriously, why not? There would be no need to ask them. We never used to ask in the past. We do not need to ask now.""
ReplyDeleteBecause our presence there is not imperialist, as it was in the past, but is based on the reverse-the principle of the right of peoples to self determination.
Alll our Overseas Territories remain British and free only at the request of those living there.
To see what happens to the freedom for which Britain stands (or used to stand) when we pull out of one of our territories, watch the painful sight of China slowly strangling the liberties which still separate Hong Kong from her neighbour.
There, unlike China, newspapers can still criticise the Government, people still have free assembly and can still protest on the streets, and there is still jury trial and a presumption of innocence that stops the state locking people up at will.
But for how long can that last, now that the guarantors of those defining features of the Anglosphere have departed?
What about the request of those living here, who pay the bills?
DeleteThe thing is, no one would mind. If it weren't for the Falkland Islands. It is only the cost of defending them that makes this an issue at all. With that, we have the most expensive empire in history.
I have set out a far cheaper option, and I am not the first person to have done so. Sooner or later, someone will take it up.
If Gautieri & his gang had just waited a year or so, a "realistic" (or craven) FCO would have handed the islands and their population over, gift wrapped. But he invaded, silly bugger, and now I cannot see more than a dozen UK MPs (plus of course, Nicola and her team) voting to ditch them, so, cost whatever it may to keep Mount Pleasant going (and it provides magnificent training opportunities) the Falklands are safe.
ReplyDeleteIf it all kicked off during the next recession, which is well on the way, or during the next floods, which are inevitable, or during both, then the Sun and Daily Mail crowds would be having none your "cost whatever it may" attitude.
Delete"Training" for what? Nothing that anyone outside the arms industry, or with an eye to future employment by it, still wants Britain to do.
Some things are worth paying for. Defending the liberty of British subjects is one of them.
ReplyDeleteNo one would mind? Yes they would, as demonstrated by the overwhelming public poll boost for Margaret Thatcher (following a recession) after our recapture of them at great expense.
Tam Dalyell and the others who took the Jeremy Corbyn view of the war were rightly regarded by normal people as a tiny minority of Loony Left anti-British weirdos.
They should still be viewed as such.
Sadly, as Charles Moore writes today, the absurd reaction to Oliver Letwin's perfectly accurate conservative memo shows that in today's politically correct country it's easier to be a public supporter of the IRA than to take the wrong view on "equality".
Some things are worth paying for.
DeleteWith what? We're skint.