Colin1
Senior Master Sergeant
The Daily Telegraph 19 February 2010
Argentina is not exactly sabre-rattling in its imposition of a new permit system for all vessels travelling to and from the Falklands, but the increase in tension is palpable. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has good domestic political reasons for turning up the heat. Her government is unpopular, the economy is a mess and nothing unites Argentine opinion quite like the Falklands. The country's constitution states that the imposition of sovereignty on the British territory is a 'permanent and unrelinquished goal of the Argentine people'; an ambition given extra momentum by the estimated 60 billion barrels of oil lying beneath its territorial waters. Indeed, it was the imminent arrival of an oil drilling platform to start developing these reserves that was the spur for Argentina's truculent action.
The British government's low-key response has been sensible. There is nothing to be gained from embarking on a slanging match with Buenos Aires and we have the reassurance of knowing that we have a strong military presence in the area. A flight of Tornadoes is based on the islands while the offshore patrol vessel HMS Clyde is on permanent station and has been joined by the destroyer HMS York and a supply tanker.
As the island's oil wealth is exploited, diplomatic spats of this kind are likely to become more frequent. The Argentine government says it has no intention of proceeding by anything other than diplomatic means, which offers some comfort. Yet its insistence that it will take 'adequate measures' to halt the exploration is peturbing. That is why our military presence there is so important - and also why the forthcoming defence review must not fall into the trap of thinking that all future conflicts will be anti-insurrection campaigns, fought primarily by soldiers on dry land.
Argentina is not exactly sabre-rattling in its imposition of a new permit system for all vessels travelling to and from the Falklands, but the increase in tension is palpable. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has good domestic political reasons for turning up the heat. Her government is unpopular, the economy is a mess and nothing unites Argentine opinion quite like the Falklands. The country's constitution states that the imposition of sovereignty on the British territory is a 'permanent and unrelinquished goal of the Argentine people'; an ambition given extra momentum by the estimated 60 billion barrels of oil lying beneath its territorial waters. Indeed, it was the imminent arrival of an oil drilling platform to start developing these reserves that was the spur for Argentina's truculent action.
The British government's low-key response has been sensible. There is nothing to be gained from embarking on a slanging match with Buenos Aires and we have the reassurance of knowing that we have a strong military presence in the area. A flight of Tornadoes is based on the islands while the offshore patrol vessel HMS Clyde is on permanent station and has been joined by the destroyer HMS York and a supply tanker.
As the island's oil wealth is exploited, diplomatic spats of this kind are likely to become more frequent. The Argentine government says it has no intention of proceeding by anything other than diplomatic means, which offers some comfort. Yet its insistence that it will take 'adequate measures' to halt the exploration is peturbing. That is why our military presence there is so important - and also why the forthcoming defence review must not fall into the trap of thinking that all future conflicts will be anti-insurrection campaigns, fought primarily by soldiers on dry land.
