The British government is preparing a submission to the United Nations on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to extend the territorial waters to up to 350 miles out from the coast.
The seabed surrounding the Falklands is thought to be a large, untapped source of oil and gas.
Many countries are preparing submissions as the UN has put a deadline of May 2009 on them but that hasn’t stopped the Argies from throwing their teddies out of their pram.
The Argies are, of course, bleating about how this is an act of aggression and saying that it won’t stop them trying to get their islands back. The British government are saying that it’s just a formality and that the UN wouldn’t make a decision anyway because sovereignty of the islands are in dispute.
Can someone just remind me, whose islands are they? I seem to remember a little spat with the Argies a few years back over the Falklands. They claimed them as theirs and we demonstrated, in no uncertain terms, that they were ours. Perhaps we should claim southern Argentina …
The Falkland is British the Islander wish to remain British, simple.
Besides my Dad was one of those that fought to keep the Falkland’s British.
I too have close relatives that served in the armed forces during the Falklands’ war – a war which served a dual purpose for the Tories and the British ruling class.
But I’m waffling.
Wonko – what happens if the British government ceases to exist, ie, Scotland, Wales, etc, leave the Union? What of the islanders then?
Charlie, we had this discussion last time I talked about the Falklands. Check out the flag I put in the post – my opinion is that all the current British Dependencies will choose where they want to go. Realistically they’re going to choose either England or Scotland and most – if not all – will choose England. That’s assuming they don’t declare independence instead but a lot of dependencies would find it hard to go it alone.
It is difficult to see how the Scotch, whose country is the largest and most expensive of all English dependencies, can offer protection to any other dependent territory.