Argentina opens up second front in Falklands Kerfuffle

[Audley Strange]

Regarding the Falklands kerfuffle, I was dismayed to see Downing Street "defiantly" flying the Falklands flag the other day. It reminded me that international diplomacy and politics rarely rise above the schoolyard level.

Shit, ten minutes of BBC parliament should have reminded you of that. Parliament seems to me comprised of those weird kids at school, why did we think it a good idea to let those snotty kids that played Risk and Chess at school and who were the subject of ridicule and bullying have control of our military?

[FBM]

I played both Risk and chess.

[mistermack]

Regarding the Falklands kerfuffle, I was dismayed to see Downing Street "defiantly" flying the Falklands flag the other day. It reminded me that international diplomacy and politics rarely rise above the schoolyard level.

I welcome it.
It was a lack of clarity from Mrs Thatcher's government that encouraged the generals to attack the Falklands. A lack of clarity cost all those lives.
I don't think our government should hold back in the slightest. You don't want them wondering if we have the stomach to defend the Falklands. They might get tempted to try again.

If I was in charge, I would be offering big grants for British subjects to relocate there.
That would send an even clearer signal.

[Tyrannical]

Britain really should try and settle more people there if they wish to keep it. A perfect place to resettle refugees that come to the UK, everyone loves sheep after all.

[Coito ergo sum]

Well I was kidding. Ronald Reagan was the most obvious of course. To us Europeans it is an odd phenomenon and it says a lot about what matters in American politics.

LOL -- to you Europeans, it shows what is important in American politics? Because Europeans are above all that?

La Ciccolina -- porn star elected to the Italian parliament.
Julia Alexandratou -- Greek politician -- model, actress, porn star...
Michael Cashman (Labour) (Member of the European Parliament) - soap opera star and on Dr. Who
Andrew Faulds (Labour) (Member of UK Parliament) - stage and movie actor
Cheryl Hall (Labour) - actress in movies and Dr. Who
Glenda Jackson (Labour) (Member of Parliament) - Academy Award winner
Arthur Newall (Conservative) (London Borough of Enfield) - Another Dr. Who alum.
Richard Franklin (UKIP) (Stood in the 2001 General election for UKIP, has stood in 4 general elections for 4 different parties)
Lech Kaczyński (formerly Law and Justice; later Independent) (President of Poland)
Jarosław Kaczyński (Law and Justice) (Prime Minister of Poland)

Yes it is an "odd phenomenon" that Europeans know nothing about. Far above it all, you lot.

[Coito ergo sum]

Regarding the Falklands kerfuffle, I was dismayed to see Downing Street "defiantly" flying the Falklands flag the other day. It reminded me that international diplomacy and politics rarely rise above the schoolyard level.

I welcome it.
It was a lack of clarity from Mrs Thatcher's government that encouraged the generals to attack the Falklands. A lack of clarity cost all those lives.
I don't think our government should hold back in the slightest. You don't want them wondering if we have the stomach to defend the Falklands. They might get tempted to try again.

If I was in charge, I would be offering big grants for British subjects to relocate there.
That would send an even clearer signal.

On the clarity issue, you are dead on.

If a certain action by Argentina will result in war, then that needs to be communicated loud, clear and unambiguously.

[Coito ergo sum]

Successful and/or effective ?
For a politician, getting elected counts as successful. And actors have a head start in the US.
Generally, US actors get success firstly through their looks, and a distant second, through their acting ability.
And much the same applies in US politics. More so today than ever.
So of course actors are ready-made politicians. They have looks, money, and experience in front of cameras.
Ability to run a country is incidental.

The same applies elsewhere, but maybe to a slightly lesser extent. America has more actors, anyway.

LOL -- I love the never ending string of negative generalizations Euros love to make about the US. Ah, yes, the paltry American actors, they're famous because of their looks, and only a "distant second" because of their acting ability. Whereas, what? In Europe, it's all intelligence and merit and quality, and the looks are a "distant second?"

It's like a broken record. Over and over again, the same refrain.

[amused]

It has been suggested that a lack of clarity led to Saddam Hussein attacking Kuwait.

[Robert_S]

Actors - what arrogance to think just because they prance around pretending in front of a camera that gives them the right to pronounce on politics and life in general. Twats.

In this particular case maybe, but that's overgeneralizing. We've had some actors that have become successful and/or effective politicians.

Name one!

Not my cup of tea, but Ronald Reagan. I may be naive, but to be governor, then to get elected twice as president shows some measure of success as a politician in my book.

I don't know a lot of these famous people, but I'm sure out of all of them there is one or two that were successful and/or effective.

Alan Autry - (actor) Mayor
Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum - (circus) Mayor, State legislator
Shirley Temple Black - (actress) Ambassador
Sonny Bono - (singer) Mayor, Congress
Jim Bunning - (baseball) Senator
Fred Grandy - (actor) Congress
Jack Kemp - (Football) congress, VP candidate
Steve Largent - (football) Congress
George Murphy -(dancer/actor) Senator
Tom Osborne - (football player/coach) Congress
Ronald Reagan - (actor) Governor, President
Jim Ryun - (runner) congress
Arnold Schwarzenegger - (actor) governor.
Fred Thompson - (actor) Senator
J.C. Watts - (Football) Congress
Bill Bradley - (basketball) Senator
Nancy Culp -(actress) Congress
John Glenn - (astronaut) Senator
Ben Jones - (actor) Congress
Sheila Kuehl -(actress) Senator
Tom McMillan - (basketball) Congress
Ralph Waite - (actor) Congress
Jerry Springer (talk show host) Mayor
Clint Eastwood - (actor) - Mayor
Jesse (The Body) Ventura -Governor
Al Franken - (actor) Congress

The most awesome among these being Eastwood and Franken.

[Coito ergo sum]

It has been suggested that a lack of clarity led to Saddam Hussein attacking Kuwait.

More than that has been suggested. Some conspiracists have suggested that he was goaded into attacking with a clear statement that the US wasn't concerned about it.

Hussein must have thought he could weather whatever storm resulted from his annexation of Kuwait. If he expected the US military to have the capacity to come over to Kuwait and kick him out, and for the world community to have the political will to support the endeavor, he would not have invaded.

However, we must be careful to look at context in these things. Now, today, the idea of the US going to Kuwait and engaging in military operations (and not only that, to be expected as a matter of course to destroy the enemy with barely any American casualties), is pretty much accepted as a matter of course. In 1991 and 1992, however, the US hadn't been involved in a major engagement since the early 1970's, and that experience did not have us reputed to be unbeatable and overwhelmingly dominant in this arena.

Part of Hussein's calculus was not only what he thought our intentions were. Rather, he was making an assessment of what he thought we were capable of, politically and militarily. He made a judgment call, and it turned out to be a bad one. The same kind of misjudgment was made by Al Qaeta in 2001. They did not think in their wildest imaginations that the bombardment they took in Afghanistan was possible.

[Coito ergo sum]

Here they go again -- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... etter.html

Fucking UN's Ban Ki Moon chiming in with more dopey crap. He thinks the Falklands belong to Argentina. What a fucking joke.

Don't give up the Falklands, Blighty!

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I almost hope they're stupid enough to invade again.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[MrJonno]

Here they go again -- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... etter.html

Fucking UN's Ban Ki Moon chiming in with more dopey crap. He thinks the Falklands belong to Argentina. What a fucking joke.

Don't give up the Falklands, Blighty!

Bit confused by that article, as far as I can tell the UN resolutions are for the UK/Argentina to negotiate on the future of the Falkland Islands?, there isn't one saying it belongs to anyone?

As for language, I would assume the Malvina's are used by many non-English speaking countries to describe the Falklands regardless of who they think it belongs to. The French sure as hell don't call the English Channel La Channal Anglais but no one things the English channel belong entirely to the English or French.

Well I'm all for negotiations even if they go nowhere, its a lot better than war

[Rum]

You are right about the resolution, but Cameron is refusing to discuss the future of the islands saying it is up to the inhabitants (the vast majority of who want to stay 'British'). There is a referendum on it there in March. The Argies know the result, so they are getting one in quick. That's my guess.