February 25, 2010

Now Falkland Islanders think it’s oil over

At last we know why Britain went to war with Argentina over the Malvinas. It seemed at the time that a few thousand sheep and a couple of wind-swept, treeless islands in Argentina’s back yard were not really worth fighting for.- but all is now a little clearer. The Falklands are sitting on a very big pool of oil.

The ironic thing is that those faraway Falkland Islanders may find their isolated way of life changing rather more than it would have done if Argentina had been allowed to claim their islands back. Putting aside the tragedy of all those lost lives, each and every islander could have been given a few million pounds each to go and live in some other isolated, god-forsaken spot (after all there are plenty of similarly inhospitable islands in Scotland).

But the cost of their hard-won freedom is now to see a load of oilmen and chancers flood ashore – and bring ‘new prosperity’. If I was a Falkland Islander, I would also not be too reassured to learn that the leader of our defence force out there is apparently none other than Commodore Phillip Thicknesse.

Argentina re not best pleased. I’m not sure if Argentina feel the need to claim their oil back as enthusiastically as they did their islands… but with our helicopters in Afghanistan and our navy a shadow of its former self, I am not sure there is much to stop them – even if Mr Thicknesse pulls faces at them.

And that’s the thing. In this age of political correctness and pseudo-green beliefs – can anyone justify hanging on to some islands on the other side of the world, or even laying a claim to any oil reserves festering deep under the chilly south atlantic swell?

Perhaps it would be just a little bit more politically acceptable to let the Argentinians keep their oil … and the Falkland Islanders can go back to molesting their sheep and entertaining pensioners coming ashore from cruise ships.

Now Falkland Islanders think it’s oil over

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