Falkland Islanders

That's the, um, Diego Garcia example.

The Chagos Islanders were-

Yeah

... treated like objects and shunted around by Britain because of its military interests in the territory and its relationship with the US.

Guam, you mentioned, is a great example because the US has been abusing its sovereignty over Guam in violation of what the Islanders want, and in, and, and to the detriment of its ecology and its natural preservation.

While it seems like a simple principle that you should just kinda go with what the indigenous population want, but, um, sadly, that-

Yeah

But the defense against a state that, that sent invasion force in 1982 and keeps threatening to do the same again is a real one.

It was a whole thing in this war.

And three Falkland Islanders died during this war, and the British defended the islands.

But before this, before this war, the British...

We're talking about potentially giving up the Falkland Islands, partly because the Foreign Office do silly things, but also because the people in government didn't want taxpayer money continuously funding and islands that really didn't really have very much industry privately.

And it's what they want.

And I think that that's the real fundamental point here.

The other interesting thing, and perhaps a bit more... of a libertarian take is that a lot of Brits, so a lot of Falkland Islanders and Argentinians before the war would travel freely with one another.

They would marry, they would have kids, there was a flight that went from the Falkland Islands to Buenos Aires.

I think so, yeah.

I remember Adam Hurry telling us when we did the Football Clichés quiz that he had heard about a Falkland Islander who had started supporting Southampton as they were his closest Premier League team at a mere distance of 12,874 kilometres

away.

That is a brilliant fact.

Two hundred and fifty-five British servicemen lost their lives, including those on the Sheffield and others wounded in ground combat.

Six hundred and forty-nine Argentine soldiers perished while three Falkland Islanders died during the fighting.

The human cost underscored that even a small territorial conflict can generate substantial loss of life.

Post-war memorials in Britain remember those who fell with a songs of a reverence.

Maybe, because apparently the two companies that control known offshore oil deposits around Falklands, Malvinas at this point one is called Rockhopper and the other is an Israeli company called I forget its name which is the majority owner but Rockhopper is publicly traded where? In Britain I think and they say that starting sometime late next year the They're going to be producing about 150,000 barrels per day.

And the Falklands, or the Falkland Islanders, I should say, are going to be receiving, it's a huge number, it's like $150,000 per adult Falklander per year.

Wow.

And oil...

Uh, it's a, a British, a British territory.

Um, the Falkland Islanders, uh, voted nearly 100% remaining British in a recent, uh, referendum.

Um, and, uh, there are no Argentinian soldiers or sailors anywhere near.

So the UK needs to think seriously about what to do to deter an invasion, because if the Argentinians successfully invaded, then it is not clear that the UK is any longer configured or the UK-- or the British Navy is strong enough to take the Falklands back.