Rock Drill wrote:
> Nexie wrote:
>
>> I think America's imperialism is just going to escalate. I
>> predict within 20 years, the current treaties preventing the
>> exploitation of the oil fields under Antarctica will be conveniently
>> disposed of. To get the ball rolling...I suspect that penguins are
>> developing nuclear capability and already may have biochemical weapons
>> of mass destruction developed from herring.
>
> Well a lot of us at the time suspected the Falklands war was more
> about rights to the oil in Antarctica than 'sovereignty' for the few
> hundred 'Bennys' that lived there. Treaties mean nothing. We got there
> first with our flag etc etc.
Of course. I know there are rabidly "patriotic" people out there who
would gladly send Vulcan bombers 2,000 miles, refuelling mid-air on the
way, to drop bombs on an airfield and miss, and consider it worthwhile
to protect British citizens (if only....) but let's face it, the only
thing that would make Thatcher do that is cold, hard cash. For the
fiscal cost of the Falklands war, every Falkland Islander could have
been safely re-homed and given a few million £ to spend.
If it wasn't for Brent oil, I would say that Norway could quite happily
invade the Orkneys and not a thing would be done about it. Spain could
have Gibraltar if it wasn't for the strategic value of the rock at the
mouth of the Med. We didn't go to war over Suez because of a fondness
for canal boating.
It's clear to see that life is very, very cheap to every government
there has ever been, but resources and strategic territory are worth
doing almost anything for. In that, most world leaders are just as bad
as Bush - he just does it on a bigger scale and involves the whole world
when he does.
"Radix malorum est cupiditas" - Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner's Tale
"I wolde I hadde thy coillons in myn hond
In stide of relikes or of seintuarie.
Lat kutte hem of, I wol thee helpe hem carie;
They shul be shryned in an hogges toord." - also Geoff, The Pardoner's
Tale.
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