>I'm not talking about past, I'm living in the now. We cannot 'give back' the Falklands as the inhabitants (all 20 of them) are British >and crucially want to remain British.
- ever heard of Diego Garcia? - small island in the mid-Indian Ocean - part of the former British Empire - very strategically well placed for bombing raids on Asia - so in the mid-1960's Britain, at the behest of the US, forcibly removed the indigenous population, all of whom held British passports, leased the island to the US - they built a whacking great airbase and proceeded to bomb the fuck out of any country that has displeased them in Asia. Despite several legal victories, human rights courts' finding against them and UN condemnation neither the British nor the US govts will contemplate the return of these indigenous peoples to their homeland, even though they are British citizens and British law has ruled in their favour - because it doesn't suit the UK or the US... Its not what the people - be they Falkland Islanders or from Diego Garcia - want, it's the strategic value - whether for mineral reserves or militarily of the islands that will determine whether a gvt goes to war. They will just tell you otherwise. BTW - whoever mentioned that we haven't been at war with East Timor - technically correct - however I would bet the average East Timorese would like a word with the British govt officials that allowed British Aerospace to sell those jets to the Indonesian occupying gvt so they could bomb the independence fighters of East Timor back into the hills. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist oh alright then :-)
