by LittleToe 20 Replies latest jw friends
My, how the years roll by.
20 years ago today Argentina invaded the Falkland islands.
Friday 2nd April 1982.
It seems like yesterday.
Edited to change 70 years for 20 years, because I'm really not old enough to remember 70 years back - honest.
Thanks Xena!
Sure does.
I was very new in the troof and full of new converts zeal when the Falklands War started. Like an idiot I was busy telling my workmates how it was a sign of the end and that this Old System couldn't possibly last until the end of the 80's because of the 1914 'prophecy'. What a steaming pile of Watchtowers.
I watched as the fleet sailed out from Portsmouth Harbour into the mist. All the ships crews were lining the decks, military music was being played.
It was quite a shock when the ships returned, most carried battle scars.
Very emotional stuff.
Englishman.
Ummmm LT you have a typo in your post...70 years???
20 years ago today Argentina invaded the Falkland islands.
WRONG. It was the Britons who invaded Argentine territory in the 1800's when they started the colonization of the Islands. It's true that the ill-conceived attempt to regain sovereingty over the Islands in 1982 responded to spurious motives of the military dictatorship then in power, but Great Britain's rights to occupy the Malvinas Islands, or Gibraltar, are as legitimate as those of Germany to occupy Poland.
Errr, RIGHT!
Okay, so the Brit's did it first, but that still doesn't invalidate my statement.
I understand that the Falklanders were offered the opportunity to become part of the Argentines and refused.
Seems to me they are now exercising their right to choose their own rulers.
Of course that's just my humble opinion.
Bring back Maggie, I say!
Expatbrit (the eighties rule! class)
but Great Britain's rights to occupy the Malvinas Islands, or Gibraltar, are as legitimate as those of Germany to occupy Poland.
I think that Great Britain has, generally speaking, done a good job in relinquishing its territories back to the native inhabitants. It's an ongoing process that will take many more years to complete.
Englishman.
I understand that the Falklanders were offered the opportunity to become part of the Argentines and refused.
I really doubt they have ever been made a formal offer like that, because the Argentine stance has always been not to recognize the islander's right to self-determination. Anyways, I was just trying to point out that Great Britain's rigths to sovereignty are the rights of brute force and nothing more. In practice the whole thing is and has always been a non-issue for Argentina, since the Islands have no economic resources that continental Argentina may want.
