Queen Elizabeth II Part 3

[Margot]

Gosh maybe we should set up another thread about Maggie and the Falklands as this is all terribly off topic and only seems to relate to the Queen as a major event that took place during her reign!

[Adagietto]

Agreed; and if constantinople is seriously suggesting that Mrs Thatcher provoked the invasion, or deliberately let it proceed in the face of prior knowledge, because she wanted a war for electoral purposes, we are in any case straying beyond the bounds of rational discussion, let alone relevant discussion.

[Constantinople]

acccording to you but  if i look at a lot of your posts, they seem to deviate from ratiionality

[Constantinople]

and that is a well known fact not an allegation.

[Adagietto]

Not too well known, I hope, otherwise they might never let me out!

[Constantinople]

good luck

[Eric_Lowe]

I think the Queen has come into her own in recent years. After the Queen Mum's passing, she became the most senior member of the Royal Family. She now had the affection, respect and love of her people. 

[Constantinople]

I think she had all three of those before the Queen Mother passed on.

[Eric_Lowe]

She was not the mother or grandmother of her people while "Mummy" was alive, as she tends to defer to her. Once she was gone, she came into her own. Of course by then Diana was also gone.

[ashdean]

Ashdean
        You might be interested in this
President Galtieri, as head of the the military government, aimed to counter public concern over economic and human rights issues by means of a speedy victory over the Falklands which would appeal to popular nationalistic sentiment. Argentine intelligence officers had been working with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to help fund the Contras in Nicaragua, and the Argentine government believed it might be rewarded for this activity by non-interference on the part of the United States if it invaded the Falklands.

Argentina exerted pressure at the United Nations by raising subtle hints of a possible invasion, but the British either missed or ignored this threat and did not react. The Argentines assumed that the British would not use force if the islands were invaded.[3][4]

According to British sources, the Argentines interpreted the failure of the British to react as a lack of interest in the Falklands due to the planned withdrawal (as part of a general reduction in size of the Royal Navy in 1981) of the last of the Antarctic Supply vessels, HMS Endurance, and by the British Nationality Act of 1981, which replaced the full British citizenship of Falkland Islanders with a more limited version.

Furthermore, Britain was given detailed information from the CIA about the Argentinian junta's intention.  My sources told me that Thatcher also knew that the upcoming election would be difficult and was advised that a war with Argentina would not be long or difficult but would focus the electorate away from divisive political factions  (Labour, Conservatives etc,)

And if you dont believe me there are plenty of other sources on this subject.

There might be plenty of sources....but the bare bones of the matter is...the ARGENTINIANS were the INVADERS...NOT Margaret Thatcher.

[Constantinople]

Well that is not the whole story.  There are plenty of ways to manipulate a situation, as George Bush did just prior to the Gulf War.  And in law and that means international law, the concept of culpable negligence exists.  That is that if someone should do something but fails to and it causes loss, they they are responsible.  Margaret Thatcher knew what signals she was sending and what result they would have and the result of those was the Falklands war. 

[ashdean]

The Argentinians did not need any manipulation.....ANYWAY....whatever macignations (if any)from Mrs Thatcher they did not have to play into her hands

[Adagietto]

Unnecessary concession, it is absurd to suppose that Mrs Thatcher would ever have enticed a foreign enemy to seize any British territory, that is a conspiracy theory about on a level of that which claims that the 9/11 atttacks were arranged by the CIA. Perhaps we need a special place in the forum for this kind of thing, comparable to the section that is devoted to the ragged army of Imperial claimants.

[Constantinople]

what an absurd extrapolation. Thatcher merely knew what would happen if she withdrew a British military presence and there  was no conspiracy as the CIA had only passed on intel but it was accurate and Thatcher was clearly aware of what would happen when she withdrew that British military presence, invasion by the Argentinian junta and a nice diversion for the British electorate to focus away from the political divisiopns she had created in Britain.

[Adagietto]

There is a good discussion of this issue here:
http://www.barder.com/669