Chavez must have been smoking something illegal...

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2007-09-02 05:19pm

Chavez vows revenge for Falklands war!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 368707.ece

Amusing calling one of the most europeanised nations in the South America "indigenous people".

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-09-02 05:26pm

Ooh, I'm quaking in my boots. What's he going to do? Rhetoric us to death?

The guy has only oil as a weapon, and we get far more of it from Russia and the ME. There's no way the US would let him do anything more rash anyway.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2007-09-02 05:45pm

You guys ought to park the Royal Navy 13 miles off the Venezuelan coast and have your sailors expose themselves in the general direction of Caracas.

Battlehymn Republic · Post by **Battlehymn Republic** » 2007-09-02 05:47pm

Careful, if Royal Marines are involved Chavez will just get his buddy Ahmadinejad to do something.

Ubiquitous · Post by **Ubiquitous** » 2007-09-02 06:14pm

Maybe HMS Queen Elizabeth and a few T45's + Astute's should pay him a visit in a few years to give him a chance to act on his words?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-09-02 06:16pm

Ubiquitous wrote:Maybe HMS Queen Elizabeth and a few T45's + Astute's should pay him a visit in a few years to give him a chance to act on his words?

And who's in the Home Fleet if all our ships - all four of them - are on the far side of the world?

Post by **weemadando** » 2007-09-03 03:45am

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Ubiquitous wrote:Maybe HMS Queen Elizabeth and a few T45's + Astute's should pay him a visit in a few years to give him a chance to act on his words?
And who's in the Home Fleet if all our ships - all four of them - are on the far side of the world?

Sneak an Astute up into harbour and start firing off "propaganda torpedoes" filled with Union Jack-emblazoned transmitters which float to the surf and blast "Rule Britannia" and "God Save the Queen" across all frequencies.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2007-09-03 04:47am

Admiral Valdemar wrote:And who's in the Home Fleet if all our ships - all four of them - are on the far side of the world?

Dont you have Belfast, President, Victory and Warrior?

Spearfish · Post by **Spearfish** » 2007-09-03 05:01am

CJvR wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:And who's in the Home Fleet if all our ships - all four of them - are on the far side of the world?
Dont you have Belfast, President, Victory and Warrior?

I should point out that HMS President is in fact a building. We do have HMS Caroline still afloat, though she is the last survivor of Jutland and the 6" gun is now made of fibreglass.

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-09-03 06:22am

I don't think that today's RN could pull off a Falklands, unfortunately.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-09-03 07:32am

Maybe it is time the Brits start to bring back their fleet from the mothballs.

Gunboat diplomacy anyone?

(just kidding)

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-09-03 09:03am

N a new outburst of antiwestern sabre-rattling, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has threatened Britain with “revenge” for the Falklands war of 1982. The belligerent Latin American leftist warned last week that his recent build-up of sophisticated Russian and Iranian weapons would be used to destroy the British fleet if it attempted to return to the South Atlantic.

The who and the what now?

Venezuela's brand-spanking new Su-30MKVs do give it's air force the most powerful and advanced fighters in South America, however. Still, they'd need more than Su-30MKVs armed with Kh-31s to deal with the Royal Navy.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2007-09-03 09:26am

Ah. Aha. Ahaha. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Man, he must be high as a kite. Or something. I wonder if he even realizes that the Argentinian junta would have been his enemy if the two governments had coexisted.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2007-09-03 09:37am

I wonder if he even realizes that the Argentinian junta would have been his enemy if the two governments had coexisted.

He does, but he's good friends with Argentina's current leader Nestor Kirchner. And Kirchner is an important ally in his pan-Latinoamerican integration program which offers alternative universal broadcasting, trade agreements, et cetera to those of the United States. Therefore, I guess he's just trying to rack up his popularity by appealing to Argentinian nationalism and Latin American nationalism in general.

It might seem stupid rethorics from a point of logic, but hey, the rethorics of popular leaders often have little logic in them (take Bush for example, he uses exactly the rethorics which the rabid fundies, right-wingers and militarists in America will love and understand, but totally illogical, like the recent Iraq-Vietnam "comparison" which is full of historic nonsense).

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-09-03 04:52pm

Vympel wrote:
N a new outburst of antiwestern sabre-rattling, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has threatened Britain with “revenge” for the Falklands war of 1982. The belligerent Latin American leftist warned last week that his recent build-up of sophisticated Russian and Iranian weapons would be used to destroy the British fleet if it attempted to return to the South Atlantic.
The who and the what now?

Venezuela's brand-spanking new Su-30MKVs do give it's air force the most powerful and advanced fighters in South America, however. Still, they'd need more than Su-30MKVs armed with Kh-31s to deal with the Royal Navy.

That hardly matters really. Even if we had numerical superiority over the RN, Venezuelan pilots are unlikely to compare favourably with their British counterparts. Also, while we do have hot new fighters, there are rumours that our F-16s are disarmed and grounded, so the backbone of our air force is unavailable to support the primary strike force.

Ritterin Sophia · Post by **Ritterin Sophia** » 2007-09-03 07:52pm

weemadando wrote:Sneak an Astute up into harbour and start firing off "propaganda torpedoes" filled with Union Jack-emblazoned transmitters which float to the surf and blast "Rule Britannia" and "God Save the Queen" across all frequencies.

That could possibly be the most utterly badass international practical joke ever.

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-09-03 08:24pm

Adrian Laguna wrote: That hardly matters really. Even if we had numerical superiority over the RN

You realize of course that the RN has no radar-equipped fighters whatsoever, and so Venezuela would have numerical superiority over them by default?

(the RAF bases four Tornado F.3s and within two years Typhoon F.2s on the islands, however)

Venezuelan pilots are unlikely to compare favourably with their British counterparts. Also, while we do have hot new fighters, there are rumours that our F-16s are disarmed and grounded, so the backbone of our air force is unavailable to support the primary strike force.

The F-16s would be at reduced readiness because of the lack of spares, leading to the cannibalization of some aircraft to keep the others flying, but in any event, the Su-30MK2s (Su-30MKV was a misnomer, sorry) are the backbone now.

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2007-09-03 09:51pm

Stas Bush wrote:
I wonder if he even realizes that the Argentinian junta would have been his enemy if the two governments had coexisted.
He does, but he's good friends with Argentina's current leader Nestor Kirchner. And Kirchner is an important ally in his pan-Latinoamerican integration program which offers alternative universal broadcasting, trade agreements, et cetera to those of the United States. Therefore, I guess he's just trying to rack up his popularity by appealing to Argentinian nationalism and Latin American nationalism in general.

It might seem stupid rethorics from a point of logic, but hey, the rethorics of popular leaders often have little logic in them (take Bush for example, he uses exactly the rethorics which the rabid fundies, right-wingers and militarists in America will love and understand, but totally illogical, like the recent Iraq-Vietnam "comparison" which is full of historic nonsense).

I thought he already won a lot of popularity in Argentina when he got the World Bank of the country's back by retiring several billion dollars of Buenos Aires' debt.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2007-09-03 09:59pm

I have to wonder if he even realises that Argentina invaded the islands, not the British...

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-09-03 10:47pm

Molyneux wrote:I have to wonder if he even realises that Argentina invaded the islands, not the British...

Shush! Fine details do not matter. The fact that the British laid hands on their friends is bad enough.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2007-09-03 10:51pm

Britain could probably feasible get some airplanes temporarily based at US bases if it came to war with Venezuela. This would allow much better planes than Sea Harriers. Also, I think Britain has helo AEW birds. Not quite as good as having radars on your fighters, but it helps.

Plekhanov · Post by **Plekhanov** » 2007-09-03 10:59pm

Seeing as he has the power to make up laws as he goes along isn't it effectively legal for Chavez to smoke anything he likes?

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-09-04 02:54am

Molyneux wrote:I have to wonder if he even realises that Argentina invaded the islands, not the British...

Of course he does, and in his crazy mind the Argentinians were waging a war of liberation against the evil imperialists.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-09-04 03:09am

Why does anyone pay attention to the rhetoric of people like this? That's all it is: hot air. Chavez is a real-life version of an Internet forum attention whore.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2007-09-04 04:27am

Entertainment value?