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By *ara J OP TV/TS
over a year ago
Bristol East |
First the International Court of Justice, now the General Assembly of the United Nations.
The occupation by the United Kingdom (and its tenant, the USA) of the Chagos Islands is illegal.
Only a handful of countries backed the UK - US, Australia, Hungary, Israel and the Maldives.
116 countries deemed the UK to be acting unlawfully, with 56 abstentions.
The UK's treatment of the Chagos islanders is an international scandal.
Where art now thy commitment to an international rules-based order, UK?
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By *ercuryMan
over a year ago
Grantham |
It's a more complex situation that that.
We exchanged The Chagos Islands with Mauritius in order for Mauritius to gain independence. We needed the islands to establish a strategic military base in the Southern Hemisphere (remember this was at the time of the Cold War)
The UK has always said that they will hand back the islands back as soon as that base, Diego Garcia, is not wanted anymore and has been decommissioned.
Just to demand them back, when they had been part of a mutually agreed deal, is not the way to proceed.
Of course, the UK will be wary of other nations drawing parallels with other territories that we legally hold. |
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By *ara J OP TV/TS
over a year ago
Bristol East |
The Chagos Islands are integral to Britain's nuclear deterrent.
In the 1950s, Britain's nuclear strike capability was the V-force - the Victor, Valiant and Vulcan bombers.
They would fly over the USSR and drop their load.
They became obsolete when the USSR shot down the Gary Powers spy plane - the USSR showed it had the technology to take out the V-force before it could reach its target.
Submarines became the in-thing, because they could patrol undetected.
However, the UK did not have the capability nor the cash to develop the ICBM missile delivery system.
The Americans did.
So the UK leased Diego Garcia to the US in return for access to the Polaris (and now Trident) ICBM.
The US is now testing the updated D5 Trident missile and this is what Britain will install on the new Dreadnought fleet on subs.
The UK gets the missiles at cost plus 5 per cent (as a contribution to R & D costs)
The UN ruling is a complication the UK probably wishes would go away.
Basically, the Chagos Islanders were treated like sh*t so that Britain could continue a bit of willy-waving on a world stage.
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