By Mark Austin
28/02/2010
If the wars of the last century were about power - crazy, expansionist, murderous dictators and political ideology - it's a fair bet the conflicts of this century will largely be about natural resources.
Whether it's water, oil or natural gas, if it's running out countries will fight over it.
And it could, just could, be sooner than you think.
Argentina's renewed sabre-rattling over the Falkland Islands is about a British company drilling for oil in waters Argentina considers their own.
The chances of another military dust-up seem slim at the moment. It is unlikely the Argentine government has the will or the ability to launch another disastrous assault on islands that are now much better defended by the British.
But things are getting more dangerous by the week. Thirty-two Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Chile and Mexico, are demanding that Britain stops the oil exploration.
There may well be big pressure exerted through the UN, as the British are portrayed as an arrogant power harking back to colonial days.
And we can't rely on the Americans, who have decided to take "no position" on the issue.
Does this special relationship seem a tad one-sided? But, having fought a war 28 years ago that cost more than 250 lives, it would surely be a betrayal of those servicemen to give in now.
It would also be effectively abandoning a group of British citizens who look to their government to protect them.
So if it means a couple of submarines and a few ships have to head south as a deterrent then so be it.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/02/28/if-the-falklands-oil-saga-comes-to-war-britain-is-on-her-own-115875-22076343/
