[GlennF]

and to evict the Argentinians as Britain had agreed to protect the Falkland islanders as the islanders wanted.

yes ... well i suppose the disagreement is over whether that was a genuine reason or just political spin to garner votes.

It probably depends on the degree of cynicism you have about what politicians and government in general say.

It is worth noting that both Britain and the US agreed to protect Ukraine if they gave up the thousands of ex Soviet tactical battlefield nukes they inherited from the Soviets.   Britain has indeed sent some aid but refused to commit troops and the US has now stopped all aid, potentially permanently if trump gains power.  Promising to protect someone is not usually enough to gaurantee a nation sending troops in.

[Leofric]

"At the moment it seems some people think Britain shouldn't have sent a task force to remove the Argentinians who had invaded from The Falklands.They need a few Royal Marines to have a word with them  "

"Some People" think that the primary reason the Royal Marines (and a Naval task force) were sent was that there was money/resources at stake. "Some People" think that the response is proportional to value. If the Falklanders had oil the USA might have offered to help...

Yes,probably. It is interesting that in the 1960's ,apparently Harold Wilson the British Prime minister said The Falklands had no 'strategic ' value and might have been willing to negotiate on their future, but I don't know how that fits in with the Falklands islanders determining their own future !
Anyway , it was certainly the feeling in this country in 1982 that ' Btittania rules the waves, and Britons never, never, never shall be slaves' and all that.

[Leofric]

yes ... well i suppose the disagreement is over whether that was a genuine reason or just political spin to garner votes.

It probably depends on the degree of cynicism you have about what politicians and government in general say.

It is worth noting that both Britain and the US agreed to protect Ukraine if they gave up the thousands of ex Soviet tactical battlefield nukes they inherited from the Soviets.   Britain has indeed sent some aid but refused to commit troops and the US has now stopped all aid, potentially permanently if trump gains power.  Promising to protect someone is not usually enough to gaurantee a nation sending troops in.

I think most people are pretty cynical nowadays about politicians .
Putting troops on the ground in Ukraine is,of course, a different matter to providing assistance in other ways and would be used by Russia to claim NATO was at war with Russia.( if it hasn't already )

[AzCal Retred]

Now we 'rammin', rammin in de name or the (over)lord...  with apologies to Bob Marley 

Philippine and Chinese vessels collide in disputed South China Sea and 4 Filipino crew are injured
https://apnews.com/article/philippines-china-south-china-sea-collision-e69d9506e85d1d23685db4f220b50d71
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and four Filipino crew members were injured Tuesday in high-seas confrontations as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for an Asian summit where alarm over Beijing’s aggression at sea was expected to be raised.
The Chinese coast guard ships and accompanying vessels blocked the Philippine coast guard and supply vessels off the disputed Second Thomas Shoal and executed dangerous maneuvers that caused two minor collisions between the Chinese ships and two of the Philippine vessels, Philippine officials said.
The BRP Sindangan of the Philippine coast guard had minor structural damage from the collision that happened shortly after dawn. Over an hour later, another Chinese coast guard ship first blocked then collided with a supply boat the Philippine coast guard was escorting, the Philippine officials said.
The supply boat, manned by Filipino navy personnel, was later hit by water cannon blasts from two Chinese coast guard ships. Its windshield shattered, injuring at least four Filipino crew members, according to a statement from the Philippine government task force dealing with territorial disputes.

https://www.sealight.live/posts/gray-zone-tactics-playbook-ramming
Ramming is the act of steering one vessel directly into another, damaging or even sinking it. China's paramilitary People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM) operates scores of ships with reinforced steel hulls purpose-built for ramming.
Some instances of ramming may be accidents caused by the failed application of other tactics, such as reckless bow-crossing.
The 2019 ramming of a wooden Filipino fishing boat, the F/B Gem-Ver, by the probable PAFMM ship Yue Mao Bin Yu 42212 caused a major diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Manila.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/craighooper/2023/11/06/navies-unready-to-stop-chinese-ram-backed-blockade-of-south-china-sea/?sh=219e3e7a6c03
For China, imposing maritime control via vessel jousting matches is a law enforcement matter and not an act of war.
Ramming is, on a tactical level, a standard Chinese operational procedure. The tactic aligns with regional practices; off the contested waters of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, in the Spratly Islands, and on the Yellow Sea, civilian and government ships regularly jostle, scrape paint and ram each other for a combination of fishing rights, economic opportunity and glory. ---
--- Modern navies are also unready for a concerted Chinese maritime jousting campaign. On even a limited scale, shoving-and-pushing territorial contests at sea are exhausting. In the first 1958 Cod War, coming after Iceland enforced a modest claim to 12 miles of territorial waters, Iceland’s tiny patrol fleet forced the UK to commit over forty warships and auxiliaries to protect the UK’s civilian fishing fleet. ---
--- Even if the U.S. and other navies came to aid the Philippines, they would be quickly beaten up and battered by China’s aggressive maritime militias.
Modern navies are simply designed for a different kind of fight. In the U.S., effete technologists at the Naval Sea Systems Command have forgotten that the simple, brutish work of ramming, shoving and shouldering is a serious business of inflicting real costs upon an aggressor. Between 1975 and 1976, when Iceland and the UK squared off in the third Cod War, Iceland’s small patrol boat fleet, in the space of seven months, forced the UK to deploy 21 frigates. During the dispute, Iceland’s tiny gunboat navy hit and damaged at least fifteen UK warships.

[GlennF]

Lets not forget that Ukraine has sunk yet another Russian Black Sea fleet ship just yesterday, the 1300 ton Sergey Kotov, with cheap locally made sea drones.

Overall, Ukraine has sunk some two dozen Russian ships, nearly a third of the Black Sea Fleet, with sea drones.

[AzCal Retred]

Sinking and ramming are tactics with quite different end games. Ramming as used by the Chinese is more a political tactic, applying aggression but stopping just short of war. Pretty much anything that floats is just a targeting solution to modern weaponry. Ramming lets you possess/acquire territory without committing to shooting combat. Part of their "long game".

[AzCal Retred]

Conflict is always about acquisition & control of resources.

Chinese Gas Giant Finds New Oilfield in South China Sea: Mar 08, 2024

https://www.newsweek.com/china-gas-giant-finds-new-oifield-south-china-sea-1877155

Chinese oil and natural gas giant has made a major discovery in the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea.
The 100-million-ton oil field is located in the Pearl River Basin near China's Guangdong Province, state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) said in a press release on Friday. The find is a boon to China, the world's largest net importer and second largest consumer of oil, as the country seeks to boost energy independence and assert its presence in a region known for its strategic and economic importance.
The oil found within the Kaiping South oilfield is light crude, a highly sought-after type of petroleum that yields a higher percentage of gasoline and diesel when refined. The new well there is estimated to yield an impressive daily output of 7,680 barrels of light crude oil and 520,000 cubic feet of natural gas.
"Kaiping South Oilfield is China's first deep-water and deep-play oilfield with proved in-place volume over 100 million tons. The discovery fully demonstrates the broad prospects for exploration in deep-water South China Sea and further expands the resource base for the company's high-quality development," CNOOC Deputy Chief Exploration Officer Xu Changgui said.

xxxxxxxxxxx

https://www.energyconnects.com/news/oil/2024/march/massive-south-china-sea-oilfield-discovery-by-cnooc-will-yield-more-than-100-mt-hydrocarbons

CNOOC is the largest offshore oil and gas producer in China. It was established as a state-owned mega company, with the approval of the State Council, on February 15, 1982. The US Energy Information Agency (EIA) estimates that the South China Sea holds about 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil in proved and probable reserves, most of which lie along the margins of the South China Sea.

[Leofric]

China is making noises about anybody trying to 'suppress'  China's ambitions concerning  Taiwan and the  South China Seas will be regarded as interfering in China's internal affairs.
( of course it is only China's opinion on what are their internal affairs ! )

[AzCal Retred]

The PI is a'flexin'...

https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/philippines-military-to-provide-unimpeded-access-to-sea-resources-defense-chief-says/
Philippines Military to Provide ‘Unimpeded’ Access to Sea Resources, Defense Chief Says
The new “comprehensive archipelagic defense concept” will seek to secure Manila’s access to resources lying within its Exclusive Economic Zone, including in the South China Sea.

https://gcaptain.com/philippines-adopts-new-defense-strategy-amid-south-china-sea-row/
Philippines Adopts New Defense Strategy Amid South China Sea Row
Mar 9, 2024 (Bloomberg) —Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has directed the military to enforce a new strategy to defend the nation’s territory and economic interests, days after the latest clash with Chinese ships in the disputed South China Sea.

[AzCal Retred]

So...the PI, under persistent threat by China in its own backyard EEZ, is giving commanders on PI gunboats kinda/sorta "Privateer" status to remedy things.
"Place your bets ladies  gentlemen, place your bets....round & round it goes, where it stops nobody knows...."

US Ally Rolls Out New Plan To Counter China Threat ; Mar 12, 2024
https://www.newsweek.com/us-ally-philippines-rolls-out-comprehensive-archipelagic-defense-concept-counter-china-threat-1878055
The Philippines has indicated its aim to assert authority over nearby waters in response to China's goals of dogged expansion.
"This strategic action is designed to be self-sustaining and will not require ongoing directives," Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in a statement Friday, without elaborating on the level of operational independence commanders will have.
Territorial disputes oppose China and the Southeast Asian nation, a U.S. defense treaty ally, over areas within the latter's internationally recognized exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China's expansive claims over the South China Sea conflict with those of the Philippines as well as several other neighboring coastal states.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vowed not to cede "one square inch" to foreign powers, in a clear reference to Beijing.

[AzCal Retred]

The plot thickens. Using Chinese PLAN water cannon against an actual armed PI naval vessel seems a poor move. I'm thinking the PI Navy likely have water cannon of their own. Watch this space...

https://apnews.com/article/philippines-marcos-south-china-sea-disputes-6b50cbdb481a5fa1896b95aa0b2921d5

Marcos said he issued his statement after meeting top Philippine defense and national security officials, who submitted their recommendations. These include the use of faster military vessels instead of chartered civilian boats when the Philippine navy delivers a new batch of personnel and supplies to the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, two Philippine security officials said.
The shoal, the site of frequent hostilities since last year, has been occupied by a small Philippine naval contingent but surrounded by the Chinese coast guard and other vessels in a decades-long territorial standoff.

In the latest hostilities on Saturday, the Chinese coast guard used water cannons that injured several Philippine navy crewmen and heavily damaged their wooden supply boat near the Second Thomas Shoal. The cannon blast was so strong it threw a crewman off the floor but he hit a wall instead of plunging into the sea, Philippine military officials said
The Philippine government summoned a Chinese embassy diplomat in Manila to convey its “strongest protest” against China. Beijing accused the Philippine vessels of intruding into Chinese territorial waters, warning Manila not to “play with fire” and saying China would continue to take actions to defend its sovereignty.
The United States condemned the actions by the Chinese coast guard. In a telephone call with Philippine defense chief Gilberto Teodoro Jr. Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated a warning that it is obligated to come to the aid of the Philippines under a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty if Philippine forces, aircraft and ships come under armed attack, including anywhere in the South China Sea, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said.

[AzCal Retred]

US Ally Stands Its Ground Amid Tensions With China ; Published Mar 29, 2024

https://www.newsweek.com/philippines-ferdinand-marcos-stands-ground-china-tensions-south-china-sea-1884891

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says his country will not be "cowed into silence" and has vowed to respond following recent clashes with Chinese forces in contested waters of the South China Sea.
Marcos issued directives and received recommendations during meetings this week with the Philippine defense and national security leadership, he said in a social media post on Thursday. The Philippines leader said he was in "constant communication" with allies and partners who had offered to help Manila "secure our sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction while ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific."
Marcos pledged to roll out as yet unspecified countermeasures that would be "proportionate, deliberate, and reasonable in the face of the open, unabating, and illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks by agents of the China Coast Guard and the Chinese Maritime Militia."

[AzCal Retred]

How China ended up financing the Houthis’ Red Sea attacks

https://www.politico.eu/article/china-finance-houthi-red-sea-attacks-iran-oil/

China is unwittingly helping Iran choke off ship traffic in the Red Sea, impairing global trade flows and damaging Beijing’s own interests in the process, Western intelligence officials say.

China’s illicit purchases of Iranian oil are indirectly financing the recent string of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and have had a chilling effect on shipping. About 15 percent of global trade flows through the corridor that leads from the Gulf Aden through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, linking Asia and Europe.

China buys about 90 percent of Iran’s oil, including crude sold by the Quds Force, the paramilitary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that is responsible for Tehran’s foreign military operations. Quds Force trains and funds Iran’s terror proxies across the Middle East, for example, including both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

[AzCal Retred]

The PI prepares to take point.

Philippines says China's 'coercive, aggressive' actions discussed with top U.S. security adviser
By Karen Lema and Mikhail Flores, April 1, 202410:33 PM PDT ; Updated 10 hours ago
<<  https://www.reuters.com/world/philippines-us-top-security-officials-discuss-chinas-coercive-aggressive-actions-2024-04-02/  >>
MANILA, April 2 (Reuters) - The Philippines on Tuesday said its national security adviser and his U.S. counterpart discussed "coercive, aggressive and deceptive actions" by Beijing in the South China Sea, as a diplomatic row intensifies between the two Asian neighbours.
Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano "expressed his appreciation for the United States' continued assurances and reaffirmation of its ironclad commitment" to their alliance, the Philippine National Security Council said in a statement.
The phone call on Monday was on the heels of a series of maritime run-ins and heated verbal exchanges between China and the Philippines that has triggered concern about an escalation at sea.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said last week there would be "countermeasures" against aggression by China's coastguard, while Beijing accused the Philippines of treachery and reneging on a promise to tow away an old naval vessel grounded intentionally on a disputed shoal. Manila denies ever making that pledge.
The rows come at a time when the Philippines and United States are deepening military ties, frustrating China, which sees Washington as interfering in its back yard.The Philippines has insisted it never agreed to tow away the BRP Sierra Madre, which has been guarded by a handful of soldiers since it was grounded at the Second Thomas Shoal 25 years ago. China has been accused of blocking resupply missions to those troops.
The former spokesperson of Rodrigo Duterte, the previous president, has confirmed there had been an informal "gentleman's agreement" with China to keep the status quo at the shoal, but not to tow the ship away.
NSC spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said the Marcos government had not seen any document to support China's claim of a Philippine promise to remove the ship.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3257431/south-china-sea-philippines-urged-prioritise-diplomacy-even-navy-prepares-worst-case-scenario

[AzCal Retred]

USAF, Philippines Gear Up for Fighter Exercise over the South China Sea
April 1, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/usaf-philippines-cope-thunder-fighter-exercise/

The U.S. and Philippine Air Forces are slated to conduct their first combat training exercise of the year this month, escalating tensions between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea. Scheduled from April 8-19, Cope Thunder will feature fighters from both countries operating from a newly renovated runway at Basa Air Base.
Cope Thunder was held for the first time in more than 30 years in 2023—the annual exercise ran from Clark Air Base in the Philippines starting in the mid-1970s but was suspended following the 1991 volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo, which led to Clark’s closure. Last year, two iterations of Cope Thunder in May and June included U.S. F-16s and F-22s, as well as the Philippines Air Force’s FA-50PHs, A-29s, and AS-211s at Basa and Clark.

The latest aerial exercise between the two allies was in February, when a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew alongside three Philippine FA-50 fighters during a patrol over the South China Sea within the Philippines’ EEZ. A pair of B-52 bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., are currently deployed in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, approximately 3,200 nautical miles from the Philippines, for Pacific Air Force missions.

The two nations also worked together to renovate the Basa runway to accommodate more and larger U.S. aircraft. Additionally, ongoing upgrades include the construction of a 625,000-square-foot transient parking apron, which will allow 20 U.S. aircraft to be deployed at the site. These projects are part of the the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the two nations, funded by the Pentagon’s Pacific Deterrence Initiative budget.

Basa represents the biggest U.S. investment among the five EDCA sites of the Philippines, with $66 million allocated to the base out of the initial total of $82 million. The base currently hosts the Philippines’ sole fighter squadron, consisting of 12 FA-50PH Fighting Eagles.

Last year, the U.S. added four more military bases to the EDCA, expanding the number of locations from which American troops can operate. The Department of National Defense in the Philippines has highlighted that these upcoming sites will support the country’s military modernization efforts, particularly through U.S.-funded projects such as runway upgrades, communication facilities and infrastructure support.

Cope Thunder will take place amid growing tensions between China and the Phillippines. Just last week, Phillippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement in which he reaffirmed the country’s commitment to countering “illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks” by the Chinese coast guard. The latest escalation occurred March 23, when Chinese forces employed water cannons to obstruct a Philippine resupply mission in the South China Sea.