Ivan: …the British have been loyal allies of the Americans, following them into Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. We might yet see what the American alliance is worth when the Falklands imbroglio heats up.

They might want to hold off until our current one-term TOTUS is gone, he is distinctly Anglophobic. And I’m not sure playing the NATO card would be a slam dunk when it comes to a British outpost in the Western Hemisphere, there’s always the background of the Monroe Doctrine. Gibraltar, sure. Falklands, not so sure. If Argentina wants to make a play for Las Malvinas they might do well to wait until the oil wells start producing, and let the Brits bear the up-front costs of exploration and drilling. If they come up dry, then the UK won’t even be breaking even on the costs of stationing four warships and a thousand troops there.