Great new film planned celebrating a true British hero

[JT]

Great new film planned celebrating a true British hero

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6469783.stm

[mellenig]

Should be interesting I wonder who they will get to play her.

[Pandemos]

Julia Davis. She was excellent in the BBC film about Fanny Craddock over christmas.

[strictlybroadband]

Julia Davis. She was excellent in the BBC film about Fanny Craddock over christmas.

Yeah, that was good. But for Thatcher you need someone a bit more strident - maybe Robbie Coltrane in a wig.

[xcite-tv]

Should be interesting I wonder who they will get to play her.

looks like Judy Dench will be getting the dust blown off again

[spann0]

sounds good I will go and take my missus to it she didn't know england had a war with argentina

[strictlybroadband]

sounds good I will go and take my missus to it she didn't know england had a war with argentina

The rest of the world didn't call it a war - I remember a Canadian friend laughing when I mentioned the Falklands War. I think they called it the Falklands dispute or something (or the Malvinas dispute).

[S.D.]

I was just surfing around a bit on the Falklands War & came across the following article, I'd never heard this story before.



Thatcher Threatened to Nuke Argentina during Falklands War


According to author Ali Magoudi, French President Francois Mitterrand (1916 - 1996) made a stunning claim that during Britain's Falkland Islands war with Argentina in the early 1980s, Margaret Thatcher (1925) threatened to use nuclear weapons. Unless Mitterrand gave the British the "deactivate" codes used by anti-ship missiles that France had sold to Argentina.

This stunning but uncorroborated revelation is a focal point of the new book "Rendez-vous: The Psychoanalysis of Francois Mitterrand," written by Magoudi, Mitterrand's psychoanalyst from 1982 to 1993.

Two French-made Argentine jets attacked the Britain's destroyer HMS Sheffield, which was on its way towards the Falkland Islands, On May 4, 1982, using a French-made Exocet missile. The surface-skimming missile hit the ship, resulting in 20 fatalities and 24 injured crew.

The British were so afraid of subsequent Exocet missles sinking more of their ships and spoiling their mission to remove Argentina from the Falkland Islands, that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher threatened to use submarine-launched nuclear missiles unless the Exocet deactiviate codes were handed over to render their warheads useless.

From Newsmax.com:


Shortly after that, according to Magoudi's unsubstantiated disclosures, Mitterrand told him during one of their sessions: "What an impossible woman, that Thatcher. With her four nuclear submarines on mission in the southern Atlantic, she threatens to launch the atomic weapon against Argentina - unless I supply her with the secret codes that render deaf and blind the missiles we have sold to the Argentinians."

Magoudi said Mitterrand told him that he had ordered the Exocet codes to be handed over to the British at Thatcher's insistence: "She has them now, the codes. If our customers find out that the French wreck the weapons they sell, it's not going to reflect well on our exports."

Mitterrand then complained to Magoudi: "To provoke a nuclear war for small islands inhabited by three sheep who are as hairy as they are frozen! Fortunately I yielded. Otherwise, I assure you, the metallic index finger of the lady would press the button."


Mitterrand claimed that he would get revenge on Thatcher by pursuing the tunnel under the English Channel, the "Chunnel", thus further tying Britain to Europe, diminishing its penchant for isolation. The 50 km-long tunnel, connects Cheriton in Kent, UK, with Coquelles near Calais in northern France in a 20-minute ride. It opened in 1994, after seven years of construction.

The author freely admits that there is no way to back up his claims of what Mitterrand apparently said.

The Timesonline claims that there were British nuclear weapons in the warzone. They also state that two years after the war, the Labour Party demanded an inquiry into a report that the Royal Navy had sent a submarine armed with nuclear missiles to Ascension Island, the staging ground for Britain's naval task force, to be on standby for a nuclear attack on the Argentine city of Cordoba if the war went badly. However, British admirals deny the report.


http://www.thenewscentre.co.uk/falklands/graphics/seff.jpg

(Fire damage to HMS Sheffield after it was hit by an Exocet)

[JT]

I was just surfing around a bit on the Falklands War & came across the following article, I'd never heard this story before.



Thatcher Threatened to Nuke Argentina during Falklands War


According to author Ali Magoudi, French President Francois Mitterrand (1916 - 1996) made a stunning claim that during Britain's Falkland Islands war with Argentina in the early 1980s, Margaret Thatcher (1925) threatened to use nuclear weapons. Unless Mitterrand gave the British the "deactivate" codes used by anti-ship missiles that France had sold to Argentina.

This stunning but uncorroborated revelation is a focal point of the new book "Rendez-vous: The Psychoanalysis of Francois Mitterrand," written by Magoudi, Mitterrand's psychoanalyst from 1982 to 1993.

Two French-made Argentine jets attacked the Britain's destroyer HMS Sheffield, which was on its way towards the Falkland Islands, On May 4, 1982, using a French-made Exocet missile. The surface-skimming missile hit the ship, resulting in 20 fatalities and 24 injured crew.

The British were so afraid of subsequent Exocet missles sinking more of their ships and spoiling their mission to remove Argentina from the Falkland Islands, that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher threatened to use submarine-launched nuclear missiles unless the Exocet deactiviate codes were handed over to render their warheads useless.

From Newsmax.com:


Shortly after that, according to Magoudi's unsubstantiated disclosures, Mitterrand told him during one of their sessions: "What an impossible woman, that Thatcher. With her four nuclear submarines on mission in the southern Atlantic, she threatens to launch the atomic weapon against Argentina - unless I supply her with the secret codes that render deaf and blind the missiles we have sold to the Argentinians."

Magoudi said Mitterrand told him that he had ordered the Exocet codes to be handed over to the British at Thatcher's insistence: "She has them now, the codes. If our customers find out that the French wreck the weapons they sell, it's not going to reflect well on our exports."

Mitterrand then complained to Magoudi: "To provoke a nuclear war for small islands inhabited by three sheep who are as hairy as they are frozen! Fortunately I yielded. Otherwise, I assure you, the metallic index finger of the lady would press the button."


Mitterrand claimed that he would get revenge on Thatcher by pursuing the tunnel under the English Channel, the "Chunnel", thus further tying Britain to Europe, diminishing its penchant for isolation. The 50 km-long tunnel, connects Cheriton in Kent, UK, with Coquelles near Calais in northern France in a 20-minute ride. It opened in 1994, after seven years of construction.

The author freely admits that there is no way to back up his claims of what Mitterrand apparently said.

The Timesonline claims that there were British nuclear weapons in the warzone. They also state that two years after the war, the Labour Party demanded an inquiry into a report that the Royal Navy had sent a submarine armed with nuclear missiles to Ascension Island, the staging ground for Britain's naval task force, to be on standby for a nuclear attack on the Argentine city of Cordoba if the war went badly. However, British admirals deny the report.


http://www.thenewscentre.co.uk/falklands/graphics/seff.jpg

(Fire damage to HMS Sheffield after it was hit by an Exocet)


Yep thats a well known story, the frogs had to hand over the codes otherwise she threatened to nuke the argies :)

[JT]

The rest of the world didn't call it a war - I remember a Canadian friend laughing when I mentioned the Falklands War. I think they called it the Falklands dispute or something (or the Malvinas dispute).

Why would a canadian call it the Malvinas?

[strictlybroadband]

Why would a canadian call it the Malvinas?

Amazing as it may seem, not everyone in the wider world backs 100% of British foreign policy.

[xcite-tv]

We should have nuked the Argies for the Maradona "Hand of God" incident alone.

[wankmaster]

Why would a canadian call it the Malvinas?

He was probably a french canadian.

[strictlybroadband]

He was probably a french canadian.

She was a newfie.

Britain didn't get much international support in the Falklands war. The Americans were friendly with both sides and tried to sit on the fence, but Thatcher's close relationship with Reagan won his support eventually.

Even at the time, Americans didn't hear about the war - it was non-news over there.

[Jel]

We should have nuked the Argies for the Maradona "Hand of God" incident alone.

I think that was after the Falkland's (Mexico '86?), but there's no reason we can't give a bit of payback now.

[Pandemos]

The rest of the world didn't call it a war - I remember a Canadian friend laughing when I mentioned the Falklands War. I think they called it the Falklands dispute or something (or the Malvinas dispute).

I don't think we called it a war either, officially. It was the Falklands conflict. I was only 6/7 at the time but recall some debate about it at the time.

For some reason the government didn't want it described as a war and most of the press and TV did refer to it as a conflict, which I suppose was technically accurate since neither side issued any declaration of war.

[xcite-tv]

I think that was after the Falkland's (Mexico '86?), but there's no reason we can't give a bit of payback now.

I was obviously thinking of a pre-emptive strike as we should have known in 82 there was a chance we would draw them in the quarter finals..

[xcite-tv]

I don't think we called it a war either, officially. It was the Falklands conflict. I was only 6/7 at the time but recall some debate about it at the time.

For some reason the government didn't want it described as a war and most of the press and TV did refer to it as a conflict, which I suppose was technically accurate since neither side issued any declaration of war.

who really gives a fuck what it was called.. they invaded our land so we fucked them... ( the fact that it might have been their land originally is immaterial)

It helped make Thatcher great so who cares

[Jel]

Good point mate, good point.