""God wants YOU to have the Falklands"" Topic

We have a new Pope. He is from Argentina. We all know that Argentina can't take and hold the Falklands, but can they take them if they get help holding them? Assume the Argentinians put everything into a an attack to take and hold the islands, or at least establish a beach head. All out. No reserves, no back-up, just full assault. Now the Pope proclaims that God Wills It and anyone trying to take the islands back is a heretic, especially those CoE folks who are already heretics anyway. It is also the duty of any good Catholic to back up their brothers in this mighty endeavour.

This could be gamed semi-serious with Harpoon or such to see if the attack could work. It could also be played as a diplomacy-style game of negotiation and bluff. And finally we could go all out in a dark-future war between the Catholics and the CoE and game it at every possible level. And what could Argentina achieve if every Catholic in the world chucked in a dollar for the Defense Fund? And what could Academi or Executive Outcomes achieve with those funds?

More likely that Argentina will lay claim to Rome because a national has been living there for a few days!

Tally Ho!

Just remember, the New Pope is a Jesuit.

Which means whatever he says, the Franciscans, Augustinians, and Nastursians (or whatever the other bloody lot are, the ones with the Ho Chi Minh sandals) are automatically going to want to say "He's WRONG! Don't Invade!"

If a Franciscan falls in the forest and no one is around, do the Jesuits still get blamed for it???

This is, of course, meant to be a giggle and not to be taken seriously…

Eric

What made me giggle is that Jim Bowen was made the Pope.

Super, smashing great…
This is what you could have won…
This is for the speed boat…

Plus many more Bullseye catch phrases.

In Rome's eyes, Britain is already heretical so it wouldn't matter so much.

The new Pope and Ms. Fernandez have a long history of disagreement and dislike. Outright agression by Argentina might more likely engender papal condemnation than support.

The Pope didn't have much success the first time he divided up the new world, it's unlikely he'd fare better this time.

Jim Bowen was my teacher in…wait for it…a Catholic school way back in the 70's. He hasn't been seen around for a while either, anyone seeing a possible identity theft here?

Sounds like a quick and final end to the papacy.
-Kle.

Protestant parts of Nato vs the Catholic parts plus the south American bits, global conflict in a half-shell.

We still have nukes, but the touchpapers are a bit soggy as is the large BOMB on the side.

Isn't this the normal way to end the global recession? And the winner is – - – - – - – - – - China!

'Assume the Argentinians put everything into a an attack to take and hold the islands, or at least establish a beach head. All out. No reserves, no back-up, just full assault.'

At the moment they don't have anything to make a full assault except a couple of leaking rowboats……

'The service is underfunded and struggling to meet maintenance and training requirements. The 2013 budget allowed for the 15 operational vessels to each spend less than 11 days at sea, whilst the submarines averaged just over 6 hours submerged in the whole of 2012.[2] ARA Espora is stranded in South Africa for lack of spares. The Almirante Brown class destroyers are short of spares and their ordnance has expired whilst the Antarctic patrol ship ARA Almirante Irizar has been under repair since a fire in 2007'

'As of 2013, only 16 of a total of 70 navy vessels are in a condition to sail due to shortfalls in the fleet's maintenance budget. On 23 January 2013 the Type 42 destroyer Santísima Trinidad sank at her moorings having been mothballed for ten years'

link

Ok I'll bite.

What has happened is you have created a non secular superpower (Catholicism). If they win, China and the US are now minor players in the world, and the middle east is about to get very very scary.

Of course if the pope does this the most likely immediate fall out is the bankruptcy of Spain, Portugal and Italy (Catholic countries being bailed out by mostly Protestant Northern European countries).

The interesting player is France, if they remain neutral, then none of the Cath-Pac has nukes but the Prot-Pac does.

Of course anything less than full neutrality is also likely to cause a civil war in the US given its heavy Hispanic-Catholic population, and its WASP ruling culture.

The biggest loser however will be the sport of football.

More likely that Argentina will lay claim to Rome because a national has been living there for a few days!

LOL Nick.

Yes! Great idea! Jesuit commandos! Nuns with guns! What's not to like?

I imagine the Papal fleet, with the flagship being called H.H.S Holy Inquisition (a CVN, of course), sailing the Atlantic to fight the Heretics. First, we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin!

*HHS stands for His Holiness Ship, naturally

Will he deploy the Papal Guard for Christina?

I doubt it.

Well it wouldn't be the first time the Royal Navy has faced down a fleet backed by a Pope….

There are already allegations flying that the Pope was tight with the Junta in the 70's, but its no use expecting the modern media machine to get at the truth…

Millions of Media graduates, but not a single Journalist….

I don't see any trouble with catholic states backing Argentina. I mean, what's to be afraid of for the UK? Spain? Poland? Maybe Brasil? Not Italy, which at most would jump on the other side and then try to put an Italian pope… On the protestant side… UK, Holland, USA, Germany, etc.

Now if catholics get supported by Russia, there's some fight in there.

Errr… correct me if I am wrong, but if I remember correctly US has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world. Actually, she has more Catholics than Spain (65 millions against about 40 millions… and I wouldn't count most of those 40 millions as Catholics in anything but name). Sorry, Dogged, but you should recheck your balance of power. ;)

Actually, Spain should be counted as Agnostic country, rather than Catholic.

Let's expand the Russian angle. In return for Russia bringing the Orthodox primarchs to recognize the primacy of Rome, Putin is given the title of defender of the faith. Just like old Hank8 except with nukes.

"correct me if I am wrong, but if I remember correctly US has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world. Actually, she has more Catholics than Spain (65 millions against about 40 millions…"

True enough, but how many of us are practicing Catholics? Not that many.

Nuns with guns… Now there's a visual. (Sister Angelica from 6th grade packing an AK? Yeah, I can see it….)

Don't forget the Rocket Propelled Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch…and Deus Ex Mecha…Jesuit Delivered Aerial Munificence…Cruise Missals…Nun-Cleric Combat, toe to toe with the Anglicans…
(My uncle was a priest, I spent time in a seminary, God invented the sense of humor)

How many divisions does the Pope have?

"Deus Ex Mecha"

I spilled my coffee over the keyboard!

It certain made me laugh this morning when I saw the picture comparisons between Jim Bowen and Francis. Jim could be the warm up act to get the congregation swinging. Interesting to read that 3 Falkand islanders voted for Argentina in the referendum.

I mean Spanish government which is right now doubtless catholic; Spain itself is divided to say the least. Actually in such a conflict an official siding with Argentina in exchange of business benefit (regarding Spanish interests in South America which have been nationalized and that) and with getting Gibraltar in sight could be feasible. It would lead straight to a popular uprising in Spain and a low-mid intensity conflict with government controlling patches of territory centered on some big cities and large areas in rebel effective control… Still, an interesting scenario.

"What made me giggle is that Jim Bowen was made the Pope.

Super, smashing great…
This is what you could have won…
This is for the speed boat…

Plus many more Bullseye catch phrases."

Would those be papal bullseye catchphrases?

"He's wearing black, he's wearing red, nothing in this game for two in a bed"

:D

What's a duck egg machine got to do with it?

Well, as someone who was born and raised in a staunchly Catholic family, I'd say Argentina would have better luck going with a political angle. Make this a pan-South American thing, for example.

First of all, I think the Church is doing a bit of wandering in the wilderness right now. I doubt the Pope would willingly take any action that would risk a huge number of members breaking away, There's no chance of strengthening the Church in this scenario, only weakening it.

Second of all, do you really think there are many governments out there willing to let the Pope dictate their national course of action even if nominally Catholic? Really? And if there are one or two willing to take that plunge, would they even have the power to impact the situation. I guarantee you, no such government would see a winning solution to such a scenario.

But, let's just leave those obstacles off the table for a minute. Let's say the Pope called for a new Crusade to win back the Malvinas and it didn't result in the Church imploding on itself. What then?

Well, maybe you would see an influx of private "crusaders" flying in on their own dime to fight as guerrillas, somewhat like the Muslim jihaddists who spontaneously flocked to Iraq from around the globe in the early part of that war. Like the jihaddists, these would be the minority of the Church that are the most religiously motivated (aka "fanatics"). They would have very high morale but low skill. If that got any traction, and the Brits somehow found themselves embroiled in yet another guerrilla war, then you might see those Catholic governments begin to covertly supply arms and training to the guerrillas.

But how viable would a guerrilla war be on the Malvinas, anyway? Not very, I would think. There is virtually no population to hide amongst, and the guerrillas would likely be form another culture anyway. I haven't been there, but am I correct in understanding that there is little or no vegetation to hide behind? So what would that look like, then? Wave upon wave of untrained fanatics running headlong into the guns? I don't think so.

If I were running such an operation, I might instead take this vast resource of highly motivated fighters and hit other targets where the Brits are vulnerable. So you would see a sharp uptick in attacks on British civilians, business offices on foreign soil, embassies worldwide. Lots and lots of kidnappings. Build guerrilla forces around the world in places that are difficult to access to either force their military to spread itself too thin or to withdraw altogether. Either way, it would show the world that they are incapable of holding everywhere. I would do whatever I could to encourage British atrocities against civilians in these places. Anti-Catholic lynch mobs, murders, arson, or even rhetoric? Great! Works for me. It could be Northern Ireland on a global scale, with the strict understanding that it can all end if they would only bend to the will of God.

Well, that did not take long!
link

I think Altius has the darkest but also most interesting scenario. All it rally takes is for a few nutters who happen to be Catholics to do something really horrible and then someone hitting back and targeting Catholics in general and we're off.

Now, from a gaming point of view:what could be done with a dollar from every Catholic in the world? Could some Mercenary corporation make things so difficult for the UK that they give up the Falklands? Not terrorism as in hitting civilian targets, but terrorism as in what the SAS and SEALS do if you see it from the Iraq/Iran/enemy of the week side.

I like this line:

"I asked for his intervention to avoid problems that could emerge from the militarization of Great Britain in the south Atlantic," Ms Fernandez told reporters"

The only problem I can see is that Argentina cannot take the Islands by force whilst we have a presence!

Tally Ho!

Guy,

Argentina wasn't mentioned in the referendum question and a 'No' vote categorically did not necessarily mean 'Yes to Argentinian Sovereignty'. The referendum simply asked if the Falklanders wished to retain their association with Britain by remaining as a British Overseas Territory.

The three 'No' voters could therefore simply have wished to end the Falklands' association with Britain by becoming an independent state, or they could even have wanted an end to BOT status with attendant democratic local government and a return to direct colonial rule from the UK.