Falklands is a pressure point for the UK – and the US knows it

Falklands is a pressure point for the UK – and the US knows it7 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJoe InwoodWorld news correspondentGetty ImagesShips from the British naval task force during a stop on the way back from the Falklands War, 1982If you need evidence of the geopolitical waves caused by the US war with Iran, the fact that they have now reached the shores of this remote archipelago provides it.For as long as the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as Las Malvinas, has been an issue, the official US position has been one of neutrality, while recognising de facto British control. Unofficially, however, they have offered diplomatic and, on occasion, military support to the UK.This was most evident in the events surrounding the Argentine invasion of 1982, which cost the lives of 255 British servicemen, three islanders and 649 Argentinian personnel.The initial US response was to attempt shuttle diplomacy. When that failed, they offered intelligence support, as well as advanced missiles, to the British.PA MediaUK soldiers on 21 May, 1982 at San Carlos Bay using the area as a general landing point for supplies and equipmentIn a BBC documentary in 2002, Richard Perle, assistant US defence secretary at the time, said: "Britain would probably have lost the war without American assistance. That's how significant it was."The decision to side with the UK has never been a straightforward one, however. Many in the US have an instinctive hostility to what they see as a colonial hangover and the desire to maintain influence in Latin America.This conflict could be seen in a declassified CIA report from the time, which said the US support for the UK could mean that "relations with several countries (in Latin America will) probably will be cool for a few years". But, that same report also discussed what it called "the special nature of the historical US bonds with the British".Since then, a lot has changed. Th...