even today. as exactly three decades after the argentine cruiser general belgrano was sunk in the first major british attack of the focus war next was set down with historian and author hugh bitter now to discuss whether the conflict was worth it. it's now thirty years since the war between britain and argentina over the falkland islands along the islands themselves the accounts of that war and the reasons for it still hopefully disputed to talk more about this i'm joined by hugh ritson oh historian and author of races age the unofficial history of that war he thanks for speaking to r.t. during the period known as the dirty war the buildup to the invasion of the falklands you were actually working in argentina as a british intelligence officer how much to the british government know about what was going on in anjan tina on everything mass murder disappearances.

corruption. gosh i mean the dirty war you just named them in the. two people who got rubbed out and why they choose to ignore it. well do you want the short. of the. story is that the british government is not very good at anything much except ignoring water abuse inconvenient for the record an instance of the short answer is the foreign office suppressed much of the intelligence coming out of the station in the service which is why after the war the foreign office lost the power to distribute secret intelligence after that it went straight to the joint intelligence committee how much did the issue of the falkland islands and their ownership feature in this policy we're going to balance that certainly the british government was more concerned about human rights than it was about the fulcrums. but that's at the political level. prime minister callaghan

when the foreign office came up to try and sell him the idea of selling out the island he said i'm not handing over two thousand britons to a bunch of bleeping fascists. i'm that was the foreign office told but that didn't stop them you see because the bureaucracy has its own way of doing things and so when a new government came in which is what they always do when officials the permanent officials whenever there's a new government they rush in to sell the new ministers the policies but the old old and more experienced ministers would tell to stuff it and that's what they did with the facts or government and they revived old plans to sell out the islands with a bunch of inexperienced ministers who didn't realise that the previous essence of smell that one and knew it was a bad one so they're essentially turning a blind eye to what was happening in argentina because they wanted to. that was the foreign office that's the permanent officials politicians were desperate to be

conscious of human rights why did they want to set out there and is why do they want. the east bank the territory to understand because of the conceit of the british public sector. and don't forget we're living that was a mirror when people thought the national health service was the envy of the world and they commonly thought of the british civil service as being a rolls royce service and the foreign office was by far the most conceited of them all and they said well to politicians we know better. mag hastened to say that i was part of that mindset at the time i'm looking back on it this is what history is about it's if history isn't hindsight what the hell is it but yeah they were wrigley islands were a god it is an inconvenience why was that when they see costly you know how trendy this country isn't ever and is off in one direction at one time. and now off to

being all full of the empire and all the rest and it was all we all we must get rid of all traces of the empire to prove what a modern with its country. and its tedious as hell but it continues you know right now where we are on the. we're just coming off that we must stick to uncle sam's bleep with both teeth in started both lips but. it just it just goes in trends at that time the big thing was well we must shed our imperial past and then everyone is going to like us again. look in the fact that people's memories go a long long long way back and they just because you aren't any longer in. doesn't mean people don't remember what you did when you were the anjan times invaded because they were more or less told by british officials that all that. britain would do would be to yap to the un. to be dumbfounded. when patcher

decided to to send a task force the totally unprepared for that totally convinced that the brits and indeed if it had been up to the foreign office that's exactly what would have happened the argentine invasion of the islands worked out pretty well though didn't it for the british government given that it was in such trouble domestically how much was this planned by britain to lure argentina into a trap to save us and skin. you're attributing too much intelligence to the british government it took everybody completely by surprise you know the political level certainly there were plenty of warnings that one of the things they say there was an intelligence failure know there was an and failure failure of the intellect but that's permanent in british government it seems unable to process information and come up with sensible policies that campaign itself the way it is conducted was it done well was it a good idea in itself opinion i think they had to do it we had

a legal and moral obligation to those islanders and if we did not keep our word to them we were worthless. how close me my books call raises age for reason and you'll find julian thomson in full agreement that whole operation could have gone either way at any stage i mean just some quite small things that the argent times have done if they'd done better. and the british would have lost how fair was the media coverage of the war in britain at the time i have a deep contempt for the british b.b.c. . and it started at the time of the falklands because that one and only concern is to hang on to the tax enables them to live better than they deserve. so therefore they were attacking they really wanted facts had to go because they saw her as someone who might cut government spending almost all b.s.

thing to cutting government spending is this regressive tax paid to the baby saying so therefore they did everything and they and officialdom generally did everything possible to undermine thatcher and actually treasonously to undermine the operation to recover the falklands why was it on a raises agency say why was it so closely four was it because person underestimated argentina no they just didn't have the capability i mean if they are doing tons of waited another six months we could've done it would have had no more accurate carious would have had a more on t.b.s. capability. as indeed it is happening now the same old story they are after us we can give cover all over the world account what about now what would happen if attacked again would britain be able to pull together a task force and defend the islands they can't recover if the islands

a lost now we can't get them back we do not or genuinely do not have the capability this conservative government has once again emasculated the armed forces. which they've done regularly since the one nine hundred fifty s. . cert all depends on whether. the big base mt pleasant can be held military are way more professional now than they were then and they have some pretty competent special forces and i can't see anything actually stopping them coming in doing an act attack on mount pleasant and taking it out at which point the islands fall. better still use a q ship come in send in your special forces dressed as tourists on a cruise ship and take stanley that two and a half of the thousand of the three thousand people in the falklands you hold that

just exactly what is britain going to do that moment i don't think so how damaging would that be full for the current government here in britain as they mention it would be what this government and modern britain deserves it isn't what the islanders deserve in the fall plans war was actually a serious operation by a serious country i don't think this country is serious anymore why does the british government then so. desperately want to keep hold of these very far from it the british government desperately wants to get rid of it they just can't get rid of it or not because of the war so whatever political suicide for any any government after that war it was not and this is why the utter stupidity of the argument on government after that war it was politically impossible for any british government to sell out the islanders however much the foreign office and the ministry of defense want to do it your current do it people remember people would

say what the hell is this how much the recent conflicts like afghanistan and iraq tell us what's been learned if anything from the falklands war well they did learn one about the foreign office control foreign intelligence that was one. the other one briefly learned was that if you're going to operate overseas it is a whole bunch cheaper to have aircraft carriers than to have to hope that you can get ground bases from which to operate. on that british british very very very poor at learning the lessons of anything broadly speaking because they're going to face up to the truth about anything the politicians if they can will draw the long wrong conclusions from everything i'm glad got us involved in war after war after war beyond british capabilities we were put into whole bags or we did not have the

combat power to do that we were put into helm and we did not have the combat power to do that one rages inveighing against this. not because of any censorship not because of any oppression or the fact that i will walk out of here and get beaten over the head for my opinions because very simply my opinions and my statements of fact will be ignored because they're too inconvenient. thank you. to a substantial degree and one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of europe and the shadow is an approaching a hole in the front. of the early twenty first century

military bases a network of military bases all around the former stimulus empire that the united states is trying to get it's astonishing to most americans have no idea there are more than a quarter of a million or more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s. troops stationed on these bases all around them and. we don't have foreign bases in america we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in our bases of why the noises are one or two doesn't bother us at all because they're all bases but for other people it's almost like a cancer here for the speech. since the end of world war two the spaces i've been. working here to provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. the

questions the of thing else to get everything you need. to move the.

the occupy protesters are back with a bang but marches across the u.s. are marked with a new police crackdown you know one tear gas and stun grenades meat protesters calling for an answer corporate greed of big business and politics. fresh violence hits again a stand shortly after barack obama visits kabul with a wave of gun a bomb attacks in which at least seven die strip marked a year since the killing of osama bin ladin while a deal was signed with afghan president karzai to cover the decade after a plan troop pullout in twenty fourteen. frantic campaigning in france this presidential election was just days left for the two candidates to woo voters before the size of round on sunday of the five weeks is getting tougher as right wing leader marine le pen's refuses to endorse either candidate. as we have lines here in our team sports next with you know.

thanks for joining us this is sports of a plenty ahead of the next ten minutes including these stories and. the man in charge roy hodgson is named as the new english football manager on a four year deal with me in. the final two games of the premier league season. going the distance russian middle with world champion to me hurled the fences in moscow seeing all japanese challenger. or foolhardy be austrian host to one of the most varied and challenging stream relay races in the world in all testing the best. full first sending them to west brom boss roy hodgson named as the country's new manager for the next four years the sixty four year old will remain in charge of the baggies for the last couple of premier league matches this season but they've agreed to release him from

his contract early ahead of euro twenty twelve touch and immediately confirming that england squad for the european championships won't be announced until after the final day of the club season the former liverpool interim monitor has overseen teams including three national sides you're spawning thirty six. to have been over the country. looking forward enormously to everyone. but. everybody supporters. of the country will get behind the team because the team that. it's been another disappointing outing for liverpool in the english premier league but a historic one for full the london side winning it for the very first time on tuesday. securing the. win. on home soil for seven weeks in the lead not the best preparation. for sunday's f.a.

cup final with chelsea cross-town rivals everton are three points in front of his men in seventh place after they drew one one away to stoke and then i saw only other fixtures. over in spain real madrid might be able to unleash early league title celebrations later today just charges are away to upcoming europa league final. one count secure the spanish top flight with a win. no easy touch the right fit have played arguably the continent's best football. decider against atletico madrid next week second place barcelona meanwhile the top four sides should pep guardiola side. the title. automatically the parcel monitor taking the time this week to touch on his imminent exit from the new camp seeing nothing to do with the recent loss of home. josie marino is nothing to do with me leaving the club and erosion comes with the

day to day training the team blame the games i'm also having won so many titles this is just about my job and that is the reason. turning to some sad news from the world of swimming world champion alexandra de mello and died suddenly at the age of twenty six the norwegian was fined dade and his shower in where he was training ahead of this summer's olympics it was later confirmed he suffered a cardiac arrest dale owen was a world champion in the one hundred meter breaststroke after winning gold in shanghai in july last year a victory he dedicated to the seventy seven people killed in a shooting by right wing extremist under vick just three days before the meet let's talk basketball the n.b.a. where the lakers have moved two zero up in their opening round playoff series against denver kobe bryant and andrew bynum combining for sixty five points in california but the nine. and champions seeing their nineteen point lead to

whittle in the third quarter but regained composure to close the form when chicago meanwhile are seeing their worst fears come true after losing really m.v.p. jeric rules for the season a huge third quarter run helping underdogs philadelphia tie their series of one apiece while boston fought back from eleven dollars in the second half to even their series up against the big paul pierce star of the show in georgia. we all had to get going early we did i mean i was you could see our first seven boys that they call it was paul pierce left right center and you know and i'm so used to make misleading the ball had to go in. i thought. you know we're going to lose but i just thought we had a shot once we got off to a good start. two ice hockey now or one of the kitchen elves leaving goaltenders has switched clubs constantine joining us from atlanta on a three year deal but rowlands standing this plays in the twenty eleven season

helped his former club finish on a jump for the first time in their history the twenty seven year old russian international also were in the playoffs was valuable player award last year meanwhile rising russian talent. turned on the chance to move to the washington capitals deciding instead to stay a truck tour for at least two more seasons it's. the man regarded as the greatest snooker player of all time has decided to take early retirement stephen hendry walking away from the green felt with seven world titles to his name the scots were simply phenomenal rising to the world number one ranking aged just twenty one he would also hold the top spot for eight consecutive years during the ninety's forty three year old henry nice in his decision to quit following a heavy defeat at the world championships and choose they the edinburgh native. holds the record for the most one hundred forty seven breaks in the sports he's got eleven of them. the boxing now running w b o middleweight champion to make your

perogue has once again successfully defended his title this time against japan's noble hero a sheet it took the undefeated russian the full twelve rounds to achieve it though as michael reports. even with the pre-match drama when nobody here is she didn't really fail the way in a confident dimitry paroch spent a lot of time talking on his chances of a twentieth successive victory if she did on the other hand was for the large part very quiet not least because he did not speak russian or english instead he let his fists do the talking as round one began he wrote had stated that he had expected the bout to go to the wire and his early cautious approach meant he was sticking to his game plan ishida who is hooping to revive his career somewhat with this fight was also focused and determined and although he was. caused by many of pierrot's jabs he continued to stumble by i heard the rounds passing without serious incident the hometown began the blood. and by around eight it was obvious she too was not

going to win by the judges or to a kept plugging away at him and finally forced a japanese books to the full was despite the setback is she the still looked like she believed he could get an unlikely knockout but pirogue whether to she does increasingly desperate lunges and almost looked as if he would get the killer book out. in the end pirogue prediction of a tough twelve round bounce came true and by unanimous decision he registered his twenty of the victory remaining undefeated and looking hungry for his next opponent but i did not go with a lot of work was put into preparing for this fight and i'm very pleased to have successfully defended my title i was prepared for it but to his credit he surprised me a lot and i've learned a great deal from fighting him now i'm already looking forward to meeting my next opponent with that is she was gallant in defeat praising his victory but also saw no shame in its manner this is

a champion i've never really been hurt by my previous opponents the dimitri is truly a worthy champion because he did manage to hurt me injuring this fight but i'm also proud to have been in the same ring as him but it was never really any doubt that he's with success to defend the field weight title i can still see the japanese never really getting bikes i don't text i have i will be a good spy vs a chap can't tell you he'll test the top five in the morning so today i think. i'm a gala cotto has a chance to do what no other boxer has done before on saturday the puerto rican will become the first fighter to defeat floyd mayweather jr if he defends his w b a light middleweight title successfully in las vegas the thirty one year old has several things going for him against. in forty two crew fights for the first time in five years mayweather is moving up in weight for the clash in addition the thirty five year old will be starting in one. to give people by the corral and

shortly after the fight on june first but it's cotto who's still a man's side that could not. help which is why i train a little. piece there in orlando and i come here to britain and get the big three auto loan or face no go. there don't push floyd mayweather to the test i want to be pushed to the test saturday night i want to bring his best because that's the only thing anything that's going to do is escalate my fight game to the next level so this is very very important i want to go kowtow to be at his best i want to be strong i want. to press the attack early. finally there are professional athletes there are professional athletes who take part in nine grueling sporting events in just four days this is the peak creek challenge in austria three teams of eight taking part in the race the competition and commerce is an incredible nine events skiing mountain biking mountain running

climbing route cycling skinny monckton earring parra gliding kayaking then if that wasn't enough white water rafting leg the teams are made up of pro athletes with the most notable this year being cyclists rick is red team came in third and last but anyone who made it through the hellish schedule certainly cannot be labeled. brilliant stuff to all involved and that is all your sport for now whether it's next. well for. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered.

secret lab or tour. was able to build a most sophisticated robot which fortunately. found anything tim's mission to teach creation why it should care about humans and. this is why you should care only.

the occupy protesters are back with a bang but marches across the u.s. are marked with new police crackdowns. deadly bomb and gunfire attacks heat of ghana stand shortly after barack obama visits kabul one year since the killing of osama bin laden. frantic campaigning and france's presidential election was just days left for the two candidates to woo voters before the decisive round but not everyone is enthusiastic about the choice on offer also. you couldn't take susan somebody who was the key to being told through his country this guy is going to give you some lessons about how to promote human rights in tunisia. julian assange quizzes human rights advocate on the new leader of tunisia on his encounter with american double standards his his time in solitary confinement and his hopes for his country's future without a much more only honest on the show on air in less than thirty minutes time here on our team.