Double post.

See below.

Having terrible problems with my internet.

Apologies.

Pakistani Mirages are a mixture of ex Australian Mirage IIIs built in the 1960’s, and Mirage 5’s built in the 1970’s bought second hand from France almost 20 years ago, with a few newly built examples decades ago.

They are slated for retirement in 2 years.

Unlike the Cheetah that underwent a complete rebuild, including brand new wing spars, that replaced over half the airframe to “zero hour” the airframe, I somehow doubt the Pakistani Mirages had anything like that done to them, although, as always, I stand under correction.

I seriously doubt there would be any point even considering it.

You said that, not me, and I never have (or would,) so please don’t put words into my mouth. However, I’m becoming heartily sick of hearing only of the disgusting behaviour of the evil British. As usual, we hear of Britain’s involvement in the slave trade, but not a word about how it was the British Navy which led the way in putting paid to the white slave trade, perpetrated by non-whites in the Mediterranean.

Oh I agree with you about the good stuff.

It’s just that there is also an ilk out there that would have you believe it was all about kindly bringing enlightenment to the world.

The context of the thread however is about certain misdeeds from the era of Empire (quite recent in fact), and the bemoaning about “why Britain only?”

Travelling around the world, a walk through many a fine European capital reveals old edifices built on the bones and crushed lives of people from far away from the “glory days”.

Well, the premise of the OP is wrong.

Britain is certainly not the only one who has stumped up to pay for certain misdeeds of the recent past, and in fact, as mentioned, you would have to admit that Britain has got off very lightly indeed, all things considered.

Because there are quite a few other nasties in the cupboard within ours, and our parents/grandparents lifetimes from the days of Empire.

And have you considered the millions who’ve had their lives improved by the introduction of Western-style education into their near-Stone Age living conditions?

Ahhh, that old chestnut.

“The empire was done purely for altruistic reasons, and nothing to do with exploiting resources and for strategic reasons.”

You may take note of how infrastructure was developed, and see whether that was for extraction purposes or altruistic reasons.

Of course, you didn’t see fit to refute my original statement, because it can’t really be refuted by any sane person.

Britain is not the only one, of course.

But, as I’ve said in reply to the original post, there are indeed countries that have paid reparations for past injustices.
Britain has got off lightly, when you consider it dispassionately and neutrally.

And what does a perfectly legitimate action against an ally of Napoleon, a state which had changed sides in 1796 for mercenary reasons, have to do with this thread?

Britain had eyes on the region for a hundred years before, and in 1780, the British Government actually okayed an invasion plan. You’ll no doubt note the date as 16 years before Spain was allied to France.

Either way, I don’t actually care Swerve. Honestly so.
I used it as a throwaway illustration of what sort of bait Fedaykin posted, and how easy and silly it is too play these games.
It does illustrate nicely the point that Fedaykin is simply trolling and how easy it is to derail the thread with silly comments.
I must assume that, because whilst his post was otherwise quite sensible and on topic, the casual throwaway additional line had nothing to do with the topic and could only be seen as derailment.

Either way, I’d like to keep the discussion on topic.

But where do we stop with apologising for our past(let alone paying out for it)?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22790037

The two recent ones that come to mind are Bloody Sunday and Slavery where Dave has apologised in my name(being a UK citizen) for it all.

Can anyone think of any other Country that does this and if so for what?

Ask the Germans.

Britain has got off extremely lightly, reflecting on just the last 100 years or so, or within ours and our parents/grandparents lifetime.

It’s unfashionable to say this here no doubt, and easy to wave a hand dismissively and pretend some things didn’t happen, but have you considered that hundreds of thousands of peoples lives were ruined whilst running the Glorious Empire, with repercussions still around today?

Fedaykin.

Please delete the last sentence of your post.

Your post is sensible without the flamebait to derail the thread.

It isn’t difficult to have a sensible conversation without stuff like that.

I’m not quoting your post for that reason.

You know, considering the plight the Argentine airforce finds themselves in, even unmodified Mirage F-1s would allow them to retain a supersonic intercept capability, at least for the interim.

Even airframes with approximately 1500 hours left on them before their next overhaul would give them a decade of service, give or take.

If I were in their shoes, I would buy the Spanish F-1’s for one squadron, and look at another source of F-1’s for another squadron, probably the Ecuador, or other examples.

No doubt some will need reactivation after their period of storage.

After a period in service, say 5 or 6 years, either they all get a common upgrade to ASTRAC level, or are simply flown until their service life is up and a new fighter inducted.

It could be got cheaply from the figures being mentioned, and would be a vast improvement over the current situation, where their primary combat jet, whilst it is upgraded, is elderly and not that much faster than an airliner.