Subject: Re: Diego Garcia
If you want to use military force to retain something, then that’s the place to do it.

Lunatic UK PM Kier Starmer wants to give it away. Scratch that - he wants to pay Mauritius 9 billion pounds to take over an island they’ve never owned.

They're not asking for the money to take it over. They're asking for the money in exchange for the 99-year lease for the base that the UK wants to have.

Mauritius and the UK apparently believe, with some considerable justification, that the UK isn't going to be able to retain de jeure control over the Chagos Islands for much longer. Mauritius has been pretty successful at ratcheting up the diplomatic costs to the UK of maintaining sovereignty over the islands, especially when all they really want is the base:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...