Falkland Island residents had better get prepared for Argentine rule. On Monday, hundreds of protesters in the city of Buenos Aires stormed the British Embassy before being cleared by Argentine riot police.

The level of violence and anger exhibited by protesters on the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War indicates how passionate a subject it is to mainlanders. The Business Insider posted startling footage of protesters hurling firebombs, shooting slingshots and throwing bricks at police forces. Their anger is palpable.

According to the British Independent newspaper, the hostilities were ignited after Argentine President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner decried the UK’s control of the Falklands. She called Britain’s position on the Islands “ridiculous and absurd.”

Tensions seem to be increasing. Argentina no longer allows ships traveling to the Islands to use any of its ports, and flights from Chile cannot use Argentine airspace. Several other South American countries have signed on to the virtual embargo of the Islands.

Britain does not seem to be backing down either. It recently sent Prince William to the islands as an raf search and rescue helicopter pilot for six months. Argentina called the move “provocative.”

On Tuesday, Britain’s most advanced warship, the destroyer hms Dauntless, sailed on its maiden operation from Portsmouth for the Falklands. The Ministry of Defense says the destination was coincidence and simply a “pre-planned and routine” six-month deployment in the South Atlantic. It is unknown whether or not Argentina believes that story.

British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond has dismissed warnings from former military chiefs that the UK would be unable to defend the Islands from a new invasion.

Adm. Sir John Woodward, the man who led the 1982 recapture of the Islands, said now that Britain has scrapped its aircraft carriers it would be impossible to recapture the Islands if they were lost.

Mr. Hammond, however, said there was “not the slightest intelligence to suggest that there is any credible military threat to the Falklands.”

Mr. Hammond may live to rue those words.

Conditions between Argentina and Britain are very different today than they were 30 years ago. Argentina is a rapidly rising economic power with growing military capabilities. Britain is an indebted and broke nation stuck in recession that is in the midst of one of the greatest military shrinkages in history.

Could Argentina defeat Britain? Read Brad Macdonald’s shocking analysis “Britain and the Falklands Powder Keg.”