Argentina is planning to dispute Britain's claim in front of the UN, and has accused the UK of a military buildup which supposedly threatens the stability of the south Atlantic. This announced by their president standing in front of a map of the islands with Argentina's flag superimposed over them.
Now, I'm a bit (very) biased here, but tell me if this sounds funny to you guys too: the country which invaded the islands in 1982, causing the deaths of nearly 300 British servicemen, 600 of their own, huge loss of materiel on both sides and civilian casualties as well - they are now accusing the British of threatening the stability of the region because the British are doing nothing out of the ordinary at all, merely maintaining enough of a presence there to stop the Argentineans from simply walking up the beaches, after only a year or two ago deliberately dicking them around by unlawfully interfering with British oil exploration in Falklands waters. They, along with a bunch of other South American nations, are turning away Falklands-flagged ships from their ports, economically isolating the islands. These people are honestly going to go to the UN and complain that the UK is the problem here, and are preaching about 'giving peace a chance'.
For background, the Falklands have been a British possession since 1833, their population identify themselves as British, and there is no real dubiousness surrounding the British claim to the islands. They have been agitating about 'reclaiming' the Falklands (which they refer to as the 'Malvinas', and other nations actually cater to this bullshit by referring to them by both names) for a while but the 1982 invasion was the act of a military junta facing almost certain civil war. They made the British the bogeyman and stirred up nationalist sentiment about the islands, conveniently turning the anger of the population away from themselves and onto someone else. The UN, for its part, is trying to sweet-talk the UK into 'de-colonisation' talks - what the fuck is this? The people identify as British, they want to be British, do they seriously expect them to just up and off the islands or something?
I cannot get my fucking head around this. I am just glad the UK has pledged to defend the islands as long as the islanders want them to, because holy shit, this is stupid. Regardless of whether Argentina ever had any legitimate claim to the islands, it is a long time past 1833 and it's pretty clear the islanders want no part of it.
e To clarify, I would have no issues with Argentina if they went to the UK and said, "hey, we want in on this, let's work something out". I am not really well versed in their claims to the islands, but I am sure they have some pretty legitimate reasons and it would be entirely reasonable to talk them over with the UK. Maggie Thatcher is not in power any more. You know, maybe figure out some way to share the islands so the Falklanders can stay British like they want and any Argentineans who feel like it can move there (hahaha yeah right, it takes a special kind of crazy to want to live on the south Atlantic islands). But no, it's all or nothing, and they are coating it in the same bullshit nationalist overtones and agitating for all they're worth.
Originally Posted by Bodzilla
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