Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

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RF
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Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by RF »

The president of Argentina has had a letter published in the Guardian newspaper in the UK laying claim to the Falkland Islands.

The following article reproduces the letter - and a response to it by supporters of UKIP.

<http://www.bloggers4ukip.org.uk/2013/01 ... im-to.html>

There are two points I would add. Firstly there is a referendum due in the Falklands in March 2013 in which residents decide on whether they wish to retain British rule or not. Argentina has chosen not to campaign in that referendum to persuade people of the benefits of joining Argentina. I wonder why not?

Secondly if the Argentines are against colonialism and ''stealing other peoples territory'' will they therefore offer to Paraguay the return of the two Paraguayan provinces they annexed from Paraguay in 1871 after the end of the Paraguayan War of 1864-1870?
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steffen19k
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by steffen19k »

The most likely answer in Argentina NOT campaigning is probably a "hands off" approach, where if they don't actively campaign, the odds of people voting in favor of joining Argentina are much better....

Either that, or they have a good reason to believe that the vote will go their way regardless of if they campaign or not.

The last option is they're simply waiting to start campaigning....


I dunno. Just my thoughts/guesses.
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RF
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by RF »

It is extremely unlikely that the electorate in the Falklands would vote to join Argentina. After all they are more British than those of us in the UK.

The question would be as to what exactly Argentina could offer them? It would seem to me that the answer would be nothing - and indeed the islanders may well feel that the risk in Argentina gaining sovereignty is that they would be ''enthnically cleansed'' because the Argentine would see them as colonial occupiers...
That I think is the answer to my own question posed in the original post.
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by frontkampfer »

IMHO-Argentina feels that Britain is in a weakened state since they do not have an aircraft carrier and as a result have limited ability to counter any move on the FI as was the case in the 80's. In addition, there is not the same supportive ally in the White House as there was in Ronald Reagan. I think Mr. Cameron is going to find out that budgetary decisions, like elections, have consequences, especially when you have a leftist leader trying to divert attention to problems at home with the old "colonial power" bogey man! Personally, I don't think the FI'ers would want to be part of Argentina and I don't blame them. However, they would not be the first or last local population that would be "left out" in decisions made as to their ultimate fate. I hope I am wrong!
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RF
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by RF »

Britain of course holds the Mount Pleasant airbase in the Falklands and that serves as the aircraft carrier.

I think it should be noted - as it hasn't been mentioned here so far - that there is the possibility of substantial oil reserves in the South Atlantic around the Falklands. Three British companies are currently prospecting and the Argentinians are excluded. That I suspect is the real reason for the Argentine interest in these islands.
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by Byron Angel »

RF wrote:Britain of course holds the Mount Pleasant airbase in the Falklands and that serves as the aircraft carrier.

I think it should be noted - as it hasn't been mentioned here so far - that there is the possibility of substantial oil reserves in the South Atlantic around the Falklands. Three British companies are currently prospecting and the Argentinians are excluded. That I suspect is the real reason for the Argentine interest in these islands.

..... I believe that you are spot on. Lula is desperate for any sort of new revenue stream after crashing the Argentine ecocomy and also needs a distraction for his unhappy public.

My further suspicion is that Lula knows Argentina will lose the Falklands plebiscite and is refusing to "campaign" as part of an attempt to paint the process as somehow illegitimate/rigged.


B
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RF
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by RF »

I think that it is worth noting that the Argentine Foreign Minister has refused a British Foreign Office invitation to meet with the elected council of the Falkland islanders, to talk to them. Apparently the Argentines refuse to recognise that they have any say or role in respect of Argentinas' territorial claim.

So what does that mean for the islanders? That the Argentines, if they took control, regard them as having no human rights, with the risk of ''ethnic cleansing'?'
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by richtea »

So if the few remaining indigenous natives of Argentina ask Mrs De Kirchner for the return of all lands taken from them, the government would not object :?:
I am not holding my breath waiting for an answer. :negative:
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RF
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by RF »

Indeed.

And as I mentioned in the opening post, if the Paraguayans were to ask for the return of Formosa province, Argentina would hand it over?
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by paul.mercer »

Gentlemen,
At the risk of being rude the answer is Sod them! Just let them try and retake the Falklands and they will get another bloody nose!
Sorry about the language.
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by RF »

Britain no longer has the military or naval strength to refight the Falklands campaign of 1982 - no carriers for a start.

The strategy is to keep the islands from being invaded - using the bare minimum of military forces on the islands.

The problem are politicians who no longer believe in Britain being a genuine independent country, who would rather use billions of pounds of taxpayers money to bankroll the European Union and bail out the Euro, rather than spend on the military. This CONservative coalition government has cut British military spending even more rigourously than the previous Labour government would have done.

If the Falklands were American, with US civilians there - the Argentinians wouldn't dare make a peep, not even with Obama as president.
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RF
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by RF »

The referendum on the future of the Falkland Islands has been held and the result announced.

Out of a population of around 2,900 there were 1,672 registered voters. Of these, 1,517 people voted, a turnout of 90.73%.

Votes to remain British were 1,513 and votes against 3 with one spoiled ballot paper.

There was thus a 99.74% vote to remain British.

The referendum was subject to scrutiny by international election observers.
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by Benjamin »

RF wrote:There was thus a 99.74% vote to remain British.
What did you expect? They are British, so why would they want to be Argentinians?

Take 2,000 people from Argentina to the Channel Island of Sark, then make a referendum there. I bet they would vote to remain Argentinians. :D
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by RF »

I think the people on Sark, and indeed on Guernsey as the governing Bailiwick, might have something to say about that. Your 2,000 Argentinians would be outvoted and I suspect given the state of the Argentine economy a good number of these 2,000 Argentinians might prefer to vote to be British.

I further suspect that they may go the whole hog and migrate to British mainland where as immigrants they can make full use of our social services and social security system as have many other nationalities, a system not freely available in Argentina.
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Re: Argentina's latest claim on the Falklands

Post by Benjamin »

My point was that the referendum is pointless because Argentinians didn't vote. The result was obvious.
Are Argentinians even allowed to go and live in the Falklands?
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