Following a snub by Obama (and Dubya, Clinton, Bush Snr would have done the same as did Reagan), Mrs Clinton is to meet the Argentinian president Cristina de Kirchner in Urugay on March 1st.
This follows succesful Argentinian efforts to mobilise Latin American support for their Malvinas claim, and a further attempt to raise the issue at the UN. There are UN resolutions dating back to the 1960s calling for UK-Argentine talks, and I believe the US-UK invasion of Iraq invoking resolution 1441 set an uncomfortable precedent. If Britain goes to the negotiating table, then the Falklands will end up in Argentinian hands. If Britain does not go to the negotiating table, then the Falklands may well end up in Argentinian hands following a raft of UN resolutions.
The only solution is bold action, by reinforcing the Falklands through a draw-down of the Afghan deployment (hint hint, we have our own interests) and looking at a juicy carrot in the form of a South Atlantic Regional Development Fund from the oil revenues plus trade and business opportunities. Nasty, but with a bit of nice, and far from indecisive.
I bet this will flare up during the general election campaign. Cameron should be prepared...like the boy scouts.
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"hint hint, we have our own interests"
27 February 2010 at 08:40Exactly, well said. Some people reckon our government knows that Afgh is pointless, we just do it to keep in the Yanks' good books.
If this is their good books, I'd hate to see their bad books.
It's quite simple, really. First, hold a referendum in the Falklands - "Do you want to be a
28 February 2010 at 10:53British or Argentinian citizen?". Just like they've done before in Gibraltar.
That removes all Argentine legitimacy to the claim - assuming they DO wish to live under the Union Jack.
Second, say to the US and UN "when Israel removes its citizens from the West Bank and Golan, we'll remove ours from the Falklands". Or something like that.
Like I said - very simple, really.
As someone cleverer than me pointed out. It is all very easy for the South Americans and Carribean countries to show solidarity with Argentina because nothing will happen since their own military is despised by their socialist government and in no better shape than the last time.
1 March 2010 at 03:59Similarly there is no point in America upsetting her neighbours by backing Britain since, at this point, we do not require help from the USA or anybody else (though I expect that they are being discretly helpful with the satelite pics and stuff).
We should look at bringing our troops out of Afghanistan, and sending them to the Falklands. Let's see if that focuses Obama's mind a little.
2 March 2010 at 20:27I think you need to distinguish between Security Council resolutions - which will never condemn Britain while we retain our veto - and General Assembly resolutions, which carry no weight (except with people whose opinions don't matter).
4 March 2010 at 12:35Post a Comment