Argentines Still Whining about Falkland Islands

If you're an old geezer like me, you will recall the Falklands war, in which the Argentine dictatorship invaded the Falkland Islands and claimed them as their own, based upon some nebulous claim that dates back to the early nineteenth century. The fact that the people who live on the islands wanted to stick with Great Britain did not enter into consideration.

The British navy went down there and tossed out the Argentines. Many of us who followed the war were quite impressed with their bravery. Especially since chopper pilot Prince Andrew, son of the queen, also put himself in harm's way.

Now the Argentines are still whining about their failure to seize the Falkands, 27 years after it happened.

At the opening of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) summit in Argentina, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner recalled that Great Britain has a military base “unilaterally” established in the disputed Malvinas/Falkland Islands, which means Argentina “is not absent from the essence” of the debate on the Colombia/US military agreement.

Historically Unasur presidents have expressed their support to the Argentine claim over the Malvinas/Falklands islands and normally have added to the official declarations of the group a few lines calling on the United Kingdom to cease “the illegal occupation of the South Atlantic islands”.

Their defeat at the Falklands was one of the best things that ever happened to Argentina. Shortly after that the military dictatorship was deposed and Raul Alfonsin became their first democratically elected president.

There are only about 3,000 people who live on the islands. Almost every one of them want to remain under British rule. That is what gives the British government their rightful claim to the islands.

Likewise, the majority of people who live in Northern Ireland wish to remain in the UK. Therefore, they are rightfully under British rule. Just because they occupy the same island as the Republic of Ireland means nothing. The island of Borneo has three different countries on it: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Likewise the islands of Hispaniola and New Guinea have two countries each.