Argentina's leader tells UK to give up Falkland Islands
BC-EU--Britain-Falklands,4th Ld-Writethru
Argentina's leader tells UK to give up Falklands
Eds: Adds comment from Falklands government, byline and taglines.
DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) - Argentina's president called on Britain on Thursday to relinquish control of the Falkland Islands, accusing London of taking part in an act of "blatant colonialism" in claiming the wind-swept archipelago.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner published an open letter in the Guardian newspaper urging Prime Minister David Cameron to honor U.N. resolutions which she says backs her case for the return of the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas. She has made several similar demands in the past.
"180 years ago on the same date, January 3rd, in a blatant exercise of 19th-century colonialism, Argentina was forcibly stripped of the Malvinas Islands, which are situated 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) away from London," she says in the letter, copied to U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Britain asserted control of the south Atlantic islands by placing a naval garrison there in 1833. Britain and Argentina fought a brief war in 1982 after Argentina invaded the islands. More than 900 people died, most of them Argentines.
Cameron rebuffed the Argentine president's demand that the islands be handed over. "The future of the Falkland Islands should be determined by the Falkland Islanders themselves, the people who live there," the British prime minister said.
He said Kirchner should pay heed to the result of a referendum to be held on the islands this year, noting that whenever the islanders "have been asked their opinion, they say they want to maintain their current status with the United Kingdom."
The government of the Falklands Islands attacked Kirchner's letter as "historically inaccurate," saying that its relationship with the U.K. is "by choice" and based on shared ideals of "democracy, freedom and self-reliance."
The islands have a right, enshrined in the U.N. charter, to determine their own future and have exercised that to retain links with the U.K, the government said in a statement.
"It is this fundamental right that is being ignored by the Argentine Government, who are denying our right to exist as a people, and denying our right to live in our home," the statement said.
Argentina's leader tells UK to give up Falklands
Eds: Adds comment from Falklands government, byline and taglines.
DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) - Argentina's president called on Britain on Thursday to relinquish control of the Falkland Islands, accusing London of taking part in an act of "blatant colonialism" in claiming the wind-swept archipelago.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner published an open letter in the Guardian newspaper urging Prime Minister David Cameron to honor U.N. resolutions which she says backs her case for the return of the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas. She has made several similar demands in the past.
"180 years ago on the same date, January 3rd, in a blatant exercise of 19th-century colonialism, Argentina was forcibly stripped of the Malvinas Islands, which are situated 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) away from London," she says in the letter, copied to U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Britain asserted control of the south Atlantic islands by placing a naval garrison there in 1833. Britain and Argentina fought a brief war in 1982 after Argentina invaded the islands. More than 900 people died, most of them Argentines.
Cameron rebuffed the Argentine president's demand that the islands be handed over. "The future of the Falkland Islands should be determined by the Falkland Islanders themselves, the people who live there," the British prime minister said.
He said Kirchner should pay heed to the result of a referendum to be held on the islands this year, noting that whenever the islanders "have been asked their opinion, they say they want to maintain their current status with the United Kingdom."
The government of the Falklands Islands attacked Kirchner's letter as "historically inaccurate," saying that its relationship with the U.K. is "by choice" and based on shared ideals of "democracy, freedom and self-reliance."
The islands have a right, enshrined in the U.N. charter, to determine their own future and have exercised that to retain links with the U.K, the government said in a statement.
"It is this fundamental right that is being ignored by the Argentine Government, who are denying our right to exist as a people, and denying our right to live in our home," the statement said.
Just how many freaking times do the Peronistas have to be told 'NO'?
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Three freaking wars [all lost by Argentina] and all the people in the Falklands are of British descent. They have repeatedly voted to remain British citizens.
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To Argentina I say... *Come Mierda!*
I'm guessing that Argentina wants the oil. There's evidently a rather huge deposit under the sea within the jurisdiction of the Falklands. Those fishermen and sheep farmers are soon going to be richer than all the Sheiks of Araby.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/19/falklands-start-producing-oil-2017-rockhopper
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The UK had better start dusting off it's carriers and missile frigates again.
@TheTruncheon
@TheTruncheon Add in the always-just-under-the-surface Argentine militaristic fascism and I suspect that we might be deploying a Carrier Task Force down to the area as well.
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Argentina has a strategic window of opportunity here, as Britain's power-projection capabilities are based on HMS Illustrious and HMS Ocean, both helicopter carriers. While I suppose that they can be refitted to carry Sea Harriers, I don't think the Fleet Air Arm has any left. The RN started withdrawing them from service in 2004, and the new 'Queen Elisabeth' class carriers and the Joint Force Harrier to go with them are not due until 2016.
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I think there's a war brewin' folks. And for the record, Britain has been a staunch ally of the United States all through the Global War on Terror, and at times when it clearly wasn't in her best interests. If they call in their IOU's on this one, I for one will have absolutely no problem with it.
 @svensson Yep, you got some good points there pardner. We may indeed have to do a little modern day lend-leasing to them Brits again.
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Just out of curiosity, how do you think the parties involved and the various media might spin the Monroe Doctrine if this happens?
@TheTruncheon And can you imagine how tripped up some folks [across all parties, but especially the Libertarians] are going to get about this?
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I suspect that MSNBC will be against and CNN will be neutral. As for which way FoxNews will jump, it beats me. They're so knee-jerk anti-Obama, that they'd complain that he's wasting water if he was to put out a house fire. In some corners, the abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine will set people straight up a rope. I can see BOTH Rachel Maddow AND Rush Limbaugh doing op/ed pieces against it.
So a country founded by European Colonialists is asking another to return the land that wasn't theirs to begin with?
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Not again. Â We went though this in the 80's. Â
 @FBrumfield Ja. Germany tried it twice too... once in 1914 and again in 1939... about 30 years apart, just like Argentina now and in the 1980's.
Asserting ownership of islands just because they happen to be close to your country is pretty silly in modern times. The people who live there want to remain as British so let them.