Falklands’ flagged vessels: “Another diplomatic victory for President Fernández”
In its latest article on Argentina The Economist refers to the recent Mercosur decision to support President Cristina Fernandez in barring vessels flying the Falklands’ flag from docking in regional ports.
The magazine as the heading says (Argentina and the Falklands: rocking the boat) describes it as another diplomatic victory for Cristina and also argues that both the Falkland Islands and Britain have failed to explain their case to the rest of South America.
It is becoming a familiar ritual: each time a significant anniversary of Argentina’s 1982 war with Britain over the Falkland Islands looms, its government starts rattling sabers. In 2007 Néstor Kirchner, the country’s then-president, cancelled an oil-and-gas agreement with Britain and banned energy companies active in the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, from operating on the mainland. With the war’s 30th anniversary falling in April, the tradition has been upheld by Cristina Fernández, Mr Kirchner’s widow and successor, who is due to step aside for 20 days on January 4th 2012 in order to receive treatment for thyroid cancer. On December 20th she got Argentina’s partners in the Mercosur trade block—Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay—to declare that they would ban civilian ships flying the Falklands’ flag from entering their ports.
Although up to 300 million dollars in maritime trade to and from the Falklands passes through Uruguay each year, this decision may have little practical effect. Most of the 30 or so vessels hoisting the Falklands’ flag — a British red ensign with a coat-of-arms featuring a ram and tussock grass — belongs to Spanish fishing companies. British merchant ships will still be allowed to dock in South American ports.
Nevertheless, the new Mercosur policy is the latest in a string of small diplomatic victories for Argentina, which is keen to regionalize what has always been a bilateral dispute. Mercosur already does not welcome in its ports British warships on Falklands’ duty. Earlier in December a meeting of the newly formed 33-country Community of Latin American and Caribbean States unanimously backed Argentina’s “legitimate rights in the sovereignty dispute” over the Falklands and South Georgia. UNASUR, the putative South American union, has done likewise.
In 2010 Hillary Clinton, America’s secretary of state, called for talks over the dispute, a contrast to 1982 when the United States backed Britain. The British government insists that its control over the Islands, which dates back to 1833, is clear under international law, and that the right of the Falklanders to self-determination is not negotiable.
Ms Fernández has been especially exercised by recent oil exploration in Falkland waters. The small deposits found so far may not be profitable, though a rig will shortly start to drill in previously unexplored blocks to the south of the islands. But Argentina responded to the resumption of drilling in 2010 by requiring ships traveling between the Islands and the mainland to receive permission. In a speech at the UN in September, Ms Fernández threatened to disrupt the weekly flight between Chile and the Falklands, operated by Chile’s LAN. She accused David Cameron, Britain’s prime minister, of “mediocrity and near-stupidity” for refusing to negotiate sovereignty.
Argentina has forsworn another attempt to seize the Islands by force. It anyway lacks the military means. Despite cuts in public budgets, Britain still spends heavily on the Islands’ defense.
But if oil starts to flow, Argentina might seek regional support for an economic blockade. Would it get it? Most Latin American governments are left-of-centre, strongly nationalist and increasingly confident of their growing clout in the world. Argentina has persuaded them that the Falklands are a colonial anachronism.
Mr. Cameron said in a Christmas message that he would “never” negotiate on sovereignty “unless you, the Falkland Islanders, so wish.” The 3,000 Islanders do not: as a people, they have been in the Americas as long as many Argentines and they resent being bullied. But they—and Britain—have failed to explain their case to the rest of South America. British diplomats doubt that the region will offer more than rhetorical support to Argentina’s claims. That looks complacent.
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This is just the beginning.
Long live CFK, long live the republic!
Small and also totally insignificant. She'll have to do a lot better than that. Wake me up when she manages to pull a large and/or significant diplomatic victory out of the hat.
If you have regional support then why are the two following events occurring?
1) There is an FI flagged vessel in Uruguay (I thought they were banned)
www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=740352000
2) The Leiv Eiriksson drilling platform is steaming towards Brazil after leaving Cape Verde
www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?mmsi=308243000¢erx=-26.53466¢ery=2.808478&zoom=10&type_color=8
Is this economic engagement with the FI not the exact opposite of what you are being told by your leadership? The evidence is above if you care to take your head out of the sand.
we will all have to sacrifice while the rest of South America grows quickly
that bits ok
www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-kampfner-brazils-success-heralds-the-new-world-order-6282464
hope you enjoyed the good old days there all over now
at least we have something to look forward to,
still a change is always very good, i wonder who would replace CFK
and would they be of the same opinion,
justa thought .
anything could happen in that time.
This is more like a diplomatic shot in the foot, and as Beef quite correctly indicates, what is said and what is actually done usually come out as two different things.
“just should think your own research institute predicts Argentina and Brasil will pass out England in gdp in the next 15 or 16 years”
Bloody hell! A pig just flew past my window.
Your economy will need to be G R O W I N G for that to happen (and I mean in real terms, not the fiction that you lot like to convince yourselves of)
Why don't you just crawl back into your bog eh Paddy?
You could not persuade us in 1982 what makes you think you can change our wish now.
1. FI Flagged vessels will only be refused into Ur and Chile - Once these nations have passed the appropriate law changes through their congresses netc- that will take some time. Ur Navy chief has already publicy confirned this. Their Congresses may not be to keen on this - it means they would be contravening SEVERAL multinational agreements for a start.
2- They both only mention FI Flags - get it? Don,t see it as any problem at all really, only thing that may change is the colour and pattern of the flag- get it yet do you?
3 Lan - I can assure you thatall the Argie ranting has got us here in the Islands to the pooint whewre we are now saying: come on “Plastic Face” - just shut up and get on and ban it - then we will never ever have to bother about you and your cronies any more. We can then quietly get on with developing links elsewhere and growing our economy.
:-)
A Brit once said:
“Is the 60 million strong British bulldog really being wagged by its miniscule Falklands tail- or more precisely a hair on the tail, given that there are only 3,140 Falklanders? In the 21st Century, can a European power hide its colonial claim to the oil resources under the sea bed of South America by sheltering behind the ‘rights’ of its colonists?
Britain must go, and in the end it will have to go; the issue is one of how and when”
Amen
#28: as argentine I am still wondering why Argentina never went to the ICJ or PCA. Please, can you explain it to me?
O.N.U. (Organismo sin Ninguna Ultilidad) its a mundial organization where delegates to everywhere can talk for hours in a big building in New York. That place has a lot ot flags outiside and looks like a big hotel. Every X period its designed a new president always they come, to the unknown countries, than neither under torture they said where come from. They have a one force caled United Nations peacekeeping a really elite troop especialist in very dangerous task ussualy in the kindoms of the evil people such Africa and Arabic Countries, but sometimes for the stress that soldiers discover a new skils like a rape womans or to do a corrupt bussines with a food.
“look like a big hotel”???
“Evil people such Africa and Arabic Countries”???
Unless you're making use of a fine and sharp sense of irony, and your true purpose is to enlighten the readers by putting in the spot how little minded someone has to be in order to support british claims.
Glad to see there are sane & rational Argentines besides these malvinista plonkers we get here!
@20WestisBest,
Your quip made me laugh so much, l frightened the cat!
Happy New Year♥
Long Live Scotland -- Long Live Republic
UN Charter Articles 2, 73 and 74 and UN GA resolutions 1514(XV) and 2065(XX) would be a good starting point
@28 You don't understand. There is no particular argument with the current Argentine government. The argument is with Argentina. For so long as there are South American imbeciles suggesting that the Falklands ought to belong to the argies, the argument will continue.
@29 An extract from “21st century socialism” I believe. We hate socialists.
@30 Is that on your wishlist, jf? If Santa exists, he's been and gone. Why not follow suit, loon?
@33 You brain-dead ignoramus. The General Assembly cannot “rule”. The GA cannot give “orders”. Why are South Americans so uneducated and stupid?
@36 Britain doesn't make claims. Britain makes statements about facts.
@40 I see no need for Britain to make a case. In 1690 Britain took possession of largely uninhabited islands. Britain temporarily left in 1776 for fiscal reasons. There was a short period when the criminals, pirates and trespassers of the United Provinces occupied the Islands. That was effectively ended by the intervention of the United States. Then Britain returned to re-establish its sovereignty. Until 1982 when the cowardly criminals of the cess-pit invaded again. 74 days later the criminals had to surrender and be shipped off. “Uti possidetis” confirms that the Islands now belong to Britain beyond argument. Argentina has now demonstrated itself to be a criminal rogue state by undertaking actions in breach of the UN Charter and UNCLOS. But who cares? Argieland has successfully proved to the world that it can lie for 30 years or more. It has no credibility. It is just a bully. See how Uruguay is implementing the Mercosur directive but telling the Islanders how to evade it. Argie land will collapse soon. After CFK has stolen enough money!
No amount of Jumping up and down by argentine politicians is going to change that situation!!!
Long Live the Falklands.
Do please enlighten me as which of your predictions have come true and now have a practical effect?
Arg ceretainly after the big bribe blackmail with Lan, I suspect- “just drop that little weekly flight to MPN and you can have all your BA landing rights restored and more as well” - I guess that will be the blackmail bribe from CFK to Lan in late January! We will wait and see if it works.Your Comment
29.0% British
2.6% Spanish
0.6% Japanese
6.5% Chilean & Other[1 over July 2009 estimate 2474
Is anybody otsides this? UK loves FI, KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA
Goos job Argentina! Good job Latinamerica!
Pirats go home!
41, we don´t want to live in a non-socialist country as well.
That´s what happens when I add comments so early in the morning! :)
As an Argentine keep wondering why Argentina never went to the International Court of Justice or PCA. Please, can you explain?
As Argentine tell you:
England Will Never accept the International Court of Justice Automatically Because doing so Will Recognize That There is a Sovereignty dispute with Argentina.
The International Court of Justice Marshall Immediately send the proceedings of the Committee on Decolonization conflict the United Nations, Which is The Most Appropriate body for interpreting and Understanding the concepts of colonization and imperialism, historical contexts and social STI Processes, and have extensively Already Studies and Compared and reviewed the arguments of Both Argentina and the UK finally failed and it is a Sovereignty dispute. NO self-determination. Just note in the Malvinas Question That General Assembly of the United Nations Include this doctrine - the Principle of territorial integrity Taking Into account the Interests and NOT the wishes of the Population of the islands - in STI resolution 2065 (XX) of 1965, ratified by later Resolutions 1973 (3160, XXVIII) 1976 (31/49), 1982 (37 / 9), 1983 (38/12), 1984 (39 / 6), 1985 (40/21), 1986 (41/40) 1987 (42/19) and 1988 (43/25). They all declare the Existence of a Sovereignty dispute by resolution 2065 (XX) Parties (Argentina and the United Kingdom).
In Addition, Every year, the Committee of the United Nations Decolonization Finds a resolution Applying the criteria of Resolution 2065 of 1965 and it states Clearly That Sovereignty dispute. NO self-determination
The International Court of Justice is based on Their Judgments of the Decolonization Committee of the UN. Remember That the international court of justice and Decolonization Committee United Nations is supranational. Both Have a lot of international prestige and Complement Each Other.
And about my oppinion about UN jajaja yes of course im a ironic for example 1 kid die every 3 minutes starving in Somalia, Kenia y Etiopia every day, even when United Nations have a budget for a 7,5 billion a year, this is more ironic mi friends....cheers
You should know better, dude, if you think so. May be you can find a few people here in Argentine shouting and demanding that we should increase dramatically our investments on military forces, and until we do so they will continue ignoring our rightfull claims over Malvinas. But truth is that war is not the will of the majority. As clear as the huge majority’s will to recover the land that was stolen from us is, so it is the decision to make it by political, diplomatic, economic and peaceful means. This may look weak for some trolls (be they domestic or foreign), but it isn´t. Of course, this peace aim doesn’t mean that we are not going to defend our territories, goods and resources, even by force if necessary, and in that sense goes the strategic alliance with our partners. The whole LatAm has huge resources to stand for and to preserve for its own peoples and generations to come, Europe has exausted theirs… as stated by former president Lula when he said to former president N. Kirchner “Yes mate, I have Amazonia to defend too”
The world is changing, and is changing more fastly than you can imagine. And time is at our side, not theirs.
@23 Islander1 said “2- They both only mention FI Flags - get it? Don,t see it as any problem at all really, only thing that may change is the colour and pattern of the flag- get it yet do you?”
Yes my friend, that’s precisely the point… You seem to believe the brits propaganda that we are “blocking” the islands, which is not the case. We don’t wanna to starve the islanders, mate… after all, they ARE argentine countryfellows (even if they don’t want to and they speak english). What Mercosur is doing is a political and diplomatic not-recognition of any fantasy “Falkland” sovereign right, wich is it’s illegal use of self flag. By this, Mercosur is
1- Telling the world that no “Falkland” state will be ever recognized in South America.
2- Avoiding the brits to hide behind the islanders to stole our resources. So, they’ll have to
2- Avoiding the brits to hide behind the islanders to stole our resources. So, they’ll have to do it under their own flag, making crystal clear to everybody it’s anachronistic attempt to maintain a colony in the XXI century.
3- Increasing the economic and political costs of such a robbery.
In that sense are the measures taken, and those coming.
Greets.
Mercosur- well Brazil has been specifically silent has,nt she! Maybe some in mercosur are starting now to think- Ok we signed up in a rush to keep the crazy woman quiet - but - do we really want to get into a major row with the EU just when we want to have talks on Free Trade Status - you see the Falklands are an Approved Associate EU State - discriminate against us - and you could find the EU saying - “no go jose” on any trade links until you at least stop discriminating against an EU member. Dont forget its not just UK, you have also pissed Spain off a bit and they are questioning it as well.
UK exploiting the fish etc? Get a life - tell me the name please of just ONE trawler or fish freezer vessel that has sailed full from the zone here to UK for discharge there?
The clue is in the wording - Licences issued by FIG(our govt) to fish in the Falklands EEZ. Nothing to do with UK at all - other than their expertise advises us on how to operate the zone.
A Colony are we? They went out about 50yrs ago! Come on - I dare ANY of you to request for a fact finding impartial visit by OAS/UNASUR/Mercosur/UN 24 Committee etc etc!
@ 58 Stop fantasizing with Uruguay's friendship, Uruguay knows exactly what it is doing, and it's only business, when things get better in Europe, Uruguay will say: Argentina, shove it!
You'd better pray to your god that Cristina's government doesn't fail, because if it does, then those vultures you people are always talking about, will eat Argentina until there is nothing left of the country, and the only ones to blame will be you.
“ you see the Falklands are an Approved Associate EU State - discriminate against us - and you could find the EU saying - “no go jose” on any trade links until you at least stop discriminating against an EU member.”
Do you really think so? All trade links southamericans are interested in, are only trade links which benefitiates southamericans... EU is not so relevant in the new world, on the contrary, China, India are...
And UE has nothing to say in the Malvinas issue, since Malvinas are not in Europe (not even “Falklands” are :)) , haven't you realized it yet?
Yes, the clue is in the wording... “Licenses issued by FIG” Well, “FIG” is not a state, so “FIG” can't give licenses, and cant use self flag, and “FIG” doing that in a territory-sea under sovereignity dispute is inadmissible. And that is what SouthAmerica is saying.
As for what has EU to say, we'll see.
Greets, and Happy New Year to all of you.
//////
We now understand that you now agree that there are two islands
1, Falklands
2, Malvinas
Ones British
And the other one is argentine,
?????
.
Philippe
is a banana waiting to get out .
But as we all know Argentines are small minded thugs by and large who do not believe in rights do they.
They are dinosaurs.
They have yet to accept what those committed to reality have long accepted, ie;
Reality doesn't give a damn what Ideology believes in.
That includes the ideology of nationalism and communism.
Talk about two discredited institutions.
Anyway, as to Argentina, here are the facts.
It has no real military.
Lots of corrupt politicians, including, of course, CFK.
An fragmented, disunited body politic.
And lots and lots of valuable resources.
Meanwhile you have China, India, the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe, and the U.S. all competing for those resources.
Let's refer to those resources as a very pretty virgin girl who is being “protected” by a father who is essentially a Boludo.
Our pretty little virgin girl now finds herself surrounded by a pack of ravenous wolves who have been scouring the world in search of some “love.”
How long to you think this Boludo father can protect his child?
How long will she remain a virgin.
I have said it before and will say it again, Argentina will not last the first half of the 21st century. I see evidence of this everywhere I turn here.
If there are any Argentinians, or anyone else, out there reading this who can refute these facts and this argument, please do so and I will happily admit I was wrong and change my mind.
Greetz
Does this mean that even south africa is , Australia etc are also south americans because they too are in the southern hemisphere. My goodness one does crawl deep in ones own hole to come up with such crap.
Does it also mean that any island near another country belong to that country. Guess the cubans would love to be told that but I bet the Argentines have not got the guts to sugest it to them.
FIG is recognized by the UN as the local Govt. It is also recognized By Chile, Uruguay and Brazil Govt Customs etc whose goods are exported to us here. It is recognized by such nations as Taiwan,Japan,South Korea, China, Spain and all the others who apply to FIG for fishing licences.It is recognized by all nations cruise vessels who vist here. It is even recognized by Argentina private and light aircraft that fly to here - and must also be recognised by Arg flight authorities as you let thoxe planes back into Argentina with a Falkland Islands stamp in their logbook! Even your own War Families Commission recognises FIG and deals with it! As does every Argentine citizen who lands here and gets their passport stamped with a temporary immigration permit from the Falkland Islands Govt!
Do please check facts first!
Amazing how you made that up.
Rabble rabble rabble. More nonsense from squatters.
Strangely enough we Islanders deal in FACTS - Argentines seem to specialize in FANTASY and FICTION!
The Falklands are in the South Atlantic.
Maybe could be classed as South Americans.
Most definitely NOT Argentines.♥
My friends, I am enjoyed in Mar del Plata and South America, kelpers - capricious of the argentinian lands (british of the 4th cathegory, come back!).
We have nothing to fear, Argentina; it seems is the nation that is in meltdown and panicking,
The British government is quite prepared to sit back and do nothing, in retrospect of Argentina actions,
Their is enough military to deal with any attempt to attack the Falklands,
[Unless you feel lucky]
The fishing bit, will be sorted out, and the sabre rattling with go out of fashion, and CFK will just go away fed up, that nothing is going to work,
Unless Argentina can persuade the rest of S/A to back her claim with military help, and persuade the Americans to go on holiday,
And the commonwealth to turn a blind eye,
And the Europeans to [mmm] join the Americans on a beach somewhere,
Then quite honestly, as Argentina [today] is only prepared to talk,
Then all I can see , is that the Falklands will still be same 300years from now,
Unless you have other ideas .
....except for all the plastic in CFKs face, of course.
Funny and jokingly tell ghost stories,
We will keep Argentina guessing and on edge, keeping then nervously sweating , as to where we are, why we have not retaliated yet, what are we up to, what are we conspiring about ,
Everything they have tried so far, has either failed, fell on deaf ears or laughed at,
Keep them on their toes and watch CFK go potty , that’s far to much plastic for one woman,
After all, A woman that wants your blood
Is A woman worth keeping your pole neck sweater on for
Just a neckingly good thought
.
Argentina its a little cold miserable Island with a few Britts who call it home lol
yet argentina wants it,
its may be a good place to build the new space centre
launch pad, all that fuel next door,
but might be a bit to windy .
And Argentina is not having it.
Is really looking for her very own Action man
[ Timerman perhaps]
.
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