Argentine embassy confirms CFK will not attend Olympics opening in London
The British media have turned their eyes on Argentina which has decided not to send its president to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, considered a diplomatic snub to Britain at a time of growing tensions over the Falkland Islands.
The Foreign Office has boasted that London 2012 will attract more heads of state and foreign dignitaries than any other previous Olympic tournament. But Argentine president Cristina Fernández will be conspicuous only by her absence.
The Argentine embassy in London confirmed to The Independent that President Cristina Fernandez would not be attending at any point during the Games. The spokesman refused to be drawn on whether the decision was a deliberate diplomatic snub to Britain.
Nonetheless Argentina’s first female president has taken an increasingly hard line on the disputed Falkland Islands. The relationship between Britain and Argentina has soured considerably with Cristina Fernandez keen to place pressure on London on what is the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War.
Earlier this year the Argentine government contracted a provocative advertisement promoting their national team showing athletes training in the Falklands. The advert ran under the strap-line: “To compete on English soil, we train on Argentine soil.”
The Falkland Islands government responded angrily to the adverts and so did the Foreign Office and PM David Cameron during last month’s G20 in Mexico allegedly had a strong exchange with the Argentine president. The Falklands government replied announcing a referendum on the “political status” of the Islands sometime in the first half of 2013.
Argentina, meanwhile, has become increasingly hostile to Falkland Islanders preventing free trade, convincing neighboring countries to bar Falklands flagged vessels from their ports, impeding cruise ships that have called in the Falklands from docking in Argentine ports, limiting flights using Argentine space and has dropped cooperation agreements on fisheries and oil.
President Cristina Fernandez however called on Argentina’s athletes to refrain from making any overt political gestures during their time in London, a move which was welcomed by the International Olympic Committee.
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The British wouldn't see this as a snub, we're just thankful that we don't have to put up with the screeching harpy.
On the other hand if she leaves Argentina right now, she may not be President by the end of the games.
Coup anyone? LOL
If she believes her non appearance to be offensive then she needs her head to be examined. SHE IS NOT WELCOME HERE!!
No-one wanted the saggy old two-faced bag there anyway. She was only invited because the rules of the game dictate that she had to be invited.
The Olympics without the Argentine President would be like duck hunting without an accordian.
I wonder if that means that there's a head-of-state level courtesy ticket for the opening ceremony going spare? It'd be properly funny if as a response to our “snubbing” would be to give the ticket to one of the members of the Falklands Legislative Assembly instead, wouldn't it?
Brilliant!!! Yes give her ticket to an MLA
She is an example for the USA to follow austerity.
Representatives from the USA, such as Michelle Obama unnecessary costly trip only demostrates she simply does not care how much her trip cost to the poor USA taxpayers.
Michelle Obama is nothing more than a selfish woman who does not care about the US economy. She and her husband have taken several unneccessary trips during their 3 years in the White House just to show off.
hahaha
2, she can talk the talk but cant walk the walk, she knows on a diplomatic level she would be about as popular as Mugabe in the UK. 3, put simply she is a typical coward and she knows her olymplc athletes are shit, only fit for desacrating war memorials. Good riddance, neither she or so called athletes are welcome here.
What the fuck does that have to do with the olympics? Stop over to my poor country sometime.
#23 there will be many Argentine's there to do as you wish let's see if between you and coward #22 collect enough cojones to do something about it. Why don't you show everyone here how brits are full of hot air.
Im not sure where you are from but Cuba does very well as a British tourist destination already, i think your pushing on an open door with whatever meaningless point your trying to make.
No war, no weapons etc, just don't say anything bad about the government or you might have a “car accident” and have a couple of dozen of the mourners at your funeral arrested and held without charge for also saying bad things about the government.
Amnesty International Cuba: www.amnesty.org/en/region/cuba
Human Rights Watch Cuba: www.hrw.org/americas/cuba
Cuba is not as peaceful as UK, or even Argentina:
Global Peace Index (lower value is more peaceful):
UK: 29
Argentina: 44
Cuba: 70
However, while not as clean as UK, Cuba is less corrupt than Argentina:
Corruption Perception Index (higher value is less corrupt):
UK 7.8/10
Cuba 4.2/10
Argentina 3/10
If she could speak to the nation, she would come,
If she was welcomed by the queen, she would come,
If she called to address thousands of supporters [ha ha ] she would come,
If she could speak from number 10, she would come,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
But as it’s only her own countries national team,
Why bother .lolol.
.
In the words of my great great grandfather.....Fook Em!!!
go visit Cuba. ;D. No war, no weapons, no terror threats, no missiles, no crazy shooters, no random strip searches, no perverts, no harassment at the airport, no long waits, no brits, and beautiful peaceful people everywhere. How can you go wrong? Cuba is the best, London sucks and smells bad.
we're not listening for several reasons Pirat, the foremost being that you just keep on....and on....and on reapeating yourself. WE HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME YOU BORING TWAT.
As the British government has not invited her, it cannot be a snub,
.
go visit Cuba. ;D. No war, no weapons, no terror threats, no missiles, no crazy shooters, no random strip searches, no perverts, no harassment at the airport, no long waits, no brits, and beautiful peaceful people everywhere. How can you go wrong? Cuba is the best, London sucks and smells bad.
#36 I hear the brits repeat the same things all the time so I figure I join them and see how much you like it. Not cool is it. Maybe talking about Libya will help before saying anything about CFK, remember p she doesn't. Kill Muslims children or rapes muslim women nor does she arm terrorists to kill children in lybia, afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, somalia and now Syria. Hearing is not the same as listening.
OTOH... ON THE FIRST DAY of the games what I predicted would happen, DID!!
sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics--north-korea-women-s-soccer-team-delays-match-after-south-korea-flag-error.html
hahahahahah... of course the Brits here completely disregarded my prediction... if the organizers could make such a fundamental mistake as playing the APARTHEID anthem to the South African field hockey team, it was easy to predict they would make other “unfortunate errors”.
I have to hand it to the Brits, these are not just “any” mistakes, they are in a league of their own considering the circumstances they occur!! (apartheid anthem to a 50% black SA team, now the South Korean flag on the North Korean player profiles... )
LOL, pretty poor job
As I have been saying, no one in Argentina cares about the olympics, never have.
As I said in another thread, CFKC doesn't have the cojones to face Cameron, it has nothing to do with saving money. She is quick enough to use the Presidential aircraft for shopping trips to new York and to fly her big -in every sense of the word - baby of a son around when he had kneeache - what a waste of money! The truth is she does not play well away from her domestic market and looks a rank amateur on the world stage.
@44 I agree the Korean flag mix-up was a shambles. Could you imagine two more inappropriate countries to insult in this way? It did make the news in a big way here and I suspect there are some diplomatic soothing noises being made to both countries today.
As for no one in Argentina caring about the Olympics - you cannot speak for 40 million people. It simply isn't true that everyone in Argentina thinks the way you do.
No terror threats in Cuba? Who needs terror threats when you get thrown in prison, without charge, for daring to question the authority of your despotic president?
Is your heart broken, now that your idol is not coming to see you?
Well, she wasn't exactly coming to see you but you could have coom down to London to see the Queens(ours & yours!).♥
North Korea: They need to get over it, half their countries title is the same as the one it was mixed up with! This lot love throwing their toys out of the pram for stupid reasons, but never shed a tear for the starving millions in their own country!
Hahahaha, typical jingoist in denial, your country screws up, can't admit it. At least I will credit Elaine for being more corageous than the men here.
So just because you disagree with their system it makes it legitimate to humiliate them? Once again another of my theories becomes law, I've always said that the Brits and Europeans in general pretend to respect other nations more than the Americans, but deep down they believe themselves superior and as such we see the mistakes like the Apartheid anthem and now this.
And this kind of haughty insouciance from people who get offended mightily if foreigners mix up the terms “England, United Kingdom, GRB, Britain, Chavland”, whatever... something that is far more complicated and silly to be quite honest for foreigners to grasp or care about (all of those entities are controlled by the same government), than just a simple flag which I bet 8 year olds with any interest in geography would have not mixed up.
No one denies it was a cock up, what we are saying is that we don't care. Cock ups happen at every Olympic games, so if you really want to be noticed you need to 'flamingo up'. It's like a cock up only much larger! If you really want to go for gold you need to 'Emu up' or even 'Ostrich up.' which of course are like the daddy's of all cock ups.
By the way you Argentines are very bad at geography. You are always talking about a group of islands called 'the Malvinas', which don't appear on any map. Perhaps you just dreamt them or made them up?
You also talk about respect. Well Tobias, Argentines are the most arrogant nation on earth who shows no respect for anyone, especially your neighbours. Poor Uruguay having to live next door to the lying, backstabbing neighbours, who talk about unity and brotherhood one minute, then stab you in the back the next.
Thank God the screeching harpy CFK is staying in Argentina, although I do feel sorry for the ordinary Argentine citizen who has to put up with it.
You wouldn't like them, Tobias, as they are poor and we all know that you hate them.
The ordinary argie is richer than 4 in 5 people alive today. Hardly poor. It would be like saying England is a no-one in football because they have only 1 world cup. Well that's one more than 95% of the other countries, so you aren't that bad. Perspective, my recluse.
Yes Mr TTT 4 in 5 but compared to us in the UK, any way why are you acting as if anyone here in the UK other then the government, the sponsors and Lord Coe actually cares about the games? I don't give a damn and I personally feel that its a load of hype about a sporting event that will be mostly won by the Black athletes doing the 100 Metres- not racist but its a fact. No here cares either Mr TTT. And if you don't care then why are you on an article about the olympics and leaving comment's? I'm only here because I presumed that it might mention all the problems including the N/S Korea flag cock up, which is actually quite funny.
The ordinary Argentine is richer than 4 in 5 people alive today! Considering the the world population is 6.9 billion, 80% puts you richer than 8.6 billion. It's time you slither out from under that rock of yours. I've seen that ramshackle of a barrio in Buenos Aires coming in the the Airport off the highway.....known as villa 31. I've seen the 6 year old kids up north running up to cars at lights barefooted dancing for money. Argentines may be better off (not richer) than a lot of people.......80% is jsut not the magic number.
go visit Cuba. ;D. No war, no weapons, no terror threats, no missiles, no crazy shooters, no random strip searches, no perverts, no harassment at the airport, no long waits, no brits, and beautiful peaceful people everywhere. How can you go wrong? Cuba is the best, London sucks and smells bad.
#36 I hear the brits repeat the same things all the time so I figure I join them and see how much you like it. Not cool is it. Maybe talking about Libya will help before saying anything about CFK, remember she doesn't. Kill Muslims children or rapes muslim women nor does she arm terrorists to kill children in lybia, afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, somalia and now Syria.
Have you told the free people of Libya that you consider them terrorists. or the Free Syrian Army Fighters that they are terrorists. What do you refer to your Ex Junta as, patriots??????
Why are all of you so enfatuated with the villas, which are not even 10% of housing in the country? That means over 90% don't live in them.
80% is the correct number, sorry. I've seen the shacks along the rails in the USA, the “new poor”... the “zombies” begging for cash in the scenes of New York on television... the crumbling cities of the so-called “rust belt”, etc.
The USA may be the “richest” country because of overall GDP, but the people there are far from enjoying life. 40% in the latest report are under government assistance. 40% of Americans? You call that prosperity?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18995166
“In an interview with NBC on Thursday, Mr Romney said stories about difficulties with security guards and threats of border staff strikes were ”obviously... not something which is encouraging“.
”The UK is struggling to hold the event“.
LOL!
Of course he back-tailed it when he met with I'm sure a ”jolly” Cameron, hahahaha. This is all too funny. With allies like that (the US), you might as well hook up with your enemy (Argie).
“...Hours later, London Mayor Boris Johnson played on Mr Romney's earlier comments while revving up a crowd of thousands of people in London's Hyde Park.
Calling London ”the greatest city on earth,“ Mr Johnson told the crowd: ”I hear there's a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we're ready. Are we ready?...”
This is anglo-saxon comedy at its best!
Chuckle chuckle!!
go visit Cuba. ;D. No war, no weapons, no terror threats, no missiles, no crazy shooters, no random strip searches, no perverts, no harassment at the airport, no long waits, no brits, and beautiful peaceful people everywhere. How can you go wrong? Cuba is the best, London sucks and smells bad.
I hear the brits repeat the same things all the time so I figure I join them and see how much you like it. Not cool is it. Maybe talking about Libya will help before saying anything about CFK, remember she doesn't. Kill Muslims children or rapes muslim women nor does she arm terrorists to kill children in lybia, afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, somalia and now Syria.
You're pathetic racism and homophobia means that no one cares what you think. I advice everyone to ignore this man then he'll go away.
Have you ever been to Cuba? Beautiful island but the people live like animals. Maybe you were on a nice all-inclusive vacation, the guy who served your drinks really appreciated your dollar tips so he cold augment the octopus he brought home to his family at night. By the way, you don't have much time left to collect your reparations money when you were molested in the injun school, better hurry up! I bet you were careful about bending over to pick up the soap there you hard done by racist piece of shite.
What do you care Mr TTT? Your an isolationist remember, so concentrate on Argentina, as I said ”Bread Basket of South America if you put your mind to it.
Oh and by the way for everyone else: if you are tired of Pirat constantly repeating himself then ignore every comment he makes.
People have rights to express their beliefs. Is called Freedom of Speech.
Yes they do Miss Sussie but if those are horribly offensive and rude much like you comments then a line needs to be drawn.
Yes, good luck to all the athletes.
How could BK's beloved “queen” live with the indignity of having to acquiese to this, even though Brasil's president did.
Hope wins Brazil, though. And las leonas.
Olympic football is meant to encourage young footballers and the number of older players in the squad is limited for that reason.
Its also your chance. You must win sth in football one day :))
And Messi is winning money for his squad in friendly matches, respected wherever he goes, waiting a baby, and has told he doesnt like to play in Britain, he prefers Spain, so its not lossing much I think.
Thank you for giving us a chance! lol.
At least you have a sense of humour.
Very handsome the arg hockey boys of Arg, where were they hide?? I mean they are not popular here, like football. Saw the first time and they were great. They put all their effort, they run it all, they were fighting and never give it up, there was so much pressure, so good seeing them and many arg sport men and women, with so many less economic possibilities doing there best. And you see not talking of Malvinas. We dont need that.
I was in Argentina when your hockey hero's commercial was first aired, and I saw the adulation everyone had for him at the time. It didn't last very long! Most wondered why he was training in England, they had trouble being convinced he was in the Falklands. I nearly choked on my Quilmes Stout when I saw it but I felt so much shame for my friends that I didn't feel it was necessary to chastise them over it, the following months and years will be hard enough for them to stomach.
I find very few talking about that latter (except in MP), more interesting events happenning in Arg this year.
Sure you have been in Arg?? Perhaps it was only to much beer.
Don't play stupid! You know very well when the commercial was first played and the reaction it had, Futbol Para Todos, I'm sure it was seen by most of the country during one of the government propaganda commercial breaks. You've never seen me insult Argentine beer on this site, it is very good, the new Quilmes Stout is quite good although I don't know what Cristina thinks about such an unpatriotic British-inspired brew being sold in stores. I think Z-Berg was probably so embarrassed about what he was duped into doing that he chose not to go.
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