MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Except for defence, Falklands don’t need anything from any country, says MLA Sawle
The Falklands don’t need anything from any country, not even England, said Dick Sawle elected member of the Falklands Legislative Assembly, although admitting that the Islands do rely on the UK for protection. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesgreat this can only mean UK will have a plane fly all the way from UK to Malvinas rather then use LatinAmerica's airports.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 07:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0Already do! 3 times a fortnight. Talk about it increasing :-)
Feb 07th, 2012 - 08:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0Thank you Dick! Now please tell all the whingers here that because the likes of Lord Ton are complaining about an alleged economic blockade.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 08:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0Tell us what? He didn't say anything about the economic blockade. He chose to talk about more constructive things, and good for him.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 09:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, blockading trade with South America Helber. Call it what you like, but in the real world what Argentina is trying to organise is a blockade.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 09:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0JA Roberts,
Feb 07th, 2012 - 09:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0Read what Dick has to say:
MALVINAS DON”T NEED ANYTHING FROM ANY COUNTRY
Therefore, according to Dick they don't need to trade with S.America.
You don't agree? Take it up with Dick
Apparently this link is vital, otherwise the Islanders will go without
Feb 07th, 2012 - 09:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0Fresh Eggs, Bananas, Grapes, Peaches, Plums, Nectarines, Strawberries and some fresh vegetables.
Is this correct?
Apparently this link is vital, otherwise the Islanders will go without
Feb 07th, 2012 - 09:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0Fresh Eggs, Bananas, Grapes, Peaches, Plums, Nectarines, Strawberries and some fresh vegetables.
Well some minus well inform Dick about because he seems to think otherwise...
There is still shipping between the Falklands and South America.. The blockade is pretty toothless
Feb 07th, 2012 - 10:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0Was Mr.Sawle writing from his mansion in Britain, his house in Spain or his little house in Porto Stanley?
Feb 07th, 2012 - 10:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0lol
8
Feb 07th, 2012 - 10:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0Simply trying to establish the facts.
Its just that fresh eggs, strawberries and fresh vegetables shouldn't be too much of a problem for the Islanders to produce themselves with a bit of investment. As for bananas, grapes and stoned fruit, well nice if you can get them but are they really that important.
As for the relatives of the Argentinian soldiers they would still be able to visit the Islands but would simply have to fly to the Islands via London.
So I hesitate to say this but from a purely practical, non-political view point, is the air link with Chile that important?
What are the Islanders views?
The air link isn't vital.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 11:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0It's important because Islanders like to visit South America and many people have family and business connections there.
It's also important for the Chileans who live here.
It's also important for Argentines who want to visit.
In the long run, isolating the FI from South America is a mistake on the part of Argentina as it makes us more dependent on the UK and other places north for imports. It gives them less leverage, not more. It also encourages us to be more self- sufficient.
The fresh produce thing is a side issue. Quite a lot is now coming in on the oil flight.
Dick Sawle was talking about not depending on anyone in a financial sense. Everyone needs to trade, as even the most infantile Argentine blogger knows. we would all much rather it was with SA. If Argentina chooses to stop that, then it can try. It won't hurt much, but it will be very sad for all of us.
TBH, Monty69, I don't think the flight by LAN to the Malvinas will be cut.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 11:06 am - Link - Report abuse 012
Feb 07th, 2012 - 11:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0Good to get the Islanders perspective because at the end of the day, they are the only people who matter in all this. Thanks Monty.
Helber, whether the Falkland Islanders need anything or not from South America does not change the fact that Argentina is trying to organise a blockade.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 12:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Great, so “deep inside” they are all British? Deep outside too. This “falklander” was born in the UK not long ago and now claims to be as distinct as necessary to claim self determination. Interesting twist. Deep inside... Wow, politicians...
Feb 07th, 2012 - 12:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As it's been shown that carpet bombing a nation tends to push the population to greater unity and resistance - what on earth will be achieved by depriving mourning Argentines, working Chileans and falklanders of the odd strawberry?
Feb 07th, 2012 - 01:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's just silly.
Argentina's whole attitude is silly.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 01:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Like a spoilt child.
I'm sorry Alejo, but isn't “Martinez” Spanish? So if your outside is Spanish, how deep does that penetrate? How many centimetres under your skin do YOU become Argentine then?
Feb 07th, 2012 - 01:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@16 How intelligent of you! Richard Sawle has been in the Falkland Islands for 26 years. And how old are you? How long do you have to have lived somewhere before you become a Falkland Islander or an argie?
Feb 07th, 2012 - 02:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“MLA” Sawle is a British subject who arrived to the Islands in 1986 to work there and now speaks about “his” islands and invoke that there are “three” parties in the conflict. Curious “self-determination”...
Feb 07th, 2012 - 02:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Isnt Kircher a proud third generation Argentine? Maybe she should go back to Spain.....interesting to see Argentines continue their hypocrisy at every level.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 02:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Dick Sawle is provincial English from a conservative agricultural tradition.There is no sense in which he is malvinero or anything other than English(as opposed to British).There are some chilenos on the islands that are near to being malvinero than Sawle.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 02:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It is significant that he confirms the islanders cannot defend themselves.I'm sure they need the UK to do that function as no other country would defend the occupation of the islands.That is real point of the occupation.It needs to be maintained by force(while ever it can)
Who? ahhh, another Englishman turist in Argentina, Dick....Sawle.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 03:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Sorry, but is Kohen a native american surname?
Feb 07th, 2012 - 03:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“We do not depend on any country, not even England, expect for their defence of the Islands, necessary due to Argentina’s aggression in the past, which has continued since 1982,”
Feb 07th, 2012 - 03:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0WHAT???!! Aggression from Argentinian side has continued?? Where has this man been since 1982? hasn't he read a newspaper at least? What aggression??
Argentina has claimed PEACEFULLY in the last years and this is what gets this right-wingers angry. They hate diplomacy.
What does ”WE DO NOT DEPEND ON ANY COUNTRY“ mean?
Doesn't he know there is something called GLOBALIZATION?
How funny, he thinks he lives in a DEMOCRACY while the floor the kelpers are standing on is specifically said to belong to the Queen, expressed like this by the British Government a few weeks ago.
It is funny how these people see LIFE IN TERMS OF WAR, I can notice when they see diplomacy as a ”WAR OF WORDS” Can somebody tell this man that there are different types or relationships between societies apart from WAR?
Argentina's constitution as it is today can assure the people living at the islands their british tradition, their choice to do commerce with foreign countries and even give them places at the Argentinian Congress, like any other province.
And it wouldn't be the first province in Argentina where there are several official languages.
26 fermin (#). What country do you live in??? You know as well as I do that what is written with the right hand is rubbed out with the left. Dishonesty is a way of life in Argentina, and as for the Constitution it was changed with Menem and now they want to change it again. Argentina is incapable of keeping agreements, and no guarantees for the Islanders would ever be kept.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 03:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0M_of_I and Roberts: the point is not whether Sawle or Kirchner is 3rd generation or so (definitively Mr Sawle is a British subject born in the Metropole who went to the Islands as many British subjects to work there and now speaks on behalf of the inhabitants, claiming self-determination in order to remain British). Even less whether my name is native South American...
Feb 07th, 2012 - 04:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 026 fermin
Feb 07th, 2012 - 05:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0WHAT???!! Aggression from Argentinian side has continued?? Where has this man been since 1982? hasn't he read a newspaper at least? What aggression??
Have a word with 23 Yuleno
It is significant that he confirms the islanders cannot defend themselves.I'm sure they need the UK to do that function as no other country would defend the occupation of the islands.That is real point of the occupation.It needs to be maintained by force(while ever it can)
This is a question for any Argentine on here.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 05:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Are immigrants allowed to stand for election in Argentina, or do you have to have been born there?
That's it.
30 Monty69
Feb 07th, 2012 - 05:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Technically they are all immigrants Monty. So i doubt they have such a law. Only a few decades ago more than half the country were born in Europe, even their presidents parents arrived from Europe. It's not a real nation.
The Argentines are not a real nation, their country has only existed for about 175 years. Most Argentines trace their family history to Italy, Spain, Germany and the British Isles. The only real Argentines are the Amerindians and their nation is the entire continent of America.
The Argentines I know have Italian mothers, English father, Spanish grandfathers, German grandmothers, Welsh great great uncles. It's technically impossible to claim Argentines are a nation.
They also have the most comically fascist like government on the entire continent. Their entire policy agenda revolves around a group of islands they work 24/7 to alienate the population of. While spreading lies and peddling rants about “the British” that make Mugabe look normal by comparison.
Latin Americans find Argentina an alien culture, its a colonial relic, a piece of Europe transplanted onto a continent thousands of miles away. The culture is Latin European, with a touch of English and Welsh. It certainly bears no resemblance to its neighbors in Paraguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, or Peru.
Even the Argentine honour guards wear colonial uniforms copied from the British and Spanish Imperial era.
They are a throwback to another age. An age of fascism.
Kohen, Dick Sawle was born in Britain, but he came to the Falklands Islands to work. He wasnt implanted he came by his own choice and he has remained in the Falklands since. During that time he became a Resident of the Falklands, allowing him permanent residence in the Falklands. This is a fairly common concept all around the world, inparticularly in Argentina. Dick Sawle was elected by the people of the Falklands (I voted for him). The Falkland Islanders would not vote for him if he wanted to be anything other than British. Maybe you are unfamiliar with democracy....
Feb 07th, 2012 - 06:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If Argentina just left them alone, all this would go away, would it not,
Feb 07th, 2012 - 06:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So who is to blame for the continued aggression and threats to the islanders,
And that same nation, could end this and return the place to peaceful tranquillity again,
So why does she persist on the relentless
Stalking of the islands,
.
So when did the Kohens go to Argentina and when exactly did they start being Argentines? One rule for the Kohens and a different rule for the Sawles it seems...
Feb 07th, 2012 - 07:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 034#in case you haven't noticed citizens have a country.The Malvinas are not a country.There could not be a falkland citizen as it is under British rule with the pretense of having the abiliy of self determination
Feb 07th, 2012 - 08:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I heard LTA Prick Sawle on the radio a couple of days ago, he has got a good argentinan accent
Feb 07th, 2012 - 08:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Malvinas are not a country
Feb 07th, 2012 - 09:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0malvina does not exist,
and even if the falklands are a british colony, and part of the british rmpire and are british,?
you still have no rights to them .
Yuleno, self determination is a universal right, not a pretence. And you have obviously never heard of Falkland Island Status. The Falkland Islanders do have their own form of citizenship on top of being British.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 09:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0To all the argentines posting here. The brits offered us twice to talk about the islands, also to handle the islands to Argentina. The last time was during Peron's last government. What we did? we invaded the islands with the full support from mostly all the people. We lost the war, Period. I believe the time for islanders to say “To hell with you” is NOW. They must forget about all the nonsense from Argentina and go ahead with their live and their country, the Falkland Islands. They have the universal right to self determination.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 11:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0about all the nonsense from Argentina and go ahead with their live and their country, the Falkland Islands. They have the universal right to self determination.
Feb 07th, 2012 - 11:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Argentines too.And WE WANT OUR PROPERTY BACK!
@AndyMac: Why don't you talk about things you know...
Feb 08th, 2012 - 12:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0What a bunch of fantasy items at your comment!
Argentina has very strong european culture influences, of course, but be sure that another latinamerican countries also have them, in Peru, Mexico, Colombia, etc. colonialism was really strong, not like in this part of Latinamerica.
And if it was true what you say, nowadays Argentinian culture is looking like never before into its native aspects.
AND... if it is about immigrants, they can even come and study at our universities FOR FREE.
And about the voting thing: if you go to the past you will find that an important part of these european masses of immigrants where communists, anarchists, and they had ideologies that went agains the system in Europe. Argentina gave them a place far from war (and hunger in many cases) and involved them into a political democratic system very soon. With Education, not with fascist and aggressive nationalism like in the Europe of middle-wars time.
the World needs PEACE, or at least not so many wars every year. The british conservative governors in London have always user WARS to seize land, to get resources, to dominate another cultures. TODAY it is THE SAME....
What a pity, Governments like Cameron's one only give more fuel to WARS.
The word “Diplomacy” is not in their dictionaries.
It is amazing how much this English people LOVE WAR!!. I wonder how many of them will go to fight for this LOST CAUSE. I understand their MALE PRIDE and with this I include WOMEN too.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 12:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0How much you have invested in WEAPONS since 1945 ? Who got the money of this business ? I bet all of the Brits who are involved in this discussion did.
What do you mean you did not ??????
Read it. Argentina will not go to a war. you are pushing it. Have ever try to use your
brain for once?
41 fermin
Feb 08th, 2012 - 12:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0Diplomacy might be in your dictionary, but it must have a different definition to the one in mine. Likewise 'peace'.
Yes, Malvinero (#40) I want my property back, just as you. I want back the glaciers, the money the K sent overseas (it was from our taxes), and everything this government have given away. What I will never do is requesting for something I have no rights, as Falkland Islands.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 12:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0http://www.falklandshistory.org/spanish4.pdf
Malvinero. The Falklands were never Argentine. They were not your property. Anyway, talking about giving peoples property back, when are you Argies going to give back all the property you stole from the native South Americans?
Feb 08th, 2012 - 09:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0Malvinero1,
Feb 08th, 2012 - 10:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0What about the land that Argentina STOLE from Paraguay in 1871?
They want their property back, also. Hypocrite.
When the British arrived to the islands in 1833 they expelled the Argentine authorities present there. When the Argentine took possession of the Islands inherited to Spain, they did not expel anyone. When Argentina immediately protested in 1833, the British said “the matter is closed”. Self-determination is a very important right and fundamental principle of contemporary international law. The point Islanders seem to ignore is that not any human community is holder of that right. It is not enough to say “we are a people entitled to self-determination”. Despite all British efforts, the UN has not applied self-determination to the case of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).
Feb 08th, 2012 - 01:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Illegal colonial pirate population in occupation of our islands and seas since before our country even existed must be removed by force.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 02:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They will be given choice be reborn Argentine like true hero James Peck, he turned his back on his dead father who was traitor during Malvinas War and helped British. James unlike his father Terry is brave and heroic Argentine.
If you do not with to be reborn you will be destroyed. We know well how to treat civilians who are traitors of Argentina. We have long record of destorying all traces of them.
Filippo's comment is just a provocation, or most probably something invented by people who try to show Argentines in a particular way that does not correspond to reality.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 03:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Anyway, a resounding silence from our Argentine friends. I'm guessing immigrants aren't second class citizens in Argentina, as they aren't here.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 03:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0At least you've all stopped blithering on about where Dick Sawle was born.
The point surely is that he is our elected representative. We voted for him, and we don't care where he was born. And you can all just mind your own business.
30 Monty69 (#) to run for President you have to be Argentine born (Jus Solis), furthermore until Menem changed the constitution (he was a Muslim converted to RC) you couldn't be President unless you were RC. The fact is that we non-RCs were all second rate citizens till Menem changed it.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 04:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Monty69: that's not at all the point. You have a British subject (Mr Sowle) who comes to the islands and keeps his nationality. Exactly if a British subject born in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) fixes his/her domicile in London: he/she keeps his /her nationality. If an Argentine say born in Buenos Aires fixes his/her domicile in Salta, he ceases to vote in Buenos Aires and votes in Salta. There are no “Falklander” People in the sense of International Law, ie entitled to self-determination.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 06:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 052 Marcelo Kohen
Feb 08th, 2012 - 07:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You're quite wrong. A UK person moving to the Falkland Islands keeps his UK citizenship, as we all do, and would wherever we went. He doesn't have the right to vote unless he acquires Falkland Island Status, and to do that he has to satisfy very strict immigration conditions, including being a permanent resident of quite a few years standing. The other thing you can do in the interim is apply for a permanent residence permit, but those aren't easy to come by either.
Anyway, are you an international lawyer? Only the UN named us recently as one of 16 territories that could exercise their right to self determination and cease to be colonies (press release of the UN Decolonisation Committe 2010). Your argument is spurious, because we are a distinct people as far as having anything in common with Argentina goes. We don't, and we'd keep on turning up to the UN asking for our freedom.
you cannot argue with a computer,
Feb 08th, 2012 - 07:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0as its only as good as the person who puts the info into it,
so argentine indocrination cannot be over ruled,
or can it,
53Monty69 don't worry, I know the regulations quite well. I know that the conditions are very strict. A British administrative decision to decide that a British subject has the right to vote in the islands in order to decide that the Islands must remain British. Quite understandable that the UN has not recognised that self-determination is applicable in the Falkland Islands.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 09:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Oh dear, I can see you have no idea about how overseas territories are governed or their constitutional relationship with the UK.
Feb 08th, 2012 - 09:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You can carry on parading your ignorance for us all to enjoy or you can educate yourself, it's all the same to me.
Personally I think it does us more good the more we can have a good giggle at you.
BTW would you like the link to that press release?
Argentina is more of a real nation than Israel or Taiwan, and certainly more so than a joke nation like Puerto Rico.
Feb 09th, 2012 - 05:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0As for Britain, well, it has little culture left. British culture today consist mostly of trashy reality TV and pure naffness. The British despise creativity, having a very poor visual sense and a philistine belief that the more crap something looks, the more “substance” it has.
@57 Suguler,
Feb 09th, 2012 - 08:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0And thats the way we like it. So whats it got to do with you?
Monty69, no need to be aggressive. Even more: your message passes better if you are not. Please, provide that press release. It will be a pleasure to comment it. I know the relationship between the metropole and the BOT. It doesn't change anything about the fact that the current inhabitants of the Islands are not holders of the right to self-detemination. If you read Spanish, have a look at an excellent article of the Peace Nobel Prize and President of Timor Leste, José Ramos Horta: http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-187248-2012-02-09.html His country was the last NSGT to be decolonised.
Feb 09th, 2012 - 09:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0Hello monty69.Hope you are having a good 2012.
Feb 09th, 2012 - 07:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What I would like to highlight in this thread is that the author commented on is a British subject who located himself on the islands in the employment with the British government.He didn't emigrate to the islands.He could return to the UK tomorrow if he wished.Many Israelites also have dual citizenship to keep the advantages of their original nationality.But the people of the Malvinas don't have citizenship in the Malvinas.
I always think of the Cuban crisis,and how the west felt perfectly justified in their response to a bilateral agreement of two independent states.If you can see the concerns of the USA as genuine in that instances,then you must be able to ,at least,recognise the same principles of concern in this instance.
This does not,of course,mean that I view the situation with the Malvinas as anything other than an occupation by a foreign country,but I make this illustration just to try to get a little bit of understanding of argentina's situation.The refusal to negotiate can only justify Argentina in viewing the occupation as a hostile situation which is threatening to global peace.
never listen/never learn
Feb 09th, 2012 - 10:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0wait and see what the UN does
this will be very interesting
2012 the year of the british
and the end of CFK perhaps .
@61 briton: the UN is also not a very democratic institution.
Feb 09th, 2012 - 11:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The structure of the Security Council keeps the status quo for a lot of unfair situations in this world.
The more power you give to civilizations like the British ones the worse the results are...
This is the UN we have, and this is the world today: hunger, poverty, pollution.
Let's go on administrating the world resources from Washington, London, Moscow, etc and we will destroy the planet soon.
The UK conservative Government, with its dislike for diplomacy/human rights/democracy is a threaten to the world.
62 fermin
Feb 10th, 2012 - 12:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0if the UN was that bad, why is CFK going there,
if the UN has problems, then untill people come up with a better one, then this one will have to do,
britain, does not have more power, in fact britain has less power now in the world that it did say 30 years ago ,
as for the destruction of the planet, while i agree that we humand are doing bad things, please dont go around blaming the british, we are doing more than some to be greener, and besides, china and india are the world formost poluters are they not ,
the british have nothing to talk about, and as for human rights, i would strongly suggest then you compare the human rights record of argentina first .
Great, so “deep inside” they are all British? Deep outside too. This “falklander” was born in the UK not long ago and now claims to be as distinct as necessary to claim self determination. Interesting twist. Deep inside... Wow, politicians!!!
Feb 11th, 2012 - 04:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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