MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands celebrates March referendum success with a new coin issue
The Treasury of the Falklands Islands Government has issued a new coin whose main focus is that of the March referendum when the population was asked about the status of the Islands and overwhelmingly voted to remain as a British Overseas Territory.
The turnout was 92% and 99% of ballots confirmed British Territory status. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesWhat a great looking coin, I love the sign post.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 08:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0I might even purchase the '2013 Referendum Uncirculated Cupro Nickel Coin' for £12.46, the silver version is a bit too expensive at £58.29.
http://www.pobjoy.com/ukworld/section.php/1412/0
FIG should send one to CFK for her collection! At least it would be worth more than any Argie coinage!!
Jun 12th, 2013 - 10:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0How long before the RG's complain to the UN?
Jun 12th, 2013 - 11:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0How dere zeez people who don't exist, issue this coin that has been declared illegal by ze. UN.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 12:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Islanders issue a coin celebrating their love of self-determination.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 01:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Argentines issue a coin celebrating their love of fascism.
What an atrocious piece of artwork, did the mint use the rough sketch instead of the finished?
Jun 12th, 2013 - 02:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They could be forgiven if this was a result of a primary school art competition……that's about the standard!
Did the Islanders not get the Squaddie joke…..This place is the back end of nowhere and the best thing about it is directions off it! No wonder the squaddies used to refer to the locals as “Bennies” from the village idiot character from the British soap, Crossroads!
Now they call them stills, why is that you say? Because they are still bennies.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 03:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Dutch : Cloggies.
Germans : Box heads.
Americans : Spams.
French : Frogs.
Russians : Ivans.
And of course Argentines : RG's
Servicemen have always use nick names.
Rifle : Gat
Sleeping bag : Green slug.
Tea/Coffee : Brew.
Food : Scoff.
Officer : Rodney, Zob, Space Cadet.
RMP : Meat heads.
Etc, etc, etc.
The nick name Benny came from their accents and the woollen hats they wore made famous by the character, the hats are still referred to has a Benny hats.
@6 - A Voice of Thinks
Jun 12th, 2013 - 03:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Still trying to sow discord by pretending to be British?
Poor attempt Think. Pehaps you should invent a new sock puppet to agree with this one, but don't forget to log out before replying to yourself.
As for the coin, it's a classic. I collect coins, and I will certainly be adding this one to my collection.
@7
Jun 12th, 2013 - 03:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Dutch : Cloggies.
Germans : Box heads........??? don't you mean Krauts
Americans : Spams.
French : Frogs.
Russians : Ivans.
And of course Argentines : RG's
Falklanders : Bennies (Village idiot)
@8
Now why doesn't that surprise me......a collector......train spotter too perhaps??
No, I meant Box head a bastardised version of the American Square head, Kraut was also an American nickname.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 04:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Any idea why Spam?
If I remember right, Cross Roads was set in Birmingham, hardly a village and Benny was the motels handy man, not village idiot.
Benny was a much loved character, “ain't that right Miss Dianne!”
7 reality check
Jun 12th, 2013 - 04:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I thought that Americans were called :- Yanks, after Yankee
Germans, I thought were called Block Heads by British POW's in the 2nd world war
Tea/Coffee : Brew / wets
Food : Scoff / scran
Am I close or no where near???
@9 A_Voice of Thinks
Jun 12th, 2013 - 04:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Well since you are desperately trying to somehow pretend you're British (I can understand why, who would want to admit to being Argentine?), and failing miserably you can hardly judge others.
My coin collection is worth an awful lot of money. Most of the collection is either pure silver or gold (that's 24 carat to you think), and it is an investment as well as a nest egg.
No I don't 'spot' trains. They all look the same to me, a bit like all your sock puppets
Think.
Your obvious jealousy of the Falklands shines through loudly in every word you type.
@10 RC
You're, or course, quite correct about Crossroads. And about Box head's. Think desperately tries to make his sock puppets appear British to try and undermine the British position.
However, it would take a better Thinker that him to do that. Thinks sock-puppeting isn't what it used to be.
Yep correct, names varied, Americans are called Yanks though I once served with an American from the South, who hated being called a Yank, bloody loved to be called Reb though. They referred to us as Brits.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 04:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Spam is an uncomplimentary nick name, stands for Super Plastic American Male.
As is their use of the name Limey, which is really old. Believe they adopted it because RN ships were always looking to buy Limes, which as we know was to prevent scurvy.
@10
Jun 12th, 2013 - 04:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Read this.........
“ However, the most memorable character proved to be the 'village idiot' Benny Hawkins, whose trademark was a woolly hat worn all year round. His fans included British troops serving in the Falklands War in 1982, who nicknamed the Falkland Islanders Bennies after the character. Instructed to stop using the name, the troops came up with ”Stills“ for locals - because they were ”still Bennies”.
Squatters hire a private group to observe referendum which no other country in the world really cares about .
Jun 12th, 2013 - 04:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Squatters mint a pretentious coin which practically nobody really cares or knows about(except some nerd types).
.
The world sits up !!....and doesn't notice .
@15
Jun 12th, 2013 - 04:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Meanwhile, of course, the world and its dog is up in arms that an attempted influx of Argentine rapists and murderers were politely invited to sling their hook off somebody else's islands some two centuries ago.
Wiki I suppose? Know about the orders to stop calling the Islanders Bennies, why do you think I referred to them as stills.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 05:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you knew anything about the British serviceman, you would know that if you have a nick name, your one of guys. I served with guys who's first names I never ever used and in some cases never knew. Nobody conciously gives them they just evolve.
There we go, speaking for the rest of the world again, hence, he/she is an arrogantine, simples how it works, really simple.
16 - and Im sure the world cares about '82.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 05:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0... or is a certain country gradually forgetting about you guys down there.
no triumphalism to be had - so couldnt care less.
Lots of young folks visiting ??
@17
Jun 12th, 2013 - 05:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Hey Jones the Sweep.....Ivor the Engine
What are you trying to infer? that you were one of the squaddies at the campaign.
I beg to differ this was no nickname for your mates, this was a derisive collective proper noun/adjective applied to the Islanders.
Everyone that ever watched Crossroads know exactly what the Benny character was. Where did you say you were from? Surely you know that the term “Village idiot” doesn't necessarily mean that you are from a Village!
@18
Jun 12th, 2013 - 05:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You guys obviously don't get irony, or you would realise that it's your own misplaced sense of entitlement which ensures the islands will never be yours. It's kind of a Greek tragedy in the South Atlantic.
And the question you ought to be asking is, who benefits? Here's a clue: it's not the people of the Falklands, it's not the people of the UK, and it's not the people of Arjuntina either.
So one side of the coin shows the image of the Queen of the Falklands, and the other shows a referendum arrow interestingly pointing in the direction of Argentina if you look at a map. I think the Falkland Islanders have inadvertently hit on the solution to the sovereignty dispute after 180+ years and multiple invasions and wars. Just flip a coin! Heads the UK gets the islands, tails Argentina gets them!
Jun 12th, 2013 - 05:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Germans : Box heads........??? don't you mean Krauts”
Jun 12th, 2013 - 05:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0This comment by “A_Voice” is proof positive that he/she/it is not British, no Brit would call a hun a kraut!!!!!!!!!
Ah name calling, first sign of losing an argument, carry on!
Jun 12th, 2013 - 05:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 01977 - 1990 my term of service, no I was not on the campaign and no, I was not inferring that I was. Following the Argentine surrender units were rotated down south and made aware of the Standindg Orders, that's how I know about it.
As for your village idiot theory, you have obviously read someone elses description of the Benny character, you living in the UK at the time the show was aired? I suffered the show five nights a week for years, my mother was a avid fan and I do not recollect him being portrayed as “Village Idiot” slow and loveable maybe, idiot deffinately not. Probably one of best loved characters on the show, ask Miss Dianne if you don't believe me.
@21
Jun 12th, 2013 - 06:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Strange thing to say, you must be really old......hun.......maybe WW1
Classis Fawlty Towers episode......“he attempted to put German tourists at ease with some horrific Nazi jokes, and then justified his behavior by shouting ”I'm trying to cheer her up, you stupid Kraut!”
@22
I'm not name calling......you've heard them all before.......I'm sure.....being Welsh
I remember the character very well, alway unshaven ......slow, loveable and very much an idiot
Bloody theme tune, got on my nerves big time, damn thing always being played somewhere or another. Loved the scenery though, particularly when they closed the doors and the walls were still shaking minutes later.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 06:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You've missed out Andy, as in Andy's (and he's) Still a Benny. If you think any of these nicknames bother the Falkland Islanders then you're sorely mistaken. They refer to us as 'When I's ' as in When I was in Gibraltar, Cyprus, Germany, Iraq etc etc.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 06:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Does it really matter..
Jun 12th, 2013 - 06:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0back on blog-the coin is fine, and will sell well..
A-hole
Jun 12th, 2013 - 06:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do you think the reference to Bennies was due to the fact
A) the islanders wore the same woolly hat as the character was renowned for?
Or
b) the islanders were simpletons like the charachter?
You have tried to suggest it was because of B) on this thread...I would suggest (yet again) you are deliberately trying to mislead.
The bitter desperation of vestige/thinko/voice are really entertaining.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 06:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Who cares? You children seem to care enough to waste your life posting on here.
Soldiers have a nickname for Falklanders? Oh No, that means Argentineans know Falklanders are not English/Northern Irish/Scottish/Welsh!!
Well done for pointing out Falklanders are a distinct separate people. Keep up the good work boys.
@28
Jun 12th, 2013 - 06:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So tell me in your infinite wisdom do you think the squaddies were told to refrain from calling the Islanders Bennies......
a) because they wore hats or
b) because everyone knew the character Benny was a simpleton?
Nice coin, nice sentiment. Nice raging reaction from the trolls - excellent. Anything that winds the turds up is clearly a good move. Meanwhile drilling and exploration carries on! And, for a bonus they slip up and identify the Falklanders as a people !!!
Jun 12th, 2013 - 07:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Lol!
@30
Jun 12th, 2013 - 07:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Probably to stop retards like you trying to misrepresent what was a harmless bit of fun!
@30
Jun 12th, 2013 - 07:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You are a dick aren't you. Just so you understand, the Falkland Islanders have huge respect in the UK, they have total UK support including militarily protection.
@33
Jun 12th, 2013 - 07:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Temper temper........I can see that current respect.......”as in Andy's (and he's) Still a Benny”
Yeah that's very understanding!
THE MALVINAS ARE ARGENTINE
Jun 12th, 2013 - 07:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://images-01.delcampe-static.net/img_large/auction/000/207/519/864_001.jpg
Josey, haven't you heard, the Malvinas don't exist!
Jun 12th, 2013 - 07:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You actually attacked the Falkland Islands in 82 and got soundly thrashed and ejected. Big mistake! Malvinas are a bit like Atlantis, they probably got sunk like your type 42 recently - perhaps it sprung a leak.
@34
Jun 12th, 2013 - 07:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0That's an easy one, because some senior officer, with a sense of humour failure thought that it would offend the islanders and by “ordering” the guys to refrain from using it, pomptly drew attention to the name and caused the use of it to spread. Should have left it to the senior RSM to deal with it, that's is job.
@35
Okay the Malvinas Are Argentinian.
But
The Falklanders live on the Falklands and always will.
#15
Jun 12th, 2013 - 09:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0With one exception.......Argentina. Why else would you bother referring to it ?
#18
and Im sure the world cares about '82.
They probably do not and must be sick and tired of Argentina's
Perpetual whining....I demand....I want.etc
You are the ones who got well and truly stuffed in 1982 and it hurt your Latino pride. TOUGH TITTY...get over it .
#35
What relevance does that have ? Try spending it on the Falklands !
@35
Jun 12th, 2013 - 09:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And the little teenage fascist neonazi breaks out his Sudetenland is German commemorative coin.
Celebrating holding guns at civilians heads and pressing the jackboot onto a new lot of fresh faces -- just like they did in Argentina. Celebrating how there was no price too great for Argentina to bear so long as someone you resented got to suffer along with you.
32 Monkeymagic
Jun 12th, 2013 - 10:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I don't know where this “Benny” thing came from but there is a note to the effect that:-
”B Company's [2 Paras ] commander was Major John Crosland, who's special aura of authority and experience had been earned by service with the SAS in Oman. He was held in mmense respect by his men who were amused by his habit of of wearing a black wooly hat in the field instead of a helmet.
Despite Colonel 'H''s explicit orders that helmets MUST be worn, Crosland was still recognizable at Goose Green by his hat.
@24
Jun 12th, 2013 - 10:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I'm middle aged. Certainly more than old enough to remember the 1982 war but not nearly old enough to remember WW1 which was, after all, almost 100 years ago.
@35
Good find...that actually looks like a real coin with a real denomination...2 pesos! The Falklands coin doesn't seem to even have a denomination. Not surprising because Argentina--despite recent economic challenges--is a real country with a real currency.
Who wrote this article? More ‘Spanglish’ in it than usual.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 10:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The population is ‘it’, not ‘her’ - ‘población’ in Spanish is feminine, but ‘population’ in English is neuter.
An ‘anachronic colonial’ - ‘anachronism’ is the noun, ‘anachronistic’ is the adjective, as in
Argentina’s claim is an anachronism.
Argentina’s claim is anachronistic.
That Falklands coin looks hideous, but before long it’ll be worth more than the 2 peso one. It’s commemorative, so doesn’t need a denomination on it.
2 pesos is 24 pence in real money.
@35 Uh... for the ARS to be a true currency it would have to NOT be a crime to publish the truth about its value and inflation rates.
Jun 12th, 2013 - 10:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And that the current government would use its 2 ARS coin to celebrate its Dirty War and its Hail Mary play, trying to export itself to a new population, speaks volumes as to the current government's and their La Campora lackeys' moral bankruptcy. Literally putting their money where their rotten hearts are as to how they truly would feel about the allegedly hated Junta staying power longer after a hypothetical Argentine victory.
Thank goodness that an independent thinker, instead of jumping on the bandwagon has seen the obvious point I first made..........the coin is hideous, the artwork is amateurish........these folk are easily pleased!
Jun 12th, 2013 - 11:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@43
Jun 12th, 2013 - 11:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Sigh...I can never understand the British inability to separate Argentina's claim to the islands from the junta. The junta IS hated. 30,000 Argentines were “disappeared” during the dirty war. Junta leaders like Videla and Galtieri died in prison. Menendez is currently under arrest. What differentiated the junta leaders from other Argentine leaders is that they pursued the Argentine claim via force whereas earlier (eg Peron) and later (eg Kirchner) Argentine leaders used peaceful tactics. The claim itself predates--by centuries--the junta. Think of the junta as being a bit like the IRA. One can reject the violent tactics of the IRA while still respecting that a peaceful, democratic Ireland has some validity to its claim to Northern Ireland.
A-Voice - yipes- what are you so het up about?! At its height we used to call our lanrovers bennywagons - the name never bothered a single Islander you numpty! It upset some senior officers who tried to stop it - Our esponse was to call service men the “whenis” - they were always saying when I was in germany-HongKong-belize ets! It was just a laugh on both sides!
Jun 13th, 2013 - 01:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0The Royal Engineers even had a method of doing something diddicult whem they could not find the solution to a project in their operations manual - they used to do it “the benny way” - ie they used whatever was available- improvised- and got the job done! Often quicker, simpler and vastly cheaper than the manual!
Vestige - buy one if you want to make a bit if money over time- they will sell well to the thousands of tourists next season - oh and by the way- the referendum got standard impartial international recognition. suggest you ask Banki Moon if our views need to be considered- or are irrelevant.
You do realize that we've heard it all before, from all walks of 1982 apologists.
Jun 13th, 2013 - 01:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0The Junta was hated -- before they handed them the Islands even though they new they would suffer the same fate as the argentines -- suddenly it was all good. (Until of course they were defeated. At which point suddenly they remembered that they hated them.) We've also heard that AR was locked town tighter than North Korea and had no idea that the Islanders weren't happy with their new fascist masters even though they themselves knew the Junta for what they were. Color us very skeptical pm that one!
We all know how KFC is a lover of peaceful tactics -- such as sending thugs to break businessfronts of people who don't agree with her on the Islands. We also remember when her defense minister said that the ONLY reason that they aren't contemplating an redux of 1982 is that the UK cleaned their clock then and will most definitely do it again if they try it. And of courses there is the coin. I don't believe the compartmentalization of the Junta bad (the Dirty War) and Junta bad (expanding the Dirty War to the Falklands to get a new lease on life -- which would have worked had they not been defeated) “IRA-Style” either since I don't buy the IRA argument to begin with. Likewise Germany, of any government, just ~may~ have had a legitimate right to the Sudetenland and the ethnic Germans there may not have been happy with Czech rule - but that was before Germany made their problem everyone else's -- just as you did in 1982. That deal is off and gone forever. Same with the Islands - the difference is that your claim is and has been vaporware and tenuous at best compared to the British claim and state of affairs in the real world (and real politic). Had it been otherwise the ICJ would have heard the case that your successive governments has been evading for decades.
@45
Jun 13th, 2013 - 07:05 am - Link - Report abuse 0Here are some pics of ordinary Argentines hating the junta in 1982
https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1243&bih=706&q=plaza+de+mayo+1982&oq=plaza+de+mayo+1982&gs_l=img.3...2829.8688.0.9008.18.14.0.4.4.0.155.1310.11j3.14.0...0.0.0..1ac.1.17.img.NfISFRn_YRc
Apart from that, your attempt to dissociate Argentine from Arjuntina would be much credible if there was any discernible change in your underlying attitudes and rhetoric.
When you have the spectacle of government ministers claiming the islanders don't exist, that the islanders who don't exist are squatters, that it is illegal for the islanders who don't exist to express their opinion on how they would like to be governed, that the only thing preventing an Argentine takeover is the British military presence, all the while refusing to sit in the same room them while simultaneously demanding dialogue, you have to wonder what exactly is different. Apart of course, from the decay of military capability.
And what is even more bizarre is this idea that we are supposed to believe that the fantasy version of 1833 ia fresh as yesterday, whereas 1982 doesn't count at all. Or that the Argentine claim is two centuries old when it was quite obviously dropped for half of the 19th century and half of the 20th.
Re. Bennies
Jun 13th, 2013 - 12:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The reason the term was banned in the military down home was a few anal people complained to the CBFFI. Most of us couldn't give a monkeys and adopted it, the term Bennies is used by Falkland Islanders more than Kelpers really, sort of a Kelpers=formal Bennies=informal kind of thing.
Stills isn't particular to Bennies, it's used for just about every squaddie nickname when they have to watch their tongue and goes back way before 82.
@48 Oh Hans... “all the while refusing to sit in the same room them while simultaneously demanding dialogue”
Jun 13th, 2013 - 04:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Try turning tail and “walking quickly” (because people his age can't really run in those shoes) when confronted by two older elected officials from the Islands like they had the cooties of democratic self-determination. Or I can go easy on their approach to negotiations and make it more akin to calling in to the professor on the morning of every scheduled exam, homework and project deadline and say that they're sick or one of their infinite number of grandparents has just suddenly died, kicking the can of reality down the road time and time again.
@47
Jun 13th, 2013 - 06:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I'd forgotten to mention Germany but now that you have--let's talk about Germany a bit. Germany is what proves that the whole current British argument re the Malvinas/Falklands is a bit specious. Britain likes to say that they “won the war” in 1982 and therefore it would be disrespectful to those who served (and, in some cases, died) in 1982 to hand over the islands. So--according to this view--even if a deal had been on the table pre-1982, it is permanently off the table.
But by this argument, it would be orders of magnitude MORE disrespectful to British veterans to accept membership in an EU dominated by Germany--since far more British died in 1939-1945 than in 1982. And yet Britain does seem willing to accept a subservient position when it comes to present-day Germany.
Of course WW2 is further in the past than the Falklands-Malvinas. That is why it may take a little more time. The Berlin Wall was allowed to come down in 1989--44 years after the war. So I'd say once a similar amount of time passes since the Malvinas-Falklands war, the memories of the conflict will have receded enough to resume negotiations. That means we'd be talking around 2026 or 13 years from now. So Hector Timmerman's view that this matter will be resolved in Argentina's favour in less than 20 years looks to have some validity.
The war clowds are a gathering..
Jun 13th, 2013 - 06:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@51
Jun 13th, 2013 - 06:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The important difference you are missing is that Germany took responsibility for its actions and definitely renounced land-grabbing, aggression, and militarism. Argentina, on the other hand, seems to believe it can carry on with the same specious obsession as if had nothing had happened.
Indeed the greatest irony is that it is just this deluded sense of entitlement that ensures you will never get the islands, and all the more so since you persist in reminding us virtually every day of why we had to fight a war against you.
@53
Jun 13th, 2013 - 09:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I can't recall when Germany ever accepted responsibility for its actions. It was other nations that had to work together to bring ex-Nazis to justice. One unfortunate side show was that this was used as an unfortunate excuse for some completely unjustified Argentina-bashing. When ex-Nazis were found to have emigrated to countries like the USA and Canada, this was blamed only on the individual ex-Nazis and they were brought to justice. But when ex-Nazis were found to have emigrated to Argentina, Argentina was unfairly accused of somehow being a haven for Nazis.
In any event Germany didn't really help much with any of this.
Contrast this with the situation in Argentina where Argentina is accepting responsibility for the past actions of the junta leaders by bringing them to justice. Unlike Germany, Argentina isn't waiting for international pressure before acting.
The German society of today has (of course with the exception of some individuals and groups) fully accepted the present borders. They are NOT claiming East Prussia (which was German for generations and lost as recently as 1945). They are NOT calling the Russians living in Kaliningrad “squatters on German land without any right of self-determination”. Just compare the millions of German civilians expelled from the East after 1945 with a few Argentine officials leaving the Falklands/Malvinas after 1833. Could the Germans accept its loss so soon, the Argentines should accept their much, much minor loss after 180 years. It is time to “demalvinize” Argentina.
Jun 13th, 2013 - 10:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@54, you're accepting responsibility? Sure, the current government has done the something of which I actually approve: Say to hell with amnesty and bogus reconciliation and arrest visible parts of the Junta's machine -- sadly its far too late and I think we all know that you have a country filled with “Little Eichmanns” running cover for many of the lesser cogs.
Jun 13th, 2013 - 10:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But as to your guilt in exporting your Dirty War, your problem, onto the Islanders, and celebrating it to this very day? What a joke.
We hear it was the Junta, not us.
You talked to us uh, them - before we... uh.. they invaded.
before we... no, they, held guns to the islanders heads
before we... no, they, laid mines indiscriminately
before we.. no, they, attacked from false surrender flags.
before we.. no they, took a village of civilians and held them illegally a cramped community hall preventing a direct assault by british troops.
before we... no, they, had their cowardly last stand before their inevitable defeat, not in the open field of battle like men or surrendering to protect the civilians, but in danger-close quarters among the civilians of Stanley (resulting in civilian deaths) until when panicking AR troops nearly went all to use them as human shields, Menendez had to call it a day or face true british wrath.
Oh and it has truly been YOU (via the recent administrations) not THEM (the Junta) who have blown any diplomatic reconciliation made by other administrations between AR and the Islands by tearing up cooperative agreements.
I've worked with Germans who have been very frank about their collective responsibility for the War. Despite your cheering for your hated Junta when they found more people to treat as they treated you, we constantly hear how it WASN'T you -- but you NOW celebrate it with a coin with the infamous date and a stylized iron claw grasping to crush the Islanders freedom and rights as you (not “them”) did in 82 and as you never will be able to do again.
@55
Jun 13th, 2013 - 10:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes but the Germans DIDN'T accept the borders that were in place from 1945-1989 with a border dividing East/West Germany as well as East/West Berlin. As late as the late '80s Gorbachev (generally seen as by far the most progressive of Soviet leaders) was arguing that there was no way that German reunification would ever be accepted. And yet it happened not that long after. Britain is being stubborn like the Soviet leaders of the late Soviet era were. And--to be honest--it's a pattern we've seen with Britain itself in the past. When trying to hang on to remnants of its colonial past, Britain always goes through a period of stubbornness but eventually bows to reality.
@52
There is no war except in the British imagination. The military has been out of power in Argentina for 30 years. Kate probably thought her man had been deployed to some dangerous war zone--by some accounts the stress causing her to suffer a miscarriage--but this is entirely a British fantasy.
@57 You really need a clue here. When divided neither Government start demanding that the victors return the lands they collectively lost in WW2. The major resistance to reunification was the Soviet tyranny so they held the cards, not NATO. And now today, the united Germany certainly doesn't say, we're democratic and our continuing government in Bonn have been democratic longer than holders of East Prussia and the Sudetenland, so hand 'em over. We promise we'll be good stewards.
Jun 13th, 2013 - 10:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As for stubbornness, the UK has radically changed its stance towards the Islands since 82, treating them with considerably more respect than you -- who STILL want to colonize the island and force the Islanders to your will (albeit now by “diplomatic” tantrums rather than by holding guns). What choice would any rational Islander make given such two radically different choices.
For heavens sake, leave the bubble of propaganda about national pride and “intactness” you've been fed for all your life and see how those of us outside of the “dispute”see it, the 21rst century modern UK & FI and the eternally petulant AR.
@57
Jun 13th, 2013 - 10:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You also need to get a clue about Britain trying to hang on to the remBnants of its colonial past. In fact for decades the Brits would have been perfectly happy to hand the islands over to you. The Thatcher government was even negotiating until weeks before the invasion. But you couldn't even negotiate a settlement when there was an active desire to give you the islands. And now the truly gobsmacking stupidity of the junta has ensured that no British government could make you a deal and expect to survive, even if one wanted to.
But nil desperandum. You can still have the islands any time you like. All you have to do is convince the islanders. Why, exactly, is that so hard? Why is it preferable to traipse the world with a 19th century grievance on artificial life support in the 21st, while most of the world laughs at you behind their hands?
See we have another 'historian'.
Jun 13th, 2013 - 11:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0dash1729 has some very bizarre opinions in almost every posting that he seems to think he is going to be able to pass off as facts with an internet community that is far more clued up than him.
Oh yeah the Germans are wonderful people with a great sense of humour………
Jun 13th, 2013 - 11:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0what they are is smart people…….how to control a people….control the purse.
What did they try to achieve by military might, .......
a 1000 year Reich with Germany in charge.
What are they trying to achieve now…..
a federal state with Germany in charge.
Who needs to extend borders when the whole of Europe is your border.
The Germans have moved with the times, ........how is it possible to lose a war and still come out of it, on top?
@61 A_Voice:
Jun 13th, 2013 - 11:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I point you to:
http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=29692
The Spanish ambassador to the UN, Fernando Arias González speaks of people renouncing political independence in exchange for a relationship with the colonising power to guarantee economic stability, “colonialism by consent”.
Is he really talking about Germany and Spain do you 'Think'?
I wonder if Brasil has the same ideas for Argentina?
I wonder how Germany will feel when the Latin squatters insist at the UN that the Emirate of Granada be re-established in south eastern Europe as the Latin squatters disrupted its 'territorial integrity'.
Chuckle chuckle
@59
Jun 14th, 2013 - 12:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0Your question can easily be turned on its head. Why are the Islanders themselves traipsing the globe trying to dredge up support for the results of their recent referendum? If their status is as secure as they claim why is this effort even needed?
Argentina's reasons for working to build international support would seem to be much clearer. Argentina is the side hoping to change the status quo. Approaching the islanders themselves is tricky because it would mean formally recognizing a government that has no legal standing. Instead the approach needs to be a bit more indirect--persuade the international community to persuade Britain to persuade the islanders.
@62 screenname
Jun 14th, 2013 - 12:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0You have some interesting thoughts..........I'll need to sleep on it, it's late and I think more clearly when I've slept!
@63
Jun 14th, 2013 - 08:37 am - Link - Report abuse 0So we're supposed just to sit tight and let Arjuntine lies stand? Another Anglo outrage. How do you manage to survive?
But one can understand just how terribly tricky it would be for poor Arjuntina to interact directly with the people whose home it claims to take. I mean, they might get shirty or something.
It's surely much less tricky for to traipse the globe as a champion of democracy human rights, trying to persuade the international community that islanders have no rights to even express their opinion, on the basis of the truly hilarious 'implanted population' argument.
Please do keep this up.
@63... wha? The Islands are working to have their names removed from an increassingly anacronistic and corrupt commttee (C24) list that is less concenred with decolonization than serving as a front for Argentina fascist colonialist ambitions. Argentina wants not to “chagne the status quo” but rather have their May 1982 illegally aquired borders (so sayeth the UN Security Council) back by reversing what is a successsful decolonization process in whcih the Islands are devolinvg and where there is a real future scenario where it can be an indepenant member of the british commonwealth by forcing it against its peoples clearly democratic wishes to be a colony of Argentina, a country that is drfiting towards dictocracy where it is even a crime to speak math to power. As for whose playing the right cards, AR has repeatedly run away from the ICJ -- whcih is the one venue that counts -- becasue they know they nave no case.
Jun 14th, 2013 - 12:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As Hans says, keep up with reality. It is passing you by.
Like some have said, the ICJ is the right and legal place to go,
Jun 14th, 2013 - 06:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Argentina/CFK on the other hand knows this very well, that is why she is desperately trying to get them by default, getting as many countries as possible on their side,
And yet amazingly not one of argentine supporters has even suggested taking it to the JCJ.
Eye wonder why??
.
@66
Jun 14th, 2013 - 09:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You might want to keep up with reality yourself. There's no such thing as the “British Commonwealth” anymore. It's just the “Commonwealth”. Your use of the obsolete term suggests that--at least when it comes to the Malvinas/Falklands--it is an attempt to hang on to a British colonial past that is no longer appropriate.
@68
Jun 14th, 2013 - 10:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You really ate remarkably naive and ill-informed if you believe that the UK position on the Falklands has got anything to do with some kind of colonial nostalgia. virtually every post war British government, including notably the Thatcher one, would have been perfectly happy to hand the islands over to you, right up until the moment made anything of the sort totally impossible.
These days, either your current kleptocracy is every bit as dumb as the junta and doesn't understand this, or it does understand and is simply stoking up tension to cover its own ineptitude. Personally, I can't make my mind up which. What do you think it is?
@69
Jun 14th, 2013 - 11:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Hard to believe that the UK would have ever handed over the islands in that era. There WAS a deal in place but the UK reneged on the deal after Juan Peron died and Isabel took over. Not sure if the reason was one of misogyny--Isabelita was the first female elected head of government in the western hemisphere, preceding Thatcher by a few years. So maybe the UK leaders were uncomfortable dealing with a woman. Or maybe that had nothing to do with it. But the failure of that deal is really the moment--not the war--when a deal became impossible.
The reason the negotiations failed in the 1970s are the same reason that they'd fail today. For all the rhetoric about “colonialism” and bullshit about “anachronisms” it is Argentina that wants to behave as a colonialist.
Jun 15th, 2013 - 06:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Britain doesn't give a shit about the islands, the land, even the massive wealth under the sea. If it cared about such things, it could've held on to many many of its former colonies, we are well past that as peaceful independence of 1/3 of the world shows.
Our only consideration is what do we leave the people of the former colonies to when we leave...are they safe, secure, and able to self-determine their own futures.
This is why we fought a communist uprising in Malaysia prior to their independence, it s why the painful separation of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh occured prior to Independence, and why we cannot leave the Falklanders to the fate Argentina would give them if we were to withdraw.
Today the Islanders manage 99% of their daily affairs, the fisheries are theirs, the oil wealth is theirs, their homes are theirs. All Britain does is support them in defence (from Argentina) and foreign affairs and 99.8% of them are happy with this arrangement.
99.8%.....I cant remember such a universal agreement in any population.
Argentina wishes to take all this away from the islanders. To remove their government, to steal their resources, and to eliminate their identity.
Surprisingly, they don't want that! This former colony cannot be handed over to fascists, not in 1970 not in 2013.
Quite simple...in return for sovereignty would Argentina ensure that
1) the islanders control their government
2) the islanders own the mineral and fishing rights
3) the islanders control their immigration policy.
IN PERPETUITY, as TODAY.
No?
Thought not...which is why they prefer the status quo..
Argentina wants sovereignty for colonialist reasons, it wants to steal resources and money from the rightful owners...Britain defends the islanders and wants nowt.
@49
Jun 15th, 2013 - 07:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I don't remember Islanders being bothered at all about being called Bennies-in fact ' Bens' was used everywhere. Not sure what they thought when some squaddies called Stanley Bennydorm-suppose it didn't bother them either.
I don't think Argentinians understand the principle 'If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined.'
@72
Jun 15th, 2013 - 08:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Of course the islanders didn't object to being called Bennies, and of course it was associated with the woolly hat worn by the TV character.
But as A-hole has shown, there is no misrepresentation beneath scum like him, there is no pretence they won't stoop to, or lie they won't tell. So, if mileage could be made out of pretending the nickname was to do with Benny Hawkins being a bit slow...he (and scum like him) would trawl that gutter.
Likewise, has the islanders (for some inconceivable reason) all worn Stetsons, and the squad dies christened them “JRs”, A-hole would have us believe this was to do with them being adulterous oil billionaires. (give it time!!!).
Typical Argie though, take something innocent, lie about, twist it, pretend it's harmful...spew bile over it and then pass the new version as truth.
@Monkey
Jun 15th, 2013 - 09:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Where abouts in the UK are you?
Why A_Voice?
Jun 16th, 2013 - 02:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0Does location now matter so much?
After all it is you that will not share you location with anyone on here.
Always makes me laugh that trolls try to present the smallest target and expect and love it when other share.
So A_Voice where do you currently live?
(For the record, I'm in Brunswick West, Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia..... not detailed enough? Within one kilometre of a 55 tram stop on Melville Road. So very very easy!)
Anglotino
Jun 16th, 2013 - 08:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, a relaxing day off work and spending time enjoying myself with my wife and my dog.
While ThinksVoiceOver was banging on about how “obsessed” you and I are (with what??) we were going about our lives.
Think however, was hard at work, introducing hate into every comment and dogging the steps of every Anglo poster - poor Gollum, he has his addiction!
Speaking of which, Ha ha, I can't believe that Señor VoiceOver asked Monkey a direct question As to where he lives!! After all his squirming and avoidance and dismissing.
What a git - he wants a way to establish a bond as well as getting under Monkey's skin when needs to retaliate or goad a response.
Priceless, the lengths he'll go to for attention!!
On another note, our “El Capitano” has just blown his identity by appearing on this thread in a very timely manner.
I'll tell you how, later.
Another failed identity in the world of 'sockery'!!!
@70
Jun 17th, 2013 - 07:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0Actually, no. The putative deal evaporated when Peron was overthrown in a coup and the military had other issues on their plate. This was about twenty years before Isabelita, second and worst in your series of Brides of Frankenstein, came on the scene.
You might also try looking up for yourself what Nicholas Ridley was up to in the early 1980s, just before Galitieri had his brainwave.
It seems Arjuntina couldn't even negotiate a deal when British governments actively wanted to give the islands up. Whatever gives you the idea now that it's possible to just return to the status quo after 1982 is rather hard to fathom.
#7 my Uncle spoke that way too mate......
Jun 18th, 2013 - 08:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0new poster here...I've been laughing the last 15 minutes reading all this banter on both sides...I've been to LatAm before, loved it..I don't agree with the Arg's on this Falklands issue obviously but don't hate them as some appear to..in truth they seem to feel the same way about CFK as I did about Brown /Cameron etc.
New posters are always welcome.
Jun 18th, 2013 - 12:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As an expat., and one who has backpacked across South America, what do you think about Argentina's corrupt government? Are the people frustrated about the economic downturn?
You say they are very welcoming and friendly, you must have spoken and drank with a good many. How do they feel about the British and the Kelpers? Are things in Argentina really the way that Elaine, Poppy, and Yankeeboy say they are??
Weren't you afraid of being robbed or killed while backpacking alone, as a Brit, and travelling alone as a foreigner?
Please tell us if Mendoza has the new shopping malls and still- vibrant economy that TTT speaks of??
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