UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday that the British military presence in the Falklands has not increased recently since there was no recorded change to Argentine force levels, and there was no current or credible threat.
Argentine members of the opposition have warned that they will not attend a Friday special session of the Senate and Lower House Foreign Affairs committees to be held in Tierra del Fuego and dedicated to the Malvinas issue unless the overall position of the diplomatic conflict is openly debated.
Falkland Islands lawmaker Mike Summers accused Argentina of acting as a “schoolyard bully” trying to take sweets from others and described as intolerable that a country of that size should be trying to bully a country of 3.000 people into submission. “It’s a country you’d not want to be associated with”.
The Argentine newspaper Ambito Financiero reported on Friday, without revealing sources, that oil exploration rig Leiv Eiriksson, contracted by two oil companies to drill to the south of the Falkland Islands “was found, on Thursday, exploring in Argentine waters”, according to ‘irrefutable’ satellite images.
Another measurement of inflation in Argentina shows the annual rate sustained at two digits. In this case the CPE index, or Professional Executive Basket, during January 2012 was up 3.27%, accumulating in the last twelve months, 21.1%.
By Dr Tim Stanley - During his recent tour of Argentina and Uruguay as UN ambassador at large for Haiti made some unfortunate statements regarding the Falklands/Malvinas diplomatic dispute arguing that It would be nothing short of bullying, to not sit down and diplomatically negotiate a fair sharing of any resources discovered between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
The Argentine government faced with growing resistance to mining projects without the proper environment and resources assurances, which has led to demonstrations and sometimes violent clashes with police, has sponsored the creation of the Federal Mining Organization which brings together all those provinces with mining interests.
The Argentine Confederation of Transportation Workers (CATT) ratified on Wednesday that it would randomly block British ships from docking on Argentine ports, in response to the UK’s refusal to negotiate the Malvinas Islands’ sovereignty.
Argentina’s largest energy company YPF, dropped the most in the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange’s leading share index on Wednesday after the federal tax agency banned it from importing and exporting because of an unpaid tax bill.
It took a couple of days but finally on Wednesday US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the US “has no concerns” about the alleged ‘militarization’ of the South Atlantic which was denounced by Argentina last week before the United Nations at three different levels.