The following editorial on the Falkland Islands issue was published by the United Arab Emirates Gulf News.
The referendum by the 2,500 inhabitants of the British-administered Falkland Islands has not contributed to finding a political solution to the dispute between Britain and Argentina that has run for centuries.
Canada’s Globe and Mail had an editorial on the Falklands referendum.
Not since the halcyon days of the Soviet Union has a vote been so lopsided, but there was no fraud or coercion. Ninety-two per-cent turnout; over 98% support for the Falkland Islands to retain its status as a British Overseas Territory.
John Carlin, the British writer and journalist who works for Spain’s leading newspaper El Pais, with a high degree of irony strongly criticized Argentina’s claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands as an ‘epic idiocy’.
British Prime Minister David Cameron stated on Friday that Pope Francis had been wrong to say last year that Britain had usurped the Falkland Islands from Argentina, saying he respectfully disagreed with the new Pontiff. His words have been interpreted as a message anticipating the Argentine government’s possible attempts to get the new pope involved in the dispute.
This year’s Falkland Islands season has been much quieter than usual with over 19.000 passengers to the first week of March mainly because of cancellations due to weather and technical issues with a handful related to the political situation created by Argentine harassment early on the season, according to industry sources in the Islands.
The Argentine government demands to control the Falkland Islands against the wishes of the people who live there are fundamentally incompatible with modern democratic values and attempts to intimidate the Islanders must cease, said Foreign Secretary William Hague in an update to Parliament.
Under the heading of “Malvinas: British” the influential Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo describes the 99.8% result of the Falklands referendum as a “compelling defeat” for the Argentine government and a litigation hard to sustain when international law rests more on the peoples’ perspective than in the historic, real or imaginary territorial possession.
The Canadian government said on Wednesday that the results of the Falkland Islands referendum are “very clear” and “only” the people of the Islands are entitled to decide on their future. However the European Commission refused to get involved in the discussion arguing it is an “internal affair” of an EU member.
The Argentine Congress in extraordinary sessions held on Wednesday in both Houses unanimously rejected the Falkland Islands referendum in which the local population overwhelmingly decided to remain as a British Overseas Territory.
“President Cristina Fernandez, we have sent you a message: we have absolutely no desire to be ruled by the Government in Buenos Aires and we hope that now you might respect that”, said the spokesperson for the Falklands’ elected government in the aftermath of the referendum which showed the Islanders almost unanimously (99.8% of ballots) want to remain a British Overseas Territory.