By Jaime Daremblum from the Hudson Institute (*) - In 1982, Argentina's right wing military junta launched a sudden invasion of the Falkland Islands, the South Atlantic archipelago that has been a British possession since 1833. The invasion was motivated by a desire to distract attention from the country's severe economic woes, including hyperinflation and massive capital flight.
Brazil reiterated its support for Argentina’s Malvinas Islands sovereignty claim and insisted that solving the controversy with the UK is ‘most important’ for South America’s stability. It also pointed out that it’s not correct to talk about “a blockade”.
Argentina condemned the announcement of the arrival of state of the art HMS Dauntless, a British warship, to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and urged the UK to “avoid falling in the temptation of engaging in discourse that transforms patriotism in bullying patriotism.”
The government has ruled out bringing in a UK law to ensure the Falkland Islands' right to remain British. Tory MP Guy Opperman said legislation would show support for the unambiguous right to self-determination.
European Union ambassador in Buenos Aires Alfonso Diez Torres said that the Falklands/Malvinas issue does not figure in the foreign affairs agenda of the EU, it’s a bilateral issue and he does not see any reason to amend the Lisbon treaty to exclude the disputed South Atlantic Islands as demanded by Argentina.
The British government acknowledged on Friday the naming of the new Argentine ambassador to the United Kingdom, and stated that they hoped the coverage of the long-vacant position will permit “the strengthening of cooperation” between the two countries.
The Argentine chapter of Greenpeace suggested President Cristina Fernandez, CFK, is ‘ill-advised’ when she claimed on Wednesday no environmental group has criticized what is “going on in Malvinas” in direct reference to oil exploration and fisheries in the Falklands.
Fully recovered from the thyroidectomy and with her irony sharp as ever, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, CFK, resumed office on Wednesday and in an hour plus colloquial speech in Casa Rosada spent a good twenty minutes talking about Malvinas, colonialism and promised more rigour in the campaign to have the UK sit and discuss Falklands sovereignty.
The UK will not negotiate the Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty “until the Islander so wish to” said on Wednesday a spokesperson from the Foreign Office.
Rockhopper Exploration Plc shares surged in London trading following a report that Texas based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is in talks with the only company to have made a commercial oil discovery off the Falkland Islands.