Falkland Islands Governor Nigel Haywood accused Argentina of “making stuff up” in its relentless verbal assault on the UK and the Islands. With a referendum on whether the Islanders want to remain British less than a week away, Haywood vowed to keep “pushing back” against the “extraordinary” sabre-rattling, UK’s sensationalist tabloid The Sun published.
By Gwynne Dyer - Chinese survey vessels go into the waters around the disputed islands and Japanese patrol ships tail them much too closely. Twice last month Chinese maritime surveillance aircraft flew into the airspace around the Japanese-controlled islands and Tokyo scrambled F-15 fighters to meet them. On the second occasion, China then sent fighters too. Can these people be serious?
The UN Decolonisation Committee has not received any further requests on the Falklands/Malvinas issue, and “there is no such procedure as self-determination regarding the Islands dispute”, according to the C24 president Diego Morejón Pazmiño, standing Ecuadorean ambassador before the UN.
Dubbed the “entente frugale” and criticised by some as a dangerous dilution of military sovereignty, Franco-British defence cooperation is nonetheless growing stronger. Shrinking budgets, a less indulgent United States and Europe’s diminishing military clout in the world have bolstered the two countries’ determination to work together.
Ahead of a much disputed by election at Eastleigh, Hampshire, Prime Minister David Cameron had a chance to make an impression during the PM questions on Wednesday accusing Labour hopeful John O’Farrell of supporting terrorism and Argentina because he wanted Great Britain to lose the Falklands’ war.
Britain went to war over the Falkland Islands over thirty years ago when the Argentine military invaded the Islands, but the issue of sovereignty disputed by Argentina has never really gone away. Germany’s Deutsche Welle looks at the current UK government's policy towards the Falklands and the coming referendum, in an interview with Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Argentine born Marta Andreasen a UK south east region MEP (Member of the European Parliament) for the UK Independent Party has said she is leaving the party to join the Conservatives.
Argentina accused the UK of displacement of submarines with nuclear weapons capacity in the Falkland Islands, violating international treaties that established the South Atlantic zone as free of nuclear arms. The claim was made on Monday at the United Nations Disarmament Conference in Geneva.
Starting in London his first trip overseas as the new US Secretary of State, John Kerry kept strictly to US policy on the Falkland Islands and refused to comment on the coming referendum when Islanders are expected to decide on their political status and future.
British tabloid The Sunday Times indicated on Sunday that the Iran-Argentina accord on the investigation of the AMIA bombing case could also hide a joint missile development project. Furthermore, the paper assured “Argentina is developing missile technology that could threaten the Falkland Islands.”