Posted on 03/13/2011 2:29:25 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Argentina's president, is using her refusal to appoint an ambassador to Britain as demonstration of her hardline on the Falkland Islands, a key plank of her platform for election in October.
Tensions over the sovereignty of the Falklands have increased since British companies began drilling for oil in the region just over a year ago.
Argentina responded last August by abandoning plans to install a new ambassador in London and reports in Buenos Aires now indicate that none will be appointed this year.
Political analysts said the decision suggested that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner could stoke up popular resentment about Britain's stance on the Falklands to help win crucial votes in the October poll.
The Argentine government has continued to dispute British sovereignty over the archipelago since its 1982 invasion was defeated.
Prof Mark Jones, an expert in Latin American politics at Rice University in Texas, said Mrs Kirchner's government was likely to use "zealous rhetoric" about the Falklands.
"Kirchner will use the Falklands issue to score political points with the electorate as well as to distract public opinion from topics that are potentially damaging for the Government," he said.
Argentina has not had an ambassador in London since Federico Mirre retired in 2008.
José Nun, a former minister, was lined up to take on the role at the end of 2009 but his appointment was delayed and then cancelled in protest
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
In 1982 a British task force used Ascension Island as a staging post during the Falklands War,[3] though according to Matthew Parris,[8] “...at the start of the Falklands conflict Washington at first refused Britain permission to use the USA-operated airfield facilities for refuelling RAF jets. Only after Mrs Thatcher intervened with Ronald Reagan did the Americans reluctantly concede.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_Island
I’ll take that bet. When Christina de Kirchner visited the US Obama apparently refused to meet with her. According to the Argentines I spoke to, this was because she badmouthed the US. Also, during the SOTU Obama mentioned he would be visiting Brazil,Chile, y El Salvador. Argentina was conspicuously absent.
When asked what the US’s position on the Falklands dispute would be, Hillary Clinton said the US would be “neutral”. As to what she meant by that, your guess is as good as mine.
The most advanced fighter they have is an A4 Skyhawk, and most of their fighters aren’t even that. The Eurofighter could crap all over anything in their airforce, and that isn’t even taking into consideration the RAPIER missile batteries and probably the PAAMS Daring-class destroyer that would probably be on station nearby.
Overwhelming them with numbers would basically require them launch their entire airforce all at once (which I doubt they could) and then watch it get decimated until UK garrison forces ran out of missles.
If their airforce wasn’t totally destroyed, they’d have lost most of their aircraft, and for what?
Most people there just want peace, including the catholics. Even the Irish don’t really want reunification. It opens a whole can of worms that isn’t worth bothering about, it makes no real difference anyway because Being a British or Irish citizen is basically the same thing, other than having a slightly different passport.
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