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Respect the Falklanders, David Cameron tells Cristina Kirchner in row
The Telegraph ^ | 6/19/2012 | Robert Winnett, Los Cabos, Mexico

Posted on 06/19/2012 7:53:16 PM PDT by bruinbirdman

David Cameron on Tuesday night had a furious face-to-face showdown with the Argentine president over the Falkland Islands.

The Prime Minister “sought out” Cristina Kirchner on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, to warn her to respect the “self-determination of the Falklands”.

Argentina has become increasingly aggressive in its remarks about the islands following the 30th anniversary of the Falklands. Mrs Kirchner attempted to force a package marked UN-Malvinas, the Argentine name for the Falklands, into Mr Cameron’s hands.

He refused to accept it and walked off, with the encounter filmed on a handheld camera by one of Mrs Kirchner’s aides.

Mr Cameron said to Mrs Kirchner: “I am not proposing a full discussion now on the Falklands, but I hope you have noted that they are holding a referendum [on the islanders’ sovereignty] and you should respect their views. We should believe in self-determination and act as democrats here in the G20”.

Mrs Kirchner is understood to have responded with “some ramblings” about Spanish headlines, the United Nations and the Malvinas. Her interpreter could not keep up with her so Mr Cameron was unclear about what exactly she was saying. The row is said to have lasted several minutes.

Argentinian sources described Mr Cameron’s behaviour as “sour”.

Héctor Timerman, the Argentine foreign minister, said: “Nation states have the obligation to talk. We prepared an envelope containing various papers, but the British Prime Minister refused to receive it.

“Britain continues to refuse to talk. And what surprised me most was that David Cameron did not go to the UN decolonisation meeting on Thursday.”

At a chaotic press conference after the confrontation Mr Timerman accused Britain of being a colonial power. “The UK is the most famous colonialist in the world, not Argentina,” he said.

When asked

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
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To: PapaBear3625

It’s a question of both actually. Thirty years is a long time between wars and the UK’s military, especially The Royal Navy is not what it was thirty years ago, and even then due to Britain’s economic situation it was tough for them to pull it off. As it was they lost six ships and 200 men. And David Cameron is no Margret Thatcher. And you’re right, I just don’t think the Brits themselves have the will to do it.


21 posted on 06/20/2012 12:22:26 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: piytar

Don’t bet on it. Read up on the Falklands battles. The Argies didn’t exactly roll over.


22 posted on 06/20/2012 12:24:52 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: jmacusa

“Clearly you don’t know what you’re talking about chum. The Iranians captured a squad of Brit commandos and the Brits didn’t do a damn thing about it. I didn’t say they wouldn’t do anything I said I had doubts their military could do what it was able to do thirty years ago so go fly a kite.”

Well if you’re going to write off the fifth most powerful armed forces in the world because a speedboat with some RN sailors on was captured (from a ship which was part of a US controlled force) because we didn’t start WW3 to get them back, what conclusions should I draw by the defeat of the US forces at the height of their world power by third world Vietnam? I guess I’d better take your logical route and write them off as worthless and ineffective?


23 posted on 06/21/2012 2:28:52 AM PDT by Caulkhead
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To: PapaBear3625

Neither does the US have it in them to conduct such a pre-emptive strike on a country merely threatening with words or we would no longer have a North Korea, an Iran, a Venezuela, a Cuba etc, etc.


24 posted on 06/21/2012 2:33:10 AM PDT by Caulkhead
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To: Caulkhead

Read up on the battles of the Falklands chum. The Argies didn’t exactly roll over. The ‘’defeat’’ you speak of in Vietnam was a political one, not a military one. Look at the bombing of North Vietnam. It was what brought the North Vietnamese to the table to sue for peace.


25 posted on 06/21/2012 10:40:01 AM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: jmacusa

No need to read up, my regiment was there.

A political defeat? Brought the North Vietnamese to sue for peace? If you say so, but it seems to me the North Vietnamese ended up with the whole country and US forces ended up going home. I think I prefer our result in the Falklands to yours in Vietnam.


26 posted on 06/21/2012 4:21:15 PM PDT by Caulkhead
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To: Caulkhead
A political defeat bought on by a defeatist elements here in America. Johnson's insistence on micromanaging every aspect of the war, always afraid as he put it of '' a bomb going down the smokestack of a Russian freighter'' in my opinion needlessly drew out the war.I've often wondered why one Democratic administration was able to prevail in one Asian war, Korea and not another. When Nixon resumed the bombing it bought the North Vietnamese back to the table. And yes, the North Vietnamese took over the country. In regards to the Falklands, war is never certain and to base the outcome of any current or future war on the previous is not a smart idea and could sometimes prove to be a fatal delusion. The Brits and the French found this out in 1940, the Israelis did in 1973 and the Iraqis in 1991. I don't doubt for a moment that if the Argies did attempt another dust-up over the Falklands, and that is a big ''IF'' I don't doubt the Brits would challenge it. What I do doubt is their ability to do what they did thirty years ago. If they do carry the day then I'd have been proven wrong, wouldn't I? And if it were the Argies who carry the day this time I'd be proven right, wouldn't I? In reality though I don't think either country wants to go to war again over the Falkland Islands. "Our'' result? You're English and a Vietnam vet?
27 posted on 06/21/2012 8:20:02 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: jmacusa

“A political defeat bought on by a defeatist elements here in America. Johnson’s insistence on micromanaging every aspect of the war, always afraid as he put it of ‘’ a bomb going down the smokestack of a Russian freighter’’ in my opinion needlessly drew out the war.I’ve often wondered why one Democratic administration was able to prevail in one Asian war, Korea and not another. When Nixon resumed the bombing it bought the North Vietnamese back to the table. And yes, the North Vietnamese took over the country.”

Yes, we have a similar set of excuses why we lost the revolutionary war with our American colonies but it doesn’t change the result. ;)

“The Brits and the French found this out in 1940”

We Brits also single-handedly defeated the luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain in 1940, destroying any posibility of operation sea lion being launched.

“What I do doubt is their ability to do what they did thirty years ago.”

The whole point is, we wouldn’t have to do what we had to do thirty years ago. In 1982 we had 50 soldiers on the islands and nothing else. Now we have a large garrison, the FIDF, permanent and extensive anti-aircraft defences, Typhoons based on the Island, a brand new Type-45 Detroyer (the most adavnced in the world) permanently on guard, an Astute class hunter-killer sub (the most advanced in the world) permanently on guard with Tomahawks and a Vanguard class Trident sub on permanent guard. Now go and look at what Argentina has got - significantly less than they had in 1982. In light of all this your conclusion is bizarre, especially when you factor in that now there are hundreds of millions of barrels of oil there and a successful clash with the Argentinians would ensure the re-election of Cameron in 2015.

“Our’’ result? You’re English and a Vietnam vet?”

No, read it again. I said I prefered our result in the Falklands to your result in Vietnam.


28 posted on 06/22/2012 4:06:41 AM PDT by Caulkhead
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To: jmacusa
"I've often wondered why one Democratic administration was able to prevail in one Asian war, Korea and not another."

Prevail? In Korea? I think the word is "stalemate."

29 posted on 06/22/2012 4:21:34 AM PDT by Flag_This (Real presidents don't bow.)
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To: Caulkhead

I meant the Brits being tossed off the Continent and into the Channel and the french with their Maginot Line.(’’Maginot thinking’’). I’d beg to differ on ‘’defeating the Luftwaffe’’. The RAF did a splendid job in 1940 but that certainly was not the end of the Luftwaffe.


30 posted on 06/22/2012 11:33:16 AM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: Flag_This
I prefer ‘check’’. Our sacrifice's in Korea have certainly allowed South Koreans to do far better than the South Vietnamese did.
31 posted on 06/22/2012 11:38:28 AM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: jmacusa
"Our sacrifice's in Korea have certainly allowed South Koreans to do far better than the South Vietnamese did."

The South Vietnamese might have had a better chance if the democrat congress hadn't betrayed them and cut off their support. Sadly, the chinese and soviets didn't reciprocate and cut off their support to the north vietnamese. If S. Korea had been similarly betrayed by our congress, they would have suffered a similar fate.

32 posted on 06/22/2012 3:34:29 PM PDT by Flag_This (Real presidents don't bow.)
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To: Flag_This

I agree. Johnson choose to micromanage the war instead of listening to General Westmoreland in ‘68. Tet wasn’t a defeat for the US, it was a defeat for the North Vietnamese.A gutless congress, Communist sympathizers and radicals here at home as well as a liberal press added to the situation as well.


33 posted on 06/22/2012 9:37:28 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: jmacusa

“I meant the Brits being tossed off the Continent and into the Channel and the french with their Maginot Line.(’’Maginot thinking’’). I’d beg to differ on ‘’defeating the Luftwaffe’’. The RAF did a splendid job in 1940 but that certainly was not the end of the Luftwaffe.”

The only reason we were involved in Dunkirk was because we declared war on Germany the day our allies, the Polish were invaded. Had we waited a couple of years whilst our allies suffered and we prepared ourselves, it wouldn’t have happened, but we like to honour our allegiances immediately.

The battle of Britain certainly wasn’t the end of the luftwaffe, though it was the beginning of their end. What it was, was the end of the threat of an invasion of Britain and a message to the world that the nazis could be defeated by a small island with some clever people who believe in freedom standing firm and inventing things like Spitfires and radar.


34 posted on 06/23/2012 11:38:50 AM PDT by Caulkhead
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To: Caulkhead

Yes you invented radar. However it was not your little island nation with it’s limited industrial base that defeated Nazi Germany nor did your nation produce a two ocean navy that put the Japanese Imperial Fleet at the bottom of the Pacific nor split the atom and create two atomic bombs that ultimately end the war. The Spitfire was an excellent fighter but it didn’t have the capacity to escort bombers into Germany. Your nation might have showed some spine in 1938 along with the French at Munich and the whole ruddy mess in Europe might not have come about at all.


35 posted on 06/23/2012 8:27:09 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: jmacusa

“Yes you invented radar. However it was not your little island nation with it’s limited industrial base that defeated Nazi Germany nor did your nation produce a two ocean navy that put the Japanese Imperial Fleet at the bottom of the Pacific nor split the atom and create two atomic bombs that ultimately end the war. The Spitfire was an excellent fighter but it didn’t have the capacity to escort bombers into Germany. Your nation might have showed some spine in 1938 along with the French at Munich and the whole ruddy mess in Europe might not have come about at all.”

You’re going to have to stop attributing things to me I’ve never said.

No, we didn’t split the atom but we did invent the jet engine. The Mustang couldn’t escort bombers to Germany either until we let you fit the Rolls Royce Merlin to it. If your nation had shown some spine when the war started instead of waiting to be forced to do the right thing two years later by the Japanese, the whole ruddy mess in the world might not have come about at all. . . . . . .


36 posted on 06/25/2012 2:35:33 AM PDT by Caulkhead
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To: Caulkhead

Not attributing anything to you chum. Just filling in the blanks in your, ah,... history, as it were. Cheerio.


37 posted on 06/25/2012 12:28:27 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: Caulkhead

Oh yes, you’re quite right old man. America should have jumped in to save Jolly Old England, with an ill- prepared military that ranked tenth in the world to a European war more than half the American people were dead-set against being involved in. Frightfully sorry. You know, to your nations credit Britain is the only American ally of WW2 that paid back every penny of the aid we gave you, with interest. It was finally all paid off about three years ago. Good show. I mean that sincerely.


38 posted on 06/25/2012 12:35:55 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: Caulkhead
Oh, not to be too much of a sticky wicket old boy but the Mustang was fitted with drop tanks that made it able to escort bombers into Germany. And the jet engine? Wasn't it that clever old Greek named Archimedes who came up with the ''jet engine'' concept? And lets face it old boy, it was the Jerries who had the first operational jet , bloody Huns. Seriously chum, I suppose I'm being a bit of a pratt here, sorry but how many Yanks you know even know what a ''pratt'' is or would use the word ''ruddy'', eh? Cheers
39 posted on 06/25/2012 12:44:42 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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