With a country full of people willing to allow Islamists to take over their streets in a bloodless coup and a government full of peaceniks now would be a great time for a country that was once thrashed soundly by the English to make a move.
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, which remain in British hands after the 1982 war between the two countries, is “inalienable,” President Cristina Kirchner said Wednesday.
“The sovereign claim to the Malvinas Islands is inalienable,” she said in a speech marking the 26th anniversary of Argentina’s ill-fated invasion of the islands, located 480 kilometers (300 miles) off shore.
The April 2, 1982 invasion prompted then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to deploy naval forces to retake the Falklands, known as the Malvinas in Spanish.
The short, bloody conflict led to Argentina’s surrender on June 14, 1982 after the death of 649 Argentines and 255 Britons.
Historians saw the invasion as an attempt by Argentina’s ruling military junta, which was then in power, to divert attention away from domestic problems.
In her speech Kirchner called for Argentina to strengthen its representation in international bodies to denounce “this shameful colonial enclave in the 21st century.”
And Vice President Julio Cobos said in the southern city of Rio Grande that “we must recover this territory that is ours, that belongs to us.”
The comments came as Kirchner faces her own woes, battling against farmers who have barricaded roads in a protest against a stiff tax hike on soybean exports.
I assume this time the war will end quite differently. What are the odds that England will fight for the Faulkland Islands this time if Argentina decides to throw down? I’m thinking slim to none.
I miss the Iron Lady.