It's a load of bolos

In election year, rhetoric can become ramped up to such a fever-pitch as to threaten pandemic, witness the Republican Primaries. It is estimated that up to a quarter of the world’s population will vote (maybe more so as a result of some countries where ballot-stuffing is the norm) in 2012. Understandably, everyone is trying to get the edge over their opponents, the key theme that will propel them to power or keep them there. Anything can be fair game.

Argentina is not one of these countries to hold a plebiscite for their representatives, yet if feels like election season. In Buenos Aires, President Cristina Kirchner is a wily operator but is displaying all the diplomatic tact of the now resident Carlos Tevez. The UK government, exasperated by the unremitting bellicose statements coming out of the presidential office, has decided to issue the equivalent of a slap in the face, the idea of getting someone to calm down. It is sending not just the most modern ship in the Royal Navy but posting the heir presumptive to the British throne to be an integral part of a sea-air rescue mission service. This has not gone down well from the River Plate to the Andes and Kirchner has pledged to take the issue, a controversy she has whipped up of her own accord, to the United Nations General Assembly to score a moral victory, knowing that if presented to the Security, the UK (at the very least) would veto any proposal. At a time when there is strong talk of presenting the atrocities in Syria to the General Assembly to build international support to condemn the Assad regime, this Argentinean conceit is a sideshow at best and an insult to the very serious situation in Syria, all for electioneering. Though she has managed to corral support among her fellow South Americans, the General Assembly usually upholds the right to sovereignty first and self-determination second – on neither count is Argentina on strong ground.

One should consider the history of the Falklands. From 1770 to 1820, it was an uninhabited archipelago claimed for the crown of Spain. With Madrid in no financial position to defend such a distant and unprofitable outpost after the loss of its mainland Latin American empire, when the nascent Argentina claimed ownership of Las Malvinas in 1820, it was not disputed. It was not long in the possession of the men from the pampas, as Britain added the islands to its burgeoning empire in 1833. Given that Kirchner is a name of German origin (and Germans in South America do not have a fine reputation), it probably means that the Falklands have been British longer than the Kirchners have been Argentinean (into whose family the current president married) - indeed, there are very few Argentineans who are truly indigenous in their descent. Along with South Georgia, the islands were an important coal-refuelling stop in the south Atlantic Ocean. It was the scene of the December 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands, where the renowned Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee perished, after inflicting a defeat on the Royal Navy a month before at the Battle of Coronel. This time, the tables were turned after a powerful squadron had arrived in Port Stanley the day before to look for him, yet in the end their prey came to them.

In more recent times, to pre-empt the 150th anniversary of British ownership of the islands, the junta in Buenos Aires, headed by General Leopoldo Galtieri, decided to invade. The military government, which had ‘disappeared’ at least 30,000 people, was growing in unpopularity. Taking over Las Malvinas provided an immediate shot in the arm for the regime as wild celebrations ensued. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, acting more out of patriotism rather than electoral calculation (though it helped), sent a ‘task force’ to liberate the Falklands. Had it failed, the Royal Navy would have been crippled and reduced to little more than coastal defence of the home islands. The Argentinean bombs were only 30% successful in detonating because those maintaining the munitions set the wrong length of fuse. Had that rate been even half, it might have made the British task force untenable. In the end, Exocet missiles did significant damage but not enough and the Falklands once more resorted to British control.

With the junta utterly discredited and internationally isolated following an unsuccessful war, essentially the generals lost heart to continue in power themselves. Their legitimacy was stripped and a popular uprising restored democracy to the country a year later. Had the British abandoned the Falklands as an ‘oh well’, had many more tens of thousands would have lost their lives without even a memorial to them as the junta persisted with its iron grip? Would there be a dictatorship to this very day, obviating Kirchner’s campaign for re-election? Though it was not its original intention, the UK played a key role in ending the rule of a tyrannical clique, showing that the emperor had no clothes.

Some people say, how would London react were, say, the Shetlands Argentinean? Well, if the occupants were all Argentinean and wanted to remain tied to the mother country 7,000 miles away, that would be their right. The Falklands people determine to be self-determined in which country has sovereignty over them. No-one should take away their right to decide. The Faroe Islands are autonomous but are united with Denmark; then again, they are closer to the UK. Why should Denmark lord it over this collection of rocky outcroppings? Clearly, the UK has a stronger claim to them, despite the centuries of Danish rule. Who cares what the people who actually live there think? For that matter, a long time ago, Great Britain was part of the Danish empire of Canute the Great (the apocryphal story of him attempting to command the tide was to illustrate the piety of a king ridiculing the blasphemous blandishments of his courtiers). A long time ago. Why shouldn’t we hand ourselves, lock, stock and barrel over to control by Copenhagen, irrespective of our wishes?

But mention of the Shetland Islands was unintentionally apposite by the person texting BBC Five Live’s Tony Livesey’s radio show. For Argentinean interest in the Falklands has drastically increased since the discovery of oil, becoming hysterical when Westminster started awarding contracts to mining companies. This is the true nub – financial nationalism. No matter that Argentina operates a successful economy in contrast to much of the ‘developed’ world (the default a decade ago proving a blessing in disguise). As with any government, it wants more. Kirchner has been sworn in again (winning re-election last October) and is unassailable in the polls to be brought low, therefore the sniping from Patagonia to the border of Paraguay will continue. Let us hope that the stridency and childishness, as it is currently, will abate once the thirtieth anniversary of the Falklands War passes, with vituperative chuntering decreasing in equal measure from 10 Downing Street.