The Falklands - Who should own these godforsaken islands?

I have no idea to what you are referring to...

 

I am afraid the British were nowhere in 1594.

 

Well, if Argentina was trying to take Northern Ireland... they'd have to fight both the UK government and the IRA.

 

When they get themselves a government, coarse or otherwise.

 

And well might you be afraid!!
Most of the British were in Britain in 1594 , which makes a nonsense of your claim that they were nowhere .
But Richard Hawkins was in the Falkland Isles which he named for his Queen and as a result of them being visited two years earlier by Commander John Davis .
Remember , it is the Victor who writes History and that's a position that France have only dreamed about for nearly 1000 years .

 

I had hoped the Falklands issue had gone away after the Falklands/Malvinas War back in the 80s. Now that they have found offshore oil deposits the issue is back on the front burner again. Let's hope the Argentinians are reasonable because I don't think the British have the wherewithal to fight another Falklands war with Argentina. Perhaps a revenue-sharing scheme?

 

If we can sell our industries I don't see why some small islands shouldn't bring the tories in a few quid.

 

According to some reports the Falkland War was avoidable - but the Argentinian military junta in their arrogance refused to continue negotiations which would have to a peaceful settlement of shared adminstration with the Islanders. They instead chose military force .

Who are these Argies ? I found this description of them dated 1998 .


How Argies + their neighbours see them .

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- At the Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile, last month, several foreign ministers from Latin American countries derided President Carlos Saul Menem of Argentina after he arrived late for the official photo session, making 33 other heads of state, including President Clinton, wait.

Menem joked that his driver became lost and that he, the president of Argentina, had to walk. The incident was reason enough for the ministers to engage in a favorite Latin pastime -- Argentine bashing.


"Argentinians are Italians who speak Spanish who think they are British," one minister said.

"What is ego?" another asked. "Ego is the little Argentine inside each of us."


Whatever the reason, Argentines are without a doubt the most disdained group in Latin America. ( Menem also raised eyebrows when he decamped early to visit flooded areas of his country.)

Argentines have long taken pride in their arrogance, perhaps as a way of covering over their own insecurities about their real identity. They flaunt their European ancestry and culture to their Latin American peers, who have mixed or indigenous blood.

Now recent social and economic reforms suggest that the Argentine reputation for haughtiness may no longer be deserved. The view was perhaps rooted in a misunderstanding of a people who have historically vacillated between grand sophistication and banality.

Argentina has one of the highest literacy rates and standards of living in the region. It has produced world-class novelists, nuclear scientists, surgeons, architects, universities and cultural centers. And few cities in the world can compare with the night life here. Residents do not eat dinner until well after midnight and discos do not open until 2 a.m. and close after the sun rises.

Yet as a society, it tends toward the superficial, which has encouraged many of its most talented citizens to emigrate. As a group, Argentines are obsessed with appearance; they are fashionably thin and well dressed, regardless of income. At the same time, the country, which consumes inordinate amounts of beef and cigarettes, has a high incidence of anorexia. Plastic surgery is also popular among both women and men. "Argentina has been on the verge of greatness many times, only to see it slip away from us," said Horacio Ortega, a social historian. "This has had a profound effect on our national psyche. We know we are capable, but we never live up to our potential. And that's where arrogance comes into play."

For much of their history, Argentines have thought of themselves as a European outpost because so few of them have mixed blood. They built their country in the style of the homelands of ancestors who emigrated from Europe at the turn of the century. By the 1940s, Argentina, rich in farmland and natural resources, was one of the world's 10 most affluent countries, but in 1942 a string of military coups and economic missteps sank it into 40 years of chaos.

During the darkest period starting in 1976 -- in which military governments killed thousands of dissidents and ruined a robust economy -- perhaps the one thing that Argentines could be proud of was their Italian, English and Spanish heritage. They told their children to hold their heads high if for no other reason than they were better than other Latin Americans.

Losing the Falklands War to Britain in 1983 brought major social and economic change in Argentina, especially as far as how many Argentines viewed themselves. Embarrassed by its defeat, the military junta relinquished power to a democratically elected government.

"For decades, Argentines were the pale faces of Latin America, and we thought we were superior to everyone else," said Felipe A. Noguera, a political analyst. "But after the Falklands War, we were greatly humbled and realized that we were in fact part of Latin America, and most of us stopped pretending to be something else."

Perhaps a major indicator of Argentine insecurity is the country's heavy dependence on psychotherapy. The country has the world's highest concentration of psychologists. Many of them have said that a common theme in their practice is the search for cultural roots and identity.

Since taking office in 1989, Menem has abandoned a policy of isolationism and opened the economy to foreign investment and competition. He has also shifted Argentina's traditionally antagonistic relationship with the United States to one of almost unconditional support, particularly in foreign policy.

Menem has often tried to convince Argentines that the recent reforms are returning the country to the first rank of developed nations. But that has been a hard sell to many Argentines who have lost the cradle-to-grave employment and other benefits that were part of the protectionist era. Unemployment is high at 15 percent, but inflation has dropped sharply to 4 percent from 5,000 percent in 1990.

"For the first time in many decades, Argentines are having to compete on a global stage where ancestry doesn't really matter," said Raul Buonoume, an economist. "We realize that we are being judged on our performance, our gross national product, our low inflation, and not on being European."

Despite its setbacks, the country is one of the most highly developed in Latin America. It also has the highest per capita income. Still, some myths are so ingrained in the Argentine persona that they may never die.

The Argentine daily, La Nacion, recently published a series of axioms that are commonly believed by most Argentines: "Buenos Aires is the only city in the world that has libraries open all night. Argentina has the best-looking women in the world. In Argentina, you just throw some seeds on the ground and they'll grow. Argentina has the best beef in the world. An Argentine can solve any problem with great genius."-

http://linkage.rockefeller.edu/wli/reading/argentina.html

 

I find it hard to believe. Show me a single record of the word "British" in or prior to 1594....I'll be waiting.

 

Just do the simplest search research .
I am sure you can manage to type in Falklands History .
You are as bad as the Americans -- close to needing someone to wipe their noses and other places .

 

I already did.
But I thought you might come with a different result.
Apparently not.

ps; to which kind of Americans are you comparing me, those of 1658??

 

Apparently, God forsook them with lots of oil.

 

So how did you miss this?
As I said at the start , the French forfeited any rights when they cowered in front of the Spanish and English .
Fortunately Spain cannot afford to look after its own these days , but it's historical claim is substantial .
Against that , they eventually sailed away and simply lost interest .
I get annoyed because so many here are frankly illiterate when it comes to research and it seems that the more mouthy and senselessly dogmatic an American is , the more likely it is that he is a mainstream selective reader who couldn't find gold in a gold mine if asked to search for it .




When English explorer John Davis, commander of the Desire, one of the ships belonging to Thomas Cavendish's second expedition to the New World, separated from Cavendish off the coast of what is now southern Argentina, he decided to make for the Strait of Magellan in order to find Cavendish. On 9 August 1592 a severe storm battered his ship, and Davis drifted under bare masts, taking refuge "among certain Isles never before discovered." Consequently, for a time the Falklands were known as "Davis Land" or "Davis' Land."
In 1594, they were visited by English commander Richard Hawkins, who, combining his own name with that of Queen Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen", gave the islands the name of "Hawkins' Maidenland."

 

Oh, you meant the English? Because, as you should know, the British were nowhere to be seen in 1594. I suggest you brush up on your own history before you start lecturing others.

 

Congratulations , you're this board's " Pedant of the month Award winner."


....

 

Thanks.

I can't help but try to humble people with such a misplaced bravado.

Toodle pip.

 

Yeah well I realised that was what you were getting at but is it really correct? Can't "the British" refer to the inhabitants of the island of Great Britain irrespective of the political map, as in the ancient Britains long before the kingdom of Great Britain?

 

You mean like the modern Jews and their unjustified claim to the ancient kingdom of Israel?

 

I gave you facts , as usual . Your only recourse was to write something desperate hoping you could salvage a sliver of pride .

You failed .

 

Possession is 9/10 of the law...

What's next? Chile belongs to Argentina because it's closer than the Falklands?

 

Let's here your case as to why you think it's in the UKs national interest to 'defend' the apparent 'interests' of 3,000 people living on a rock off the coast off Argentina in the south Atlantic 8,000 miles away that was taken by force as a colonial possession 130 years ago?

This should be interesting.

 

Let's here your case as to why you think it's in the UKs national interest to 'defend' the apparent 'interests' of 3,000 people living on a rock off the coast off Argentina in the south Atlantic 8,000 miles away that was taken by force as a colonial possession 130 years ago?

This should be interesting.

 

Let's here your case as to why you think it's in the UKs national interest to 'defend' the apparent 'interests' of 3,000 people living on a rock off the coast off Argentina in the south Atlantic 8,000 miles away that was taken by force as a colonial possession 130 years ago?

This should be interesting.

 

That is a matter for UK.

Was it taken by force??

Why don't you tell it to the Americans, whose predecessors colonised US a coupla hundred years ago? Is it time to hand that country back, maybe to Mexico which is next door?

 

Yes it was. Nobody was living their at the time but the Malvinas was taken by force by the UK as part of its colonial conquest.

I want to hear your argument as to why you think the UK government has the territorial claim for a rock 8,000 miles away where 3,000 British passport holders reside?