Falklands/Malvinas
The days of colonialism are not yet quite concluded. As is abundantly evident, with Britain adhering to the ridiculous fiction that it should continue to hold territory quite distant from its geographical sphere. Both Argentina and Britain have commemorated 30 years since the war they engaged in over the ownership of the Falklands/Malvinas. This territorial dispute is one that Britain refuses to step down from.There's not the slightest whiff of hypocrisy here, of course, when Britain huffs and puffs in indignation over Israel's wish to have Jerusalem recognized as its indivisible capital, part of its heritage, its religion, and won back from Arab occupation by conquering the assembled armies of the Middle East that had attacked the Jewish nation, vowing to uproot it from the territory. How are the two issues even remotely comparable?
"It is absurd to claim control (of the Falklands) from 14,000 kilometres away when the territory is on our continental shelf", scoffed Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, speaking to veterans of the 74-day conflict that took so many lives, so very needlessly in a show of imperial re-conquest. She was paying homage to the 649 Argentines who died as a result of British umbrage and hubris.
And the prosecution of the war by Britain under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher caused no raised eyebrows, no blink of an eyelid at the United Nations, nor the Security Council, of which it is a member, to tch-tch in perturbation, let alone sanction. But it did elevate Margaret Thatcher hugely in the approving opinion of Brits and British allies around the world.
The British forces launched their sea assault to take back control of the islands from the assertive, but less powerful Argentinian military. Two hundred, fifty-five British servicemen died in the effort. But this brought glory to Britain, not the bitterness it should logically have introduced to the public sphere, which appeared to have gone wild with celebration over the routing of Argentina, and the 'rescue' of Falklanders from the grasp of Argentina.
President Kirchner insists that Buenos Aires would respect the feelings and entitlements of the Falklands' three thousand residents, loyal to Britain, indeed of British stock. Colonials, far from the mother country. The Falklands is no penal colony that would become the great nation of Australia. But the "Iron Lady" would have it no other way than saving the 'honour' of her country.
Britain has less inclination now, no doubt, to surrender the Malvinas to Argentina, now that oil reserves have been discovered. But sometimes eventually coming around to doing the right thing is just quite simply the right thing to do.
Labels: Britain, Human Relations, Justice, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, April 04, 2012
<< Home