Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

for 10 billion pounds maybe

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Why do you ask?

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

why not?:confused:

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

When something like 99% of the population want to be British then no can be the only answer.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

No,

simple as that, we we're strong once and hopefully can be strong again? there was a reason why we have such islands etc

unless they can give the UK 100 billion but no chance we ain't giving up these islands.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

It's not Britain's to give. Simple as that really, it belongs to the people of the Falklands.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Not a chance:lol:

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

If it were large enough to be autonomous, life might be easier all round - but it's very arguably not. Anyway, it's a British dependent territory at the moment.

Rule of law wins over self-interest; it's on the UN's decolonisation list, and should be permitted to run through that process just like so many former British territories that self-interest would really have preferred us to keep hold of. The history's murky enough that the outcome of that isn't really obvious.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Not these days it doesn't. If it did, there wouldn't ever have been British troops in Iraq or Afghanistan! It's an axiom of international politics that nations don't have principles, only national interests.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

It was a moral statement, not a declaration of how the would actually works all the time. ;).

And states are constrained to acting against their national self-interest all the time. It's just harder to make the bigger ones fall in line; which is why we'll probably never see Blair in the Hague. Doesn't mean we should stop trying to arrest him if we see him in the streets, though.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Considering Britain colonized it before Argentina even existed as a nation should be enough of an answer.

Little fact left out from the other side of the argument. :rofl:

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Ah, well, if we're going to be technical... the "Britain" that claimed it in 1833 was not the same nation as the "Britain" of today. That earlier Britain included the whole of Ireland. Argentina could argue that the Britain of today doesn't have any legal right to negotiate.

No, I'm afraid it comes down to "might is right" - and by that measure the UK (as presently constituted) is the legitimate ruler! This link here is both relevant and interesting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkla...eignty_dispute

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

That's subject to debate, Argentina gained independence in 1816 and did have a settlement there, until the Americans got rid of it 15 years later because it was interfering with their fishers. So the UK then took control of the islands again in 1833. Prior to that they had changed hands various times. But technically speaking when Argentina became a country, the islands were under their sovereignty and they lost them to the UK.

The obvious answer is missing from the poll - independence. If the oil reserves turn out to be as large as people are hoping, they'll be swimming in money and I have no doubt large numbers of people will then move there. The Falklands are nearly as large as Northern Ireland, so it's not unrealistic for them to become an independent country. They could easily pay for the Royal Navy or whoever to secure them.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

The only thing that argues for the Falklands to belong to Argentina is what's called "the geographical imperative" - that islands rightly belong to the major nation they're closest to. There are plenty of examples around the world arguing for and against that position. Arguing against is that the people who live there have British ancestors.

Oh, and the axiom that possession is nine points of the law, of course! That's conclusive, most of the time.

Oh, and the other axiom that "might is right".

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

No.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

NO

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Exactly, it was never under Argentinian rule in the first place! The most the Argentinians can say that the Falklands were under common rule by Spain for a period. ..... Perhaps the Argentinians will lay claim to the Philippines next? :lol:

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

At this point it should be determined by the people on the islands. It's hard to get to the rights and wrongs of previous waves of colonization involving several countries, but we ought to be beyond the stage of one country just handing people over to another country. Self determination seems the only way to go, but I imagine they will want to keep the protection of the British crown/government.

Let's just try not to kill anyone else over it, from any country.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Yes! And Argentina is similar to the U.S. or Australia, a colonial era European outpost with a population dominated by Europeans, since native people were ruthlessly exterminated. I believe most people in Argentina are of German, Italian, British or Spanish ancestry .... but they seem to find it convenient to play the "third world" card.

Why isn't Britain part of France? After all it's only 20 miles away! Isn't it a couple of hundred miles from Argentina to Falklands??

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Or vice versa, as sizeable tracts of it were for extended periods during the past 1,000 years. Maybe the Duke of Normandy should reclaim his (her :sneaky:) ancestral lands? :unsure:

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Mr. Putin might want to up the ante on the next bet.


Putin Signs Anti-UK Military Pact With Argentina: Falklands Dispute May Get Complex As Russia Steps Up Support

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Britain might want to re-think its decision to impose economic sanctions on Russia. What goes around, comes around...

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Argentina might want to re-think its decision to get cozy with Russia, given that Russia's other buddies in the Americas, Cuba and Venezuela have probably the two weakest economies in the Americas. The only question is whether Russia attracts the wo,rst basket case countries as partners or whether entering an economic agreement with Russia turns your economy into a basket case? :unsure: I suspect that it's a bit of both - Russia attracts basket case partners, ..... and makes them worse! :rofl:

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

I strongly suspect that Russia is just tweaking Britain's tail, in mild revenge for the sanctions. And tweaking the US's tail in being courteous to C & V, in mild revenge for causing trouble in Ukraine. The unspoken riposte in each case is, "Hey, see how you like it, sunshine!"

I think it's quite funny to watch. The (totally empty) threat of Russian warships in the Gulf of Mexico - priceless!

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Remember even when Argentina became a sovereign nation (free from Spain) their county only extended to the area around Bs As province. The rest of the country now called Argentina, as especially Patagonia, was not conquered till the 1880's (Conquest of the desert and considered ethnic genocide by most modern historians, although it is still celebrated on the 100 pesos note).

As a result Argentina has no claim as a result of proximity or continental shelf. If Argentina wants to take the moral high ground on this let us see them return the majority of the land they conquered to the South American first nations.

Having lived in Argentina my impression was that the Falkland's is used as a nationalist cause to unite the masses against a common enemy and divert from disastrous domestic policy. This argument will never stop, Argentina cannot afford to lose its oldest smoke and mirrors tactic.

A great paper on the subject was released in 2008 called "Getting it right; the real history of the Falklands".

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

You don't need to have lived in Argentina to realise that that is obviously true. ;)

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

What is surprising though is that most educated Argentines know this and apologies for their government.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

That is interesting, though I suspect that is true in most tin-pot countries, to the extent that their wealthiest and educated people don't flee the country when faced with the problems of long-term corrupt and inept governments.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

The rich do emigrate its the poorer but still well educated middle classes that are stuck.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Interesting to compare how the Colonial Office (now FCO) has dealt with Diego Garcia and with the Falklands/Malvinas.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

One is a speck of land, in a strategically important location, with just enough room to build an airbase, the other is at the far end of the earth, close to nowhere of any importance, with more land than they know what to do with, other than graze sheep on it. Why would anyone expect the same policies be applied to both locations? :confused:

And yes, I do know what happened to the population of Diego Garcia.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

In Diego Garcia the Colonial Office had no hesitation in deporting the population. Mind you that was to ingratiate themselves with Uncle Sam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

It has been something of a human-rights cause celebre for decades. Such a blatant ethnic-cleansing exercise - incidentally - continues to inhibit British Cabinets from criticising certain other blatant ethnic-cleansings in selected parts of the world. As Scot47 said, the only purpose was to suck up to Uncle Sam. Sad but true,Pulaski.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

It wasn't really "ethnic cleansing" as occured all too recently in the former Yugoslavia, and appears to be ongoing in parts of Africa, but was more of an "eminent domain" issue of seizing 23 sq miles of land for a military air base and naval support facility. It just happened to be an entire island/ archipelago that was seized. ..... I agree still unpleasant for those relocated, but not at all the same as people killing off their neighbours with tacit support of their government to make way for more people of the same ethnicity.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

No, no, I didn't mean "ethnic cleansing" in the sense of killing people - just (!) the physical expulsion of an entire ethnic community. Sorry for the confusion.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

Shameful story. Perfidious Albion at its worst.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

I wouldn't expect a different opinion from you. :rolleyes: Obviously you were looking forward to the closure of Faslane too, as an "alien military encampment".

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

The removal of the Chagos Islanders from Diego Garcia is what Argentina would presumably like to happen to the Falkland Islanders.

Re: Should Britain give the Falkland Islands to Argentina
 

And there are fewer Falklanders than there were Chagossians - although the latter had the misfortune to be brown-skin people who didn't have any friends or relatives in Britain - or any oil under the surrounding waters.

Actually, I'm surprised the Argies don't hammer away at the Chagos precedent for all they're worth. Instead, they bang on about "the geographical imperative" - the Falklands are close to us, therefore we have a righteous claim to them. Like the Spanish and Gibraltar, of course... (For which there is a separate thread in BE's Spain section, if anybody's interested.)