So British media has been talking a lot about Argentinians and their calls for the Falklands to be given to them, or should I say their continuing calls. I was just wondering if there was anyone on GOG from the Falklands or any British or Argentinians who would be able to share their opinions. I'm not really sure what the big deal is, as the Falklanders have said they wish to remain British by a large majority, or why the UN is going to be involved, but then again I'm not old enough to remember the war.

CNN analysts say the Argentinians' call for ownership of Las Malvinas may be motivated by domestic politics. in other words, a crisis in foreign policy is created in order to distract from domestic problems. nothing new. why the Falklands issue? because apparently, that's the only thing Argentinians can universally agree upon. that and football...

there also seem to be economic interests in the form of rich fishing grounds and possibly oil.

will they go to war over this rock again? i doubt it, although the Argentinians are doing a hell of a lot of (verbal) sabre rattling...

I'd actually be curious as well to hear about this from the Argentinian perspective because their position doesn't make much sense to me except maybe as the same political theatre as last time. And this coming from someone who truly hates having to agree with the Cameron government. I mean yes the islands are much closer to Argentina that the UK, but they are nowhere close to being in Argentina's territorial waters, Argentina never owned the island except briefly during the fighting over them in the 1830's, and no one lived there before the Europeans got to it and started fighting over it. What actually is the basis for Argentina's claim?

Note: not the underlying true cause whatever that may be, but I don't even understand how they justify their claim. Is it literally just because they're closer to islands than the UK? Because that's a really bad argument for islands not in your territorial waters with a population that isn't of your people.

They bought it from the Spanish (I think it was.) might have had some settlers there too. Though ancient history doesn't really matter. The Falklands want to be British, end of story.

No words for that, dude.
But I have to agree that our government does nothing more than distract the people from important issues. I'm really unhappy with this stuff, as so do I with this year elections (or re-elections, sad but true)

My understanding & (probably biased) opinion:

Argentina has always claimed the Falklands.
During it's Colonial Heyday, UK took ownership.
Argentina wants them back.

30 years ago, Under a military dictatorship, Argentina tried to takethem back by force.
The Brits defeated them.

Then, over the last few years there has been oil exporation in the area.
These new resources are coveted by both sides.

The British position is that, as long as the Islanders want to remain British, the UK will defend them.
If the Islanders ever want full independance, the Brits will have a hard time saying no, but they don't want to hand control over them to another nation.

The Argentine position is that they were the original owners & the Islands should be returned to them.

In fact, over 200 years ago, some english folk established there. I think the war was a soberany issue thing.

I'm in Uruguay, and we have to deal with bullshit from Argentina almost every day. They are having a lot of internal problems now and this is their way of drawing attention away of the shitty way they are driving their country into bankruptcy again. I can't wait for the tourist season to be over so they go back to being miserable in their own country rather than here.

Pretty accurate. You have to remember also the prepotence of that dictator, he said "Si quieren venir que vengan, que les daremos batalla" (If they want to come, we'll give 'em war). A sad thing to be said, as our army ranks were filled with young conscripts.

I remember Galtieri, that guy screwed over an entire generation of kids in Argentina, hell, i even remember the day they landed marines on the islands, i had a frien in school from Cordoba and he was so worried about his family over there it was heartbreaking.

Synopsis from Wikipedia:

No one lived there before the European arrival. The first two claims were apparently French and British. The Spanish bought the French colony and invaded the British one. The Brits and Spanish almost went to war and the Brits got theirs back by treaty. That brings us to the American Revolution and Caribbean war against the French when the Brits withdrew forces from their part of the islands and the Spanish took over (really just left a plaque next to the British plaque that Brits claimed the islands with saying "no they're ours"). But meanwhile the Argentinians rebelled and own creating the United Provinces of the River Plate. Since it was the Buenos Ares colonial administration that had governed the islands, Argentina now asserted control, but eventually left on their own accord, withdrawing settlers by 1811. Though both Britain and Argentina claimed control, it seems no one was using the islands for much until 1832 when the Argentinians tried to establish a penal colony. The following January British forces returned and laid claim to the islands that had been "theirs". The Argentinian forces protested but acquiesced. The Brits used it solely as a naval base until 1840 when the first stable colony, and the one that exists today, of civilians was set up.

So summary of the synopsis: No one has historically ever had claim that wasn't enforced at the point of a gun. And really if we want to talk about "firsties", half the islands belong to the Brits and the other half belongs to Spain (I suppose since they bought it rather than took it by force from the French). Since the current inhabitants are probably mostly if not entirely the descendants of Brits, it seems Argentina doesn't have a particularly strong case. I guess it really is just the same political theatre as last time. Oh well. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I thought your economy was doing okay (well at least considering the state of the world economy anyway) - what are the issues they're trying to distract from? Is the economy that bad again? I mean last time it was incredible hyperinflation if I remember right (not to mention military dictatorship).

What's your sense - are people buying the distraction? Or are they fed up? Sorry you are going through this ... again.

Reelection legislation changes, that could sum all the things up. If I think of something else, I'll tell you. Back in the day, it was approved and we had an awful president twice. Later came the catchy phrase "I didn't vote for him".
You know, it's hard to believe that you have a president with a "Latin America as a Brotherhood" speech ruling a country apparently hated all over South America (not to mention the entire world, that's another matter), just to add something.

Check this. Some great changes, some profitable ones (a.k.a. elections changes). It's always the same.

There's nothing in the Falklands except for a bizarre amount of sheep and oh, yeah, a fucking shitton of oil. That said I'm guessing the Argentinians are claming that the battle over the islands were supposed to be a best of three, so who knows.

The real answer is simple; we want the Falklands for the penguins, because haven't got any penguins of our own.

I think there is a mix of causes

- domestic policy issues
- domestic economic issues ( when a government thinks that to fight inflation you need to put more money in circulation, this government wants people to think about something else)
- nationalistic ressent ( and yes, the UK seems weakened by the crisis )
- regional issues : South America is emerging as a region, but there seems to be a rivalry for regional leadership.
- the personnality of the head of state and the perceived need to distract the attention of public opinion on "issues that really matter"
- oil and, behind it, the rivalry between the different possible sponsors (remember Bolivia & Standard oil vs Paraguay and Shell in 1932-1935 ? )