Posted by
Doug Van Duker on Thursday, April 03, 2008 10:56:35 AM
The socialist government of Argentine Presidente Cristina Kirchner, came into office on a platform of economic reforms ("fairness, justice, and equality") the end of political corruption, and the restoration of Argentine sovereignty to the British territories of the Falklands (Malvinas), South Georgia, and South Sandwich Islands–located in a range of 300 to 1000 off Argentina’s Southern most coasts.
The Argentine people have been enculturated with a profoundly distorted historical account of the British Empire displacing poor gauchos and Argentine settlers from the Malvinas; completing omitting the true facts that an American Privateer, David Jewett, raised the claim to the islands in 1820 on behalf of Las Provincias Unidas de Sud América (the United Provinces of South America–a predecessor government twice removed to the subsequent governments of PARTS of Argentina and Uruguay). The claim was made by Captain Jewett in observance to the conditions of his letters of marque he had obtained from the revolutionary government fighting for its independence from Spain. Argentina’s sole exercise of sovereignty on the islands was the establishment of a penal colony in 1828...which was destroyed less than 3 years later.
The island’s initial importance was as a port and reprovisioning site for sailing vessels engaged in the seal trade of the 1800's. Since the international fashion market for seal-skins vanished; and the opening of the Panama Canal, fishing and sheep herding have been the island’s only industries.
By the time the current boundaries had been drawn for the present day Argentina, and the first native-born Argentine was elected to government office, the British had ruled the islands for over 80 years. These facts have never been taught in Argentina’s textbooks. If presented with such information, over 90% of the Argentine public would immediately dismiss them as foreign propaganda, clinging instead to the romanticized myths of history passed dutifully from one generation to the next.
While I personally believe that the Argentine claim to the Falklands/Malvinas was every bit as viable as that of the British in the 1830s, it seems that after 175 years of continuous British occupation and settlement, the French, who originally discovered, claimed the IslasÎles Malovines would have an equal claim – which could by extension also just as reasonably support a Spanish attempt to reassert its historical claim over the whole of Uruguay or Argentina.
In the 1980's, government socialist market "reforms" induced a series of shortages in oil and essential consumer goods throughout Argentina. Inflation was in triple digits. In response to growing popular dissatisfaction with the government, the Argentine political leadership whipped up anti-British sentiment native nationalism, demanded the "return" of the Malvinas, and invaded the islands in 1982.
In support of the invasion, it was widely rumored that just off the coast of these islands were vast oil reserves that would make Argentina rich. This adding some legitimacy and plausibility for the government’s sudden national imperative for reclaiming islands after 150 years in British possession. Twenty-five years and a generation have gone by, and yet not one successful test drilling of the fabled oil and natural gases has been discovered.
The only mitigation to the disastrous Argentine invasion decision was the British government opting NOT to attack Argentina’s military staging, naval facilities or supporting infrastructure targets on the mainland. In the end, thousand of Argentine lives were lost in an failed attempt to divert public attention from unemployment, empty grocery shelves, and the abysmal underlying economic policies driving the recession. Following the war, the economy got a lot worse before it got better and the corrupt politicians largely avoided public retribution by escaped to foreign soil.
Once more the economy is being driven to the brink of failure by socialist economic "reform" policies. Once more, public dissent is being thuggishly quashed by agents of the government. Once more the answer to popular marches, protests and strikes is the trotting out of the sun-crested war flag, speeches decrying the British violation of Argentine sovereignty. Once more calls for Argentine patriotism and nationalism are being used as a political fig-leaf to draw attention away from the consequences of failed domestic policies.
The only open questions for the current government of Cristina Kirchner: To what extent will she risk the lives and treasure of Argentina in her efforts to maintain political control, after her government’s socialist meddling has all but destroyed the country’s financial and economic institutions? Will she, as her predecessors did, generate an international incident to divert the Argentine public’s attention away from issues of employment, inflation, and food shortages? Once the flags are waving, the protesters are marching, and the rhetoric gets to a fevered pitch, can Presidente Kirchner maintain control and avoid precipitating this diversion into another war that Argentina has no possibility of winning?