Would like to talk about something current.


Some background information first, in case you do not already know. The Falkland are a series of small islands off the eastern coast of South America with a population of about 3000 people. The islanders call themselves British and have done so for almost 200 years, yet Argentina challenges their right to be governed by the United Kingdom, claiming that they still own the place because they controlled the Falklands for about two months back in 1832. It is a ridiculous claim not only because it violates the U.N. Charter, but also because if Argentina can claim 'las Malvinas' as their own because they used to be part of the old Spanish Empire, well then I guess England must get the United States for the very same reason. The islanders have consistently rejected Argentina's advances.


I make this thread because today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Falklands War, where Argentina's military junta ordered the invasion of the isles to stir up patriotism and distract their citizens from their own crippling economy and overt oppression. So they invaded those that rejected them. The war was a complete failure for Argentina and their actions caused the deaths of over nine-hundred people, reaffirmed the islanders' wish to remain British and caused the collapse of the Argentinean government.


But what Argentina is doing now is outrageous. Completely outrageous and foolish. They are trying to relive it all again. For the past year they've been saber-rattling and trying to stir up this old conflict again. Out of either spite, greed or selfishness, they are currently trying to impose an economic blockade by collaborating with other South American countries to refuse service to ships flying Falklands colours. An embargo that does themselves more harm than it does anyone else. They even just recently accused the U.K. of threatening nuclear war over this issue! And why are they doing these things? Oh, I don't know! Could it be that President Fernández wishes to prop up her government with a jingoistic fervor or is it about all those oil deposits surrounding the islands? Yet you don't see France or the Netherlands pepping up about a claim to the Falklands, despite them having controlled the islands for far longer than the Argentineans ever did.


This whole dispute is about self-determination. The right for people to choose for themselves who they wish to be governed by. The people there have and continue to want to remain part of the United Kingdom, for Argentina has brought nothing to the islands but war, meddling and false claims. They've made the Falklands victims of their selfish nationalism. They call Britain the colonists, but they are the ones interested in colonizing. They refuse to accept that the people of the Falklands want nothing to do with them. See, unlike Argentina, I am consistent in my support for self-determination. Be it Northern Ireland, Palestine, Tibet or the Falklands, I have and always will speak up for a human's right to choose their own fate.


So what is the casual observer to make of Argentina now trying to take with obstruction that which they could not take with neither war nor words? They need to stop this persistent endeavor of theirs. The last time they walked this path was a disaster for them. Argentina should leave well enough alone and focus on their country's own problems rather than trying to drag up the ghosts of their recent failures and past assertions. Their pointless rattling is a disservice to their war's veterans, the rights of the Falklands people and everyone's basic sense of human decency. Their actions will get them no closer to their desires and its time for them to accept reality.


Argentina, go away.