Argentina Reasserts Claims To Falklands (again)

[daftandbarmy]

Interesting story but very misleading title. If the article is accurate, then the SAS were ready to go and it was Thatcher that didn't authorize it.

If it was B Sqn, then there is also the likelihood that the op clashed with a succession of hard to book hair dressing appointments  ;D

 

[medicineman]

Interesting story but very misleading title. If the article is accurate, then the SAS were ready to go and it was Thatcher that didn't authorize it.

Read a book awhile back "Soldier I" - autobiography of a trooper with 'B' Sqn during the Falklands (and apparently the Iranian Embassy siege).  There was a portion of the bits about the Falklands that were dedicated to talking a bit about that mission, though IIRC, he said they were going to crash land at Stanley airport and not onto mainland Argentina.  I've also read a book by a different author who was the MO for 22 SAS describing a similar op around the same time - he was to be part of the intimate medical support for this.  It never happened in the end...from "Soldier I", as they were driving to the aircraft to go, one of his mates pulled out an old copy of British Army Rules of War and one of them said "...SAS soldiers are not suicide troops." 

MM

 

[aesop081]

The book "Special Forces Pilot" By Richard Hutchings describes quite well the entire plan and the Sea King crews' insertion of the SAS recce teams in Argentina.

 

[tomahawk6]

Hardly a surprise after repeated defense cuts.Like I have said before and this would apply to the US defense budget.The President could shutdown the entire defense establishment and wouldnt be able to balance the budget and we dont even have Obamacare yet that would be a serious drag on the budget. Maybe after withdrawing from Afghanistan the UK could provide additional forces to defend the islands.


http://news.yahoo.com/group-warns-over-falklands-defence-051043676.html

Britain would have to hold its air base on the Falklands unaided for at least a week in the event of another Argentine invasion, a defence pressure group warned Sunday.

The UK National Defence Association, which campaigns on military matters, claimed the archipelago was more vulnerable than at any time since the 1982 Falklands War.

In a report ahead of the 30th anniversary of the invasion on Monday, the body said Britain would find it difficult to "protect, reinforce or retake" the South Atlantic islands, largely due to the lack of aircraft carrier strike capability.

"Even in the most favourable circumstances... the deployment of additional fighters and a reasonable war-fighting force would take approximately a week," the report said.

"In effect, this means that the British garrison would necessarily have to hold Mount Pleasant airfield and its environs for a week before help arrived.

"There would be no fighter cover for the landing force and shipping. There is no carrier... There is no question of providing air support using Royal Air Force fighters.

"There are no bases within range. In-flight re-fuelling, given the number of re-fuels required for a round trip of 8,000 miles from Ascension, would be impossible in the face of the threat posed by the Argentine air force.

"The UK would be hard put to protect, reinforce or retake the islands... history could well be about to repeat itself -- but this time with a different outcome."





Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told The Times last week that Argentina's ageing aircraft do not present a military threat.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Unlike in 1982, we have a well defended airfield in the Falklands with ground-based air defences, and continue to have the ability to reinforce by air and sea.

"People should be reassured by the contingencies that we now have in place compared to 30 years ago. That said, there is no evidence of any current credible military threat to the Falkland Islands."

Britain has held the Falklands since 1833, but Buenos Aires claims the barren islands are occupied Argentine territory.

Diplomatic friction between Argentina and Britain has intensified since 2010, when London authorised oil prospecting in the waters around the windswept islands, which are home to less than 3,000 people.

 

[aesop081]

http://news.yahoo.com/group-warns-over-falklands-defence-051043676.html

Rubish article. The "theres no carrier" mantra is as outdated as the Argentine AF itself.

 

[tomahawk6]

The real question is at what cost is the reinvasion of the Falklands  acceptable ? They might pull it off but the cost would be pretty high. If I were the Brits I would announce the right to pre-empt an Argentine attack.That way Tomahawks could strike air and naval bases shutting down any attack.

 

[Edward Campbell]

The real question is at what cost is the reinvasion of the Falklands  acceptable ? They might pull it off but the cost would be pretty high. If I were the Brits I would announce the right to pre-empt an Argentine attack.That way Tomahawks could strike air and naval bases shutting down any attack.

If I were David Cameron I would, simply, reiterate, that the Falklands are British because that is the will if the people and Britain will ensure that the Falklands remain British so long as that is what the people want. An invasion of the Falklands, by anyone, would be an act of aggressive war, a crime against peace as defined in international law, and the criminal country would be punished to the fullest extent of Britain's political and military capabilities. Then I would be quiet but I would tell my military chiefs of staff that no target is "out of bounds" when it comes to stopping a crime against peace ... and I wouldn't be upset when tentative target lists leaked.

 

[Old Sweat]

This piece, which may merely be about more posturing on the part of the Argentians, is from the AOL website operated by the Huffington Post. It is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act.

Falkland Islands Anniversary: Argentina Demands Handover Of 'Las Malvinas' 30 Years After War


By BRIAN HENDRIE 04/ 2/12 10:00 AM ET

USHUAIA, Argentina — President Cristina Fernandez's campaign to force Britain to hand over the Falkland Islands may have reached its high point with Monday's 30th anniversary of Argentina's failed occupation of the remote South Atlantic archipelago.

Fernandez prepared to lead hundreds of patriotic rallies nationwide with another major speech urging Britain to concede sovereignty of the islands Latin Americans know as "Las Malvinas," insisting on a peaceful resolution even as leftist groups prepared to confront riot police outside the British embassy in Buenos Aires.

The campaign has been multifaceted, with Nobel Peace Prize winners and Argentina's Latin American allies accusing Britain of militarizing the dispute even as Fernandez pursues what islanders consider to be economic warfare against them.

A union threat to boycott of British cargo and refuse British-flagged cruises has complicated shipping, while Argentina's refusal to allow more than one weekly flight through its air space has limited airborne commerce. The Fernandez government has urged companies to find alternatives to British imports, threatened to sue British investors and banks, and tried to block offshore oil development.

The moves have made life more difficult for the islanders, but none seem to be bringing Argentina any closer to recovering the territory it claims British forces stole from them in 1833 and ran as a colony for 150 years.

Britain says there is nothing to negotiate: The islands are now a self-governing British Overseas Territory and the people who have lived there for generations will determine their own fate. The islanders themselves overwhelmingly say they want to remain British.

With no real progress to be made, the rhetoric has only become more intense. Feelings on both sides have hardened.

Through email and social networks, Argentines accuse islanders of being "pirates" or deride them as "kelpers." One urged a "Penguin News" editor to "move to England, or if you want to be a Martian, hop on a rocket and head toward Mars." Another reached out to a bed-and-breakfast owner for a reservation, then wrote: "YOU GUYS STOLE THE ISLANDS FROM ARGENTINA ... you are arrogant people, greedy, criminals ... just wait. And you think you deserve to decide over the Malvinas??? You stoled from our backyard??? fff ... all you!!!"

Editor Lisa Watson at the islands' weekly Penguin News has fired back through public Twitter messages, attempting to find the right tone, but it didn't help when Argentines noticed that an online news photo of President Fernandez had been saved under a crude insult.

"It never occurred to us that the filename would be so transparent. It was hugely embarrassing, particularly now as we were seemingly winning the image war," Watson's colleague John Fowler said. "Before that, Lisa had been pretty continuously receiving hundreds and hundreds of nasty sexually insulting messages a day."

Argentina has variously tried to charm, occupy, negotiate and threaten its way back into the islands in the last four decades. In the 1970s, it established a direct air link with Buenos Aires, supplied them with gasoline, paid to educate island children and otherwise tried to build ties. Britain was lobbying the islanders to accept a Hong Kong-style handover before the junta decided to invade on April 2, 1982.

Led to believe they would be welcomed as liberators, Argentine troops instead discovered that islanders wanted to stay British – and that a flotilla was on its way from England to seize the islands back. The junta rushed in thousands of newly drafted troops without logistical support or even warm clothes. They fought bravely, British soldiers said, but hardly stood a chance.

Argentine forces surrendered on June 14, after battles that cost 649 Argentine and 255 British soldiers' lives, along with three islanders killed by friendly British fire.

There were other attempts to build ties in the 1990s – a series of agreements on shared fishing and oil rights, shipping and air links and other exchanges. But nearly all those deals were abandoned in 2003, after Fernandez' late husband, Nestor Kirchner, became president and began trying to isolate the islands instead.

Those efforts have intensified ever since.

"Thirty years and now we find it again, we are worried we are going to go through it all again, another invasion. We do not, we do not want to see this again," islander Mary Lou Agman said as several hundred of the islands' 3,000 residents turned out Sunday for a commemorative march by the small Falkland Islands Defence Force.

Among those who yearn for common ground are a small group of Argentine war veterans who were spending Monday in the islands, holding a quiet ceremony at the cemetery where hundreds of Argentine soldiers remain buried.

"To return to this little piece of land, which for me is a little bit of my country and apart from that, being here is so pleasing, to be among the people that were once our enemies, that which we can now live together with – it's just really proof that we human beings are not like animals," said Juan Carlos Lujan, one of the veterans.

James Peck, a 43-year-old islander and artist who now has dual Falklands-Argentine nationality after marrying an Argentine and moving to Buenos Aires, said he has tried to keep a low profile, but told The Associated Press that he wrote a brief essay urging dialogue ahead of the anniversary because he saw this war of words "fueling itself and becoming hysterical."

"I didn't really want to join in the noise," Peck explained, but he said someone has to speak out for common sense. "For me Argentina has real dignity these days, and I'm amazed that grown up politicians cannot sit down and talk civilly to each other. I think that's really sad. Not everybody's getting stoked up by all this, I'm sure they're not."

___

Paul Byrne contributed from Stanley, Falkland Islands, and Michael Warren contributed from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Argentina, 30 Years On, Pushes on Falklands
Despite Demands to Recover Islands From Britain, Its Forces Are Drained

BUENOS AIRES—President Cristina Kirchner has vociferously pressed to reclaim the Falkland Islands, after Argentina failed to do so in a war for the isolated archipelago that began 30 years ago Monday.

But there is little risk the country will mount another surprise attack: These days, its ragtag military can hardly put on a decent parade.

During Argentina's bicentennial celebration in 2010, the defense ministry said it didn't put the country's antiquated tanks on the street because it was trying to "demilitarize" the parade.


Thirty years ago the U.K. went to war against Argentina over the Falkland Islands but according to newly released documents from the Reagan Library, the U.S. almost took sides against the U.K. WSJ's Cassell Bryan-Low reports on the anniversary. Photo: AP

Argentinian veterans mark 30th anniversary of the Falklands war at a ceremony in Ushuaia from where the invasion was launched. (Video: Reuters/Photo: Getty Images)
But Congressman Julio César Martínez, who was president of the legislature's Defense Commission that year, said the real reason was that organizers feared the rickety tanks would break down on the parade route.

What is more, there were no air force flyovers because 15 of its planes have crashed over the past 11 years because of age and lack of maintenance, he added. Many planes are "only fit to teach pilots how to be kamikazes," Mr. Martínez said.

Neither the Argentine Defense Ministry nor the Kirchner administration responded to several requests for comment.

Even as she talks tough about the Falklands, the leftist Mrs. Kirchner has been starving the 60,000-member Argentine armed forces of funds as part of a strategy to expunge Argentine militarism and quash any possibility of another dictatorship like the one that killed thousands of Argentines in the 1970s and 1980s. That regime also invaded the Falklands in 1982, sparking a brief war with the U.K that Argentina lost.

In a recent paper, Argentine academic Carlos Escudé described Mrs. Kirchner's strategy as "one of the most radical pacifist experiments of all time."


Argentina's military spending, which had been about 3% of GDP at the time of the Falklands War, has fallen steadily to 0.9% of GDP by 2010, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank. Today, even as Mrs. Kirchner has elevated overall public spending to historic highs, Argentina's military budget is at a record low both as a percentage of GDP and of the total budget, said political scientist Rosendo Fraga.

Alfredo Dato, a pro-government congressman who recently took over as chairman of the Defense Commission, said in an interview that Mrs. Kirchner's defense policy and her punishment of the human-rights abuses committed by the former military has widespread support from Argentines.

On Monday, Ms. Kirchner will visit the southernmost Argentine city of Ushuaia to lead rallies nationwide that honor Falklands War veterans and likely further press her country's claim.

Few lament the demise of the brutal dictatorship. But some defense hawks say Mrs. Kirchner has taken pacifism too far, noting that Argentina's northern border with Paraguay and Brazil is populated by drug traffickers, smugglers and arms dealers.


Argentine veterans in Ushuaia, in Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, paid their respects to the soldiers who died in the country's 74-day war with Great Britain, on Monday, the 30th anniversary of its start.
In addition, many Latin American countries have taken advantage of booming commodity prices to strengthen their defense, said Alejandro Corbacho, a specialist in defense at the Center for Macroeconomic Studies in Buenos Aires. Chile, Argentina's neighbor and longtime rival, has an armed force that is nearly 1.5 times larger than Argentina's in a country with only one-third the population. Chile spent 3.5% of GDP on defense in 2009, according to the Stockholm Institute.

Mrs. Kirchner's benign neglect of the military contrasts with her fierce diplomatic push for the islands, many analysts say. She has initiated a boycott of British goods in Argentina, called for neighboring Latin American countries to deny harbor to ships coming from the islands and threatened to sue companies involved in drilling for oil and gas off the archipelago's shore. On the stump, she has railed against English "colonialism" and "militarism."

While Mr. Martínez doesn't back another war for the Falklands, he said building up Argentina's military could buttress the country's diplomatic effort by forcing the U.K. to respond, making the islands a greater financial and political burden for Britain. "England ended up returning Hong Kong to China because China is China," Mr. Martínez added.

But other analysts point to risks that Mrs. Kirchner's swaggering Falklands posture could provoke an incident that Argentina might not be able to back up militarily.

In December, a brief standoff ensued when an Argentine coast guard cutter, patrolling the River Plate between Argentina and Uruguay, started shadowing a Spanish fishing boat, which had a permit to fish in the Falklands, Uruguayan naval officials told the local press. The Kirchner government has accused Spanish fishing boats of fishing illegally in Falkland waters Argentina claims as its own. A Uruguayan military reconnaissance plane conducted a flyover to monitor the situation. After a tense period, the fishing boat shucked the Argentine pursuer and sailed off into international waters. "We have capacity for an incident, not for a war," said Mr. Fraga.

One hundred years ago, Argentina had the largest army in Latin America, Mr. Corbacho said. Argentina was riven by a succession of military coups throughout much of the past century, with the most brutal junta seizing power in 1976. Fighting leftist guerrilla groups and ruthlessly repressing all opponents, the junta "disappeared" and murdered at least 10,000 Argentines. Amid public discontent, the government in 1982 seized the Falklands in a bid to win public support. But British leader Margaret Thatcher sent a force across the Atlantic to take back the islands—in a 74-day conflict in which more than 900 people died—dealing Argentina a humiliating defeat.

These days, about 80% to 90% of the defense budget is absorbed by salaries and pensions, analysts say. Tthe Kirchner government has made only limited defense investments—renationalizing an arms factory and ramping up a project to build nuclear powered submarines.

About half of the respondents to a Defense Ministry poll in 2008 said they had been considering leaving the service and many had taken second jobs to supplement their meager paychecks.

Voting data suggests Mrs. Kirchner is unpopular in the military, Mr. Fraga said. In voting in the 2011 presidential election in the Argentine military base in Antarctica, where around 100 armed forces members are stationed, Mrs. Kirchner got only 13% of the vote, he said, about one quarter of the support she got at a national level.

Write to Matt Moffett at matthew.moffett@wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577309921325546532.html

 

[QORvanweert]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/04/argentina-falklands-anniversary-tension-burning-effigy.html

Every day on WorldNow, we choose a remarkable photo from around the world. Today we picked this fiery shot from Argentina, which is marking the 30-year anniversary of the Falkland Islands War.

The Falkland Islands are under British control and have been since 1833, but Argentina says it inherited the South Atlantic archipelago from the Spanish crown. Thirty years ago, more than 900 people died in a bloody 74-day war as Britain drove off Argentinian troops who had invaded the islands.

The anniversary has underscored tensions over the islands. Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner railed Monday against the British for maintaining control of the Falklands, calling it "absurd," and has warned Argentinian banks not to lend money to oil exploration projects under discussion there.


This striking photo underscores just how tense the anniversary has become: Argentinian leftists protesting near the British Embassy in Buenos Aires are burning an effigy of Prince William, who recently participated in naval exercises near the islands. The demonstrators also burned a British flag.

Britain argues that the Falkland Islanders should decide whose leadership they want. Nearly all of the islanders are British citizens, and they have repeatedly insisted that they want to be British.

Argentina has countered that, under the United Nations charter, self-determination is reserved for “ethnic groups,” not for “spaces illegally occupied by transplanted communities.”

 

[jollyjacktar]

On marking the day in the UK.  Shared with the usual caveats.  Full story and photos at link.   

Pray for peace between our nations: On 30th anniversary of Falklands war a plea from a sailor's widow

By David Wilkes

They had been married for only two weeks when an Argentine attack cruelly robbed Margaret Allen of her husband in the Falklands War.  Able Seaman Iain Boldy was struck by an unexploded bomb dropped by a warplane while on board the Royal Navy frigate HMS Argonaut on May 21, 1982. He was 20.  Yesterday, during a simple but deeply moving service of remembrance on the 30th anniversary of Argentina’s invasion of the islands, Mrs Allen lit a single candle in memory of all 255 UK servicemen killed during the conflict.

full article link

 

[Kirkhill]

As an old Para of my acquaintance of mine once said: "Better a Battalion in time than a Division too late".

Link

Parachute Regiment to return to Falklands for first time in 30 years

The Parachute Regiment will be sent back to the Falkland Islands for the first time in 30 years in what veterans call a “strong statement of intent”.

 

[daftandbarmy]

As an old Para of my acquaintance of mine once said: "Better a Battalion in time than a Division too late".

Link

Mike O'Neil. Know him well. A thorough good egg, and very lucky to be alive!

 

[GAP]

Falkland Islands to hold referendum on sovereignty
12 June 2012
Article Link

The Falkland Islands will hold a referendum on its "political status" in a bid to end the dispute with Argentina over the archipelago's sovereignty.

The islands' government made the announcement ahead of the anniversary on marking 30 years since the end of Argentina's 74-day occupation in 1982.

It said it wanted to send a firm message to Argentina that islanders want to remain British.

The UK prime minister said Britain would support the result of the vote.

The referendum will be organised by the Falkland Islands government and will take place in the first half of next year.
'Economic blockade'

The announcement comes amid growing tensions between the UK and Argentina surrounding the anniversary commemorations marking the islands' liberation by British forces on June 14, 1982.

Argentina claims sovereignty over the islands it calls the Malvinas, and wants the UK to negotiate over their rule.

Recently, UK ministers have accused Argentina of trying to impose an "economic blockade" on the islands.

The South American country has been turning away cruise ships carrying the British flag and is taking legal action against five British oil firms exploring the coast of the islands.

Gavin Short, chairman of the islands' legislative assembly, said they were holding the referendum "to show the world just how certain we are about it [our future]".

"I have no doubt that the people of the Falklands wish for the islands to remain a self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom.

"We certainly have no desire to be ruled by the government in Buenos Aires, a fact that is immediately obvious to anyone who has visited the islands and heard our views.

"But we are aware that not everybody is able to come to these beautiful islands and to see this reality for themselves.

"And the Argentine government deploys misleading rhetoric that wrongly implies that we have no strong views or even that we are being held hostage by the UK military. This is simply absurd."

Prime Minister David Cameron said it was "absolutely right" that the islanders set out how they intended to "make their voices heard once more".

"And Britain will be resolute in supporting their choice," he said.
More on link

 

[old medic]

David Cameron refuses Falklands letter from Cristina Kirchner

PM describes Argentinian president's attempt to force A4 envelope into his hand during G20 summit as 'media stunt'

Tuesday 19 June 2012 20.22 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/19/falklands-americas

David Cameron and the Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner were involved in bruising verbal exchanges on the margins of the G20 as she tried to force a package into his hand marked "Un Malvinas".

Cameron refused to take the package believing, according to his aides, that she was involved in "a media stunt" – a belief strengthened by the presence of TV cameras filming the incident and held by Argentinian government officials.

An Argentinian government official described Cameron as "sour" for refusing the letter and the Argentinian foreign minister was later strongly critical of the prime minister.

The package was an A4 envelope, and its contents remain unknown.

Cameron had sought out a startled Kirchner at the margins of the G20 in an anteroom before the first working session got underway. They initially discussed the previous day's agenda including central banks and the need for monetary activism.

Sensing she looked dazed and off-guard by his opening gambit, he then said: "I am not proposing a full discussion now on the Falklands but I hope you noted they are holding a referendum and you should respect their views. We believe in self-determination and act as democrats here in the G20."

British sources say he told her three times in a calm manner that she should respect the wishes of the Falkland Islanders.

The translator was struggling to catch up with her comments, but British sources characterised her response as "ramblings about Spanish headlines, the UN and the Malvinas". At this point she produced her envelope. British officials said Cameron had been right to reject the envelope since proper diplomatic channels existed.

The attempt to put an envelope in Cameron's hand mirrored an effort by children from the Falklands Islands to give Kirchner a letter setting out their love of their homeland as she attended a UN conference in New York on colonialism on Thursday.

Britain was also claiming a victory in persuading the G20 to reject her attempts to put support for some protectionist measures in the communique. The day before, in a speech to business leaders, Cameron had accused the Argentinians of busting a series of anti-protectionist laws in Kirchner's efforts to shore up her country's economy, and take control of the Falklands.

Hector Timerman, the Argentinian foreign minister, responded to the row saying "Nation states have the obligation to talk. We prepared an envelope containing various papers but the prime minister refused to receive it. Britain continues to refuse to talk and what surprised me most was that David Cameron did not go to the decolonisation meeting on Thursday."

Sensing a diplomatic opportunity, the Argentinians then called a press conference at the G20 summit to detail the crisis.

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

Never Mind

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/109143.0.html

 

[Duckman54]

LOL!  Ya, the Argentinians don't appear to be QUITE as much of a threat today...  in a direct military way I mean. Can still be quite effective with the financial blockade thing, or just making life darn difficult for the residents and supporting Brits.

Sad thing is, according to this great Doc I saw, sounds like the Brits were actually in *some* kind of negotiations with the Argie's about the long-term fate of the islands when they went and invaded!

http://youtu.be/yWoqqxREIA4

Note from 04:30-05:35, where host explains Brittain was actually considering handing over this last little vestige of it's once far-flung Empire.

...But of course once Argentina invaded, that just cemented Brittain's resolve! Kinda unfortunate act, if the holder was pondering a hand-over!

Question, tho....  forgive my ignorance, but WHY so darned determined to hang on???  Yes, I understand that 'the Islanders wanted to remain British'...  great. They're not the ones footing the MASSIVE bill to keep that li'l colony going!  You gotta think that everything those islanders get/use has to be hugely subsidized, nevermind the cost of a constant military presence, governing from afar, etc...  And I'm not aware that the Falklands produce some resource or commodity so uniquely rare or valuable to the Empire as to justify the immense expense of stewardship. Alaska produces lotsa oil/gas resource and revenue for lower-48, and Hawaii takes in mucho tourist dollars and thus taxes, for example, not to mention the strategic location value of these...  But the Falklands?

Sorry, nostalgia aside, I just don't see it.  Ascensions proved a springboard for the Brits in this case, but I don't see Falklands providing HQ any comparable role or service.  Please don't think me callous! I'm not advocating "Screw the residents" just wondering if anyone could shed any light on a rational reason for keeping the place afloat.

Similarly, Canada pays out the nose "...to assert sovereignity over the Arctic" but I've heard at least a couple of decent arguments/rationale for keeping other nosy peeps out.  Anyone know the reason the Brits want the Falklands so darned badly?

 

[Sythen]

They're not the ones footing the MASSIVE bill to keep that li'l colony going!

Some things are more important than money. I was gonna ask what you'd think if someone tried to take Quebec by force, since they cost us a fortune to keep going, but then I realized cheering in the streets would not make my point well!

 

[The Bread Guy]

.... 1518 islanders vote "stay with U.K." versus 3 "don't stay with U.K."

David Cameron has called on Argentina to respect the wishes of the people of the Falkland Islands after they voted overwhelmingly for the territory to stay British in an unsurprising but still historical referendum that aims to send a defiant message to Argentina and the outside world.

The prime minister said Argentina should take "careful note" of the referendum result and that Britain would always be there to defend the Falkland Islanders.

Despite near zero temperatures and flurries of snow and rain, the turnout was 92% from an electorate of 1,650. All but three people voted yes to the question posed on the ballots: "Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an overseas territory of the United Kingdom?"

Nobody expected anything but a landslide in a vote that the Argentinian government had dismissed as illegal. Regardless, the islanders said they were delighted at the strong show of unity at a time when the Falklands are coming under increasing pressure from Buenos Aires and its allies in South America ....

The Guardian, 12 Mar 13

 

[xo31@711ret]

I fail to see how a democratic vote by over 90% of the populace can be seen as 'illegal' by the Argentinian government ....bettin' dollars to donuts if the vote was  360, the Argentinian government would see things quit differently....