Falklands.

This is coolbert:

"Emotion clouds reason" - - Michael Corleone.

I see that the Falkland Islands are back in the news again. This has to be classified in the "OH MY GOD" category.

It seems the Argentine is once again beginning a campaign to "press" the English for the "return" of those frozen chunks of ice.

It has been twenty five years now [has it been that long already, damn!!], since the war between England and Argentina over the Falklands [called the Malvinas in Buenos Aires!!]. A war that everyone thought would never happen, but did. Disastrously so for the Argentine.

A war that NEED NOT HAVE HAPPENED. If the Argentine had played their cards right, the islands would in all probability have been theirs to possess for some time now, without a shot ever having been fired.

According to the Colonel Hughes-Wilson:

[prior to the war]

"Britain had clearly signalled her intention to disengage from the Falkland Islands. The islanders were no longer full British citizens, and the Royal Navy's guard ship was being scrapped without replacement. These were clear messages from the Argentine point of view. At this juncture, any normal government with a territorial claim might then have attempted to woo the islanders, invested money, begun a charm offensive and slowly smothered the suspicious and stubborn Kelpers with all the economic benefits that would flow from closer integration with the mainland of South America."

This of course, did NOT happen!!

Along with the Falklands, the Argentine also lay claim to the far more distant South Georgia Island and the South Sandwich Islands. Even more frozen chunks of ice.

Why all this getting in a lather over frozen chunks of ice that are seemingly worthless!! Some have suggested that the oil of immense value is to be found under the waters surrounding the Falklands. PERHAPS!! This is the sort of thing that prompted the Gran Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia in the 1930's. A war that resulted in a huge loss of life, BUT NO OIL to be found!!

Please, NO MORE WAR over the Falklands/Malvinas. Let us suppose you an Argentine and believe in your heart of hearts that the English "stole" the islands. Let it go. It is NOT worth it!!

coolbert.