Falklands 2?

Argentina is making rumbles about the Falkland Islands yet again. The rumbling is getting louder, too. They have been routinely trying to press their case for the islands for years, of course. But the residents of the islands do not want to become Argentinians and are quite happy with being British Subjects.

Last week Argentina aimed yet another rhetorical dart at Britain, publicly reasserting its claim to islands it says were stolen by the English in 1833. The British should be getting the message by now: President Nestor Kirchner's government in the past year has issued official complaints concerning rights to the islands at a rate of more than one per month.

Meanwhile, Argentina's legislature has convened a committee dedicated to bolstering its claim over the islands, which sit about 350 miles off its coast and where sheep outnumber people by about 220 to 1. The Argentine government has pushed for, and has received, attention from the United Nations, which drafted a committee resolution last year recommending negotiations. Some political leaders in the region, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, have also publicly rallied around the cause.

"Until the United Kingdom gives the islands back to Argentina, we have a moral obligation as Argentines to work toward their recuperation," said Santiago Tettamanzi, 69, a former merchant marine who plans to participate in a ceremony in April commemorating the war. "We never lost our rights to sovereignty. Getting them back is a national cause."

Using the Falklands as a political rallying cry is really no different than the first war. The first war was started as a wag the dog exercise to help prop up the failing military junta that controlled Argentina at the time. It's more about the money today. Falkland Islanders enjoy the highest per capita income of any South American nation. But the islanders are adamant that they do not want anything to do with Argentina.

"When you come here, it's literally as if you've arrived in a little piece of Britain," said Jenny Cockwell, editor of the Penguin News weekly newspaper in Port Stanley. Cockwell said the islanders like it that way. She guessed that if a vote were taken, "about 0.01 percent" would support negotiations that could result in Argentina gaining territorial rights.

"Why? Well, where should I begin?" she said. "For a start, Argentina can't even sort out its own affairs, let alone ours. They're so rich in natural resources, they should be one of the strongest countries in the world. But instead they have all manner of problems."

The Falklands also can boast natural resources, thanks mostly to the chilly South Atlantic waters that surround them. Since the war, squid fishing has boomed, and oil companies are hopeful that offshore drilling could prove lucrative. The islands' per capita income is higher than that of any South American nation.

The real problem right now is that Britain is cutting its fleet. That fact is not missed by the Argentinian government. Although the Post reports that nobody expects a war, nobody expected Argentina to try it the first time, either. Here's the Falkland Islands web portal (includes a link to the Penguin News). Here is the Wikipedia entry.