# What's the Deal with the Falkland Islands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 25, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629 "2012-01-25T19:49:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/261 "2012-02-29T15:17:07Z")
> [@](#): > > …the failure of the successive Argentinian governments to acknowledge the Falklanders as the key element in this discussion is a gigantic problem. Well, yes and no. It’s a problem in the sense that it makes meaningful progress towards resolution impossible. It’s quite helpful in making an objective determination about who is more to blame, though. From the Roger Waters article: > [@](#): > > In a nationally televised speech a day earlier, Argentina’s president Cristina Kirchner declared the islands “one of the last remaining colonialist enclaves in the world”. If the British are engaging in colonialism by retaining sovereignty over the islands, what the hell do the Argentinians think they’re doing by _invading_ them? One would think that such staunch anti-colonialists would be primarily concerned with the islander’s right to self-determination. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/262 "2012-02-29T15:57:00Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > [Ninja’d. Damn you **Really Not All That Bright**] > They may be the Falklands, but certainl they are not the Maldives. > Las Malvinas is the Spanish word for them, unless you’re proposing we call Germany Deutchland or China 中国. Maybe try asking the residents if you’re unsure. > > Snark aside, the failure of the successive Argentinian governments to acknowledge the Falklanders as the key element in this discussion is a gigantic problem. Then Las Malvinas is possibly the correct name to use _when speaking/writing Spanish_. Anything in the English language is a completely different matter, much as though a Brit doesn’t use Deutschland when speaking English and a German doesn’t use United Kingdom (or Great Britain) when speaking German. So someone, for example Sean Penn, declaring in English that their name is “Las Malvinas” is a prize tit. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/263 "2012-02-29T16:31:04Z")
Bunch of foreigners, telling us how to spell English. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/264 "2012-02-29T16:34:15Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Are they anonymous? The points are yours Ludovic, spend them wisely. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/265 "2012-02-29T17:51:38Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Agreed. Peevishness like this is also not going to help persuade the Brits, or anyone else: Not really a good idea for Argentina to be goading the EU into a trade war, I’d imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/266 "2012-03-01T11:25:51Z")
Usuahia, capital city of Tierra del Fuego, lives because of tourism. And yet its authorities turned away to fat ships full of people eager to throw their money at them. Also, that city was founded by an english anglican priest! This is a very strange country. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/267 "2012-03-01T13:00:12Z")
> [@Estilicon](#): > > Usuahia, capital city of Tierra del Fuego, lives because of tourism. And yet its authorities turned away to fat ships full of people eager to throw their money at them. Also, that city was founded by an english anglican priest! > > This is a very strange country. We ourselves do not understand it, the rest of the dopers are hopelessly lost. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/268 "2012-03-01T14:39:00Z")
If it makes you feel any better, the US is reasonably close to electing a head of state who thinks that wanting everyone to go to college makes you a snob. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/269 "2012-03-01T14:49:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > If it makes you feel any better, the US is reasonably close to electing a head of state who thinks that wanting everyone to go to college makes you a snob. Why do you think I read all the political threads in the dope? 😃 But, if it makes **you** feel any better, the whole species is more than a bit “strange” in the head, the crazy knows no borders. My theory it’s that we alone among the animal species understand our own mortality and that drives us mad. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/270 "2012-03-01T15:10:25Z")
Yep-Argentina is not understandable…it is like when (dictator and head crook) Juan Peron nationalized the British-owned railroads-immediately the railroads started breaking down (the new owners didn’t understand the concept of “maintainance”). Argentina loses world trade and tourism because of these islands-which the K will never give up. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/271 "2012-04-02T15:44:36Z")
Well, it’s the 30th anniversary of the invasion, and in considering the Argentine response, the word “counterproductive” springs immediately to mind: [HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/falkland-islands-anniversary_n_1396106.html) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/272 "2012-04-02T15:59:04Z")
Interesting opinion piece in the guardian today. On my phone otherwise I’d link to it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/273 "2012-04-02T16:10:11Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Interesting opinion piece in the guardian today. On my phone otherwise I’d link to it. This one? > **[The Falklands: 30 years on | Editorial](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/falklands-war-argentina-settlement)** > > Editorial: At some point a settlement acceptable to all may be available, but the war which Argentina provoked narrowed everybody's options ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/274 "2012-04-02T16:11:30Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Interesting opinion piece in the guardian today. On my phone otherwise I’d link to it. This one? > **[The Falklands: 30 years on | Editorial](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/falklands-war-argentina-settlement)** > > Editorial: At some point a settlement acceptable to all may be available, but the war which Argentina provoked narrowed everybody's options ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/275 "2012-04-02T16:12:46Z")
Amazing, identipost. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/276 "2012-04-02T16:28:31Z")
Serious question: does all this fighty rhetoric actually benefit the Fernandez government domestically? > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Well, it’s the 30th anniversary of the invasion, and in considering the Argentine response, the word “counterproductive” springs immediately to mind: [HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/falkland-islands-anniversary_n_1396106.html) Make that Juan Carlos Lujan guy President of Argentina. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/277 "2012-04-02T16:35:34Z")
Hmm, interesting stuff in the _Guardian_. Thanks. The Reagan Administration’s deliberations, behind the scenes: [US feared Falklands war would be 'close-run thing', documents reveal | US foreign policy | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/01/us-feared-falklands-war-documents?intcmp=239) Musing on the diminution of British naval and industrial power since 1982: [The Falklands war couldn't happen today – we don't have enough ship builders | Ian Jack | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/23/ian-jack-falklands-navy-fleet?intcmp=239) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/278 "2012-04-02T16:52:55Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Amazing, identipost. It’s called Greatminditis. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/279 "2012-04-02T17:29:32Z")
The Argentinian President has just been making a speech about the Falklands. The BBC presenter did say that the live translation they had was not very good, but fucking hell… do thinking Argentinians really believe that shite? Embarrassing stuff. On the other hand, just finished Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins book about the conflict. What a short and brutal war it was. The Royal Navy and the Argentinian Air Force - bloody hell - lots of brave, brave people there. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629/280 "2012-04-02T18:10:18Z")
Actually it was [this piece](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/01/falklands-war-thatcher-30-years?INTCMP=SRCH) I was referring to by Simon Jenkins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629.md?page=15)