British diplomats have expressed serious concerns to the US State Department at least three times over Washington’s response to the latest dispute over the Falkland Islands, The Times has learnt.

In telephone calls and meetings, senior diplomats and specialists were forced to restate Britain’s position on sovereignty over the islands and seek clarification of the US position after a State Department spokesman in February answered a question about the Falklands by saying: “Or the Malvinas, depending on how you see it.”

British anger over the Obama Administration’s apparent indifference to the issue mounted when Hillary Clinton endorsed President Fernández de Kirchner’s call for talks on sovereignty while she was in Buenos Aires last week, State Department sources said.

The new details of British complaints emerged as influential conservatives in Washington described the Administration’s handling of the dispute as offensive, ignorant and a reflection of a lack of enthusiasm for the idea of a special relationship between the two countries.

British officials in Washington say publicly that the Falklands issue has been raised only in “friendly conversations in the course of normal business” between the Embassy and the Administration. Privately, however, there is a sense that the Obama Administration has not taken on board British sensibilities and that it has been too dismissive of points raised in London. Officials said that several phone calls were made and an e-mail was sent after the State Department spokesman called the islands the Malvinas.

Asked why the US chose to remain neutral despite Britain’s longstanding claims, the spokesman twice avoided calling them the Falklands, first saying “whatever you want to call them” and then using the Argentine name. US sources described the calls and meetings as demarches — in diplomatic parlance, formal protests. A British official insisted that “nobody’s been writing any formal letters”, adding that Britain was “genuinely quite relaxed” about the American position.

The same cannot be said of President Obama’s critics in Washington. The Pentagon official primarily responsible for providing the British Forces “with whatever they needed” in the Falklands campaign in 1982 yesterday accused the Administration of insulting Britain. Richard Perle, then assistant Secretary for Defence said: “I think using the description Malvinas is offensive to British interests.”

Yesterday David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, who has made much of his close personal relationship with Mrs Clinton, flew to Boston, where he will give a speech today on Afghanistan. Washington is not on his itinerary and he will return to London without meeting his opposite number.

The State Department denied last night any friction with “our British friends” over the Falklands but stood by everything Mrs Clinton said in her meeting with Mrs Kirchner.

The Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley said: “The Secretary said we stand ready to help if that is desired.” Mr Crowley acknowledged “conversations” with British officials over the dispute with Argentina but said that he was not aware of ill-feeling.

What's in a name?

Falkland Islands From Falkland Sound, the channel between the two main islands, which was named in 1690 by John Strong, a British mariner, after his patron Anthony Cary, Fifth Viscount Falkland

Islas Malvinas The Spanish name is derived from the French name, Îles Malouines, given to the islands by Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1764 after the first known settlers — mariners and fishermen from Saint-Malo

It is between Argentina and England.

Seems like England needs America's approval more and more.

Originally posted by john124
reply to post by mahtoosacks

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It is between Argentina and England.

Argentina and Britain, you mean.

Seems like England needs America's approval more and more.

The response would be the same from Britain if any county called the Falklands the Malvinas. Why doesn't the US just state this is a matter for Britain and Argentina then, instead of butting in as usual and trying to be world police, but this time just more incompotent than usual.

[edit on 10-3-2010 by john124]