Falkland Islands to hold referendum on sovereignty

Falkland Islands to hold referendum on sovereignty

www.bbc.co.uk

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 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.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
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www.telegraph.co.uk

This is what I along with many others have argued for for a while now. It will of course be a near unanimous declaration of intention to stay under British rule.

The Argentinians will argue, you suspect, that this is an attempt to apply a coat a veneer over a clear imperial colonial outpost and may or may not have a point.

This vote could either escalate or take the sting out of the diplomatic sparring between the two countries.

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Peruvianmonk


I am pleased, to be honest. I have also read this today. What was especially interesting (to me) was that Kirchner will be addressing the UN De-Colonisation conference, she will in turn be addressed by a group of young Falklanders...........me thinks after the rhetoric she is sure to spout she will be left looking rather silly after the youngsters get their chance to speak.

Whatever the Falkland Islanders decide, the world should respect - otherwise the message is we shouldn't respect anyone's wishes.

It will not matter soon.

The Imperial Empire is almost dead.

Imperial military footholes will not matter. England wants all that oil. I dont think the Chinese will allow them to have it when they are sole superpower very soon.

They do not have a large enough population to justify self determination or lay claim anyway. This is nothing more than an english publicity stunt.

reply to post by Germanicus


Germanicus, you know i like sparring with you and you seem a decent guy but i have to say that response is a right load of old twaddle!

The people that live there are the only people able to decide who they wish to align with. If they choose Argentina then fine, that is their right. If they choose Britain, then equally that is fine. If they choose both, i see far more arguments ahead!

And yes, they do have the right to self determination. They are the residents of the island. No one else has lived there for several hundred years - under what amounts to international "finders - keepers laws" that amounts to indigenous peoples.

reply to post by Flavian


Lets not blind ourselves though Flavian. This is nothing other than a publicity stunt, the vote is already pre-determind. I doubt it will end the Argentinian claims to the islands.

It will be interesting to note what the UN reaction and other South American reaction to this will be.

reply to post by Peruvianmonk


It will be very interesting, particularly if Britain uses it's position as a P5 member of the Security Council. If the UN refuses to acknowledge what i think we all know about the Falklanders will vote, then Britain can use that argument at every single Security Council meeting to oppose sanctions / interventions elsewhere. May not be productive but is about time Britain started flexing regarding this situation.

And by flexing, i do not mean militarily as that would be both stupid and counter productive.

We all know this will not stop Argentina's claims

Argentina clearly doesn't care about the islands inhabitants or there rights to decide there own future, those people have been the islands only inhabitants they have the right to decide who they're governed by, Argentina have been bulling them for many years, they have invaded once and are now seeking to starve them out by refusing port entry to all ship flying the Falklands islands flag across the whole of South America, not exactly a good start to gain support by those you wish to rule,

It is more than obvious that it is there land & resources they want and not the people of the Falklands to be governed by them, they couldn't give a monkeys about the people who have lived there for over 200yrs, i feel sorry for those Falkland Islanders, and i hope if it should ever come to them being invaded again by Argentina that the British will help them out again and kick there arse all the way back to Argentina,

Its not right, and i'm sure more people are over looking the situation in the Falklands because of there hate for the Brits, but people should understand these people have done nothing wrong, they have the right to self determination under UN law, and they have been living on those Island before Argentina was ever a country, the Islands where uninhabited when they settled there, they have more right to be there than Argentina does in South America who massacred almost all of the native inhabitants there, its absolutely laughable when Argentina and other SA countries call the British imperialistic for having settler on those islands, they stole all of there land and now want to steal the Falklands

Heck this thread will turn into the same old anti Brit thing, but back to the OP good for them they will vote and say they want to remain British and I do not think any Law in any country on the planet will say "No they now belong to the Argies".
Anyhow if anyone tried to invade again I bet there would be many signing up to kick whoever off our Island again (including me).

Cameron has already got in a pre-emptive attack on the Argentinians and backing of the referendum,

In a strongly worded statement, David Cameron said that Buenos Aires wants to put the islanders' choice of sovereignty in doubt "by shouting down the islanders' ability to speak for themselves and punishing them for exercising their own free choice. That's why it's absolutely right that the islanders have today set out how they intend to make their voices heard once more. And Britain will be resolute in supporting that choice."

He added: "I have always said it is up to the Falkland Islanders themselves to choose whether they want to be British and that the world should listen to their views. "Thirty years ago they made clear that they wanted to stay British. That's why British forces bravely liberated the island from Argentine invaders. He added: "Next year's referendum will determine beyond doubt the views of the people of the Falklands. Britain will respect and defend their choice. We look to all UN members to live up to their responsibilities under the UN charter and accept the islanders' decision about how they want to live."

www.guardian.co.uk...

Cameron explicitly refers to the UN's responsibility to respect the "decision" from the referendum. The attack on the Argentinians seems counter-productive to me, I would have just backed the Islanders and referred to the UN, ignoring the Argentinian claims.

Double post.

Kirchner has already stated that she doesn't recognise The Islanders Right To Self-Determination, which in itself contravene's the UN Charter etc.

Germanicus, my friend, you are more than aware that it should be the UK, not England....and as a matter of interest most of the Islanders are of Scottish and Welsh ancestry.

I have just read about this on the BBC News website where there is also an excellent article by John Simpson, well worth a couple of minutes of anybody's time.
www.bbc.co.uk...

I think it's also worth pointing out that Kirchner declined the UK's offer of an equal share in the development of all mineral wealth in the region, much to the detriment of Argentina's current and future economy.
This would also have had the added benefit of building closer links between The Islanders and Argentina paving the way to possible joint sovereignty or something similar in the future.

reply to post by Flavian


Ha!

The only thread where I think I was clearly out debated was when you guys were getting me in another Falkland Islands thread. I know those guys are British. But.....they are British. Of course they want to be British. I dont really care that england stole the island all that time ago or that British are still living there. The Argentinians should get the Oil.

And there was a small population of people living on the island way back when. But the English reckoned not enough for 'self determination'.

But China will not allow England to suck all that oil. After they deal with the United States, things will be alot different.

reply to post by Germanicus


Who did we steal it off? the Argies? heck they didn't even exist when we found it and started living there.

reply to post by Germanicus


Who did we steal it off?

There was no-one living there...it was uninhabited.

And Argentina didn't even exist....and when it did they were far too busy killing the native people of the mainland to even bother themselves with a barren piece of rock that only Brits were really interested in living on.

Argentina didn't give a toss about the place until rumours of oil began to circulate.

Good. I hope they gain sovereignty, and join the commonwealth. At that point, I guess Argentina becomes the imperialists, huh?

It was at Argentina's folly that they invaded 30 years ago, and I hope for the sake of all Argentinians that their leaders aren't so foolish as to give it another go.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
reply to post by Germanicus

 

Who did we steal it off? the Argies? heck they didn't even exist when we found it and started living there.

You stole it from the indiginous people. It was only a very small group. But still. Kinda like Australia and new Zealand and places like that. Pacific islands..... The English would sail around and if there was no commerce happening,they would consider it unclaimed land and make it a colony. English Imperialism.

Now England is part of the American Empire. American Imperialism is at play. Argentina are on the outer of the Empire. England is part of the inner circle. I have a problem with England thinking they can suck oil from a part of the world that is not anywhere near them.

If the English Government does not want the oil and will allow the tiny population of the Islands get the entire profits from the oil, which will make them the wealthiest of people per capita I would say, then fine. But we all know England wants to suck resources. Suck profits.

Who cares about the Imperial foothold? China knows it is there. WW3 will be a different style of war. The military foothold will not matter,and China will win. After that,England will not waste money sending its military to holiday there.

reply to post by Germanicus


China has very good relations with the UK you know. Patchy before we handed over Hong Kong but the way the hand over was carried out and the infrastructure and expertise left behind won the UK HUGE amounts of kudos with the Chinese higher echelons. Since then, things have been very rosy indeed between our nations.

China is more concerned with gaining control of oil assets in the South China Sea than it is in opposing the UK in the South Atlantic. In actual fact, in most ways it would be counter productive for China to support Argentina in this issue as that would detrimental to China's own claims in regard to other disputed territories. So, sorry, but i think you are way off the mark regarding China.

Oh, by the way, China is playing the same game as Britain did when it comes to the international "finders-keepers" laws. For example, with regards to the Spratley Islands, China has engaged over the past 15 to 20 years in the wonderful international game of "marker bouys". Under international law, a claim can e made on any disputed island territories by replacing international marker buoys with territorial marker bouys - in the case of China, that means sticking Chinese buoys around all the islands they want. However, they then have to remain undisturbed for a period of at least 3 months but preferably for severally years (makes the case stronger). China has accomplished this by building floating troop platforms and mooring them within sight of the newly changed marker buoys.

Sneaky? Yes. But also bloody clever and, frankly, to be admired.

Sorry for going so far off topic but i feel it is relevant in this instance.

I think this old, 1999 BBC report is important.

Friday, 8 January, 1999, 11:29 GMT
UK planned to give Falklands to Argentina

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/01/99/1968_secret_history/244319.stm

The UK Government prepared a secret deal in 1968 to give Argentina ownership of the Falkland Islands, it has been revealed.

The plan eventually collapsed under pressure from the islanders. Had it gone ahead, it could have prevented the 1982 Falklands War and at least one Foreign Office minister from the time still insists it should have been forced through.

An Argentine draft Memorandum of Understanding, largely accepted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is one of the documents released after 30 years of being locked in government vaults.

Dated 5 July 1968, it reads: "The government of the United Kingdom will recognise Argentine sovereignty over the islands with effect from a date to be agreed."

(...)

Argentina for all intensive purposes is a 3rd world country with beautiful women. The only time they ever even make the news is when they're crying over a 2 mile big island. Who cares what the Argentinas "say" they're going to do?


P.s. my dad just got back from Argentina, said the food sucked