Argentina Demands Return of the Falkland Islands

A couple articles from the Telegraph on the continuing war of words over the Falkland Islands. First, Argentina's president, Cristina Kirchner, has issued an open letter to David Cameron, the British prime minister, calling on the UK to turn the Falkland Islands over to Argentina. The letter erroneously claims that Argentina occupied the islands in 1833, but was expelled by the British. (The Islands had been claimed by the British long before that date, and the failed attempt by Argentina to establish a penal colony less than two months before the British expelled them doesn't really count as Argentinian settlement. The British established the first permanent settlement in the 1840s). Of course, the native Islanders don't want to have anything to do with Argentina.

Dr Barry Elsby, Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands, told The Daily Telegraph: “We are not a colony – our relationship with the United Kingdom is by choice.

“Unlike the Government of Argentina, the United Kingdom respects the right of our people to determine our own affairs, a right that is enshrined in the UN Charter and which is which is ignored by Argentina.”