Obama Administration Backs Argentina Over U.K. on Falkland Dispute
By Judson Berger

Published June 10, 2011
| FoxNews.com
Reuters
Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner smiles during a news conference in Mexico City May 30.

The Obama administration once again has sided with Argentina -- and by default, against Britain -- in the ongoing dispute over the island chain at the center of a 1982 war.

In a move one British conservative analyst called "hugely insulting to Britain," the Organization of American States earlier this week adopted a declaration calling for negotiations between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the "sovereignty" of the Falkland Islands. While the U.S. delegation did not speak in support of the measure, it ultimately joined a consensus adopting it.

However, Britain does not consider the sovereignty in question. After the British fended off an Argentine invasion of the nearby islands in 1982 -- a war in which hundreds died on both sides -- the government continues to assert control over the Falklands and grant islanders British citizenship.

Britain has resisted international calls for the two nations to negotiate the issue -- which makes the U.S. position all the more peculiar.

Noting that President Obama just returned from a visit to London where he cited the U.S.-U.K. "special relationship," Heritage Foundation analyst Nile Gardiner said the U.S. should at least stay neutral on the Falkland issue.

"British sovereignty over the islands is not an issue for negotiation. ... This is a slap in the face for America's closest friend and ally," he said, accusing the administration of siding with Venezuela and others against its friend.

"This is a bizarre foreign policy," he added. Gardiner is the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, whose namesake was prime minister during the Falklands War.

The Obama administration made clear in early 2010 that it would endorse calls for talks over the islands. At a Buenos Aires news conference with Argentina's president in March 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she agreed with Argentina that the two nations should "sit down and resolve the issues between them."

From there, the U.S. implicitly backed an OAS document calling for talks last June and again Tuesday at a conference in El Salvador. The latest declaration, which refers to the islands as the Malvinas Islands, calls for exploring "all possible avenues towards a peaceful settlement of the dispute" and resuming sovereignty negotiations "as soon as possible."

It was accompanied by some tough words toward Britain. In an OAS press release, Argentine foreign minister Hector Timerman said: "Unfortunately, Britain still declines to resume bilateral dialogue, in violation not only of repeated resolutions of the United Nations and this Organization." Timerman called for a "peaceful settlement to the dispute."

In the wake of the adoption, the British government quietly asserted its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands while downplaying the U.S. position -- stressing that the Obama administration continues to recognize British control of the territory.

"The longstanding U.S. position is unchanged. The U.S. recognizes the U.K.'s administration of the Falkland Islands," a British Embassy representative told FoxNews.com. "We're in regular touch with the U.S. on this issue, as on so many issues, and we expect that dialogue to continue."

The government on the Falkland Islands expressed disappointment with the OAS declaration. According to a report in MercoPress, Falkland officials issued a statement saying they "regret that this issue should once again be raised on the regional stage" and support the standing British position that "the issue of sovereignty is non-negotiable."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/10/obama-administration-backs-argentina-over-uk-on-falkland-dispute/#ixzz1Ozxp9Qh9

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Yeah our president is a douche but I must say you Brits have botched it again.  Seriously you like to pride yourselves on your superior sense and diplomacy, but you've rogered the South Atlantic into a cocked hat. 

Falklands are British territory, not a colony, right?    That makes Uruguay and Chile and Brazil and Argentina as much your neighbors as France, Germany, Sweden and Holland.  Only separated by a bit of water. 

Do you ever act like it?   When was the last time the Queen visited South America?  Do you consider asking to join the Organization of American States?   Juan Carlos of Spain is a welcome invitee over here, and he doesn't even claim any land around here.

It won't benefit anybody but Argentina if the Falklands are ceded, but the rest of the OAS would be happy to give it to them just to piss on you.  And you're so desperate for help that you'll turn to us.  Not only is that weak, but you figure they like us any better?  About 4 years ago they tried to get Chinese military advisors instead of US because they didn't like our extraterritoriality deals.  And we keep NOODGING them about shooting their own people to stop the drug trade.

Best thing you could do is start using them parasitic Royals for public relations like they're supposed to.  I'd do it now without waiting for the Brazilian Olympics, which you should seriously start celebrating IN LONDON.  Also make good use of Blair, who is RC like many Latin Americans.  Don't bother with Argentina at first, let them be a last leg of a continental tour, if they'll have you.  And see to it it goes well enough that they do want to have you.

It's not that I really care about you Brits, but we didn't kick the French and the Nazis out of our hemisphere just to lose it to some tinhorn socialist gaucho guerrillas.  And having you thrown out of the Falklands will only help the liberated masses forget they don't have hot running water 24/7.  So you'll have to get your pinstripe legions to drinking and smoking and yakking for Queen and Country, because the state you've reduced your Navy to, Argentina could knock over the islands with 50 DUKWs and an armored ferryboat.