Argentina needs to re-examine Malvinas tactics!

The Falklands/Malvinas is far from a settled issue.  The referendum in March 2013 has shown if anything that the issue of self-determination is far from the sole issue at stake.  It is no secret on how I view the issue could be resolved long term.  But recent manoeuvres by the Argentine Government will benefit the Malvinas cause very little in the long run, even if President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner somehow sees merit in helping to use the policy for short term domestic consumption.

Last month saw the Argentine Foreign Minister, Hector Timmerman meet up with the President of the Chagos refugees Group.  Whilst the disgraceful case of the Chagossians being expelled from their homeland does expose double standards in Britain's self determination argument, what exactly is Argentina's point about the Chaggosians with regard to the Malvinas question?  Suggestions have been made by the Argentine Foreign Ministry that both the Chagos Islands and the Malvinas Islands are linked by the argument of territorial integrity, due to the Indian Ocean archipelago's sovereignty being claimed by Mauritius.  However, if the Kirchner Government also believes in the repatriation of these people to their homeland with full rights to self determination, then are they saying that maybe self determination could play some part in a resolution to the Falklands/Malvinas dispute?

Back in September, there was the attempt to cosy up to Spain and form a Latin Alliance to put Britain under international pressure on both Falklands/Malvinas and Gibraltar.  The suggestion that Spain suddenly lost interest in the alliance is not the surprise here.  It is rather the motivation to form a Latin Alliance in the first instance on the part of Argentina!  How would Argentina's case benefit from an alliance with a nation that has arguably three territories whose natural geographical link is with Morocco rather than Spain?  Rather like Gibraltar being situated on the southern tip of Spain, Morocco's northern coast is interrupted by enclaved Spanish territory in the form of Ceuta and Melila.  It should also be pointed out that the Canary Islands are clearly much closer to Morocco's west coast than the Spanish mainland.

Arguments made by Spanish Politicians along the lines of Ceuta and Melila having long been part of Spain, compared to the time Gibraltar has been occupied by Britain, or that Ceuta and Melila are actually part of Spain as opposed to Gibraltar being a British Overseas Territory and not a part of the United Kingdom, are complete nonsense.   As for Argentina's Malvinas aspirations, it is quite clear that they will not accept any long term settlement that would see them lose face.  With weaknesses in the British self determination argument which I highlighted in my post on 30 September, and the inevitability that the place in which the Falklands/Malvinas war holds in the British psyche likely to recede over time, Argentina could one day have the opportunity to secure at least a meaningful compromise.  But what Argentina also needs to do is to not undermine it's own case by forming an alliance with a nation  like Spain, even if they do both speak the same language!

ARGENTINA NEEDS TO FOCUS ON IT'S OWN CASE WITH REGARDS TO THE FALKLANDS/MALVINAS.  IT IS NOT IN ARGENTINA'S LONG TERM INTEREST TO ALLOW ANY DISTRACTION FROM OTHER CASES LIKE GIBRALTAR WHICH MAY WELL HAVE SOME SIMILARITIES, BUT WHICH ARE FAR FROM IDENTICAL!