Free the Malvinas?

I haven't offended a large nation for some time, so how about firing a shot over Argentina's bow? What's with all this latest news about Argentina and the Falkland Islands?

I don't have any strong feelings about the Falklands (or the Malvinas, as the Argentinians call them), but -- with all the various crises threatening world peace -- this seems like a strange time to heat up a strange issue.

At least, this time around, Argentina is simply filing a protest with the United Nations regarding the status of the British colony -- not attempting a sudden invasion as it did in 1982. The Argentine government also is reported to be contemplating banning (again) LAN Chile's weekly flight, over Argentina territory, between the Falklands and Chile -- the only regularly scheduled commercial flight to the Falklands, and a flight that carries food as well as passengers.

Despite the fact that the Falklands have been under British rule since 1833, and that all 2,500 inhabitants are English-speaking British subjects --70 percent of them being of British descent, with most of the others descended from French, Portuguese, Chilean, and Scandinavian immigrants -- the Argentinians continue to claim the islands as their own. Their claim is based primarily, it seems, on the fact that the Falklands are only 288 miles from the South America mainland, together with claims of British shenanigans before 1833.

The British say that the colony will remain British until the inhabitants vote otherwise. The British offered to submit the dispute to the International Court of Justice in 1947, but the Argentinians refused the offer.

While colonization ia generally agreed to be a bad thing, turning a close-knit community over to a foreign country that speaks a different language and possesses a radically different culture also seems a questionable practice.

If Argentina somehow succeeds, I think Canada should immediately demand title to St-Pierre and Miquelon -- a far smaller (93 sq. mi. v. 4,700 sq. mi.) French territory located just 15 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. The six thousand inhabitants speak French and happily conduct their business using the euro, rather than the dollar. But they're much closer to Canada than the Falklands are to Argentina, and if propinquity is the key, they should be Canadian. Unlike the Falklands controversy, with its linguistic difficulties, lots of Canadians speak French. In fact, the erstwhile French islands could be united with Québec. So what if they like being French? They'd grow to love being Québécois.

It's strange that Canada allows the sore of St-Pierre and Miquelon to fester just 15 miles off its coast. Maybe Canadians are sufficiently self-confident to consider the islands a tourist attraction rather than an affront to their sovereignty.

The present rumblings from Buenos Aires seems to have more to do with Argentine internal politics -- Americans know how that affects foreign policy, right? -- than it does with any immediate plan to seize the Falklands. Apparently, "freedom" for the "Malvinas" is the one issue on which all Argentinians can agree.

Let's hope that this time, it goes no further, and that Argentinians can satisfy their national pride sufficiently by their prowess on the soccer field.