War Drums: Argentina Accuses UK Of Deploying Nuclear Weapons Near Falklands

[paulitician]

Row escalates as Argentinian foreign minister lodges formal protest with UN, but Britain insists militarising claim is 'absurd.'


Argentina has accused Britain of deploying nuclear weapons near the Falkland Islands and "militarising" the south Atlantic.

The Argentinian foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, lodged a formal protest at the United Nations on Friday and showed slides of British military bases in the region, saying they represented a threat to all south America.

He said Buenos Aires had intelligence that a Vanguard submarine was operating in the area. "Thus far the UK refuses to say whether it is true or not," he told a press conference in New York. "Are there nuclear weapons or are there not? The information Argentina has is that there are these nuclear weapons." Quoting John Lennon, he added: "Give peace a chance."

Britain's ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, said London did not comment on the disposition of nuclear weapons or submarines but that it was "manifestly absurd" to say it was militarising the region. Britain's defence posture remained unchanged, he said.

The Daily Mail reported this week that Britain had deployed a Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered submarine armed only with conventional weapons.

Timerman said such a nuclear-armed submarine would violate the Treaty of Tlatelolco for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean.

After receiving Timerman's protest the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, issued a statement expressing "concern" about the escalating row and reportedly offered to mediate.

Argentina's president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, said Britain's dispatch of a modern destroyer, HMS Dauntless, to replace an older vessel, as well as Prince William, in his role as a search and rescue helicopter pilot, were provocations and presented a "grave risk for international security". Britain said the deployments were routine.

Read More:
Argentina accuses UK of deploying nuclear weapons near Falkland Islands | UK news | guardian.co.uk

 

[California Girl]

The Argies are jumping on a PR opportunity because Prince William's been sent to the Falklands. They need to get over the butthurt. The Falklands are British, they want to remain British and that is how it is going to stay.

 

[The T]

The Argies are jumping on a PR opportunity because Prince William's been sent to the Falklands. They need to get over the butthurt. The Falklands are British, they want to remain British and that is how it is going to stay.

The Argentinians had thier asses handed to them once by the brits already...is this a siren call for round two? (Since they still claim that as thiers)?

 

[paulitician]

The Argies are jumping on a PR opportunity because Prince William's been sent to the Falklands. They need to get over the butthurt. The Falklands are British, they want to remain British and that is how it is going to stay.

The Argentinians had thier asses handed to them once by the brits already...is this a siren call for round two? (Since they still claim that as thiers)?

Could be? Doesn't look like they're over it.

 

[The T]

The Argies are jumping on a PR opportunity because Prince William's been sent to the Falklands. They need to get over the butthurt. The Falklands are British, they want to remain British and that is how it is going to stay.

The Argentinians had thier asses handed to them once by the brits already...is this a siren call for round two? (Since they still claim that as thiers)?

Could be? Doesn't look like they're over it.

Indeed. CG is correct on one hand...and gives fodder to them ratcheting up thier claim once again using a bogus issue.

 

[California Girl]

The Arggies learned last time, not to take on the Brits by invading their territory. This is aimed more at garnering international support for their cause. But history - and not just recent history - demonstrates they have no justifiable claim on the islands... and the islanders themselves chose to remain part of the United Kingdom.

End of. The Arggies can whine, but they cannot win.

 

[Political Junky]

Bomb Argentina just to be safe.

 

[California Girl]

Bomb Argentina just to be safe.

Meh, the Brits could be open to that option.

I hope not. I have investments in Argentina.

 

[waltky]

Another Falklands war in the offing?...

Oil Fuels British-Argentine Standoff Over Falklands
February 06, 2013 — Argentina stepped up its row with Britain over the Falklands on Wednesday with its foreign minister thanking God for the decline of the British Empire and vowing to prosecute oil firms exploring off the remote South Atlantic islands.

In a defiant news conference, held in London but conducted in Spanish, Hector Timerman called Britain the "greatest colonial empire from the 19th century ... that thank God has been defeated worldwide.'' He insisted the islands' roughly 3,000 British inhabitants should not be referred to as Falklanders, but as "British inhabitants of the Malvinas islands'', the name Argentina uses for the remote territory some 300 miles off its coast.

Timerman has refused to meet British Foreign Secretary William Hague to discuss the islands because of Britain's insistence that Falklands residents be present, part of what London says is their right to self-determination, but a condition Timerman referred to as an "ultimatum''. "The United Nations is very clear. Self-determination applies to a native people, not to people that have been implanted,'' he said at a news conference titled "Meeting of European Pro-Dialogue Groups on the Malvinas Question." "I have left an invitation for him [Hague] to go to Buenos Aires without any ultimatum, without any conditions so that we can meet as two friendly countries for dialogue,'' he added, speaking through a translator at the ambassador's residence.

Britain fought a 10-week war to eject Argentinian forces who invaded the islands in 1982. The Falklands are part of Britain's self-governing territories, and Buenos Aires has ramped up efforts to stake its claim to the territory as London-listed firms seek to tap oil and gas deposits around the islands. Timerman arrived in London this week to make the case for Argentine ownership of the islands, but has met a mostly hostile response, with British lawmakers on Tuesday accusing him of "megaphone diplomacy'' and using "offensive" arguments. Hague said it was a shame Timerman was unwilling to attend a meeting with him and Falkland Island representatives. "There is no way such a conversation could have taken place without members of the Falkland Islands government being present, especially given the current Argentine government's behaviour towards the Islanders. It is, and must always be, for them to decide their own future,'' Hague said in a statement.

A referendum on the Falklands' future is scheduled for March, a vote in which the islanders are almost certain to choose to remain British, and which Timerman likened to asking Israeli settlers whether they want to be Israeli or Palestinian.

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