Falkland Islands to hold referendum on sovereignty
Source: BBC News
The Falkland Islands will hold a referendum on its "political status" in a bid to end the dispute with Argentina over the archipelago's sovereignty.
The islands' government made the announcement ahead of the anniversary marking 30 years since the end of Argentina's 74-day occupation in 1982.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18412195
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)Let's hope all UN members recognize the Falklander's right to self-determination.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)This is not a serious attempt at independence but a serious effort to demonstrate to the Argentinians that they do not need 'liberation'.
LONDON -- The government of the Falkland Islands says that the disputed south Atlantic territory will hold a referendum on whether to remain a British territory.
Gavin Short, chairman of Falklands' legislature says that he wants the referendum "not because we have any doubts about who we are and what future we want, but to show the world just how certain we are about it."
He said Tuesday that he had no doubt that the people of the Falklands "wish for the islands to remain a self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom."
The Falkland Islands are claimed both by the U.K. and by Argentina, and the rhetoric between the two has been running hot as both countries mark the 30th anniversary of Argentina's unsuccessful attempt to take the archipelago by force.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/12/4555733/falkland-islands-we-plan-referendum.html#storylink=cpy
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)But let there be a vote, and we shall see.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)This has less to do with self-determination than it does with an emphatic statement being delivered to Argentina...
Freddie Stubbs
(29,853 posts)Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Letting the islanders decide their future.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)to self determination. of course, they could simply accept the results of the vote as well.
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)as a LatAm poster has hinted at is the idea that the Falklanders opinion should be discounted because they are subject to decades of British spin, and if they were truly educated on how great of a country Argentina is they might change their minds.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)s
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Thirty years ago I was Chief of Operations for the largest organized resettlement of refugees since WWII.
Vietnamese, Vietnamese of Chinese descent, Laotians, Cambodians were all being moved at more than 15,000 a month. One full time 747 made 13 roundtrips a month and thousands of individual flights took groups from 15 to 100 every day. I had negotiated with the Thais to turn the old fire station into our own refugee terminal.
It was unusual to handle an individual case but there were some and they were the most interesting. A couple where the husband's leprosy had turned him to an odd shade of purple and his stunningly beautiful wife, who happened to be blind were an example. We had to provide rooms for them to be kept at each stage of their flight because they attracted such crowds of gawkers.
And then there was this one family. They had only one relative outside of Vietnam. On a small island I had never heard of in the Atlantic. It turned out to be the most difficult non medical case we ever moved. It was a group of about 18 and we had to get transit visas for the US, Mexico, Argentina and there was only a weekly flight out of Buenas Aires.
Now to understand the great irony of this you have to understand that Vietnam has been at almost constant war for the last century and off and on for about 10 centuries. There was pre war independence action against the French, fighting the Japanese, post war fighting the French, Civil War between the North and the South, and after reunification China invaded Vietnam (also known as the Third Indochina War) one more time on a kind of a nostalgic tour of 1000 years of war with Vietnam.
So sending this one extended family to this one remote island that no one had ever heard of seemed to atleast make sure that they never saw conflict again. On April 11th they would arrive in their new home in the Falklands.
Coming to work on April 12th I was astonished to see that Argentina had decided to liberate the Las Malvinas Islands known elsewhere as the Falklands.
The Thais had an interesting take on the whole episode. They concluded that it was this partiuclar family that was the source of all of Vietnam's bad luck and eternal war making and now that they were gone Vietnam would finally find peace. Since that day Vietnam has not been invaded again.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)3waygeek
(2,034 posts)Wonder what would happen if we sent our BFEE to the Falklands. Although that seems like a rather nasty thing to do... to the Falklanders.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)MisterP
(23,730 posts)Last edited Tue Jun 12, 2012, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)
their story is even weirder than the Falklands'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Soberania
Your link is broken
MisterP
(23,730 posts)DavidDvorkin
(19,483 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)s
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)3 small islands south of Tierra del Feugo, which were disputed between Argentina and Chile.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)"Three of the islands are inhabited - by eight Chilean families and their sheep".
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=z5Le627xQLgC&lpg=PA163&ots=7vcC-55EUK&dq=%22Picton%22%20%22Nueva%22%20%22Lennox%22%20%22uninhabited%22&pg=PA163#v=onepage&q=%22Picton%22%20%22Nueva%22%20%22Lennox%22%20%22uninhabited%22&f=false
"a group of three uninhabited islands and their islets"