Appeasing Argentina

Any commentary seeking to open the debate on sovereignty of the Falklands, whether it be penned by gadfly former MP's, distinguished former newspaper editors or a certain type of underemployed lassie with nothing better to do, should be treated as appeasement.

And in particular, distinguished former newspaper editors and gadfly former MP's should be very, very wary of comparing the situations of Hong Kong and the Falklands. Hong Kong was only ever held on long-lease, and certainly my understanding of the situation is that it would eventually have to be handed back to the Chinese regardless of any other factor; the Falklands are not. As horrifyingly populist as the thought might be, its lease is written in blood, and all that.

If the oil of the North Sea is not Scotland's oil, any oil around the Falklands is not Argentina's. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. There is a deep strain of authoritarian populism in Argentine political history; anyone seeking to comment upon Argentine political culture should read VS Naipaul's Argentine essay in his compilation 'The Writer And The World'. It is unpleasant but illuminating; in Christina Kirchner, we see a modern, ultra-chic, infra-dig, Davos-friendly version of Tango Man seeking to dominate his companeros with his stiletto. Kirchner's behaviour is not sabre-rattling; it is mascara-brush rattling. Those who call for appeasement of Argentina should perhaps be calling out La Braggadocia instead, for rousing the basest, most unedifying elements in Argentine culture in a grossly undiplomatic manner.

For if Farage's behaviour in the European Parliament has been unstatesmanlike, so also has been Kirchner's. If British elitists decry populism at home, they must decry it abroad. There is no question of discussing Argentina's rights; in the Falklands, Argentina has no rights. And all British Unionists must take the greatest interest in what is happening and may happen in the South Atlantic; for if the elitists and internationalists are allowed to sell out the Falklanders like pawns on a chess board today, they won't bat an eyelid at selling us all out tomorrow.