Liam Hoare assesses the renewed tensions between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands:
[Argetine President] Kirchner’s latest dig came via an open letterpublished in two British newspapers, which called on London to “abide by the resolutions of the United Nations” and “negotiate a solution to the sovereignty dispute” between them — in other words, negotiate a way to hand the islands over to Argentina.
One reason why things have heated up:
The rancor on both sides, and more importantly, the bold urgency of Kirchner’s claims, speaks not only to past grievances — the old wounds of 1982 — and the economic challenges facing Argentina in the present, but also to the petrodollar future the Falklands might enjoy. For within the islands’ exclusive economic zone are oil reserves equivalent to 60 billion barrels. A sudden increase in the price of crude has finally made the extraction of this resource a profitable venture.
(Photo: Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner listens during a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the disputed Falkland Islands on the 30th anniversary of the end of war between the Britain and Argentina, on June 14, 2012. By Mehdi Taamallah/AFP/Getty Images)