Why the Falklands Still Matter

The World is convulsed in violent turmoil, with political conflict spilling innocent blood by the bucket full in so many countries that the world's only Super Power can not stem the onslaught. To fill this vacuum, the President turned Libya over to N.A.T.O. only to discover that the welfare states of western Europe long ago turned their swords into plows. Madman Kaddafi surfaces every week or so to taunt his impotent adversaries, lead by Great Britain and France, and trailed oh so timidly by Germany. Tyrants and dictators around the globe watch these events with wide-eyed interest and plan accordingly. Should there be a single loyal listener among our Elite membership who believes that any potential aggressor states see any reason for caution or feel deterred due to the exercise of "smart power" by the Administration, I will stop blogging tomorrow.

That said, last week's explicit support by the United States for a Resolution, which was adopted by the Organization of American States, demanding that Great Britain start negotiations with Argentina "over the future governance of the Malvina Islands" is still a stunner of historic proportions. In 1982, with no pretense of just cause or legal right, Argentina invaded the sparsely populated Falklands to build domestic support for its floundering military junta. The certainty of the absence of any legal or moral justification for this naked aggression is found in the historical fact that at no time in history had Argentina ruled these two islands, except for a two year period in the Nineteenth Century, and fewer than three dozen Argentinians ever lived there on a permanent basis - none since 1900. The current residents unanimously reject any proposals for union with or formal association of any kind with Argentina.

Now, with Britain's military shrunk to a level that is absolutely incapable of defeating one insane Colonel in Tripoli, let alone mount a serious defense of the Falklands, the President weighs in in support of the murderers of hundreds of Brit soldiers, sailors and farmers. So much for preserving the "Special Relationship" with our nation's oldest and most reliable Ally. What must the governments in London, Buenos Aires, Tehran and Jerusalem be thinking this morning? Without doubt, the conclusion that every dangerous country, as well as America's few remaining allies, has been compelled to come to by this atrocious betrayal is that the United States is perfidious, untrustworthy and in lock step with Third World tyrants, and not the bulwark of the defense of western values, which has sustained liberty and freedom world-wide since the outbreak of WWI. Were I to be living on East Falkland Island today, this afternoon my sheep are learning how to fire automatic weapons, since the Marines will not be coming to our rescue any time soon.