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Renewed Battle for the Falkland Islands Suits the Embattled British, Argentine Leaders, and Others
Defense and Foreign Affairs
Britain’s presently governing Labour Party is as conscious — almost superstitiously so — of the fact that the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina revived the flagging fortunes of incumbent Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, just as the US Democratic Party is fixated on the belief that Democratic Pres. Lyndon Johnson failed to win a second term in office because of being embroiled in the Vietnam War. As a result, the British Labour Party is unlikely to attempt to quell the dispute in the short term between the
The increasingly leftist bloc within Latin America, prompted and often financed by Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chávez Frias, obliged Pres. Fernández on February 22, 2010, in
In many senses, though, this represents a possible “win-win” approach for Venezuelan Pres. Chávez, who is integrated strategically with his two principal allies, Iran and Russia, and, to a degree, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in that any threat to the Falkands could bring about a redeployment of UK forces out of Afghanistan and into the Falklands. This, too, could assist in the re-election of Gordon Brown’s Labour Government in the
As well, the episode strengthens the Rio Group, which is consolidating at the expense of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the
As a result, the entire “storm in a South Atlantic tea-cup” will neither result in renewed conflict between Argentina and the UK in the near future, but will further the political positions of Pres. Chávez, Pres. Fernández, Prime Minister Brown, and the strategic positions of the PRC, Iran, and Russia - all three of which have commercial-strategic as well as geopolitical interests in South America, if only to minimize or contain US influence.
Anaysis By GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Staff for oilprice.com who focus on, <a href="http://www.oilprice.com" target="new">Fossil Fuels</a> Metals, Crude Oil Prices and Geopolitics To find out more visit their website at: http://www.oilprice.com
March 2, 2010