News Argentina still wants the Falklands

[WelshBloke]

Driving around Argentina, you would occasionally pass 'Las Malvinas son Argentinas' billboards. It's been a couple of decades since I was last there. Can't vouch for the numbers now.
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Ex combatientes criticaron la postura de Milei sobre las Islas Malvinas en el debate

"Encontramos un denominador común que es el odio y desprecio", indicaron los ex combatientes en referencia a Milei y los dirigentes de LLA. A las críticas a Milei se sumaron referentes de UxP.

lmdiario.com.ar

I absolutely don't understand why Argentinian citizens want the Falklands anyway.
No Argentinians live there. It's very British. Like a small county town in England in the 70s British.
No Argentinians have ever really lived there. I'd like to see a count of how many Argentinians have ever been born there, I'd guess about zero.
There's never been a proper Argentinian settlement there that people lived in.
Britain layed a claim to the Falklands in 1765, the country that we recognise as Argentina didn't exist then.

 

[Jaskalas]

I absolutely don't understand why Argentinian citizens want the Falklands anyway.

Proximity of an Island to the mainland is a big deal in terms of people's perception of ownership.

That, and, humans do not naturally respect the right of other humans to live. Like, at all. Western civilization has warped your perception of what humans are.
If Argentinians thought they could get away with invading the Falklands, killing all its people, and claiming the land, they would.
Why?
Because humans suck. Period.

 

[WelshBloke]

Proximity of an Island to the mainland is a big deal in terms of people's perception of ownership.

It's 500 Kms from the coast of Argentina. Which is a lot closer than it is to the UK but it's not like it's a short paddle in a canoe!

That, and, humans do not naturally respect the right of other humans to live. Like, at all. Western civilization has warped your perception of what humans are.
If Argentinians thought they could get away with invading the Falklands, killing all its people, and claiming the land, they would.
Why?
Because humans suck. Period.

I'd understand if it was an idyllic island paradise with a ton of Argentine culture there but it's the opposite of that. I'd guess most Argentinians would be pretty miserable there!

 

[JEDI]

Introducing the new President of Argentina

View attachment 89110

A Trump type won the election.
He wants to switch the currency from pesos to USD.

Also, to balance the budget, he wants to shut down the dept of Education.
So like Maga, he wants a stupid populace

 

[Vic]

Argentinians just elected Thanos believing he's an economic genius.

 

[darkswordsman17]

That could be it actually, he's got some really idiotic libertarian ideas, like he's absolutely nuts, makes Vivek Ramaswaney sound sane

Seems he's just a populist that was resorting to anything in order to get in office.

Introducing the new President of Argentina

View attachment 89110

Oof, shame the US so thoroughly fucked over so many South American countries that they're basically stuck in cycles of awful politics. Then again, as one of my college history professors would say, those imperialist chickens have come home to roost.

 

[darkswordsman17]

A Trump type won the election.
He wants to switch the currency from pesos to USD.

Also, to balance the budget, he wants to shut down the dept of Education.
So like Maga, he wants a stupid populace

I'm not sure the currency switch would be a terrible idea (but it'll come with pains for sure, at least its not Bitcoin/crypto), but its also clearly not borne out of intelligent thought but rather him throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, which means it'll probably fail and instead be used to try and grift as much money from Argentinian people as possible. The rest of his ideas and behavior is the same. Should be cautious of anyone that has that much shit to fling, it likely means they're full of it and covered in it.

 

[brycejones]

The brutal truth is this guy won because the other options in Argentina are completely shit. The candidate he beat is the economy minister of an economy with triple digit inflation. People were ready to say fuck it and try something different. The run-off wasn’t even close he won by 11%.

Now he has to govern which is going to mean working with the legislative branch where his party has very few seats. That will probably be a shit show.

 

[sdifox]

Javier Milei - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

yeah he nuts

 

[sdifox]

The brutal truth is this guy won because the other options in Argentina are completely shit. The candidate he beat is the economy minister of an economy with triple digit inflation. People were ready to say fuck it and try something different. The run-off wasn’t even close he won by 11%.

Now he has to govern which is going to mean working with the legislative branch where his party has very few seats. That will probably be a shit show.

triple digit inflation is not new in Argentina. I lived there for 7.5 years and went through 3 times of slashing 3 zeroes from the currency because otherwise the number becomes too big to fit on the bank note.

 

[JEDI]

I'm not sure the currency switch would be a terrible idea (but it'll come with pains for sure, at least its not Bitcoin/crypto), but its also clearly not borne out of intelligent thought but rather him throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, which means it'll probably fail and instead be used to try and grift as much money from Argentinian people as possible. The rest of his ideas and behavior is the same. Should be cautious of anyone that has that much shit to fling, it likely means they're full of it and covered in it.

Switching to USD is going to be difficult to implement. How is Argentina going to get all that usd notes to give to it's citizens?

El Salvador switching to Bitcoin was easy.
Create an app and give villages wifi internet, even those without electricity, by installing solar powered cell towers

 

[JEDI]

triple digit inflation is not new in Argentina. I lived there for 7.5 years and went through 3 times of slashing 3 zeroes from the currency because otherwise the number becomes too big to fit on the bank note.

if he is successful in switching over to USD, then that solves Argentina's overspending problem.
They can no longer print $ since they no longer control their currency

 

[sdifox]

if he is successful in switching over to USD, then that solves Argentina's overspending problem.
They can no longer print $ since they no longer control their currency

Yeah before that can happen the pero has to be devalued much more. And I doubt IMF is willing to lend more than the USD$44B Argentina already owes. The people are used to holding USD until they need to spend. Then they exchange. And the exchange is a lot different than the official one.

Argentina tried to peg peso to USD at one to one and it didn't work. One could argue it is precisely that policy that drove Argentina to its current state

Convertibility plan - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

IMF deems Argentina debt to GDP ratio at 76%...85% in 2022

 

[Jaskalas]

I thought the man was described as a Libertarian?
Seems like just a hollow label if they do not respect the rights and freedoms of landowners. The people actually living on the Falklands.
Instead, he sounds like any would-be imperial conqueror.

'Argentina has non-negotiable sovereignty over the Falklands', Javier Milei declares

 

[JEDI]

I thought the man was described as a Libertarian?
Seems like just a hollow label if they do not respect the rights and freedoms of landowners. The people actually living on the Falklands.
Instead, he sounds like any would-be imperial conqueror.

'Argentina has non-negotiable sovereignty over the Falklands', Javier Milei declares

looks like Argentina's going to get it's ass kicked again in a war vs British.

They should have attacked in the mid 2010's when the British navy was at it's low and didn't even have an aircraft carrier.

Aircraft Carriers of the world: England doesnt have one that's of operational capability till 2020?

https://www.businessinsider.com/uss-gerald-r-ford-hms-queen-elizabeth-aircraft-carriers-comparred-2017-6 Both the US and England have a new class of carriers: USS Gerald R. Ford ($13B, nuclear engine) and HMS Queen Elizabeth ($10B, diesel engine) England didn't have an aircraft carrier between...

forums.anandtech.com

They probably would have still gotten their asses kicked but had a better chance than now where British can rain death from above

 

[JTsyo]

I thought the man was described as a Libertarian?
Seems like just a hollow label if they do not respect the rights and freedoms of landowners. The people actually living on the Falklands.
Instead, he sounds like any would-be imperial conqueror.

'Argentina has non-negotiable sovereignty over the Falklands', Javier Milei declares

Some context the Argentinean Constitution has the Falklands are part of it so the whole country thinks they still own it.

The Argentine Nation ratifies its legitimate and everlasting sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and Sandwich Islands and the corresponding maritime and insular areas, because they are an integral part of the National territory.

Milei said, "We had a war – that we lost – and now we have to make every effort to recover the islands through diplomatic channels."

looks like Argentina's going to get it's ass kicked again in a war vs British.

They should have attacked in the mid 2010's when the British navy was at it's low and didn't even have an aircraft carrier.

Aircraft Carriers of the world: England doesnt have one that's of operational capability till 2020?

https://www.businessinsider.com/uss-gerald-r-ford-hms-queen-elizabeth-aircraft-carriers-comparred-2017-6 Both the US and England have a new class of carriers: USS Gerald R. Ford ($13B, nuclear engine) and HMS Queen Elizabeth ($10B, diesel engine) England didn't have an aircraft carrier between...

forums.anandtech.com

They probably would have still gotten their asses kicked but had a better chance than now where British can rain death from above

If Britain had trouble, they could just invoke Article 5 and the US would come in and beat on Argentina.

 

[sdifox]

When in trouble Argentine politicians point to UK and it's like everything will workout as long as they hold Las Malvinas.

Las Malvinas does lie in Argentina's EEZ so it's not like they don't have any ground for claims.

 

[WelshBloke]

When in trouble Argentine politicians point to UK and it's like everything will workout as long as they hold Las Malvinas.

It's the "stop paying attention to the problems we caused and blame the foreigners" play.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Switching to USD is going to be difficult to implement. How is Argentina going to get all that usd notes to give to it's citizens?

El Salvador switching to Bitcoin was easy.
Create an app and give villages wifi internet, even those without electricity, by installing solar powered cell towers

Its almost like I specifically said it'd be with pains...

I'm not even sure why you're trying to frame it that way. My point bringing up the latter is that it highlights what would be positively gained. Switching to USD would likely bring some stability to Argentina economy. Bitcoin/crypto inherently is unstable. There's other issues in your comparison, in that I assume USD would become the government recognized official currency, whereas the bitcoin stuff was not made the official public currency (meaning people didn't convert and then stop using their normal paper fiat/etc in the process), which is why it was "easy to implement" in that manner.

Not saying that's the actual reason this jackass wants to do it, as I doubt he understands most aspects of it, and I'd guess most likely its something that sounds good but won't accomplish much positive for average Argentinians and instead would help further the income equality disparity. Which can easily be hidden as growth/stability (just like in the US and other western countries, where it sure looks like we've been doing amazing, but most of that wealth has gone to a very small number of people).

if he is successful in switching over to USD, then that solves Argentina's overspending problem.
They can no longer print $ since they no longer control their currency

Right, which is why some would want it, limiting their inflationary fiscal policies, as well as the better stability of the USD. And easing international spending (no currency exchange, which potentially would make it even easier for investors outside of the country). There's probably others.

 

[pmv]

Some big drawbacks to using another country's currency. As was discussed in the Scottish independence referendum, when Salmond's SNP went rather unthinkingly with the idea of just 'using the pound'. Something of an issue with the Euro, as well, though I think at least the countries with that have _some_ say in the ECB's policies.

You lose all say in your own monetary policies and could end up with the money-supply out-of-step with your domestic economic conditions. I suppose if the issue is you don't trust yourself with control of your own currency you hand it over to someone else, like you're the national version of Britney Spears, but it carries some major risks.

It's mostly tiny statelets who do a lot of trade with the US, like Panama or the Virgin Isles, who do that.

 

[amenx]

The country that comes to mind with similar challenges of a collapsing economy with hyper-inflation was Germany in the 1920s. Hitler turned that around, wiped away inflation, unemployment and economy was back on is feet. Then he annexed territories he saw as German.

Of course all this could not have been lost on Milei. I would not be surprised if he made a move on the Falklands.